13 Valuable Collectibles Hiding in Your Home

John Waggoner and Andre Ellington,

Updated September 05, 2025

AARP

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En español

Published July 01, 2022

/ Updated September 05, 2025

Can you imagine if that vintage Barbie doll sitting in your basement were worth thousands of dollars? Or perhaps you have a collection of unopened Disney VHS tapes that are now remarkably valuable?

Before you clean house during your next decluttering frenzy, take a look at these 13 items that might actually be worth keeping.

Action figures

As long as there have been movies, little kids have played with action figures. Now that the children have grown up, they collect them. A Star Wars Boba Fett rocket-firing prototype figure from 1979 fetched $236,000 in June 2022, according to WorthPoint, a site that records prices for collectibles. A 1985 Transformer gift set of all six Constructicons (Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Scrapper, Hook, Long Haul and Mixmaster) — which, as everyone knows, combine to form Devastator — sold for $25,370 in March 2023.

Barbies

The iconic doll made her debut in March 1959 and has been sought by collectors since then. The release in 2023 of the Barbie movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, stirred more interest in Mattel’s famous doll. An original Barbie sold for $48,000 in 2023 at an auction held by Theriault’s.

Baseball cards

Did your mother throw out your baseball cards? Don’t be your mother. Even some cards in the 1985–1995 “junk wax” period, when the industry pumped out millions more cards than anyone wanted, are valuable.

A 1998 Ken Griffey Jr. card in mint condition sold for $280,600 in May through Heritage Auctions. A 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card fetched $12.6 million in 2022 at Heritage Auctions; only three are left in perfect condition. One reason: Lots of kids stuck baseball cards in their bike spokes to make noise, says Will Seippel, CEO of WorthPoint.

Baseball isn’t the only sport that has valuable trading cards. A 1979 Wayne Gretzky rookie hockey card sold for $3.75 million in May 2021, and an autographed rookie card for NFL quarterback Tom Brady went for $2.4 million in October 2022.

Board games and video games

Many classic games are now worth boodles more than when they were first released. A copy of Nintendo Super Mario Bros. in its original packaging sold for a staggering $2 million in 2021. Meanwhile, a factory-sealed version of Super Mario 64 sold for $1.56 million that same year.

Some older board games are worth hundreds of dollars, including 1981’s Dark Tower, which is listed for $500 on eBay, and Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit, listed for $554.71.

Comic books

Comic book collectors swoon at the thought of owning the 1962 Amazing Fantasy Number 15, in which Spider-Man made his debut, or the June 1938 Action Comics Number 1, in which Superman leaped his first tall building. Both sell for millions. More recent comic books fetch a decent price if they’re in good shape; you can even buy them professionally graded for condition and enshrined in plastic for protection. In May 2021, a signed copy of The Amazing Spider-Man Number 300 from 1988 sold for $9,999; it was the first appearance of Venom, one of Spidey’s nemeses.

Fishing gear

Take a beat before throwing away that old fishing pole or reel.

A limited-edition vintage gold Van Staal spinning reel sold for $1,875 on eBay in June. Meanwhile, a vintage Shakespeare reel is priced at $438 at Vintage Fishing Reels.

Even humble Zebco — named for the Zero Hour Bomb Co., a Texas-based maker of electric time bombs for oil drilling — has some standout reels. A limited edition Zebco 33 75th-year anniversary Spincast Reel sold for $100 in July.

Furniture

People need furniture, whether it’s a vintage blanket box ($1,275) or a mid-century modern Danish nesting teak side table ($375). Though buyers have coveted Scandinavian modern, some are turning to postmodern furniture, such as Memphis Milano, known for its bright colors and sharp angles, and they’re paying top dollar for them.

Recently, an early-20th-century Heywood Wakefield Recamier chaise found a new home on eBay for $1,400, and a vintage art deco writing desk sold for $3,500.

Pokémon cards

Pokémon (short for “pocket monsters”) cards have been around since 1996, and in the mind of an 8-year-old, you really gotta catch them all — more than 1,025 of them. The cards are part of a game in which trainers (the person owning the cards) try to build a powerful 60-card deck. Prices range from 50 cents for common cards to more than $1 million for rare cards with obvious (to Pokémaniacs) flaws.

The most expensive Pokémon card ever sold was purchased by influencer Logan Paul in 2021 for $5.27 million.

Posters

The value of a poster depends on how famous the event was — and how much it means to you. Did you go to the closing of the Fillmore West and see (among many others) Elvin Bishop, the Grateful Dead, Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Tower of Power? Did you get the poster? A first printing of the poster is listed for $750 on Visible Vibrations A 1949 Wizard of Oz lobby card sold for $1,500 in August.

Silver flatware

Fine china and pricey flatware may not be popular with the younger generations, but if you have some collecting dust, you could be sitting on a gold mine, or in this case, a silver one. Sterling silver forks, knives, spoons and other tableware can fetch thousands of dollars, says Phil Dreis, owner of Antique Cupboard, an online seller of silver flatware, jewelry and tea sets.

“Silver-plated flatware has very little value. But sterling silver is valuable whether it is a desirable pattern or it’s just metal,” Dreis says.

A 60-piece sterling silver set can go from $1,500 to $50,000, depending on the pattern and demand. A rare Paul Revere Jr. silver tablespoon circa 1790 sold at auction for a record $32,500 in May 2021.

Sports memorabilia

“You can’t go wrong if you have anything from Michael Jordan in the ’80s or ’90s,” says Robert Wilonsky, communications director for Heritage Auctions, which had bids of $135,000 for Jordan’s rookie card. Shark Tank host and businessman Kevin O’Leary, along with two other investors, recently purchased an ultra-rare, autographed Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan basketball card for $12,932,000 from Heritage Auctions, making it the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction.

Many signed baseballs are worth something, as are signed bats and bobbleheads. Got a signed football? Those are good, too. Just about anything that a sports figure has signed is worth something. If you have $23,000 to spare, you can buy a signed Babe Ruth baseball bat on eBay.

The Ricketts Apple-1 Personal Computer, displayed before an auction at Christies on December 5, 2014.

A 1976 Apple-1 Personal Computer, from Steve Jobs parents' garage sold for $365,000 at Christie's auction on December 5, 2014.

AFP / Getty Images

Technology

While you’re cleaning out the garage, ask yourself if you’re really going to use all those old gadgets. If not, you could get some cash for them. A floppy disk signed by Apple founder Steve Jobs sold for $84,115 in 2019, according to WorthPoint. A World War II Fairchild Maxson MK1, an early navigational computer, sold for $20,000 in 2020.

In 2025, an original Apple-1 computer was sold for $375,000 at RR Auction.

VHS tapes

Believe it or not, a VHS tape is now considered an antique in some circles. A number of Disney VHS tapes are now collectibles that are worth thousands.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Disney introduced a series of VHS tapes known as the “Black Diamond” collection, the company’s first foray into VHS. Fast forward to 2024, and a sealed copy of Beauty and the Beast from that era sold on eBay for more than $37,000 in 2024. In 2022, a pristine version of the beloved film The Fox and the Hound fetched $17,500 on eBay.

closeup of hands holding a vintage vinyl record album

Getty Images

Value Is in the Eye of the Beholder

What makes a collectible valuable? Condition is one thing. A rare version of the Donkey Kong 3 video game sold for $28,800 in 2019. The catch: The truly valuable games have never left their original packaging. “If you played with it, forget it,” says collectibles expert Harry Rinker.

In some cases, professional grading services will validate how well-preserved rare coins, stamps or comic books are. The difference between an MS-70 coin — the highest grade possible, with no imperfections — and an uncirculated MS-60 coin can be thousands of dollars. With other collectibles, you’ll have to learn to use your own eye.

Another element is desirability. Although it’s possible to discover a Rembrandt in the attic or a Chippendale mahogany bombe chest in the basement, it’s not likely. And, to be honest, most people aren’t going to be interested in your grandmother’s tea set. “If you find something that appeals to people over 65, you can’t sell it, because those people are trying to get rid of their stuff, not buy more of it,” Rinker says. The newest generation of collectors is looking for items they had as children in the 1980s and 1990s.

But don’t be too quick to judge. “You never know how valuable things are until you tell people you have it and you want to sell it,” says Robert Wilonsky, communications director for Heritage Auctions.

Thanks to the internet, it’s not hard to find the price of most collectibles. Nearly every type of collectible has an online group, from Pokémon community forums to to the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association. You’ll generally be able to get some sense of what their members find valuable.

You can also contact auction sites, such as Heritage Auctions and Sotheby’s, to check whether you have something valuable. WorthPoint compiles information from dozens of sources and offers a searchable database starting at $28.99 a month. People often make the mistake of thinking it’s not worth the effort to sell something that would bring in $50 at most. “You have to remember it’s money,” says Will Seippel, CEO of WorthPoint. “Would you throw away $50? Why send it to the dump when you can sell it?”

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John Waggoner is a contributing writer of all things financial for AARP, from budgeting and taxes to retirement planning and Social Security. Previously, he was a reporter for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and USA Today and has written books on investing and the 2008 financial crisis. Waggoner’s USA Today investing column ran in dozens of newspapers for 25 years.

Andre J. Ellington is an award-winning writer based in Michigan. His work has been featured in Newsweek, HuffPost and Yahoo News.