Gaming is soaring to heady new heights in the auction industry and it’s fascinating to witness.
Toy-related items move with the times in the collectors’ market. Each generation reaches an age where they look back, covert items that brought them joy – and have the cash to buy them. Take the Wars phenomenon. Toys bought for 99p in the late 1970s can now sell for hundreds of pounds. And an old Chopper bicycle can send vintage hearts soaring with delight.
Now the gaming community has joined this nostalgia-fuelled sector the impact is set to be huge. That’s because there are so many potential buyers in a giant industry. It’s estimated there are 2.69 billion gamers worldwide.
We noted a huge increase in demand for gaming-related items during Hansons’ first online toy sale held as lockdown eased in May 2020. This related to both retro games and equipment. Boxes of old games that used to fetch modest sums in general sales were suddenly sought after. That momentum has continued.
In our October 2021 Toy/Gaming Auction the top lots were all-gaming related items. At number one was a sealed box of Pokémon cards bought more than 20 years ago for £70 at Birmingham’s NEC. It was snapped up for £9,000.
The Pokémon Base Set Booster Box, Charizard (Blue Wing), 1996-99, in original Wizards of the Coast cellophane, belonged to Geoff Brown, 64, a retired engineer from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. He knew the item was worth hanging on to when he bought it in the late 1990s. However, he never imagined its value could be so enormous today.
Pokémon trading cards are massively popular to buy and collect and have been rising in value for more than five years. Wealthy young people in their 20s and 30s who got into Pokémon when they were children are buying rare cards and prices have spiked.
For example, a 26-year-old boxer and YouTuber called Logan Paul caught the media’s attention when he wore a rare first edition Base Set Charizard Pokémon card as a medallion round his neck at an exhibition fight. He paid $150,000 (£108,117) for the privilege.
Prices may have been fuelled even more this year because of Pokémon25, an ongoing celebration to mark the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise, which began with the original Japanese release of Pocket Monsters Red and Green for Game Boy on February 27, 1996.
Bearing all that in mind, it should come as no surprise that lot 317, a rare, boxed Nintendo Gameboy, Pokémon Red version, 1998, soared to £4,000. Then there was lot 318 – discovered in Derby. A rare, gold-coloured Nintendo 64 controller, found in an unpaid storage locker, made £2,600.
Its rarity was down to the fact it was given as a prize to winners of a four-player E3 1997 StarFox Tournament in America. The first N64 Gold controller came from the 1997 E3 held in Atlanta, Georgia. The 24-year-old controller had an embossed golden ‘N’ in the centre. Despite slight wear to the controller, it was snapped up.
Pokémon made the sale top 10 again thanks to lot 316, a collection of three uncut Pokémon Base Set printers’ sheets by Wizards of the Coast. These sold for £1,800 and demonstrate the rising interest in historical items relating the industry.
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidiary of Hasbro, which acquired the company in 1999.
If you have any gaming-related items it’s worth gaining a valuation. But if you haven’t, don’t despair. Toy auctions are hugely diverse and appeal to a broad cross section of people of all ages.
Other items in the October sale top 10 included lot 367, a Marvel Comics’ original copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300, May 1988. It reached £950. And Star Wars rocketed to success thanks to lot 253, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker Palitoy figure, £900.
The key thing to remember is that items from the 1970s, 80s or 90s that may be lingering at the back of old cupboards and drawers, deemed worthless, may now be exactly what the latest generation of collectors want.
But there is still a strong market for tinplate toys and antique/vintage teddies and dolls, railwayana and steam engines, too. In fact, lot 219, a live steam beam engine, sold for £1,000.
Another hit with bidders was lot 295, a good collection of assorted model-making aero engines. It was contested to £900. Meanwhile, lot 228, a splendid original transport poster marking the 1859-1959 centenary of the Royal Albert railway bridge in Saltash, Cornwall, published by British Railways, made £660.
Hansons is inviting entries for its December 2 General Toy Auction. To book a free valuation at Hansons, Heage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire, virtual valuation, or to find out more, email toy/gaming expert David Wilson-Turner: [email protected].
