collecting

9 Childhood Collectibles Worth Big Bucks Today

Mikey Rox — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 18:00:12 +0000

Remember when your mom told you that if you didn't clean up your room she was going to throw away all your stuff? Well, your stubbornness totally cost you, dude, because some of those toys and games are worth major money today. (See also: Reselling Antiques: The 5 Principles of Power Picking)

Take a look at these nine nostalgic items from your childhood and the price tags they now command, and then lament the fact that you didn't listen to your mom.

1. Buzz Lightyear 1st Generation — $205.00

The highest bid on this eBay item — a first generation Buzz Lightyear action figure with utility belt — is relatively low compared to the final price of other items on this list. The listing says that it comes with a certificate of authenticity and that it's "brand new" in its original box. "Brand new" probably isn't the best phrase to describe it — it is 20 years old, after all — so a better description might be "mint condition" or "factory sealed" if that's the case. Considering that this toy probably cost around $25 when it was released in 1995 (I'm assuming at the same time as the first Toy Story movie), this sale is a decent win for its owner. Anytime something increases in value eight times over, you can pat yourself on the back.

2. The Mummy Mystery Game — $888.99

The final sale price of The Mummy Mystery Game from Hasbro might encourage you to hoard all your board games from now on. Perhaps you can retire early on a first edition Monopoly, or pay off your credit card debt with a vintage Taboo.

3. GI Joe Air Sea Rescue Set — $909.77

GI Joe isn't just the 1980s icon we've come to know and love. Rather, the line of action figures from Hasbro has been occupying the imaginations of little boys (and girls) for more than 50 years. Over the past half-decade, Joes have changed — most notably from 12 inch figures in the 1960s to 3¾ inch figures when it was relaunched in 1982 — but interest hasn't waned. The whole gamut is worth a pretty penny these days when in good condition, but if you happen to have an old-school GI Joe Air Sea Rescue set, you're in luck. This couldn't have cost more than a few bucks at its regular retail price several decades ago, but you can thank inflation, vintage status, rarity, and eBay for its nearly $1,000 price tag today.

4. PEZ Baseball Glove, Bat, and Plate Dispenser — $950

It's no secret in my family that I'm an obsessive-compulsive PEZ collector — if I see one I don't have, I have to buy it — so this collectible's resale value makes me optimistic for the future. The starting price of this early PEZ dispenser that features several parts and no modern "feet" (a collector's dream, by the way) was $275, and quickly shot up to $950.

5. LEGO Sculptures Statue of Liberty — $2,950

I was rather surprised to learn that LEGOs are pretty big business on eBay. I mean, I know they're popular, but I wasn't aware that they were thousands-of-dollars popular. The priciest listing I came across was for a DIY Statue of Liberty sculpture (otherwise known as "3450" to LEGO-philes) that was described as unused and unopened — which was true; the actual bricks were still sealed in factory plastic — but the original box was a bit mangled. Still, this toy managed to fetch nearly $3,000, likely from someone who values playtime over presentation. If that doesn't blow your mind, there's a hefty $9K price tag for the same item (but better preserved) on Amazon. I can't definitively say that someone bought it for that price, but it's certainly listed as such. Other high-value sets include the Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower.

6. Pokemon Shadowless Unlimited Booster Box — $2,325

I never got into Pokemon — it was a little past my time — so I can't honestly say that I understand a craze that was built on trading cards. Paper trading cards, people. Seriously, is that where the world went wrong?

In any case, this factory-sealed Pokemon Shadowless Unlimited Booster Box — I have no idea what that means — went for more than $2,300. The listing description says, "Booster boxes are considered even more rare than 1st Edition and Unlimited Boxes because of the short print." Sure, okay, I believe it. I do, however, have a hard time wrapping my head around the retail value of $4,000, which the seller calls a "great investment." I'd say.

7. Webkinz — Up to $5,000

I'm not sure I've ever heard of a Webkinz before, but apparently millions of people have. These small plush toys have a playable online counterpart in Webkinz World — stay with me here — and when you enter a secret code into the portal, you can play with your pet virtually on the website. Or something like that. Anyway, these seem to be big business on eBay — even though the product line is only 10 years old — with listings spanning from lots in the $600 range, single or double animals at $500-ish, and there's someone with a lot of gall who is asking $5,000 for a "rare" lot of 85 Signature Collection animals.

8. 1978 Luke Skywalker Action Figure — $12,600

Star Wars memorabilia has been among the most consistently sought after collectible items for many years, but the vintage Luke Skywalker 12 Back-B AFA 90 action figure in mint condition (this jargon is lost on me) has to take the cake for the greatest difference in original and resale values for any action figure ever. One loyal fan shelled out more than $12,000 to relive his childhood fantasies — which I'm confident has made his family very proud.

9. Nintendo World Championship GOLD Cartridge — $100,088

Even the most entrepreneurial kids of the 80s and 90s couldn't have predicted the insane future value of Nintendo games. It was just a toy back then, and one that often caused us hassle; we all remember having to blow into the godforsaken machine to get it to work after we had it for a while. Fast forward a quarter century and it's not the actual system that's hauling in the cash, but rather some of the more rare games in the form of those iconic grey cartridges. The record-setter? The 1990 Nintendo World Championships (Gold Edition), which grabbed a whopping $100,088 from someone with too much money and even more Nintendo nostalgia. Only 26 of these cartridges exist, and they were originally given out as prizes in a contest held by Nintendo Power magazine.

Have you bought or sold a childhood collectible? What was the item, and how much did you sell it for? Let me know in the comments below.

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This article is from Mikey Rox of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

From Beanie Babies to Baubles: 5 Unconventional Investments

Michael Kling — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:48:37 +0000

If you're bored with stocks and bonds and seeking a taste of the exotic, you might be interested in unconventional investments.

Unconventional investments can help protect you against stock market volatility because they don't drop — and might even rise — when stocks sink. At least that's the theory, anyway. And if you're lucky or savvy, an alternative investment can produce an outsize return.

On the other hand, many unconventional investments are illiquid — you can't quickly sell them for quick cash. Many are risky and difficult for ordinary folks to understand. For that reason, it's best to allot only a small part of your savings to unconventional investments and to carefully analyze potential risks.

Here's six top unconventional investments. (See also: 7 Great Investments for First-Timers)

1. Collectibles

If you buy collectibles, you can invest in something you love and understand. But you might end up owning a lot of stuff and not really making money. Knowing how much someone will pay for a collectible several years from now is hard to predict. Consumers are fickle and fashions change. What's a hot collectible now may latter be just another yard sale item. Remember Cabbage Patch kids?

If you want to invest in collectibles, say wine, stamps, or baseball cards, buy only what you understand well — ideally what you're expert in. Try to be realistic about how much an item will sell for in the future.

The danger of collectibles is that they can be stolen, lost, or destroyed. You might consider insurance or a safe deposit box, but those costs diminish your profit. Owning artwork you hope to sell for a gain may end up costing money.

2. Jewelry

Some jewelry owners do make great profits reselling jewelry, but they're experts selling very high-quality gems. Most jewelry appreciates very little or nothing at all. Even though gold has increased greatly in years, you might not get as much as you hope when selling gold jewelry. Buyers take a sizeable cut, and the price is based on the jewelry's gold content, which may be lower than you expect. Most people, experts warn, should buy jewelry for its beauty and avoid it as an investment.

Some people argue that jewelry and collectibles are not real investments, as they don't make money for you while you own them — what's called an internal rate of return. A condo can generate rent. Stocks can generate dividends. But a diamond just sits there looking pretty until you sell it.

3. Precious Minerals

How about some uranium or palladium? You can invest in almost anything by owning a specialized exchange traded fund (ETF). Like mutual funds, ETFs are baskets of assets but can be traded throughout the day like stocks. Typically tracking an index, ETFs can hold anything from biotech firm stocks to utilities to currencies to bonds from small countries you can't pronounce. Some are even designed to increase in value when stock markets fall. They can track gold, silver, platinum, natural gas, oil, or uranium to name a few, as well as baskets of different precious metals.

While ETFs, which boast low costs and tax efficiency, have plenty of supporters, critics say they more like speculating than investing, have high trading costs, and don't offer diversification.

4. Frontier Investing

If you're fearless as Davy Crocket, you might consider investing in frontier markets — countries like Romania, Kenya, or Pakistan. Don't laugh. Not too long most people thought buying shares of companies in Brazil, Russia, India, and China was dangerous, but those who did garnered robust returns and now investing is those countries, the so-called BRICs, is considered quite normal. Countries like Columbia and Vietnam, often blessed with a growing middle class, may soon graduate from the frontier and into a group with catchy acronym.

Rather than traveling to Tanzania or Indonesia yourself, you can put money into a mutual fund or ETF specializing in frontier markets.

Real estate investment trusts, or REITs, own commercial properties like office buildings and shopping centers and pay dividends based on rents they collect. As their name indicates, non-exchange traded or non-traded REITs are not traded on stock markets. They are supposed to be more stable than publicly traded REITs because their values don't gyrate with the stock market, and they are not hurt by interest rate swings because rents they get are set for years.

However, financial regulators warn that their shares are illiquid and can't be easily traded. They are more difficult to value, and fees for selling can diminish your returns. Money you think you're getting as a distribution may actually be funds the REIT is borrowing or your principal being returned. Make sure you do your homework, and read its prospectus and its SEC filings to avoid being burned.

5. Peer-to-Peer Lending

In peer-to-peer, also called person-to-person or social lending, you lend money to other people through websites, such as Prosper or Lending Club. Instead of lending to a government by investing in bonds, you lend to other people by investing in online listings. You review their criteria like debt-to-income ratios and credit scores, pick loans to your liking, decide how much of the loan you'll fund, and then get part of the monthly payment after the online intermediary takes its portion.

P2P networks say they provide investors better returns than typical fixed-income investments and less volatility than stocks. That depends if borrowers you pick repay their loans.

Lending to strangers, some with imperfect credit histories, is certainly risky. Tips: Spread loans around to many different borrowers, start slowing by initially lending only to the highest-rated borrowers, and don't expect to P2P lending to be a main income source.

This article is from Michael Kling of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Best Money Tips: Make Collecting Pay Off

Ashley Jacobs — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:00:17 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some great articles on making collecting pay off, retiring without sacraficing fun, and saving money on family summer vacations.

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This article is from Ashley Jacobs of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: