For most young girls, collecting barbies was one of the most important things. We all had dozens and we loved all of them so dearly.  As we grew up, our passion for barbies slowly faded out.  Makes sense. Nowadays, when we see them we certainly feel nostalgic, but don’t feel the need to keep collecting them.

But for Sam Pena, a 45 year old man, collecting Barbies never got old.  Since 1992, he has collected approximately 5,000 Barbies.   He has an entire room in his home dedicated to his Barbie collection, which also helps him from spilling them all over the house.

This all began when he found his sister’s old dolls, and simply could not get them out of his head.  Seeing the old dolls made so many childhood memories return, and he instantly became hooked all over again on Barbie.

Pena aims to buy his Barbies second hand, since it can get pretty pricey. But even without paying the full price, his collection surely has cost quite him a lot more than he’d like to think about.  Pena spends a great deal of time searching for more Barbies to add to his collection, and is always at auctions, charity shops, and is searching for bargains online as well.

He arranges his Barbies by era, and proudly displays them.  Pena works as a librarian and highly values his collection.