I have an uncle who gave up a 20 plus year career with the Sheriff's Dept. to buy and sell John Deere Toys. He says he doesn't get shot at and makes twice the money.
The antique toy biz is crazy. My wife bought a Mac Truck toy for one of our kids at a yard sale for $2.50. We had a friend that knew toys at our house years later and he offered $500.00 bucks. Man that is more than I paid for some of my real cars.
There's actually a lesson in all of this. A very successful friend once advised us to never buy anything marketed as "collectible", including Limited Edition cars and motorcycles. People who buy collectables tend to treat them as such and when you're ready to sell, there are still 98% of the other items still out there.
On the other hand, a child's toy is usually turned into scrap inside of a year or two. Consequently somebody who still has one in an original box can expect to multiply his or her investment.
I'm personally responsible for killing Marx and Lionel trains, Barbi Dolls, model cars, and thousands of trading cards when I recieved my first BB gun.
Originally written by Shadow1100T on 12/28/2008 4:09 AM
Somehow this 72 year old kid managed to hang on a couple toys from
his childhood. I have no idea what they are worth, if anything, as
they are to go to my grown grandson to pass on.
I think you could say they are priceless.
