Sophie McVinnie learns the true value of antique teddy bears.
TEDDY bears, vintage dolls and even childhood toys from the 1960s could fetch hundreds of pounds today.
If you’ve got anything like that lying around upstairs, hidden in a cupboard or put away in the attic, Janet Rawnsley thinks it might be time to get them down.
She is a teddy bear expert at Hansons Auctioneers – so here’s everything she wants you to know.
Firstly, don’t write off any toys from the Sixties and Seventies.
As it turns out, that’s where the money is, because newly retired people have started buying back their childhood.
You don’t have to own antiques from the 1900s to fetch a pretty figure, and that’s where the common misconception lies.
“If you have a brother or a friend who still owns an Action Man from the late Sixties, you’d never think, ‘Oh, gosh, that must be valuable’,” Janet says.
“It might be a bit interesting, but you wouldn’t think it was worth hundreds and hundreds of pounds, which is what it is.
“The Sixties and Seventies are on fire!”
Jeanette Davies and her son Kyle Johns scored a lucky draw when Jeanette auctioned off a rare 1905 cinnamon-coloured Steiff teddy bear for a whopping £4,985 last year.
The precious find was discovered at a car boot sale at Monmouth Showground in South Wales.
“I just had a gut feeling,” Jeanette said at the time. “I thought he looked like a Steiff bear – a make which can be valuable.
“Sometimes you just take a gamble and I’m glad we did.”
But don’t be fooled. Although an antique like that can sell for thousands, they’re exceptionally rare, and janet doesn’t want you betting solely on finding a wartime bear.
An old Barbie you have lying around from your childhood could make a good chunk of money, and perhaps you wouldn’t otherwise think twice about it.
“They’re selling for hundreds, and people would normally just put them in the bin,” she explains.
“But don’t just think you have to have an antique doll or teddy bear, because few people alive today have that cultural reference.
“It’s practically gone.”
Of course, if you do own
