Six 90s items that are worth a fortune in 2024

Before you make a start with the winter clearout of your cupboard clutter, you might want to check their value as you could be sitting on a gold mine if you have any of these items from the 90s.

According to trends expert Nick Drewe from Wethrift, these six items have the potential to bring in the big bucks:

Vinyl LPs

Vinyl records have made a huge comeback over the past few years, with many contemporary artists re-releasing albums on vinyl. Just this week, Nicki Minaj announced a vinyl re-issue of her 2014 LP The Pinkprint in celebration of its 10th anniversary.

Some vinyl records, especially original or rare pressings, can hold tremendous value, particularly those released in the 90s. For example, Janet Jackson’s 1997 original pressing of The Velvet Ropeis listed for £752. This also extends to cassettes, with the same album being listed for £872 in cassette format.

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Super Mario Video Games

Super Mario was a part of millions of childhoods, and there might be a cartridge or disc hiding in your attic or garage that holds tremendous value.

Original Mario games have been listed for as much as £2,250, as can be seen with a boxed edition of Super Mario World. If you’re lucky enough to have something from the 80s, you could potentially make up to £500,000, as evident with a boxed and sealed 1986 SNES Super Mario Bros. game.

This also extends to select 90s video games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64, or Pokémon Stadium.

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Tour T-shirts and Merchandise

Anything from a 90s tour or music show. If you or your parents were lucky enough to see some of the world's biggest musicians live and brought home some merch, you may own valuable vintage fashion.

Select musicians such as Michael Jackson, Oasis, or The Rolling Stones have original tour merchandise listed online that is extremely rare.

For example, Michael Jackson’s last tour was in 1997, and a HIStory tour T-shirt is listed for over £1,580. Another example is a Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge tour T-shirt, listed for £489.20. If you have any of these items, make sure to protect them from the elements, as their value could skyrocket in the future.

Happy Meal Toys

Happy Meal toys have become valuable for a variety of reasons, including nostalgia, collectability, and their limited timeframe of availability. Additionally, Happy Meal toys often collaborate with other well-known franchises, celebrities, and brands, widening the pool of potential buyers.

Vintage Happy Meal toys, especially those still in their original packaging, can sell for extremely high prices. Toys from the 90s featured collaborations with brands like Hot Wheels, Mario, Charlie Brown, and Furbies.

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First Edition/Print Books

Concluding the list are first-edition books, which are considered valuable for several reasons, including historical significance, scarcity, and condition.

First editions of books are typically printed in limited quantities, especially if the author is not yet well-established. As time passes and the book gains popularity, the first editions become scarce, making them rare and desirable to collectors.

For example, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has eBay listings as high as £59,995. To identify if you have a first edition book, look for errors within the book, number lines at the back of the book ending in ‘1’, or a copyright page stating ‘first edition’.

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards

Second on this list are Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards. These were one of the biggest crazes in the late 90s, and as of 2021, the brand, Konami, has sold an estimated 35 billion cards worldwide. Despite the large volume of cards sold, as with any trading card game, there are rare and valuable prints that hold significant value.

For instance, a rare Slifer the Sky Dragon card has been listed for over £36,000 on eBay.

The brand’s nostalgia and cultural significance help these cards retain value, and there is still massive demand for them online, with worldwide Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments still taking place.

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