This could be something that you bought for a higher price than what most people would guess based on the item, or it could be something you bought for a normal price that has gained significant value as time has gone on.
What made me think of this question is a LEGO minifigure I got with my “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” disc. It is Bilbo Baggins in a blue coat that was apparently only sold in that movie box only at Target stores. Even considering the exclusivity, I would have guessed maybe $10-20 for such a tiny piece of plastic, but there are sold listings on eBay from $80 to $225. I could possibly even get towards the higher end of that number since I still have everything in the original box in good condition. It’s not worth a ton compared to some other items people may own, but I think most people would not expect nearly that amount.
I have quite an extensive book collection between my wife and I who are both avid readers, turns out due to limited printings even unassuming non-“collector” books appreciate quite well. I have several books purchased for 20-30$ that are now worth hundreds if I wanted to part with them since the company just didn’t print many and doesn’t do reprints.
I switched to ebooks a long time ago, but had quite a collection prior to that, and was also the recipient of goodies from my mom’s massive science fiction book collection, including a first edition Dune (Chilton, 1965). My favorites are my signed Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams books, though.
None of them are going anywhere.
I also have a decently sized book collection, but none that have gone up in value like that. Do you collect any specific types of books, or just whatever you think looks interesting?
10 years ago or something I bought a collection album from an artist I liked. I just did it because I like collecting CDs and I liked his music, but it turns out that it was a limited edition and only 1000 were made, each one had a unique number on it. I’ve seen them go for a few hundred on discogs a few times. I don’t intend to sell mine though, it’s in a pretty used state because I didn’t really realize the value. I’d also rather have it than have a few hundred euro’s.
I built a cube(a curated collection of cards made for drafting) of all the worst Magic cards ever made.
Most of the cards are worth around $0.05, however my copy of Urza’s Miter currently goes for $22 because of it’s rarity
That card is such a a potato lol. I’m very amused it’s got a price range that high
That’s an interesting collection of going for the worst cards, but it doesn’t surprise me with some cards being worth more. I collect some coins, and I know some people will pay high sums of money for a coin with a low official grading (the coin is naturally worn down to the point you can barely make out what type of coin it actually is).
I have an old folder of pokemon cards from my childhood. Apparently, that folder is worth thousands. I have first editions of a lot of the first cards and they are all in near mint condition. Im not selling, as they have sentimental value + my local shops would probably rip me off.
I wish I had kept my cards. I had binders and lunch tins full of Pokemon cards when I was younger. A lot got sold at garage sales while I was growing up, but I may still have a few left somewhere.
If you ever do sell them, I’d recommend only selling to a shop as a last resort or if you need quick money. I usually start by trying to sell on Facebook Marketplace since you don’t have to pay fees or shipping and get the most profit. On the flip side, you usually need to wait longer due to the smaller number of local buyers, and you have to deal with annoyances like people haggling for obscenely low prices, asking you to drive far to meet them, or just not showing up to buy the item. After a while, I usually list the item on eBay which means less profit due to fees and shipping, but usually more buyers and a smoother experience.
Thanks! That’s too bad, it’s actually a fun game to play. I was one of the only ones in my neighborhood that played the game when I was a kid. So lots of dups and such.
A spectrophotometer - the sort used for display calibration and color sample matching. I paid about $180, which was extremely low; the current version from the same company is ten times that new. Colorimeters, which look similar and can also be used for display calibration cost far less.
I mainly use it for flashlight reviews.
What is the model of spectrophotometer that you bought?
X-Rite i1Pro.
That’s a neat item, and I never really considered what work would occur for reviews like yours. Was your spectrophotometer a great deal when you bought it, or has it just risen a ton in value?
Great grandpa was a woodworker, there’s been at least one in every generation, and some how got a hold of a late 1800s or early 1900s Stanley No.1 plane. I think it sells for around 2k to 2500. Its got wear, but it still works just fine.
I rarely use it, but it’s something that’s been in the family for over 100 years. I do a little woodworking, mostly utilitarian stuff like boxes and shelves, but I’ll never sell it. 3 generations of people used it to make a living.
It’s* got wear
I agree something like that shouldn’t be given up. It’s amazing that it’s made its way to you and still works. While they don’t take up nearly as much space as your plane does, I have a deed, some bank statements, and some letters from relatives that are 100-150 years old. They wouldn’t be worth much to anyone but my family, but it’s great having that history to hold onto.
A number 1 plane is actually tiny. That’s part of why they are expensive. They are small enough that demand was low since most people didn’t want/need them. They only really fit in child hands.
Now they are a collectors item since people want to collect them all, but they never made many.
The single most expensive item I own is a gold coin from Imperial Rome, an Aureus of emperor Antoninus Pius. I bought it about three years ago when I was just starting to collect ancient coins. I came across this particular coin on a “regular” gold & silver bullion site in my neck of the woods, for 3K. Not knowing too much about it, I bit the bullet (which is actually an incredibly stupid thing to do, akin to gambling). Turns out it’s very real, mint state, and worth about 2K over what I paid for it right now. I have since continued collecting ancients, especially Romans, and by now know the entire history of Rome and all its emperors in detail. Which again underscores how incredibly stupid it was to buy something so expensive without decent prior research. I was just incredibly lucky that an actual reputed bullion dealer apparantly had come across this coin and got rid of it far under what it was worth.
I don’t expect to be able to repeat this feat, but I’m definitely on the lookout…
That’s awesome! I’ve collected a few coins but none worth that. I only have one ancient coin of the Gallic Emperor Tetricus II that’s in rough condition, but I only purchased it for $10. The only surprising coin I have is an 1809 US Capped Bust Half Dollar that is apparently a rare variant with some markings along the edge, and PCGS says there are only an estimated 900 of that variant that are still around. Unfortunately, there was already a deep scratch on the front when I bought it that likely lowers the value to that of the normal variant, but I still love the history and rarity of it.
I went to a Hotel Furniture liquidator for some new furniture. Saw a good looking office chair and they only wanted $20 for it.
Brought that bad boy home and only then did I find out that they had sold me a new Herman Miller Aeron for only $20. Completely insane.
A good chair is worth a lot of money. A good back can help you for a lifetime.
Nice! I just paid $300 for one of these used a month or so ago. Found out it’s a little small for my height so I’m going to have to resale and find the bigger version or just get an expensive office chair and stop trying to be cheap
I’ve heard those chairs are super nice and super expensive. Great find!
I’m sitting in one now. It’s 20 years old. It’s time for a new one.
BUT. They’re repairable. The local HM dealer can tell you where to send it for an assessment. It’ll not have its warranty back, but for 7,000 days of heavy use, this thing’s doing well. Its back and pan are good, and it’s really just a few stabilizer bits that look like they’re the patented ‘first thing to eventually go’ struts. It could be a $200 repair and it’s back in business. But I’ll have a new one this year because my ass wants to see a new one.
Yeah. New they’re like 900+. Used, early 300+
I’ve sat in one. It’s a nice chair, but… well let’s just say office chairs are very subject to diminishing returns. I’d definitely buy one for $20 though.
I got one as a hand-me-down from my father’s office when they replaced all their chairs. It’s pretty well worn and the upholstery is rather frumpy these days, but the bones of the thing are still good.
I remember talking about desk chairs with a friend group and on a lark I thought I’d read off the model on it to demonstrate how unassuming this no-name chair I thought I had was. So I actually said something akin to, “Yeah, it’s just some chair from some company called Herman Miller, whoever that is,” and everyone was aghast. They had to explain to me what Herman Miller actually is, and I was very embarrassed for having accidentally humble bragged about it.
A bit of a narrow audience, but I bought The id Anthology - basically a greatest hits collection of id Software’s games up to Quake.
I bought it for a laugh really a few months after it came out for about £25, and kept the cool trinkets inside it.
These days, it’s worth anything from fifteen times that to fifty times that, judging by eBay’s completed listings.
It’s cool, and I’ve no plans to flog it, but it’s nice to know that there’s a small holiday’s worth of funds tied up in it.
That looks awesome! Collector’s boxes of games can be really cool. I still have the collector’s edition of Skyrim (the original release), and it’s worth a good bit. I don’t really want to get rid of the cool Alduin statue though.
I have a few Gamecube games that people sell up to two hundred dollars. However, I take caution because supply is not demand.
It’s always cool to have some older games. I kept a few of my Xbox 360 games even though I probably won’t play them again. I know someone that also has a collection of expensive PC games from the 90s and early 00s, and they’re always cool to look at.
If any of the old PC games are MMORPG’s, they don’t have to collect dust. I know first-hand many are still populated with players.
I think most are single-player RPGs or strategy games, but I’ll definitely pass along the info.
The Super Super Happy Face on ROBLOX. I randomly decided to buy it when it went on sale, and now it’s worth insane amounts of Robux.
Nowhere near as valuable, but I copped the black, white, and azure pinstriped fedoras back in middle school and they’ve definitely ballooned in price. Had to turn off trade requests cause any time I’d log on, my messages would be filled with them
Always wanted some of the sparkletime ones, but they were way too expensive even at that time
That’s awesome that you got it before it ballooned in price. The cost of digital items is kinda crazy to me, but I know they make people happy to own, so who am I to complain? I can’t recall, can you convert Robux into real currency, or can it only be used on other Roblox items?
Yeah, but the exchange rate is almost 400 for a single dollar. Basically only worth utilizing if you’re a creator getting consistent income from place visits
I had a friend over who complimented my teapot, I love it because it’s a nice color, good size and has a stainless steel infuser that fits inside. So I offered to get her one of her own only to find out that this particular color is highly collectible and worth 6-7x what I paid for it originally. Now I have a nice teapot I’m paranoid about anything happening to, haha.
What color is the teapot? Do you know if that color had a limited number or if it is just popular? It’s always a little funny to me when something is rare just because of a different color or something similar that doesn’t impact function compared to the normal item, but I get it all comes down to preference and rarity.
It’s by Le Creuset, and they apparently rotate out most of their colors. So you can still buy the same teapot in a different color, which is what I ended up doing for my friend. The one I got was a limited run, it’s a pretty rich purple they called “cassis”, if you search Ebay for anything in that color the prices are nuts!
If you never intend to sell it then value doesn’t really matter. It can be a fun story when someone is over for tea, but you aren’t losing anything if something happens.
It does matter if I ever needed to replace it 😬 I know I’d order some other teapot instead but I do love this one and I’d miss it.
My son has a stuffed animal in his bedroom worth about $5,000
He won a sweepstakes prize while we were collecting squishmallow cards. I built him a plexiglass cube to display it, but if not for the display, it’s a very unassuming stuffed animal.
That’s awesome! I agree that it doesn’t look all too special if it was just sitting with other stuffed animals.
I have a feeling these are gonna go the way of beanie babies and vinyl toys and be worth very little in 3-5 years.
But then again, I just dug out some of my old Matchbox cars for my 6 year old. Just for fun went looking on eBay, and if I had treated them better, a couple were worth over $300. So who knows.
I found a copy of “The Hunt for Red October “ in a bargain bin. It looked funny and had a version of the cover I’d never seen before Bought it for like $5
It was a first printing From the Naval Institute Press.
Worth like 200$.
Nice
I’m actually reading through Hunt for Red October now, but mine is a cheap worn-out copy I got for free with another book purchase at a flea market. That’s awesome to find a first edition!
I have an autograph of Jeremy Bulloch as Boba Fett I got when I was like 6. Still framed in my bedroom.
