Found out my old Spirograph set is worth $200 now

I was cleaning out my mom's attic last weekend and found my old Spirograph set from the 80s. The box was beat up and a few gears were missing, so I figured it was trash. Out of curiosity I checked eBay and was floored to see complete sets going for over $200. Turns out the original 1960s and 80s versions are collector items now, especially if you have the ring gear and all the shape templates. I never would have guessed that something I used to draw wonky circles with would be worth that much. Makes me wonder what other old toys I threw away that might be sitting in someone else's garage. Anyone else find out a childhood toy is worth way more than you expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robin15h ago

Idk, I kinda get the opposite feeling. Finding out something you actually used and enjoyed is worth money now makes me feel weirdly possessive. Like yeah maybe I could sell it, but then I'd just be another person trying to cash in on nostalgia. Maybe it's just me but a beat up Spirograph with a few gears missing still has memories attached to it, and that's worth more than 200 bucks to me.

samthompson18h ago

My old Lite-Brite from the 90s is probably sitting in a landfill right now, but knowing my luck the one I had was the rare "missing peg" variant worth nothing anyway. Ngl, I could barely draw a straight line with a ruler back then, so my Spirograph just ended up as a tangled mess of ink and frustration. Tbh I’m kinda relieved I didn’t keep it because I’d probably just stare at it and feel bad about the $200 I could’ve had instead of a dusty box of plastic gears. Honestly, the only thing I’ve ever found in an attic that turned out valuable was a half-eaten bag of chips from 1987.