Vintage Mattel Toys

Although the company has been around since 1945, Mattel really exploded in popularity when Barbie came along and gave the toy world a good shaking.  She is probably the most collected of the vintage Mattel toys, but there are other Mattel products that did very well in their original run which are still much sought after today by toy collectors the world over.


If you are looking as a collector now, you will find that searching on vintage Mattel Toys on eBay will bring up a ton of Barbies.  But she certainly is not the only vintage Mattel toy to put on your watch list.  She seems to be the reigning queen of eBay vintage dolls.  If she is in decent shape, you can pretty much count on spending a minimum amount in the low hundreds.  The more rare the doll and the better the condition, the higher the price will go, often up and over the thousand dollar mark. (But you knew that).

If you are searching out what sells on eBay, old Mattel toys are a good place to look.  They were right there testing out the best and latest technology that they could back in the "vintage" days.  Having the income produced by selling Barbie surely gave them a little bit of money to invest in their research and development.

Recent Mattel items that sold well include a black Chatty Cathy doll that went for $500.  Of course there were to top of the line Ponytail Barbies that went for prices topping $700.  These are pretty rare to come across though if you are out hunting them on your own.  Most of the time, anyone selling one of these vintage dolls has a pretty good idea that they are worth some good money, and if anything, they will want to charge an enormous amount of money to sell offline.  From what I've seen, they look up the most expensive Barbie on eBay and then want to sell their items with a starting price somewhere in the neighborhood of what the top doll online sold for.  Of course, that is usually a ridiculously high amount unless the doll's condition is utterly amazing.  People do this on eBay sometimes too.  Just look at how many dolls there are with zero bids that started out with opening prices of seven or eight hundred dollars.  Those sellers scare bidders right away from their auctions.

Anyway, what are some good collectible vintage Mattel toys to look for?  Well, here are a few things that seem to sell well for others...

Vintage Barbie (of course) as well as any of her friends and their accessories.  DON'T forget the vintage Barbie clothing and accessories.  They are like gold!

Mattel Chatty Cathy Dolls - The ones that sell best seem to have something distinguishing about them.  The top seller was a black doll and number two was Canadian doll this week.  With that said, Chatty Cathy does pretty well in general if she is in good shape.  Just don't some outrageous amount for the doll if she is completely beat up.  There are too many other nice ones out there to compete with and you could end up taking a beating on the purchase.

Vintage Mattel Hotwheels Redline Hotwheels are a great find.  These have a red line on the tires.  I remember having these when I was a kid in the 70s.  I wish I had bought a ton of them and left them in the package.  You can sometimes find these in boxes of toy cars at garage sales.  Often dads give their old cars to their sons and they get all mixed together with more recent models.  Hotwheels Redline cars are a very nice find.

Mattel Cap Guns - They made a bunch of these including the Shootin' Shell and Fanners.  If you find any vintage cap guns at a decent price and in decent condition, grab them.  They usually sell really well.  If you have any stashed away in the attic, get them for goodness sake!

Cecil the Sea Serpent - Cecil is from the 60s show Beanie and Cecil.  He is a sea serpent who shows up on eBay in Jack-in-the-box form

from time to time and also as a talking Mattel doll.  He also could show up in other vintage toy forms.  Learn what he looks like and keep your eyes open.  He sells well if he is in decent shape.

Space 1999 Toys - Wow.  I remember 1999 seeming like it was pretty far in the future.  Anyway, these models are a nice find.  If you see one at a garage sale, it is unlikely that they'll think it is worth over one hundred dollars.  The Eagle 1 Spaceship set recently sold for over $130.


So there you go.  That is a small sample to get you going if you are heading out to look for treasures.  There are plenty more vintage Mattel toys that are worth your time, but the best thing for you to do is check out as many completed listings as possible and take good notes about what sells and what doesn't.  Keep checking back!

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