From Hot Wheels to Barbie – the top five most valuable toys worth up to £120K you could have in your attic
IT might be time to dig out your old Hot Wheels or Barbie at home because it could be worth up to £120,000.
Parent and childcare network Childcare.co.uk has revealed the five most valuable toys – and a Hot Wheels 1969 VW Camper Van could get you hundreds of thousands of pounds.
For the best chance of getting the big bucks, your toys should be in box – mint condition items will obviously scoop a higher reward but if it’s an original toy, it’s going to fetch some cash.
Working with toy expert and the founder of Toyology, Peter Jenkinson, the top most valuable toys also include Pokémon cards.
If you don’t have any of the above stashed away in a spare drawer somewhere, Jenkinson advises members of the public to seek out rarer colours of toy cards.
Toys or models in an unusual colour could often be limited edition and therefore be worth more.
Hot Wheels 1969 VW camper van – £120,000
If you’ve got the rare “Beach Bomb” version of the VW camper van, you are in for a hefty cheque.
A prototype of this model is valued at over £120,000 – and they only cost about £1 back in the day.
Pikachu Illustrater card – £44,000
Back in the 90s, Pokémon cards cost £3 for a pack of ten but a Pikachu Illustrator card now values at £44,000.
Only 39 of the Pikachu unnumbered promotional card were ever printed.
Hot Pink VW camper van with surfboard accessory – £20,000
In third place is a 1969 hot pink rear-loading VW camper van, complete with surfboard accessory – it’s worth £20,000.
Bonus points (or pounds) if it’s still in its box.
Barbie doll – £20,000
Also worth tens of thousands is an original 1959 Barbie with a black and white bathing suit.
That’s almost a 915,000 per cent mark up on its original price tag – but it’s got to be in mint-condition.
Hopefully you didn’t throw your Barbie dolls away as a child, in a defiant act of being a grown up.
Star Wars’ Boba Fett – £13,000
Even a 1979 Boba Fett toy could get you £13,000.
It’s got to be a prototype though, from 1979, as it was taken out of circulation because its red rocket was deemed a hazard by manufacturers.
What should you do if you have a valuable toy?
IF you think you’ve got a toy that’s worth a bit extra then you should start by doing your research
Find out how much your toy is worth to a collector by checking the same or similar toys under “sold listings” on eBay.
Compare your toy to other higher selling auctions and ask yourself if it’s in a similar condition? Is is authentic? Does it have its original packaging?
If it’s in mint condition then it might be worth selling it through an auction house or directly to a collectables website.
If it’s not in mint condition, it’s probably worth sticking it on eBay for a moderate sum.
But in both cases check for any fees involved and find out what percentage of any sale an auctioneer may take.
Toys voted most likely to become collectibles in the future include limited edition LEGO sets, original Minecraft toys and Playmobil Ghostbusters 15 cm figures.
Be careful though and check authenticity – you don’t want to go into a bidding auction and receive a fake.
Sellers on eBay are listing Pikachu Illustrator cards for – double check as what could be a sweet deal might not be exactly what you think.
It doesn’t have any bids on it yet but a seller in the U.S. has listed for $100,000 (£79,890), whilst has a starting bid of $70,000 (£55,930).
Childcare.co.uk made the list in celebration of Toy Story 4’s release.
All your old favourite retro items are now fetching the big bucks on eBay – got an iPod Classic, anyone?
Did you keep any of your Happy Meal toy freebies? They could be worth over £500 now…
Prefer reading over playing? Your favourite books as a child could be worth over £1000 now.
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