Popular video games, comic book characters, movie characters, and Saturday morning cartoon characters often became action figures, dolls, and other toys. Today, these toys often fetch high prices at auction as nostalgic collectors race to snap them up. Don’t throw those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures away just yet. You might have a small fortune sitting in your kid’s old toybox (or yours).
1980 Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Large Size Figure w/Box – sold at auction for $720
1964 Talking Herman Munster by Mattel with Original Box – sold at auction for $900
1970s The Six Million Dollar Man Venus Space Probe w/Box – sold at auction for $960
How old are character toys?
The very first character toys date back to the 19th century, to “Brownie” dolls created by Palmer Cox. Though the Brownies weren’t specific named characters, they were well-known fairy tales.
Today they’re most famous as the creatures that took center stage in The Elves and the Shoemaker, but they were as known to the people of their day as the Smurfs were to a whole generation of 80s kids, and showed up in many other stories as well.
Character toys didn’t take off until the 20th century, of course, but by the 1940s they were a household phenomenon. Some wooden action figures even represented characters we know today, like Superman.
Which character toys sell well at auction?
When we look for toys to sell, we look for the following:
- Toys that the Baby Boomer generation grew up with
- Toys from the 1950s through the 1970s
- Toys from major 1980s properties, such as Star Wars and Masters of the Universe
- 1990s toys from major properties like My Little Pony and American Girls
- Disney characters often do well as well.
Toys that inspire strong nostalgia from any era are generally worth looking at. If you yourself feel a strong jolt of nostalgia when pulling out any of those old character toys, then you might want to talk to us!
What makes a character toy valuable?
Toys are like most antiques: it’s about rarity, condition, and popularity. Provenance can also matter
Any undamaged toy in its original packaging will be especially valuable, but don’t discount the toys your kids played with just yet. An especially rare toy will still fetch a good price, even if it’s been handled a bit. If you’ve got an entire lot, the toys can be worth a surprising amount in aggregate.
Finally, toys that have been graded by services like the Collectable Grading Authority will always sell for more.
Examples of rare character toy auction results
Here are some results from past auctions.
- L’il Abner Dogpatch band sold for over $200
- A Donald Duck Linemar fire truck with “crazy action” sold for $425
- A Popeye Linemar windup pilot toy sold for $3,000
- A Kotobukiya Robocop 2 CAIN one coin action figure brought in $8000
- A Star Wars ESB Kenner Advertising Display (Collect all 32 action figures) went for $8,450.
- A 1980 Kenner Star Wars 32 Back-B Yoda Sealed Action figure brought in $19,200.
It’s possible you have standouts like those in your army of figurines, any of which is a good reason to assess and auction your old toys, rather than deliver them to the bins of Goodwill.
Get your character toys assessed today
If you want to know what your toys are worth, contact Central Mass Auctions to see what you’ve got and to set up a successful auction. You can call Central Mass Auctions at 508-612-6111, or email us.
