5 childhood toys and collectables worth a small fortune now

For a generation of youths today, realising that many toys and collectables from our childhood are now considered vintage can be unbelievable.

The items on this list have sold upwards of a few thousand dollars on the Internet. While most are rare, limited-edition collectables, there is still a number that was once considered everyday sights. And who knows? One of them might be sitting in our long-neglected closets.

So take this list as motivation to do some spring cleaning. The unexpected extra cash will definitely be nice. But perhaps far more valuable are all the memories uncovered from the relics that once made up our entire world.

Rare trading cards were prized collectables back in their heyday and, for some of them, have only grown more sought-after today. 

Owning the holographic Charizard or a copy of Blue Eyes White Dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh!, for example, made you the talk of the school. If you had both, you probably were the king of the world. 

A copy of Charizard was sold for a staggering $183,812 in 2020, while a copy of Blue Eyes White Dragon was reportedly sold for $5,000 by a father to pay for his daughter’s education.

Not all trading card games are created equal though. Cards from then-popular games such as Duel Masters have decreased in value since.

This writer remembers saving up for weeks just to buy the rare Hercules Beetle card from the Mushinking game. The card, sadly, isn’t worth much today but he continues to hold onto hope that it may pay for his housing loans someday. 

These cute stuffed toys were incredibly popular when they were first introduced in the 1990s. Soon after they were launched, thousands saw Beanie Babies as worthwhile investments as collectable rarities. Yet, by the late 2000s, the craze fizzled out and its value plummeted.

While the Beanie Babies craze has now mainly served as a cautionary tale on speculative financial investment, there are still a few that can fetch a neat sum. Nana the Monkey, for example, remains exceptionally rare due to a name change soon after its release. The toy was reportedly sold for $4,000.

Many of us born in the 1990s probably have a few childhood photos carrying these cuddly animals. Unbeknownst to us, we might have been holding a collectable gem that can now be flipped for a neat sum.

Way before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was on the minds of every child, Harry Potter captured the imagination of an entire generation with its fantastical world and unforgettable characters. The Harry Potter books also achieved the impossible by making children look forward to the otherwise dreaded mandatory reading time in primary school.

With adults still looking forward to receiving their long-delayed invitation to Hogwarts, it’s unsurprising to see Harry Potter collectables, such as the first edition copies of its books, fetch tens of thousands. A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was auctioned for $34,500.

With new ones released every few years, it’s far too common for old consoles and games to be discarded or left collecting dust in a drawer. However, some of these have proven to age very much like wine, especially if production for them have discontinued. The price of a new Gameboy Advance SP, for example, still costs as much as — if not more — than when it was first released. The Charizard Limited Edition version is now sold for upwards of a thousand dollars (everyone just loves that Pokemon).

On a similar note, gaming peripherals, namely from the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, are also still exceptionally valuable. Anyone fortunate enough to own the games’ guitars or drum sets knows how much of a pain they are to keep; they take up far too much space. If you happen to still own one, they might be worth a few hundred even with the newer releases.

Perhaps anyone who grew up during the iPod’s heyday can attest to just how amazing music streaming is. Way before Spotify and YouTube, it was necessary to build a library of music just to hear them. Phones had music players and storage space. But it seemed that nothing was as cool as walking around with the iconic iPod.

With the recent news that Apple will be discontinuing the iPod line, people have been trying their luck to cash in on the nostalgia by listing their iPods for thousands of dollars. While it’s too early for any indication of iPods becoming rare collectables in the future to emerge with the news, the popularity of old ways of listening to music, such as vinyl and cassettes, and with every other example in this so far may make it worthwhile to dig out your old iPods.