When talk turns to what toys we played with as children a lot of 20 and 30 somethings will often lament not having their toys in the attic in great condition. As a lot of people know having vintage toys in mint condition or even just in their boxes can be a worthy investment. How do you tell if you've got a goldmine on your hands or a bunch of junk. There are a few things you need to think about. How long you have had the toy is one thing but there is also the rarity of the toy as well as the condition to consider.

Ebay has made it easier to track down old toys but that has meant that a lot of items are now less rare than they used to be. Before Ebay and the internet the most popular ways to find old toys would be through car boot sales and serious collectors. Now anyone with a toy can add it to ebay quickly and cheaply. Ebay is great for gauging if you have a worthy collectable on your hands. You can check out current and previous listings to see how much similar items have sold for and what condition they are selling in.

As an example Optimus Prime is a very popular toy and always has been. In the 1980s he was a huge seller so there are a lot of toys of him out there. A mint condition 1984 Optimus Prime in it's original packaging can easily fetch hundreds of pounds. The Transformers are still popular so there are lots of buyers online. However you could also get the same toy without it's packaging for anything from £10 to £50 depending on the seller and the current demand. As a sidenote if buying vintage Transformers look out for reissues of old toys in the exact same packaging as the originals. The seller should be able to provide a photo of the box date for verification.

With regrets of throwing out old toys comes plans for storing new ones. The thing to remember with this is that special edition, rare toys and toys which are very popular will be worth much more in the future than a toy that is still sitting on the shelves in a few years. If lots of toys are being sold then it's a good chance that lots of packaging is being eagerly ripped open and thrown away. Pop a few in the attic and forget about them for 20 years and voila. That's depending whether or not there is still interest in that line of toys however. It's not an exact science.