Are Your Childhood Possessions Hidden Treasures?

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My parents were in town for a visit recently and stayed overnight at my home. My dad and I watched a television show in which people brought objects they found at home, at a second hand store, or at a garage sale to find out if they were valuable or not. Experts would inspect the objects and estimate their value. Sometimes the objects were common and not worth much, but others were hidden gems worth a tidy sum of money.

The show brought back a flood of childhood memories of various things that either I collected, or owned. My parents have slowly transferred my childhood possessions to me one box at a time over the years when they come to visit. I wondered if I had any hidden gems packed in boxes in my storage room.

Stamp Collection

I collected stamps for a short time, placing them in a picture album to protect the stamps. I would cut ones I liked off of the envelopes of items we received in the mail. Cancelled stamps (those marked by the post office when the letter is mailed) are likely not worth much. But, during that same period I would also go to the post office every Saturday and ask the post master if he had any new stamps. My stamps have been in that protective picture album for over thirty years, and I’m hoping that a stamp value guide can give me an idea as to how much my stamp collection may be worth.

NFL Football Player Cards

My brother and I both collected football cards for a few years. After receiving our allowance of $0.25 on Friday, we would immediately walk to the local grocery store and spend $0.20 on a pack of football cards. Unfortunately, most of my cards have a big red “T” on the back because I wanted to differentiate them from my brother’s cards. This certainly destroyed the value of those cards to any collector. However, there are some that are not marked. You never know, maybe some investigation using a website specializing in evaluating player cards might turn up a valuable card or two.

Autographed Item

When I was in elementary school, my family went to a Minnesota Twins game at the old Metropolitan Stadium. It was helmet day, and both my brother and I got a souvenir helmet. I got mine signed by some players having batting practice wearing the old time powder blue uniforms.

I also went to college at Mankato State University, where the Minnesota Vikings hold their training camp each summer. I got the autographs of some players of the 1990’s era. I’m planning to get those items analyzed by a sports memorabilia expert, to see if they’re worth any money.

Old Toys

I would bet most kids that grew up in the same period as I did played with heavy duty metal Tonka Truck, farm implement toys, and a wide variety of classic board games. A little searching around will help me determine an approximate value of those items as well.

I don’t know if I would sell any of my childhood possessions, it would probably depend upon how much they’re worth. Of course an estimated value is no guarantee that I’d actually be able to sell them for that amount, but it would at least give me an ideas as to whether there is any demand for the items. It would be fun to know if any of the things I still have are worth any money, almost like my own TV program!

Do you still have any of your childhood possessions? Have you ever looked into whether any of them are valuable?

About Travis

8 Responses to “Are Your Childhood Possessions Hidden Treasures?”

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  1. There are several childhood toys my brother and I had that would probably be worth money today if they were kept in good condition/not thrown out. Anything Star Wars, and we had a 2-XL (look it up) and it was awesome, and there were only a certain limited number made, so they are kind of collectors now. But no, I have nothing anymore from childhood. My parents don’t either as far as I know.

    • Travis says:

      I can imagine the feeling of knowing you HAD something that would be valuable now….a childhood friend of mine had a TON of the miniature farm toys that would undoubtedly be worth a bunch now. I’m tempted to dig around at my parents a bit more next time I’m home. Thanks for reading, Tonya!

  2. I have 2 boxes full of old comic books. I know some are worth $30-40 a piece. I need to go through them all one of these days and see the complete value.

    • Travis says:

      Ooooh, you just reminded me, Brian…I started buying a series of comic books called “The Forgotten Realms.” It was a spin off of D&D I believe…but they only made like 30 of them..and I have the COMPLETE SET all in mint condition, in plastic sleeves. I wonder how much they’re worth??

  3. When we found out our second child was a boy, I looked into selling the barbies my mom kept over the years. But they’re only worth about $10 each.

  4. I have been staring at a 40 year old OJ Simpson Football game sitting on a top shelf in a closet for a while. My parents bought it for me and my brother as kids.

    A quick search on eBay does not show any available. I wonder it this is worth $10 or $10,000? 🙂

    • Travis says:

      Great question, Bryan….sounds like a question for a game collector – if you find anything out I’d love to hear how much it’s worth!

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