Tastes and fashions change over time, and as new toys and gadgets come into vogue every new year, the clothes and toys of the past become obsolete and outmoded. Given enough time, though, not only do the fashions of yesterday tend to become vogue all over again, but the originals can start to creep up in value.
That’s all good news for millennials, because all sorts of things that you’ll remember from your childhoods (and may well have stored away under your bed or in the attic) are now morphing into the new must-have collectibles of the 2020s—and are gaining in price as they do so. Ten somewhat unexpectedly valuable items you may well still have lying around are explored here.
Tour Merch
T-shirts, tour jackets, and other memorabilia from bands and artists are always a safe bet when it comes to the collectibles of the future. But given that the early 2000s were a stellar era for music—and with TikTok now piquing a whole new generation’s interest in some of the biggest hits of time—you may well have a small fortune knocking around your wardrobe. An original T-shirt from Madonna’s 2006 Confessions Tour, for instance, will easily sell for over $150 online today, while a commemorative tour jacket will set you back over $2,500.
iPhones
In 2023, a factory-sealed first-generation Apple iPhone sold at auction for a staggering $190,372. Your original 2007 iPhone might not be factory sealed, of course, but with interest in early smartphones of the 2000s seeming to grow, it may well be worth holding on to.
iPods
Don’t throw out your old iPods, either. Mint condition first-generation iPods from the early 2000s are now fetching around $1,000 online, and with Gen Z and Gen Alpha now apparently re-embracing the 20-year-old tech, these could well be the must-have collectibles of the late 2020s.
Games Consoles
Alongside a renewed interest in original iPods, Gen Z’s tastes in the 2020s also appear to be shifting toward older-generation games consoles. Incredibly, an unopened Nintendo 64 from the early 2000s might be expected to fetch around $20,000 today.
First Editions
First editions of books that go on to be bestsellers are a surefire collectible; in 2024, a first edition Harry Potter book sold at auction in the UK for £36,000 (equivalent to $51,000 today). The same goes for Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner; now a global bestseller, it originally had a relatively small first print run with first editions now reaching several hundred dollars (and understandably far more for signed copies).
Pokémon Cards
In April 2026, it was reported that a teacher from England found three rare Pokémon cards in his attic. Valued at over $20,000, he planned to use the sale of the cards at auction to fund his and his fiancée’s wedding.
Tamagotchi
These virtual pets were all the rage in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, before disappearing almost as quickly as they emerged. Even a pre-owned Tamagotchi can be worth several hundred dollars today, while unopened units— especially rare designs and colors—can fetch more than $1,000.
LEGO Sets
LEGO sets have always been collectible, but those from the mega movie franchises of the early 2000s are proving particularly popular today. A 2003 Cloud City Star Wars LEGO set could easily be worth over $20,000 today, for example.
DVDs
Physical media is booming once again, with interest in CDs, vinyl LPs, Blu-rays, and DVDs all leading the way, as film and music fans increasingly turn away from streaming services. Not every film is quite so readily available as others, however, with some DVDs from the technology’s heyday in the mid-2000s suddenly proving particularly valuable. Exhaustive boxed set releases of classics like The Godfather movies, and the British Carry On and Monty Python movie series, for instance, can now fetch several hundred dollars or more.
VHS
Incredibly, it’s not just DVDs that are leading the physical media boom, either. Check your collections for some late VHS releases from the mid-2000s, too, as Gen Zers and beyond have begun to embrace even analog formats. Cars, Saw, and The Incredibles are among the handful of big releases that just caught the tail end of the VHS era and have been singled out as the potential high-value collectibles of the 2020s.
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