What are your favorite collectible toys?
Many people have a love for vintage and collectible toys. Toys from the 50's and 60's and earlier are hard to find in good condition and can often be worth a pretty penny to the right collector. We have taken a moment to highlight a few of our favorite vintage toys that really bring back that nostalgic childlike feeling in all of us.
1. PEZ - The original peppermint, anti-smoking candy originated in Austria and came to America in the 1950's. PEZ candy was not popular in America until the transition to the popular character heads and fruit flavored candies. American kids couldn't get enough of the cute pop culture candy dispensers and the PEZ factory produces over 12 million tablets of PEZ everyday. The most expensive PEZ dispenser ever collected, sold for $13,000. This was a political PEZ dispenser of a donkey made in 1961.
2. Hot Wheels - You don't have to look far to find a Hot Wheel collector with thousands of Hot Wheels in fancy shadow box displays. Hot Wheel collectors are devoted for life. The original Hot Wheels line showcased 16 models and based all the cars on actual customized vehicles. The original Hot Wheels models all had red stripes on the tires and prices on these vintage toys can easily exceed $100 each. Mattel has sold more than 1 billion Hot Wheels since they stared in 1968 and collectors have paid over $70,000 for rare, customized models.
3. Comic Books - From super heroes and crime to ski-fi and fantasy, comic books have been a long-time love for toy collectors for many years. Though comic books have been around since the late 1800's, the character comic books didn't really take off until 1938 when Superman was introduced to the market. If you grew up reading comic books you know that there are key issues that readers regard as pivotal in the characters development and storyline. These are usually the issues that are sought after by collectors and often sell for over $1 million dollars at collectors auctions. The most valuable comic in the word is Action Comics"#1 "The Man of Steel" and is currently listed at $3.2 million dollars.
There are many other toys collectors love to find, Chatty Cathy dolls, Transformers, Classic Star Wars action figures, metal trucks, old video games, board games and Beanie Babies. Whatever your favorite vintage toys are, you can be sure someone somewhere is looking for it! If you are interested in learning more about collecting antique toys, check out the Antique Toy Collectors of America.
