Retro toys

During the 1960s, the toy industry saw an explosion of creativity and design excellence with toys improving vastly in quality. What's more, toys were also reflecting the boom in cinema and television and being created in the image of the screen heroes and characters of the day. Therefore, if a show had a range of characters - for example, Batman, Robin and the various enemies they faced - a range of toys would also be produced. As a result of this, collecting toys became more and more common as demand for a complete collection grew.

Of course, extremely old antique toys and one-offs continue to be much sought after in the toy market and can be worth a lot of money. However, in the world of collecting, toys are one of the keenest obsessions and it is television-related toys that have become hot property, not least because their value will steadily increase. For instance, interest in Thunderbirds toys continues apace with prices soaring, not least since the recent release of the Thunderbirds movie.

If you do start to get interested in the toy world, you will soon find that, as is the case with most markets, trends start to appear. For example, Dinky toys were at one time so popular that their value soared, leaving prices beyond many collectors' wallets. As a result, Matchbox cars have become the latest thing to collect - and at a recent auction in America, a toy Pontiac sports car, made in 1970, sold for £3,900. It originally cost two shillings and sixpence!

Retro toys are also becoming more and more common with such classics as the Raleigh Chopper and the trusty old pogo stick once again being manufactured to meet renewed interest and demand. So, if you still own an original of something like this, you could be quids in. Our money's on the Bionicles!