Either you’ll be super excited that you can afford Christmas presents this year or livid that your Mum insisted you include the unknowing treasure in the car boot sale eight years ago.
Reporter: Ryan Yeo | Sub-Editor: Joe Carey
A year ago, The Independent gave the incredibly useful advice that Lego was a better investment than shares and gold. I hadn’t yet started mining in Indonesia for the luxury metal but I had accumulated some bricks over the past few years.
Fast forward to now, and I find myself stuck with one of those spare hours with which you don’t know how to spend. I toy with the idea of actually buying some Lego – I’m aware that they’re expensive now but I wasn’t after much. Just a little house or…OH GOD THEY HAVE HARRY POTTER STUFF. Indulging myself somehow, I find myself scrolling and scrolling.
I pause on a castle that I feel like I remember. I try not to focus on the specifics of nostalgia because I might remember why I spent all my childhood playing with Lego and regress. But I definitely remember this particular model, and I know it’s still in my old wardrobe back home. Before I even pick up the phone and ring my Mum to ask her to check, I look at the price.
It hasn’t doubled in value like I would have thought it would.
It has been multiplied by almost 6 times.
For what Father Christmas kindly spent around £100 for (I checked) was now plonked at the bottom of my dusty wardrobe, oblivious to the fact that it’s on the same level as someone coming home to it telling it’s a long lost Kardashian and it’s rich. Unopened, it would have sold for £612 – the current trending price on eBay. Sadly, I was normal, and surprisingly liked playing with the toys that I was kindly given.
On the off chance that you weren’t normal, here’s a short list of some expensive toys that may be sat at your home.
Source: Brickipedia
Café Corner
Sticking with the Lego theme, a seemingly simple build – free of any external supplier branding – cost a meagre £89.99 less than a decade ago. Now, through unknown reasons, the dainty set now has a resale value of £2096.99. That’s almost as much as a latte and a bagel from a café in London.
Source: TyCollector
Princess the Bear
This one is a bit of a stretch, I’ll admit, because it is knowingly rare. Few were made following the death of Princess Diana, in 1997, as a fundraising model. The recent beanie baby craze ensured that they all sold quickly. While some re-sellers seem to be greedier than others, one was actually sold on eBay for £73,058.
Source: vgezone
PEZ Dispensers
Don’t freak out, there’s only certain valuable ones. If you have any that have a Santa, a Mickey Mouse or an astronaut head on, then whack it on eBay for around £25,000. Personally, I don’t remember them tasting that nice to warrant that kind of money.
Source: Wikipedia
Game Boy
Older generations who say we have only just suddenly become obsessed with holding our mobile phones in our hands obviously don’t have many memories involving Squirtle. Originally released in 1989, mint condition Game Boy’s can be sold for up to £750, while the limited edition Game Boy Light can fetch around £1500.
Source: Pop2k
Tamagotchi
I remember the proud day when my virtual pet had a baby with my friends’. Never have I enjoyed cleaning pixelated poop off of my screen so much before. The original Tamagotchi’s are now selling for around £380. If I miraculously still have mine somewhere in my house, I’m going to take a wild guess and say the baby I once cherished is long dead.
Let The Voice Of London know if you (and I will be amazed if you do) have any of the above, or know of any other toys that you’ve had that are worth a lot of money by commenting below!