It can come as a shock to realise that your childhood toys are now antiques – especially for you youngsters who grew up in the 1990s! Nostalgia drives a brisk market for vintage and antique toys from the 70s, 80s and 90s, and if you’re ready to make some space by parting with your childhood treasures, let us tell you how.

Cataloguing vintage toys

The first step is to work out what you actually have in the way of classic toys. From vintage Starwars figures to retro electronic games to Britains farm animals, list each item with a brief description of its condition. Add any details about the manufacturer that you have, and whether you’ve got the packaging.

Is it worth restoring vintage toys before you sell them?

As a general rule, it is not worth restoring toys in the hopes of getting a better sale price. There is a degree of taste involved in restoration, and some collectors of vintage toys place a high value on patina and signs of wear, which are seen as part of the toy’s story. You’ll be wanting the antique toys you’re planning to sell to appeal to as wide a range of potential buyers as possible, so while cleaning off obvious dirt is reasonable, repairs and repainting are a step too far.

If the toy is broken or the set has missing parts, it can still find a buyer. A collector may have spare parts to repair it, or they may not mind the damage.

Valuing vintage toys

Draw on expertise within the toy collecting community when it comes to valuing individual items. Discussion forums and sales listings can give you a good idea of the going rate for sought-after action figures and Lego sets. Following online auctions on eBay or even visiting sales can also help you get a sense of a reasonable asking price.

A very large or valuable collection of vintage toys is best appraised by a dealer. It’s possible that selling each toy individually will net you more money; but by selling it to a dealer in one go, you could save yourself a lot of effort, packaging and admin.

The best places to sell vintage toys in 2026

There are various specialist buyers of vintage toys – some will even allow you to post vintage toys for sale to them. eBay is another way of selling antique toys. And they can do well at boot fairs, too, particularly if you choose a fair with a reputation for antique toys.

Storing vintage toys

Should you decide to keep your childhood toys, check out our advice on managing a collection with self-storage.

Vintage toys and dolls are best stored in a climate-controlled setting. Keeping temperature and humidity stable will minimise stress to vulnerable materials. Avoid putting antique toys, particularly those made from natural fibres, or vulnerable materials like vinyl, in the attic or in unheated outbuildings, as the extremes of temperature are likely to cause deterioration.

While antique toys can make interesting display pieces, keeping them in low light will avoid sun damage.

Antique toys will be covered by your self-storage insurance and a storage unit, particularly one with climate control, is the ideal place to keep them if you’d rather not have them at home. To find out how much it will cost to insure your stored vintage toys, get a quote from Store and Insure.