Some AFL cards, Tazos and Beanie Kid collections worth thousands
Basketball cards, Tazos, Happy Meal toys — there was hardly a schoolyard in the 1990s where kids weren’t frantically collecting and trading these collectables. With Coles Minis and Ooshies rejuvenating the fad, here’s a look back at some beloved collector items from the past.
Best of Melbourne
Don't miss out on the headlines from Best of Melbourne. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Your childhood wasn’t complete without a collection of some sort — be it basketball or footy cards, Tazos, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys or Beanie Kids.
Collectables can be big business, with some complete sets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, while others do it out of love.
Take a look back at some of the most popular childhood collectables.
HAPPY MEAL TOYS
McDonald’s has always been a trendsetter, especially with its Happy Meal toys.
The Muppets, Sesame Street and Looney Tunes were some of the big-names to appear in 90s Happy Meals.
Avid collector Cazz Jennings, best known for her Nerd Burger vlog, has collected “thousands” of Happy Meal toys and other Maccas memorabilia over the years.
Among her favourites are the Halloween McNugget Buddies and McDonalds Changeables.
“I remember everyone was into the chicken nugget Halloween toys — there were even some that glowed in the dark,” she said.
“The McDonalds (Changeables) were also popular, where french fries and hot cakes would turn into a transformer. That was pretty cool.”
The McDonalds Barbie dolls and the Fry Guys were also well received on her Nerd Burger Instagram.
Some may remember the Batman Forever frosted glasses and the McDonald’s gang 2000 Sydney Olympics plastic cups.
Cazz, who also works at Melbourne’s All Star Comics, said every collection had its Holy Grail item that everyone wanted and would pay good money for.
“The Marvel Legends toy line is the biggest for buying and reselling at the moment, but like anything there’s always a Holy Grail item,” she said.
“Like with VHS, there’s always one that’s been made differently to the majority and some of these items are usually unattainable.”
“You want (your item) to be in good condition and complete — otherwise it won’t be worth a lot.”
TAZOS
Who didn’t just buy packets of chips at school for the Tazo inside?
They started out with Looney Tunes characters, then quickly followed with characters from The Simpsons, Sailor Moon, Star Wars and Space Jam.
Cazz also collects Tazos and while she doesn’t have complete collections, she has thousands stored in folders and an old lunch box at her home.
“The Simpsons ones, that were 3D, were big. So was Space Jam,” she said.
“I think the reason why Space Jam was so massive in Australia had something to do with Tazos.”
Star Wars Tazos, which could be made into a space ships, were also popular.
Some complete collections of sealed, 200 Tazos from 1995 are asking $1400 on eBay.
BEANIE KIDS
Beanie Kids were first released in Australia in September 1997. They were traditionally sold at licensed gift stores like What’s New.
Erika Toth, from Melbourne’s outer east, has more than 3500 bears in one of Australia’s most comprehensive collections.
Not only does she have the complete set of Beanie Kids, she also has the mutation and never released bears.
“I started collecting on 18 September, 2002. It was my 40th birthday and my best friend bought me the Amber, an orange Beanie Kid,” she said.
That night, Erika went online and bought another 85, for about $880. Upon collection from the seller, she bought another 20 bears.
She’s spent $130,000 in total on her collection, and after buying and reselling some rare Beanie Kids in the mid 2000s, she’s made her money back.
Erika said collecting wasn’t about “what you knew, but who you knew” and her networking saw her make friends with company insiders who sold her unreleased bears.
“I bought an Elvis Presley Beanie Kid prototype, that was never released, for $500,” she said.
“Someone offered to pay me $14,000 for that one bear about four years ago.”
Some of the other rare bears were Jade and Goldie — the first Beanie Kids made.
However, the appetite for Beanie Kid collections stopped in February 2017, when the company ceased production.
“They’re now selling for the $5 or $6 I paid for them,” she said.
Erika said she started collecting because she loved it, but it soon became a way to make her money back.
She said the best way to make money from collections was buy and resell when the product was in demand.
CARDS
First came the NBA basketball card craze, followed by AFL footy, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh.
Popcultcha Australia director Ash Howard said basketball cards were the reason his parents opened their Geelong family business Card Mania in 1993.
“I really wanted the Shaq card when I was a kid. When we were in America and I spent $8 US on the single card back then,” he said.
“It was a valuable lesson for me, as I’d made an investment and I look back now and it’s probably valued the same today as it was back then.”
Ash said just because an item was “vintage” didn’t mean it would be worth a lot of money.
“It comes back to old fashioned economics — supply and demand,” he said.
NBA cards are now making a comeback, possibly in some part due to Netflix’s release of the Michael Jordan documentary.
“Basketball cards are making a comeback. We don’t have a single basketball card in store, they got swooped on quickly,” he said.
Ash said the Michael Jordan rookie card was one of the most popular cards back in the day.
AFL cards were another popular craze that swept the schoolyard.
On eBay, some vintage footy card sets from the 60s attract bids up to $4000, while rare individual cards from the 1800s can fetch upwards of $8750.
Some of the more recent cards now sell for $15 each.
OOSHIES, MINIS AND NEW TRENDS
In the last couple of years a new wave of collectables has swept the market.
In 2019, Coles Minis and Woolworths Ooshis were all the rage and in 2020, it’s Pop Vinyls — miniature plastic dolls of popular culture characters.
“It’s the hype and popularity of what people are collecting at that point in time,” Ash said.
This explains why some Coles Minis and Ooshies collectables attracted big dollars when re-sold.
Ash said the industry was quite lucrative for some, if you bought and sold at the right time.
“I guess some need to strike when the iron is hot,” he said.
“Worldwide (Pop Vinyls are) the most collected toy. We have had thousands of orders for them,” he said.
Popcultcha often drops limited edition Pop Vinyls and has been overwhelmed by demand.
“In the last few years we’ve had so much traffic going to out website, we’ve had to implement a virtual queue system,” he said.
While money is clearly a motivating factor for some, Ash said real collectors did it out of passion.
“I tell my kids you should collect because you like collecting. You should get joy and passion from it and the financial aspect should be a secondary thing,” he said.
MORE NEWS:
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO WHAT’S NEW?
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO TGI FRIDAYS?