5 Vintage Toys in Your House That Could Be Worth A Fortune

Thinking of our childhood toys often conjures treasured memories. However, the toys we purchased with our allowance, or inherited from parents and grandparents, might be worth even more than fond memories. As GOBankingRates reported, certain vintage toys can sell for significant sums based on their rarity, desirability, and condition. When sifting through our old toy chests (or those still unpacked moving boxes), we should look for a few playthings with greater value than nostalgia alone.

On the high heels of this summer’s smash hit film, Barbie is back in a big way–and collectors are willing to pay big bucks for classic models, like the No. 1 and No.2 Ponytail Barbies, who debuted in 1959. Today, these bombshells can fetch between $4,000 and $8,000 per doll, according to Barbie expert Rebecca Chulew. In an interview with KTLA.com, Chulew shares that the rarer brunette Barbies from that era can earn upwards of $6,000 out of the box.

The Beanie Baby craze was unescapable in the ’90s. Now, decades after the Beanie Baby bubble burst, certain unique beanies are plushy cash cows, such as the magenta version of Patti the Platypus, which goes for $10,000. Finding a special edition like Halo, the guardian angel, or Peace the Bear, whose tie-dye fur varies from bear to bear, will also pad our pockets. Interestingly, factory errors in the stitching or on the print tags increase a beanie’s value among collectors. 

While My Little Ponies are still kicking their hooves on the market today, according to The Collector, some models from the ’80s have a special value. In particular, “mail-order ponies,” available only through purchases or special offers, are considered rare enough to command high prices.

The same cards that helped us win lunch table tournaments at school could get us a lot more than extra milk money–some first edition cards (printed between 1999-2000) are worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. To determine if our old stash has value, Save a Student advises us to look for key features such as rarity symbols, holograms, errors, extra symbols or words, and collector numbers and markers of first-edition cards.

Lego collectors can be a passionate group, dropping a pretty penny on classic Lego sets, including several thousand dollars for the Space Command Lego set from 1979 and the 1965 truck set. Even more recent yet retired sets, like the Statue of Liberty from 2000 or 2002’s Black Seas Barracuda pirate ship, can be worth thousands. If we need help determining if that Lego set in our garage holds the building blocks of a bigger wallet, we can check websites like Brick Economy to get current price rates for different Lego pieces and sets.

With a little research and a lot of luck, we might find that the toys that delighted us in childhood can boost our very grown-up wallets.