A Real Mini Mac

I’ve watched enough episodes of Antiques Roadshow and Pawn Stars to know that some items are crossovers, appealing to multiple kinds of collectors. I also spend enough time trolling on eBay for vintage Mac items (and buying more than I should) that I stumble across these myself. This week the world of doll collectors and Macheads got unexpectedly intertwined.

In 1996 the Pleasant Company produced this miniature version of a Macintosh Performa to go along with their American Girl of Today line of dolls. Rendered in classic 1990s beige, this adorable little model sports an extended ADB keyboard, the ubiquitous oval mouse, and a faithful rendering of slots and ports on the front and back of the computer. It also comes with a tiny little mousepad!

The CPU takes two AA batteries and is designed to make the Macintosh “chime” sound when switched on. The keyboard and mouse are clickable buttons, and pressing them is designed to display a series of documents and drawings on the screen. Man, these doll accessories are hip! Sadly my model does not work, but it looks great sitting around on top of an Apple HD20 hard drive. I was never a big Performa fan, but this one was just too cute to ignore. A real mini Mac (and not a Mac mini).

And that is how a vintage Macintosh fan purchases an item designed for doll collectors.