5 Vintage Collectibles Worth a Fortune & 5 Worth Nothing

MsMojo

Not all vintage collectibles hold the value we expect. From the shiny allure of holographic Pogs and ‘90s Happy Meal toys to the timeless charm of vintage Leica cameras and classic baseball cards, some old treasures will make you rich while others might leave you empty-handed. Dive into the world of nostalgia as we explore which collectibles have become priceless gems and which are just sentimental keepsakes.

Transcript

00:00What about my baseball cards?

00:01Cost of doing business.

00:02No! No, no, no!

00:05Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for old school collectibles

00:09that nowadays are either real treasures or major letdowns.

00:12My tie-dyed Lizzie idea is very much like a Mickey Mantle baseball card.

00:17And?

00:17It's a social event.

00:19Number 5. Disappointing Pogs

00:21For all the buzz Pogs caused on school playgrounds,

00:24it's too bad they're not highly coveted these days.

00:27I'm really sorry. I kind of traded your soul to the guy at the comic book store.

00:32But look, I got some cool Pogs.

00:34Elf Pogs.

00:36Think those special hologram Pogs might be valuable?

00:39Well, you might be only able to get a few bucks for those.

00:42Well, I have like the originals, and they're like expensive, like 50 cents each.

00:47And then I have some of the fake ones like around there.

00:49And they're like 10 cents each.

00:51There are some vintage holographic skull designs that can fetch $40 plus on eBay,

00:56but aside from that, if you still have your regular old Pogs collection,

01:00even with all those designs we thought were so cool back then,

01:04you're likely to be disappointed with the return.

01:07Pog! Pog!

01:09Pog! Pog!

01:13At this point, you might as well start playing again, or just give them away.

01:18Number 5. Valuable Vintage Leica Cameras

01:21Now we're talking Leica Cameras, developed in Germany,

01:25date back to the Roaring Twenties, or as they're known in Germany, the Golden Twenties.

01:30What do all these people have in common?

01:33Well, they all use Leica Cameras.

01:38In 2022, a 1923 O-series Leica became the most expensive camera ever sold.

01:44How much, you ask?

01:45Well, try $15 million.

01:49Yes, you heard that right.

01:51Sure, that's an outlier, but another 1923 Leica sold at an auction for $2.97 million.

01:59That's not too shabby either.

02:01Later Leica models can also fetch a pretty penny.

02:04Take, for instance, a rare black 1957 Leica MP that went for $1.34 million.

02:10Other less rare and worse conditioned vintage Leicas can still put hundreds or even thousands of dollars in your pocket.

02:18This is a camera that I own.

02:19This is the Leica 1A.

02:20It was not a $3 million camera.

02:22I paid about $1,600 for this, but it was the first production camera that Leica ever made.

02:27People will pay a lot to look through a lens of the past.

02:31Number 4. Disappointing 1990s Happy Meal Toys

02:35There were so many legendary Happy Meal toys in the 90s, ones that now have nostalgia written all over them.

02:41But apparently such nostalgia doesn't equate to a significant price tag, even decades removed.

02:47What's a McDonald's Happy Meal?

02:48One of four Nintendo Super Mario Bros. 3 toys.

02:51You'd likely have to sell a whole batch of 90s Happy Meal toys for it to even be worth the time to try to sell them.

02:57Even if the toys are unopened, you might only get a buckle two for each.

03:01A Diet Coke and a...

03:03100 Happy Meals.

03:04100 Happy Meals.

03:05When's lunch?

03:06I mean, one Happy Meal.

03:08Now buy your kid a hamburger Happy Meal at McDonald's for just $1.99 and get a Tiny Toon flip car.

03:13That goes for throwbacks like the 1991 Tiny Toon Adventures toys and the 1994 The Magic School Bus toys,

03:20as well as more mainstream collectibles McDonald's gave out,

03:24like the 1997 Teenie Beanie Babies and the 1999 Furbies.

03:29There's something big at McDonald's.

03:32It's Furby, and right now there are 80 different colourful characters in all.

03:35Each one's a surprise in every Happy Meal you buy.

03:37Maybe one day people will change their minds about these artefacts.

03:42Number 4.

03:42Valuable.

03:43Original Star Wars action figures.

03:45Vintage figurines from one of the most successful film franchises of all time should be worth something.

03:51And they are.

03:53Now your children can relive our great space battles,

03:55or collect our wonderful Star Wars companions with Kenner's Star Wars action figures.

04:00The first Kenner's Star Wars action figures arrived shortly after the original 1977 film.

04:06A complete set featuring all the classic characters can easily go for hundreds of dollars.

04:11Why, it's Luke.

04:12And Obi-Wan.

04:13And my favourite Chewie.

04:14They're all here!

04:15Better yet, on the rare occasion that just one of these action figures is still sealed in the original box,

04:22it can easily go for hundreds on its own.

04:24That's exactly what happened in 2025 for the likes of Obi-Wan, C-3PO, and Princess Leia.

04:30What can we say?

04:31People love Star Wars.

04:33Oh, yeah, and check the basement for vintage G.I. Joe action figures too,

04:38because they're also pretty valuable nowadays.

04:41G.I. Joe, America's movable fighting man.

04:44The most realistic toy soldier the world has ever known.

04:47Number 3.

04:48Disappointing.

04:49Precious Moments figurines.

04:51It means a lot like my mom's Precious Moments figurines collection.

04:54I have no idea what that means.

04:56He's a fragile little bitch.

04:57Unless your Precious Moment figurine has a signature from founder Sam Butcher,

05:01or is just an ultra-rare edition, it isn't likely that it's worth that much.

05:05That's true of even the earliest versions, which came out in 1978.

05:09A lot of people actually collected these through the 70s and through the 80s,

05:13and I guess through the 90s, but they're not a big seller.

05:17Maybe you can get $10 or even $20 for one if you're lucky,

05:20but the nostalgic appeal of these religious figures would lead us to think that they could be worth much more.

05:25It's much more than just products.

05:27It celebrates Precious Moments in everybody's life.

05:32We know there's a market for vintage holiday antiques as well,

05:35but even the holiday-themed Precious Moments figurines don't go for that much these days.

05:41Number 3.

05:41Valuable Vinyl Records.

05:43Society may have moved away from vinyl records to an extent,

05:46but don't get it twisted.

05:48They're alive and well.

05:49Are all these records?

05:50Yeah, I've got about 1,578s at this point.

05:55I've tried to pare down my collection to just the essential.

05:57Sure, we have a multitude of ways to stream music more conveniently now,

06:01but many still hold this throwback way of listening close and dear.

06:05In the 2010s, there was a vinyl revival of sorts.

06:08CDs nearly killed records, but when streaming hit, records started selling again,

06:13up 18 years in a row.

06:15Some of the rarest, one-of-a-kind records have gone for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

06:20But even less scarce vintage vinyl records can go for big bucks, if in good condition.

06:26And even the super-mass-produced classics can be worth a decent amount.

06:30But for many people, dropping the needle and letting that record spin is priceless.

06:35For this is all a dream we do.

06:39One afternoon on the devil.

06:42A lot of comic book fans have a pretty negative view of the 1990s.

06:52The art style was often loud, and the storytelling didn't always land like it did in the old days,

06:56even with the rise of new characters like Harley Quinn and Deadpool.

06:59Anyway, I got places to be, a face to fix, and oh, bad guys to kill.

07:05On top of that, the market was absolutely flooded,

07:08with tons of different titles and way too many copies.

07:11That's a big reason why most of them just aren't worth that much today.

07:25Still, there were definitely plenty of bright spots, like The Sandman, Spawn, and Kingdom Come,

07:33just to name a few. But even those rarely go for much, unless they're in near-perfect condition.

07:39Number 2. Valuable Vintage Video Games

07:42Factory-sealed classic video games can be worth a fortune.

07:46Look no further than the Nintendo original 1985 Super Mario Bros. game,

07:51that sold for $2 million in 2021.

07:55That really happened. We're not playing.

07:57It's from the test market launch of the NES, as far as we know,

08:02which was only in 1985 and 1986.

08:04No one even knew who Nintendo was.

08:06Oh, yeah, and what can a 1987 Legend of Zelda game cartridge get you?

08:11Well, apparently $870,000.

08:14Even if it's a classic that has been played time and time again,

08:18it may well be worth something.

08:20We will live the game through our hands.

08:21We will be in control of something.

08:23We will change the system.

08:29There's something about those vintage video games

08:31that can scratch a nostalgic gamer's itch.

08:33So don't tell us they're outdated.

08:36They're standing the test of time just fine.

08:38Sam Crother, from a town in regional Victoria,

08:41has a copy of every Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy game

08:44released for the Australian market.

08:46It was really kind of the thrill of the chase

08:48of finding different variations.

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09:07Number 1. Disappointing Beanie Babies

09:09Ah, the 90s collectible phenomenon, the Beanie Baby.

09:13When they're first released, you can get them for about $5 to $7.

09:17Once they retire, the value goes up.

09:19In like two years, they're worth like $245.

09:24These cute little fellas made countless people smile.

09:27And who knows for how many people they helped spark an interest in poetry.

09:31Sadly, the craze is gone.

09:33And Beanie Babies clearly don't have a ton of nostalgic value these days.

09:37Maybe it'll take a few more decades.

09:39Or it's just not meant to be.

09:40Suddenly, investors and collectors who had hoped to make a living

09:44out of trading plush animals found themselves with inventory

09:47that was not worth what they once paid.

09:50While there are a few super rare exceptions,

09:52the more regular Beanie Babies that were part of so many collections

09:55routinely go for less than their original $5 retail price.

09:59Considering they're the symbol of the 90s collector culture,

10:02a true icon, that's definitely disappointing.

10:06In a USA Weekend poll estimated that 64% of Americans

10:10owned at least one Beanie Baby.

10:12One divorcing couple had so many,

10:14they needed a judge to fairly split their collection.

10:18Number one, valuable baseball cards.

10:20There are loads of examples of old baseball cards commanding a lot of dough.

10:24Cards with values in the hundreds and even the thousands

10:27are much more common than a lot of people probably think.

10:30But it's not the drugs that I care about.

10:32I mean, I care.

10:34It's my baseball cards I need back.

10:39Your baseball cards.

10:41That's especially true for cards with a mint condition grade

10:44from a reputable card grading company like PSA or Beckett.

10:48Of course, then you have the big-time ultimate rare throwback cards

10:52of some of baseball's all-time legends.

10:55Those have gone for hundreds of thousands

10:57and even millions of dollars in some cases.

11:00Last time I checked, there might have been maybe 40 or 50 of these known to exist.

11:03The highest-graded example of this,

11:04I saw so for over $200,000 not too long ago.

11:07A T206 Ponus Wagner, issued between 1909 and 1911,

11:13sold for $7.25 million in 2022.

11:18Later that year, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle sold for $12.6 million.

11:23A mint condition, 1952 Mickey Mantle, here it is, baseball card,

11:28sold for, forget this, $12.6 million yesterday.

11:33Not bad for a piece of cardboard with a picture on it.

11:36Is there a collectible that you think will experience

11:38a huge spike in value in the future?

11:40Let us know in the comments below.

11:43Laboo-boo, laboo-boo, laboo-boo, laboo-boo, laboo-boo, laboo-boo, laboo-boo, laboo-boo.

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