The Alchemy of Turning Toys to Gold

Occasionally someone will come in my office, take notice of the GIJoe on the bookshelf and comment on it.

A recent conversation went something like this:

"Hey, I just bought one of these for my son's birthday."

"Really. Which one did you buy him?"

"I bought him the Audie Murphy. I told him to leave it in the box. Someday it's gonna be valuable."

Sigh.

I never have the heart to tell them, that's not how it works. Toys become valuable for one reason and it almost sounds like a cliche as I write it--they were loved.

GIJoe became a hot collectible because it was a hugely popular toy and millions of boys have fond memories of backyard adventures with America's first action figure. Later on when those children grew up, some of them attempted to re-live that part of their youth by acquiring the toy that brought them so much joy years before.

This demand creates a collectible, especially when a toy was so popular that it was literally "played to death". All of those backyard battles took their toll on GIJoe and despite that fact that millions of the toys were produced, relatively few survive in the pristine condition that collectors want. This simple law of supply and demand creates the value in the collectible.

Observing how boxed specimens of sixties and seventies GIJoe command premium prices, people incorrectly assume that is the box that drives the value, when in fact it is the item in the box. A mint condition GIJoe that no one ever played with and therefore never made that emotional connection with is never going to command anything remotely resembling the price of gold. Most of the Audie Murphys, George Washingtons, General Pattons and any other "made for the collector" figure you can name will never be played with. In fact the boxed glut on some of these figures is going to be so high that you may lose money if you try to sell them.

Are there exceptions to the rule? Sure and the one that comes to mind is the awful GIJoe nurse from 1967.

Possibly one of the ugliest dolls ever produced it was an immediate bomb and killed female figures in the GIJoe line for twenty years until they made a comeback with the 3 3/4 inch line in the 1980's. But, before you get too excited, the nurse is valuable for a few reasons, none of which exist in todays market. First of all she was released in the era before everyone (and I mean everyone) collected boxed toys. So when she failed and was clearanced, nearly all of the boxed nurses were opened and played with by someone (or blown up with firecrackers). That made an item that had a small production run, even rarer. Still, she wouldn't have gained the notoriety she obtained had she not been part of the original 1964-1968 GIJoe line. Her inclusion in that time period guaranteed her value. There is almost nothing during that GIJoe era that hasn't increased in value, if for no other reason than historical value. GIJoe was the first action figure and her inclusion in that run as the only female makes her unique indeed.

What does this all mean? It means that everyone with a boxed GIJane from the modern era expecting to sending their kids to college on the Ebay profits, should look into another investment plan.

'til next time.

Keep the Adventure Alive,

AT