Add to that Madame Alexander Dolls that were bought in the 1980s. At that time, you had to stand in long lines to purchase a doll, if they had any left, and they were a hot commodity. I bought plenty of the dolls assuming they would at least maintain their value, if not go up in value. Well, I now have about 50 or more dolls taking up space in my closet that I can’t sell no matter what I do or how little I offer them for. In their heydey, I could have fetched a couple of thousand dollars for them. But now I’ll be lucky if I can get a couple of hundred for them.
This thread is destined to be a collector’s item;)
Would love to re-visit this topic in about 6 years - with all our values and valuables restored.
When I was stationed overseas, a lot of military families had those Lladro statues in their homes. They said they’d be worth a lot of money some day. I guess they’d be great for target practice, now.
One of those "experts" on that garage show got tricked by the Strad name. He thought he had a million dollar instrument and was crestfallen when it was appraised at being worth about $100. I laughed my posterior off when this guy looked at the fiddle thinking he'd found a real Strad. Proves that even people who buy and sell stuff for a living can be fooled.
You could add to your list, Longaberger Baskets—i collect, display, use and enjoy my 80 or so LBs...I bought them, over the years, with the “windfall” I made selling “junk” from my late father’s basement. Dad loved to tinker with old tube radios...he had tubes of various sizes, the wood cases, a few tiny rolls of speaker ‘fabric’ (not the black poly stuff...weaves made in the 20s & 30s—with gold thread woven in).
Years ago, when I had to put dad’s house on the market, I placed a couple pieces on eBay. The ‘buyers’ would then email me asking what else I had...so I sold to maybe 8 to 10 collectors—only had to pay for as many auctions. I would sell tubes (that I could have easily just thrown away—’what’s this ‘good for?’—and I would buy a basket (ot three) with the proceeds. My excitement when MY purchases arrived got me thru a very hard time—as my dad’s health was failing quickly.
Using my eBay knowledge, I have sole Depression glass/Westmoreland glass online (Martha Stewart stacking pedistal cake plates was a boom to me). Economy is so bad now, people are keeping and ‘using’ grandma’s stuff rather than selling.
Beanie Babies ruined the collectible industry (from a former BB retailer who sold thousands of the little worthless things).
We have also donated hundreds of them to charities filling Christmas Shoe Boxes so the little worthless things may actually make a child a million miles away smile.
I have Jose Canseco rookie cards. :)