Toys in the attic: what they're worth

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Feb, 1998 by Kimberly Lankford

Action figures

"Look but don't touch" is the rule with action figures. The most valuable figures have never been removed from their mint-condition boxes. Loose figures are worth only $10 to $15 unless they're a short-lived mistake (a Jawa with a plastic cape brings $50 to $275 because most have cloth capes). Prices tend to rise whenever characters with long shelf lives, such as those from Star Wars, appear in a new or reissued movie.

Age and rarity boost a figure's value only if it's part of a popular set. Even loose, the oldest Star Wars figures can sell for hundreds of dollars because buyers rarely kept them in their boxes when the movie first came out. And the most valuable G.I. Joe is the G.I. Nurse, which was a flop with little boys in 1967 because it looked too much like a doll. If it weren't part of the G.I. Joe series, it might be worthless. But in its original box, the rare figure sells for $3,500.

For price information, see Tomart's Encyclopedia & Price Guide to Action Figure Collectibles, by Bill Sikora and T. N. Tumbusch (Tomart Publications, $26.95 for each of the three volumes); Tomart's Action Figure Digest ($65 per year; 937-294-2250), and Toy Shop magazine ($28.95 per year; 800-258-0929).

Lunch boxes

Metal lunch boxes became sought after when they were replaced by plastic boxes in the mid 1980s. One of the rarest -- Toppie the Elephant -- sells for $3,500 to $4,000, says Bill Henry, a firefighter from Oak Ridge, Tenn. Henry owns more than 300 lunch boxes, including a Flying Nun he bought for a quarter in the early 1980s; now it's selling for $150.

But generic lunch boxes with flowers or plaid backgrounds tend to be worthless. And collectors are hampered by the absence of a centralized market. Much of the demand, and often the best prices, come from crossover collectors. Beatles fans, for example, have paid as much as $1,000 for a Beatles lunch box.

Popularity of the characters, rarity and condition determine value, which is graded on a scale of 1 to 10. Most collectors shy away from anything less than a 7, which means average wear, some rust and a minor ding in the thermos, says Henry.

Larry Aikins's Pictorial Price Guide to Metal Lunch Boxes & Thermoses (L-W Book Sales, $19.95; 800-777-6450) is one of the few price guides available; Toy Shop magazine advertises lunch-box shows.

WILL BEANIE BABIES GROW IN VALUE?

BEANIE BABIES are arguably the hottest "new" collectible on the market, with rare characters already selling for $1,000 and up.

But some collectors question their staying power. "I wouldn't recommend investing money in Beanie Babies," says Steve Ellingboe, editor of Today's Collector magazine ($21.98 per year; 800-258-0929). "It's not developing the way a normal collectible does."

With everyone hanging on to their babies, it's less likely that any of them will be rare in the future. "You want to be wary of those markets," says Chris Jussel, host of PBS's Antiques Roadshow. "If something is marketed as a collectible, you should run the other way."