By Alyson Ng
Elizabeth Chrisostom received her first doll on her seventh birthday. That was 56 years ago, and she did not expect to have such a vast collection of dolls.
As a child, she cherished her first doll so much that friends and family decided to buy her more dolls. When her elder sisters went overseas to work, they decided buying her dolls for her birthday was the best presents for her,” she said. “To them, getting me a present for birthdays was the easiest thing to do.”
The 63-year-old from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Air Panas named her first doll, Fergie. “She reminds me of Sarah Ferguson the Duchess of York,” she said.
As a doll, Fergie is a five-year-old toddler with big blue eyes, red hair and her favourite colour is pink. She is currently placed in a transparent box so that no one can spoil any of her body parts.
“Fergie’s leg was broken when someone dropped her on the floor,” she said. “I was very sad and worried about Fergie’s leg. Thankfully a friend helped me fix my doll for free.”
Although she had many dolls after that, she never abandoned Fergie. “While I admit I like all my dolls, I do not have any favorite doll. I can only say that Fergie is special because she was the first doll I ever had!” she said.
Chrisostom bought some of her 50-cent dolls from her Tikam seller lady in front of the school. "I added some of these dolls into my collection on some of the good days," she recollects her childhood memories.
Although she had many dolls after that, Chrisostom never abandoned Fergie. “While I admit I like all my dolls, and my heart is in all of them, I do not have any favorite doll although I must say that Fergie is special because she was the first doll I ever had!” said the Queen of Dolls. “Fergie has been featured before on television."
Chrisostom holds the Malaysia Book of Records for the biggest collection of dolls in the country.
In total, she now has at least a thousand dolls in her collection, and she takes good care of every one of them.
“If you ask me why I collect dolls, I would say why not? Fergie inspired me to adopt more of her friends to join her,” Chrisostom laughed, as she shared her journey as a doll collector!
(Alyson is 10 years old)
