Your collection of modern antiques, rare or signed books, early edition games consoles, such as the Atari, or your Daleks from Doctor Who could be worth hundreds of pounds.
Are they though? We take a look.
Rare, first edition or signed books
Book collection
Have you got a collection of vintage ladybird books for example?
Perhaps books passed to you by your parents or grandparents?
From Jack in the Beanstalk to the Ladbybird book of London, did you know that some of these can fetch £10+ each, even on eBay?
How about Enid Blyton books?
You may not be aware but Enid Mary Blyton, who died in 1968, was probably the twentieth century’s most successful writer of children’s books.
She wrote around 800 books during her literary career.
The Famous Five are among Enid Blyton’s best-loved creations.
Five on a Treasure Island was the first book in the Famous Five series and orginally published in 1942.
Today Five on a Treasure Island is a very scarce book and should you wish to buy it is highly costly. For example, at the time of writing, it was available on BlytonBooks.co.uk for £1950.
Have you a first edition of Riders by Jilly Cooper?
A hardback, first edition of this book, in very good condition, is currently selling on Amazon for around £30. Who knows what it will be worth in a few years time but it could be a lot more.
Check to see if you have any rare, first editions or signed books. Check their value.
If you want to keep them, make sure your home contents insurance provides adequate cover.
If you want to sell them, contact a reputable book seller who will be able to help you.
Early edition personal computers and vintage games consoles
Old games consoles such as Atari
What about the old Sinclair ZX80?
The Sinclair ZX80, released in 1980, was the first home computer available to buy for less than £100.
This tiny machine, based around the Zilog Z80 processor, brought home computing to the world.
Sinclair sold 50,000 ZX80s before they came out with the improved ZX-81 just a year later.
Currently on ebay the ZX80s are being sold at anything up to £500, depending on condition.
There are vintage Atari consoles too.
The original Atari console launched in September 1977 and it had two simple joysticks, a single pair of paddles, and the two-player Combat game.
New games were added, including Space Invaders in 1980 and the Asteroids game in 1981.
Vintage Atari consoles are currently selling on ebay with a price a tag of up to £100.
If all this Atari nostalgia has spurred on your interest, but you don’t happen to have a vintage Atari console sitting in your loft, you can actually buy a new Atari Flashback 6 Classic Game console & 100 built-in games on Argos.co.uk.
Vintage Toys
Vintage toy collection
From Star Wars, Thunderbirds and Stingray to Dr Who, James Bond and Action Man, to Corgi and Dinky, there’s a huge market for good quality, vintage toys.
All those long lost toys from your childhood days, or perhaps from those of your children or grandchildren, that are gathering dust in the loft or tucked away in a cupboard, could be worth hundred’s of pounds.
For example have you any Dr Who paraphernalia?
A Marx 5″ friction Dalek is being sold on Metropolis Toys for £495 and on ebay vintage Thunderbirds items are fetching from tens of pounds, to well into the hundreds of pounds for more collectable items.
Or Lego collections?
Lego collections
According to an article in the Telegraph, ‘Investors were able to secure a better return buying Lego sets over the past 15 years than from the stock market, gold or bank accounts’ and ‘Lego sets kept in pristine condition have increased in value 12 per cent each year since the turn of the Millennium.’
Sounds potentially exciting!
After all how many of us really do have stacks of Lego stored around the house? Quite a large number I would suggest.
However, how much of the Lego heaped together in big boxes, rather than neatly stored in a mint condition box, looking like it has never been played with?
Even in ‘used’ condition, there appears to be a market for your Lego.
You may want to make a few pounds selling it?
Or perhaps it would be better to save it and then pass it on to the next generation of your family or friends?
So, is your collection Junk or worth a fortune?
These days, collecting, whether it toys, books or gadgets, seems to be growing in popularity. Nostalgia is creeping in to with a lot of focus on retro products.
Growing interest in vinyl records
Is that why vinyl records are back in vogue I wonder? Perhaps it is simply that people feel vinyl records provide a better sound experience than CDs or MP3 downloands.
Whether you are an accidental collector or the avid collector of all things from modern antiques, ‘kitchenalia’, to some mass produced items if kept long enough in good condition, your collections could be worth a small fortune.
Investigate the value of your collection.
Decide whether you want to keep it or sell it.
If you are going to keep it, look after it and check that you have enough home contents insurance in place.
Check your home insurance covers your collection
If you do have a valuable collection it is vital that you check that you have suitable home contents insurance.
Don’t just assume that standard cover will be sufficient.
Think about it, if your collection isn’t just standard a standard collection it is highly likely that the home insurance cover you need for it won’t be just standard either.
It could be well worth your while looking at a specialist or high net worth home insurance policy.
