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So-called ‘vintage’ Barbie dolls made before 1972 can fetch astonishing prices, particularly in the US. A pristine doll that skipped off the production line in 1959 and originally cost $3 recently went for $47,500. Boringly, though, it’s primarily the dollies that were never played with and are still in their original packaging that raise the most money.
Collecting experts say that if you want to buy stuff that’s likely to be valuable in ten or 20 years’ time, you should invest in items that today’s teenagers want but can’t afford, such as iPhones. It’s the grown-ups of today who chase the must-haves of their youth: chopper bikes, for example, cost £35 in the 1970s — a lot for many parents in that recessionary decade — so teenagers who couldn’t afford one then are buying now, in early middle age. One aficionado who had kept his black and chrome bike in mint condition for over two decades sold it two years ago on eBay for £1,900, to a company director who wasn’t allowed one as a child.
Film and music items are also increasingly popular. Juke boxes, electric guitars (particularly those played or smashed up by rock stars) and posters are bought by accountants and lawyers pretending to themselves that they were once the ‘Wild Ones’. Many collectors would rather splash their cash on one of Jimi Hendrix’s guitars than on an Old Master.
Designer clothes can also be investments — but they need to be kept in very good condition to bring in a profit when they’re sold. I have a friend who paid for an extension on her house by selling her 1970s Vivienne Westwoods. If fashion is your thing, the big winners right now seem to be Hermès bags, particularly the ‘Birkin’, named after sex-kitten actress-singer Jane, which sells new for upwards of £3,000, with a two-year waiting list. Six of the ten most expensive fashion items sold on eBay in the last year were Birkin bags, and a 2004 black crocodile Birkin sold at Christie’s for £49,250 last November.
Pat Frost, director of fashion and textiles at Christie’s, says: ‘Rare, vintage items from the most iconic designers are always highly sought after, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Balenciaga and Chanel. It’s too early to say whether demand for items by Alexander McQueen will increase in value, but it was certainly the case with Yves Saint Laurent.’ If I’m brutally frank, the new value of McQueen’s creations was the first thing I thought of when news of his death hit the headlines.
When it comes to cult figures from the worlds of film and music, even items created after their death can increase in value if they’re kept in good condition and there are enough devotees still alive. An Elvis doll bought ten years ago would be worth much more now, in good condition. Items that these legends actually wore or owned will always make more, though. Michael Jackson’s single rhinestone-studded glove sold for $350,000 at auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York last December. Even Jackson memorabilia created now could increase in value for the next 50 years as fans continue to revere him.
So the message is, if you’re going to a rock concert or a Hollywood premiere, keep your ticket and grab a poster. Don’t throw away your iPad — in fact ideally from an investment viewpoint, don’t take it out of the box, use it or let anyone else see it. Check out what the teens are hankering after, grab them, box them and store them in the loft for the next 20 years. If your boyfriend or sugar-daddy insists on buying you designer clothes, don’t wear them, just put them in tissue paper and barely breathe on them. Oh, and make friends with Lady Gaga (she likes boiled eggs apparently) and see what mementos you can filch from her. Even a monogrammed handkerchief, used once to dab her lipstick or mop her brow, could pay the central heating bills in your old age.
Jasmine Birtles is the founder and editor of moneymagpie.com.
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