10 Forgotten 1970's Items Worth A Fortune In 2026

Most of what came out of the 1970s is worth nothing, and that's worth saying first. The shag carpet, the avocado appliances, the paperbacks — all of it went to the curb, and none of it is coming back. But a handful of ordinary things from that decade now sell for real money at real auction houses. In almost every case, the difference between the worthless version and the valuable one is a detail you can check in about five seconds. A price box that's square instead of diamond-shaped. A black border with no chipping on it. A thermos still sitting in the lid. This is ten of them, counted down from the one you're least likely to own to the one that's probably in your house right now. More of these here: https://www.youtube.com/@yourhandle?sub_confirmation=1 On the figures. Every headline number here is a realized auction price — what a lot actually sold for, buyer's premium included, at a named house on a named date: Star Wars #1, 35-cent price variant, CGC 9.4 — $40,800, Heritage Auctions, August 8, 2024 1971 Topps Bert Blyleven, PSA 10 — $138,000, Heritage Auctions, January 28, 2022 Kenner vinyl cape Jawa — $36,000, Hake's Auctions, March 2022 Tom Jung Star Wars key artwork, 1977 — $3,875,000, Heritage Auctions, December 2025 Where a category didn't produce a clean named-house result, it's narrated as a range and said out loud as a range. No asking prices, no price-guide estimates, no eBay listings. One thing to be clear about: a record price is a record, not an appraisal. Condition decides almost everything in this field, and the high-value versions get reproduced — the vinyl cape especially. If you find one, get it authenticated before you sell it, not after.