Barbie sale

Billed as the largest private collection of Barbie dolls, the lifelong passion of a Dutch mother will go under the hammer next month.

Up for sale are 4000 dolls spanning the entire history of Barbie and her friends, family and fashions which stretches back to 1959.

"This is a collection of virtually everything – and most of it is in mint condition as it has never been taken out of its boxes, making it particularly highly prized," said Daniel Agnew, toy expert at auction house Christie's.

Conservatively priced at around £100,000 pounds ($NZ302,755), the collection will go on sale in London on September 26.

It was started in the early 1960s by Ietje Raebel, who bought her first Barbie for daughter Marina.

Marina spurned the doll which remained untouched in its box but Raebel got the collecting bug, inspired by Barbie's ever-changing wardrobe.

Ietje had designed clothes for herself and her friends in the 1950s and 60s before she was married and had Marina.

After that she dedicated her life to Marina and Barbie, according to Marina. Ietje stopped collecting in 2002 when she developed severe Alzheimer's disease.

Over the years designers from Calvin Klein to Christian Dior have styled outfits for Barbie in her varied professional guises including model, astronaut, doctor, firefighter and politician.

"Pretty much all of those are represented in the collection, as well as houses, horses, hotrods and a host of other items," Agnew told Reuters.

The co-founder of US toy giant Mattel, Ruth Handler, invented Barbie in 1959 and named her after her daughter Barbara, and she has become the top-selling doll in the world.

Boyfriend Ken, who came along later, was also named after one of Handler's children.

Named Barbie Millicent Roberts and with 95 different careers and 45 nationalities under the belt around her wasp waist, Barbie has a mind-boggling array of accessories, including 43 pets ranging from a poodle to a zebra.