Whatafind!
A couple of amateur antique enthusiasts share tips so you too can make cash from an absorbing hobby
Don’t throw that away ... it could be a future antique! Predicting what will be valuable is, though, a tough task.
Rob: The first rule is always keep the box or packaging. Items, especially toys, are always worth more in their original boxes.
This also applies to action figures in blister packs. Don’t even open these packs if you intend to sell them. Put them away in a box away from the sunlight
Always keep receipts and shop packaging with the item for provenance, future sales and to show that it is not a later issue or reproduction.
The area of collectable toys is often governed by television and film media.
Original science fiction stories, Doctor Who and Star Wars will always be popular and they have a worldwide base.
Early TV sci-fi series are very collectable and, when these programmes were originally shown, the toys were never produced in such large quantities as they are now, this makes them highly desirable.
Commemorative ware is worth a second look. These are often produced in vast numbers, but newspapers, posters and booklets tend to be thrown away. They do give the future collector the date and time of the event such as the first man landing on the moon. Articles, magazines, newspapers etc about royal events, the death of a personality, launch of a film and sporting events are often worth keeping. When you are lucky enough to go to a large sporting event again – save the ticket. As nearly everything is now online or digital, try to keep handwritten accounts of an event. Who knows, a diary about the COVID-19 pandemic could be a future collectable.
In my youth there was a great deal of TV promotional packaging, often on breakfast cereal packs, crisp packets and trading cards.
The thing I should never let go were some trading cards called Mars Attack.
They were withdrawn in the early 1960s as they were seen to be too graphic and violent. As children, we thought they were brilliant. My brother and I swapped a set of them for some Man From UNCLE cards that are now worthless.
I do regret selling a chipped glass, carved rolling pin depicting a scene of Sunderland Bridge – in my home town. It had the names and date of a marriage in 1980. I paid £10 for the rolling pin and sold it for £50 as it did not fit on my display shelf. I should have hung it on the wall and kept it, I’ll probably never find another for such great value.
Janette: There are always items that you wished you had kept from your childhood. My sister has a Gabrielle designed Paddington Bear with its original labels ‘Please Look After This Bear’ and ‘Darkest Peru to London via Paddington’. She also has an early 1960s Plaston money box, shaped like a bear with large eyes. One of her most collectable items is her Space 1999 Eagle Green Transporter with pod. If only she had kept the box!
I have had to buy items from my childhood as my toys were well-played with and often ended up broken. Some of the survivors have been passed down to children within the family. My first, and most loved, Sindy Doll was given to me in 1971. She was a “trendy girl” with platinum blonde hair, a painted face with long eyelashes, a twist and turn waist and slightly bendy legs. Only last year, I managed to buy a replacement.
My favourite doll was the Tressy Doll. I loved styling her hair. With the push of a button on her tummy her hair could be pulled and it grew and, then, using a key in her back her hair would be short again. After much combing, curling, and styling, her hair was pulled too hard and it came out.
To this day I remember how upset I was. Forty-five years later, I found a replacement, wearing the original Palitoy outfit and shoes, complete with her stand and key.I paid £35.
Can you remember Pippa Doll? I saw a collection of five play-worn Pippa dolls and numerous outfits sell at an auction for £320. I’m keeping mine, with the gymkhana set, safe!
Top tips
If an item is bought as an investment, keep the item boxed and sealed.
If you, or your child, wants a figure from a TV series or film, and you think that one day they may be collectable, buy two. One to use and one to keep.
Don’t buy ‘collectables’ that you see in the back of Sunday magazines as an investment. They are produced in large quantities and lose their value. You will have to keep them for years before they do become a real collectors’ item.
Search your attic or your parents’ attic. You may be surprised by your finds!