Recently Updated Collectibles
1135 collectible guides, sorted by most recently updated
1969-S Doubled Die Lincoln Cent
Coins · Updated about 1 month ago
In 2007, a man in California was searching through rolls of pennies when he pulled out a 1969-S cent that looked wrong. The letters on the front were doubled. "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the date all showed a clear second image, slightly offset from the first. He sent it to PCGS in a Brinks...
1870-S Seated Liberty Dollar
Coins · Updated about 1 month ago
In 1870, the San Francisco Mint struck a small number of silver dollars that were never recorded in any official production log. No mintage figure exists. No congressional authorization mentions them. For over 150 years, the 1870-S Seated Liberty Dollar has remained one of American numismatics' d...
1998 Pokemon Tamamushi University Magikarp Trophy Card
Trading Cards · Updated about 1 month ago
In 1998, a small number of Pokemon players in Japan walked away from a tournament at Tamamushi University with a prize card that would become one of the most sought-after trophies in the entire hobby. The Tamamushi University Magikarp, card #129, was handed out exclusively to winners and top perf...
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Withdrawn Stereo Pressing)
Vinyl Records · Updated about 1 month ago
In late May 1963, Columbia Records released Bob Dylan's second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. It contained eleven original Dylan compositions and would become one of the defining folk records of the decade. But just before the album hit stores, someone at Columbia made a last-minute decision ...
1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #53
Sports Cards · Updated about 1 month ago
## The Yellow Card That Turned a Nickel Gum Purchase Into a $4.2 Million Treasure Picture a kid in 1933, walking into a corner store during the Great Depression, sliding a penny across the counter for a pack of Goudey bubble gum. Inside the wax wrapper, along with a flat slab of pink gum, sits a...
1877 Indian Head Cent
Coins · Updated about 1 month ago
## A Penny Worth More Than a Paycheck - The 1877 Indian Head Cent That Collectors Dream About In 1877, the United States was crawling out of a devastating economic depression. The Panic of 1873 had gutted the economy, and by 1877, demand for small change had dropped so dramatically that the Phil...
1794 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar
Coins · Updated about 1 month ago
## The First Silver Dollar Struck by the United States Mint Sold for Over $10 Million On October 15, 1794, Mint Director David Rittenhouse personally carried a batch of freshly struck silver dollars out of the Philadelphia Mint and began spending them into circulation. These were the very first ...
1847 Mauritius "Post Office" Stamps
Stamps · Updated about 1 month ago
## When a Governor's Wife Needed Party Invitations, She Helped Create the World's Most Valuable Stamps In September 1847, on a small tropical island in the Indian Ocean, Lady Gomm - the wife of the Governor of Mauritius - needed stamps for invitations to an upcoming ball. Local watchmaker and en...
Original Kenner Star Wars Action Figures (1977-1985)
Toys & Figures · Updated about 1 month ago
## From Toy Shelves to Treasure Vaults: Original Kenner Star Wars Figures (1977-1985) In the summer of 1977, George Lucas made a deal that Hollywood executives would regret for decades. He traded a higher directing fee for the merchandising rights to a little space movie called Star Wars. When t...
Rolex Submariner Ref. 5513 (Vintage)
Watches · Updated about 1 month ago
## The Diver's Watch That Conquered Dry Land: Vintage Rolex Submariner Ref. 5513 In 1962, Rolex introduced reference 5513 as the "no-frills" sibling to the chronometer-certified 5512. It was meant to be the working diver's tool - same 40mm Oyster case, same 200 meters of water resistance, same r...
Original Kenner Star Wars Figures (1977-1985)
Toys & Figures · Updated about 1 month ago
## 3.75 Inches of Pure Nostalgia: Original Kenner Star Wars Figures (1977 to 1985) In the summer of 1977, Kenner had the license to make Star Wars toys but no product ready. Their solution was the "Early Bird Certificate Package," an empty box with a promise: mail this in, and we will send you f...
1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle #253 Rookie Card
Sports Cards · Updated about 1 month ago
## The Card That Made a Commerce: Mickey Mantle's 1951 Bowman #253 In the spring of 1951, a 19-year-old kid from Commerce, Oklahoma stepped into Yankee Stadium and changed baseball forever. That same year, the Bowman Gum Company captured his likeness on card #253 of their annual set - a simple p...
Original Atari 2600 Air Raid Cartridge
Collectible Toys & Games · Updated about 1 month ago
A Goodwill employee in Fort Worth, Texas found it in a donation bin in 2021. A blue cartridge with a strange T-shaped handle - nothing like a standard Atari 2600 game. It sold at Goodwill's online auction for **$10,591**. That cartridge was Air Raid, the only game ever made by a company called Me...
1st Edition Monopoly 1935 Parker Brothers
Collectible Toys & Games · Updated about 1 month ago
Parker Brothers was producing 20,000 Monopoly games per week within months of acquiring the rights in 1935. That kind of volume means your old Monopoly set is probably not as rare as you hope. But - specific 1935 variants with the right markings can be worth **$300 to $1,000**. And the truly rare...
Ming Dynasty Blue and White Porcelain Vase
Antiques & Decorative Arts · Updated about 1 month ago
In 2025, someone bought a vase at a yard sale for $35. It turned out to be Ming Dynasty porcelain, valued at **$300,000 to $500,000**. This isn't a fairy tale - it's what happens when 600-year-old Chinese imperial ceramics end up in unexpected places. Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain vases a...
Fabergé Egg Third Imperial Easter Egg
Antiques & Decorative Arts · Updated about 1 month ago
A scrap metal dealer bought it at a flea market for $14,000. He planned to melt it down for the gold. But the gold content was worth less than he'd paid, so it sat on his shelf. One day, he Googled the Vacheron Constantin watch hidden inside. That search led him to discover he was holding the Thi...
1960 Martin D-28
Musical Instruments · Updated about 1 month ago
They call it "the guitar that built Nashville." The Martin D-28 has been in continuous production since 1931 - the dreadnought-bodied acoustic that defined the sound of country, folk, bluegrass, and rock. Hank Williams played one. So did Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Neil Young, and Johnny Cash. The 19...
Stradivarius Violin Lady Blunt 1721
Musical Instruments · Updated about 1 month ago
Antonio Stradivari made roughly 1,100 instruments in his Cremona workshop. About 650 survive. The "Lady Blunt" - named after Lady Anne Blunt, granddaughter of Lord Byron - is among the best preserved of all of them. Built in 1721 during Stradivari's "golden period," it was rarely played, spending...
1963 Fender Stratocaster Pre-CBS
Musical Instruments · Updated about 1 month ago
In January 1965, CBS bought Fender for $13 million. Quality declined almost immediately. That makes 1963 the sweet spot - the last full year of what collectors call the "pre-CBS" era, when Leo Fender's team was still building guitars by hand with nitrocellulose lacquer, clay dot markers, and spag...
Pikachu Illustrator Promo Pokemon
Trading Cards · Updated about 1 month ago
It was given to children. Between 1997 and 1998, winners of illustration contests run by Japan's CoroCoro Comic magazine received a special Pokémon card as their prize. It featured Pikachu holding a paintbrush, painting. The word "Illustrator" appeared where "Trainer" normally goes - the only Pok...
1st Edition Blue-Eyes White Dragon Yu-Gi-Oh
Trading Cards · Updated about 1 month ago
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, only four copies of Blue-Eyes White Dragon exist in the entire world. Seto Kaiba owns three of them - and destroys the fourth so nobody can use it against him. That obsessive, almost villainous desire to possess the ultimate card? It translated perfectly to real life. The ...
Black Lotus Alpha Magic: The Gathering
Trading Cards · Updated about 1 month ago
A regular Alpha booster pack cost $2.45 in 1993. Inside one of those packs might have been a Black Lotus - a card that costs zero mana to play, produces three mana of any color when sacrificed, and breaks the fundamental economics of Magic: The Gathering so thoroughly that it was restricted almos...
LEGO Cafe Corner 10182
Toys & Figures · Updated about 1 month ago
In 2007, LEGO released a $140 set that nobody expected to become an investment. Set 10182, "Cafe Corner," was a three-story European-style corner building designed for adult fans. It was the first LEGO Modular Building - a series that would eventually span 20+ sets. LEGO retired it after just one...
Original 1977 Star Wars 12-Back Figures MOC
Toys & Figures · Updated about 1 month ago
When Star Wars hit theaters in May 1977, Kenner had no toys ready. The demand was so overwhelming that Kenner sold empty boxes - "Early Bird Certificate" packages - promising figures would come later. When the first twelve figures finally shipped in early 1978 on cards showing just 12 available c...
G.I. Joe Prototype 1964
Toys & Figures · Updated about 1 month ago
Before G.I. Joe, there was no such thing as an "action figure." Boys had toy soldiers and model kits. Dolls were for girls. Then Don Levine at Hasbro took a gamble on an idea from licensing agent Stan Weston: what if boys would play with a doll - as long as nobody called it that? The handcrafted ...