7 things you owned in the 70s and 80s that are worth a small fortune today - up to £1m

• These 70s and 80s design classics were found in most homes back then
• Fuelled by nostalgia, some have soared in value
• One 70s toy sold for more than £1m, while a VHS tape fetched £86,000 at auction

They were once everyday items, found in many households during the 70s and 80s.

But these design classics that so many of us owned back then could today be worth a small fortune.

If you’ve held on to any of these items, from toys and sweets to electrical goods, you could be sitting on a goldmine.

Fuelled by 70s and 80s nostalgia, they have fetched anywhere from a few hundred pounds to more than a million pounds at auction.

It might be worth checking the attic to see if you own any of these popular 70s and 80s goods.

Barbie dolls

Barbie first sauntered onto the shelves in 1959 and has had many makeovers over the years.

She remained hugely popular in the 70s and 80s, and some of the dolls from that era can fetch hundreds of pounds.

Two of the most valuable, according to valuemystuff.com, are the 1974 Superstar Barbie, worth around £1,250, and the 1986 Feelin’ Groovy doll, valued at £1,000.

Other Barbie dolls from the era that have become popular collectors’ items include the 1983 Crystal Barbie, the 1981 Magic Curl Barbie, and Barbie’s ‘groovy talking’ best friend PJ, from the early 70s.

Sony Walkman

The Sony Walkman was first made in 1979, freeing up music lovers to listen to their favourite tracks on the move.

Walkmans were everywhere during the 80s and 90s, before CDs replaced tapes, and around 220 million were sold before production ended in 2010.

A new wave of 80s nostalgia has sparked great demand for Walkmans again, but because so many were sold, most are not worth a huge amount today.

There are exceptions, however, with a mint condition Sony Walkman WM-DC2 having sold for more than £2,600 and the original 1979 TPS-L2 model worth around £1,000.

Transformers

Transformers first hit TV screens in 1984, and the shape-shifting robots have been delighting children ever since.

Many children owned Transformers action figures during the 80s, and some are worth thousands of pounds today.

The 1985 Generation 1 Jetfire toy has been valued at nearly £19,000, while the 1984 G1 Pepsi Optimus Prime is worth up to £7,500.

Patterned pyrex

Pyrex was particularly popular during the 70s, when it could be found in most kitchens.

Many a Pyrex mixing bowl or casserole dish from the decade boasted a typically 70s colourful printed pattern.

That patterned kitchenware went out of fashion but is now all the rage again, and the best examples can easily fetch hundreds of pounds.

VHS video recorders and tapes

VHS video recorders first came out in the late 70s and by the mid-80s were found in many living rooms.

They were eventually replaced by DVD players and, later, streaming.

But 70s and 80s nostalgia means they are today highly sought-after, with vintage machines selling for hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds.

Rare VHS tapes can also fetch a pretty sum, with an original copy of Back to the Future from 1986 fetching £56,600, and a sealed copy of the first release of Star Wars: A New Hope having sold for a whopping £86,000.

PEZ dispensers

PEZ began life in the 20s as a peppermint-flavoured breath mint marketed as an alternative to tobacco, to help smokers quit.

But its popularity soared when the makers switched their focus to children, producing the fruit flavour, brick-shaped candy we’re so familiar with today, and, crucially, the dispensers with their cartoon heads.

PEZ dispensers sold in droves during the 70s and 80s, when a multitude of different styles were available.

Today, the rarest PEZ dispensers can fetch north of £1,000 each, while collections easily sell for hundreds of pounds.

Star Wars action figures

The first Star Wars film came out in 1977, and the toy company Kenner was quick to cash in on its popularity.

Between 1978 and 1985, it produced more than 100 Star Wars toys, and a phenomenal 300 million units were reportedly sold.

Old Star Wars action figures are incredibly popular with collectors today, but some are much more valuable than others.

A rare Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure with a double-telescoping lightsaber sold in 2018 for more than £57,000.

But that was put in the shade in 2024, when a 1979 Boba Fett figure fetched more than £1 million at auction, making it one of the most expensive toys ever sold.

Its value was boosted by the fact that only 100 prototypes of that model were ever made before it was altered due to safety fears over the firing rocket.

Do you own any of these popular 70s and 80s items, and would you consider cashing in, or do they mean too much to you?

Old Lego sets and minifigures can also sell for astronomical prices today. Why not check out our list of the most valuable Lego that might be lurking in your collection?