Five of the Most Expensive Toys in the World

5 Hot Wheels Pink VW Beach Bomb

The Hot Wheels Pink VW Beach Bomb has earned an absolute staggering value of $150,000 by being the rarest color of an already rare toy. To start with, this version of the miniaturized Volkswagen, which loads surfboards in the back, was already a prototype that was altered before mass production, because of problems with weight distribution. There are only about 200 back-loading Beach Bombs in the world, and the number in pink is only the tiniest fraction of them. There is more than one of them, but not by much. That is, just two are known to exist.

4 First Edition Barbie

The very first Barbie, the one in the black-and-white bathing suit, is a prized collector’s item. It makes sense, given that it’s the doll that kicked off the entire cultural phenomenon, and one that plenty of people have a strong sentimental attachment to. There are more expensive individual Barbies out there, but they’re usually some limited-edition version studded with real diamonds, which feels unfair. Either way, an original Barbie in mint condition has sold for up to $27,450. 

Of course, given how most kids treat their Barbies, good luck finding one in good condition, much less mint.

3 Prototype G.I. Joe

The counterpart to the Barbie for people who wholeheartedly embrace antiquated gender roles is the G.I. Joe action figure (don’t you dare call it a doll). It’s only fitting then that the first G.I. Joe land on this list too. And when I say “first” here, I really mean it. This wasn’t just the first G.I. Joe off the assembly line, but the handcrafted prototype all future G.I. Joes were based on. As such, its value as a singular object is an unimaginable number of weeks’ allowance, with it selling at auction in 2003 for $200,000.

2 Rocket-Firing Boba Fett

Like the Hot Wheels VW Bus, the rocket-firing Boba Fett was never mass produced because of problems with the prototypes. The risk was a little higher than a toy van tipping over, though. They realized that a toy built to fire a plastic rocket that’s approximately the diameter of a young child’s throat wasn’t a headache worth the sales numbers, so it was never released. Prototypes, however, have made their way onto the secondary market, and one recently cracked the half-million-dollar barrier, selling for $525,000.

1 The Astolat Dollhouse

For the most part, I’ve tried to avoid including “toys” that are just extremely luxe versions of their plastic kin. That’s because they’re not making a solid gold Hot Wheels to sell to kids, only to sad, rich adults. I still think the one-of-one, meticulously handcrafted Astolat dollhouse deserves inclusion, though. I mean, who wouldn’t want to play with it given the chance? It’s the magnum opus, 13-year-long project of a miniaturist named Elaine Diehl, and it’s easy to see why it took over a decade to create. It’s 800 pounds, 9 feet tall and includes 10,000 painstakingly produced miniatures. 

Its total appraised value? $8.5 million. Your little brother breaks it, and he’s spending the rest of his life in indentured servitude.