The abandoned toy box in your garage could, just maybe, prove to be a gold mine.
Business Insider South Africa investigated the potential value of now highly-collectable toys that could be waiting to be discovered in South Africa. The most expensive are literally the price of cars, houses, firepools – or equal to winning the Wimbledon tournament.
Toy Cars (Hot Wheels and Matchbox)
According to Neal Giordano, a toy car expert and author of "Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt Price Guide," Hot Wheels and Matchboxs are among the most sought-after in any dinky toy car collection. The most prized being the Magirus-Deutz Truck, now worth more than a 2017 Toyota Etios.
(1961) Magirus-Deutz Truck, Matchbox (tan/orange): R154,902
(1966) Opel Diplomat, Matchbox (sea-foam green): R87,554
(1965) Dodge Wreck Truck, Matchbox (green/yellow): R77,451 (1971)
Olds 442, Hot Wheels (purple): R61,348 (1969)
Custom AMX, Hot Wheels (blue): R57,089
Pokémon Cards
“No matter what Charizard card you have, even if it's one from five years ago, ten years ago, the latest set, it's gonna be worth money. Without a doubt. It's just because it's Charizard and people think like: 'This is the best monster, this is the boss monster.' Any edition of Charizard is worth something,” says Roy Raftery, a trading card expert and manager of Sneak Attack Games London.
According to United States' Becketts Collectable, the 1st Edition version, the 1999 Charizard, is the most valuable. On went on auction on eBay in 2017 and sold for R720,000, more than a 2 bedroom cluster house in Fourways.
These prices are from 2017 eBay listings. All cards are ones you could reasonably collect, no prize or error cards.
Charizard (1st Edition, Base Set): R720,660
Umbreon Gold Star (Pp Series 5): R133,650
Blastoise (1st Edition, Base Set): R117,926
Crystal Charizard (Skyridge Holo): R84,514
Rayquaza Gold Star (EX Deoxys): R83,859
Video Games
Only one cartridge of Gamma Attack was produced by gaming company Gammation, and it currently is owned by collector Anthony DeNardo, according to RacketBoy. So sadly you will not find that, at a value of R660,000, in the garage. But these Atari and Nintendo games, just maybe.
"Birthday Mania" (Atari 2600): R463,293
Air Raid (Atari 2600): R442,114
1990 Nintendo World Championships (gold): R277,976
1991 Nintendo Campus Challenge (NES): R266,063
Barbie dolls
The special edition Stefano Canturi Barbie was auctioned in 2010 to raise awareness for Breast Cancer Research Foundation. It fetched R4 million, which is almost exactly what the special investigating unit found former President Jacob Zuma’s parking area and fire pool cost at Nkandla.
Stefano Canturi Barbie: R4 million
Barbie and the Diamond Castle: R1.25 million
De Beers 40th Anniversary Barbie: R1.1 million
Original Barbie (1959): R314,457
Lorraine Schwartz: R99,227
Lego sets
The Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon, released in 2007 now has a resale price of R52,775. It is the most valuable Lego set of all time. It takes several days for the average builder to construct and weighs 10 kilograms.
Prices sourced from Brickpicker, a leading Lego price guide in the United States:
Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon: R52,775
Taj Mahal: R37,514
Grand Carousel: R29,010
Cafe Corner: R22,458
Statue of Liberty:R22,262
(See also: These are the 10 most expensive block sets Africa’s first official Lego store will sell – including a R14,000 Millennium Falcon)
Comic books
The holy grail of toy collections is DC's Action Comics #1 (1938), valued at R39.3 million, almost equivalent to what Novak Djokovic and Angelique Kerber walked away with for winning Wimbledon.
It features the first appearance of Superman — and sold for just $0.10 in 1938. The most well-known superhero in the world only appeared on intermittent covers at first, as the publishers weren't sure he'd be successful.
Comic expert, Duncan McAlpine of Comic Price Guide UK lists these comics among the most expensive sold of all time.
Action Comics #1 (1938): R39,3 million
Detective Comics #27 (1939): R26,2 million
Superman #1 (1939): R13 million
All-American Comics #16 (1940): R9,7 million
Marvel Comics #1 (1939): R7,8 million.
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