Surprisingly Valuable Things You Might Have In Your Loft
With lockdown resulting in a national decluttering, many of us are planning to sell books or old tech gadgets online in a bid to make some extra money.
But are there items you may have forgotten about that could be worth thousands of pounds?
Family-owned storage company Space Station has calculated how much some items such as Beanie Babies, Lego and Harry Potter books might be worth if sold – with an estimated potential total of £390,000!
What to look out for
From old books to stuffed toys and board games to ancient tech, old clutter can be a potential goldmine… if you know what’s sought after by collectors.
To help you make money from your old unused clutter, storage expert Vlatka Lake from Space Station has revealed the once-trendy items that regularly sell for three, four, five and even six figure sums!
Beanie Babies – up to £350,000
Pic: Alex Lentati/Evening Standard/Shutterstock
They were all the rage back in the Nineties, but if you still have a few Beanie Babies hanging around in your loft, don’t throw them out.
A whole host of the stuffed toys, including Peanut the Elephant and Peace Garcia, regularly go for four figure sums online. Meanwhile a 1997 bear commemorating Princess Diana once sold for £350,000.
Harry Potter Books – up to £40,000
If you have a complete set of the wizarding series, make sure you hold onto them just in case. According to a list of criteria from Abe Books, original versions can sell from as little as £200 to over £40,000.
Old money – up to £300
Pic: Shutterstock
It’s well worth examining old copper jars for rare coins. Did you know that 20 pence pieces with no date on them and two pence coins from 1983 with the words ‘New Pence’ on them, can sell for hundreds of pounds?
Tech – up to £500
Although many people believe tech loses value as it gets older, many classic games consoles and music devices hold their worth and sometimes sell for big money.
The resurgence in popularity of record players has seen their price rocket, and old games consoles such as the SNES or Nintendo 64 can now sell for several hundreds of pounds.
Old Apple products are also worth looking for – an iPod Classic in mint condition can be sold for more than £200.
Lego – up to £7,000
Pic: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
As one of the most popular children’s toys across the world, plenty of households are bound to have old boxes of Lego.
There is a big demand for rare individual Lego blocks. However, old Lego sets can also sell for a lot more now than when they were new.
The 2007 edition of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon is available on Amazon for more than £7,000 – that’s 20 times its original value.
So where do I sell it?
There are plenty of places to sell your old stuff, with the likes of eBay and Amazon giving you access to thousands of potential buyers from all over the world. There are also websites that specialise in buying specific items, such as books and coins.
If you are selling online, it’s important to do your research and compare various sites to ensure you get the best price.
What you should keep hold of…
Pic: Shutterstock
If you don’t have any items that could potentially net you hundreds of pounds in today’s market, look out for items that are predicted to increase in value in the future.
First edition versions of modern books are a good thing to keep an eye out for, with the likes of The Da Vinci Code and Game Of Thrones tipped to increase in value over the coming years.
Original versions of tech like the Amazon Echo could net you a fortune in years to come if you hold onto it – likewise with first-edition Play Stations and Xboxes.
A safe storage solution
If you’re looking for somewhere to store your items that could increase in value over the years to come, visit Space Station, a family-owned self-storage company with facilities across London and Birmingham.
Our mission is to provide safe, secure self-storage facilities to businesses and private customers alike – something we’ve been doing for over 30 years.
