10 old gadgets that are worth a fortune today
The devices we once discarded as obsolete are quietly becoming tomorrow’s treasures.
Most of us have a drawer somewhere in the house filled with tangled cables and obsolete electronics that we just can’t bring ourselves to throw away. We often look at these dusty relics as nothing more than junk, unaware that a winning lottery ticket might be sitting right under our noses.
Collectors are currently hunting down specific pieces of vintage tech with the intensity of treasure seekers, driving prices to levels that would make your jaw drop to the floor. If you were smart enough to keep your gadgets in their original boxes, you could be sitting on a goldmine right now.
The Original Apple 1 Computer
This is the holy grail of vintage computing, built by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in a garage back in 1976, and it launched the personal computer revolution we live in now. Recent auctions have seen these rare circuit boards sell for astronomical sums, with one fetching a stunning $945,000 in September 2024.
Finding one of these in your attic is roughly as likely as being struck by lightning while winning the lottery, but it never hurts to check those old boxes. Only about 200 units were ever produced, and fewer than 100 are known to still exist, making them incredibly scarce.
Factory Sealed First Generation iPhone
It is hard to believe that the device resting in your pocket right now started a global phenomenon less than twenty years ago, but the original 2007 model is a serious collector’s item. A 4GB factory-sealed model, which was considered a storage failure at launch, sold for a massive $190,000 at an auction recently.
Collectors are specifically looking for the box to be unopened, with the plastic wrap pristine and no dents or fading on the cardboard packaging. If you opened yours to make a call back in 2007, the value drops significantly, but sealed units are effectively retirement funds.
Nintendo PlayStation Prototype
This mythical console is the result of a failed partnership between Nintendo and Sony in the early 1990s, a collaboration that fell apart and inadvertently led to the creation of the PlayStation. The only known private prototype of this gaming legend was sold for a record-breaking $360,000, proving just how much history matters to fans.
It looks like a Super Nintendo with a CD-ROM drive attached, a strange Frankenstein machine that represents a timeline where Mario and Crash Bandicoot lived under the same roof. While you likely don’t own this specific prototype, it highlights the immense value placed on rare gaming hardware.
Prototype Leica Cameras
Photography enthusiasts know that the red dot logo commands respect, but vintage prototypes from this German manufacturer operate in a financial stratosphere of their own. In November 2024, a one-of-a-kind Leica IIIg camera originally made for the military sold for an eye-watering $3.8 million at an auction.
These cameras are prized for their mechanical perfection and historical significance, often built by hand with a precision that modern manufacturing cannot match. Even standard vintage Leicas can fetch thousands, so do not let granddad’s old camera sit gathering dust in the basement.
Sealed Super Mario Bros For NES
Video games have transitioned from children’s toys to high-end assets, and nothing illustrates this shift quite like the plumber who started it all on the Nintendo Entertainment System. A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros 0. shattered expectations when it sold for a staggering $2 million, setting a high bar for game collecting.
The condition of the sticker seal and the specific print run of the box can mean the difference between a ten-dollar game and a million-dollar artifact. Grading services now encase these games in hard plastic shells to preserve them, turning childhood memories into museum pieces.
Original First Generation iPod
Before we had streaming services and smartphones, we had the click wheel and a distinct white pair of earbuds that signaled you were part of the cool crowd. Nostalgia for the early 2000s is hitting a fever pitch, with a sealed first-generation iPod selling for $40,264 in August 2025.
The market for these music players has exploded because they represent a simpler time when you owned your music rather than renting it from a cloud service. Even used models are gaining value, but the big money remains locked inside that original cubic packaging.
Sony Walkman TPS L2
Long before the iPod, this blue-and-silver brick changed the world by letting people take their favorite albums wherever they went. Guardians of the Galaxy reignited interest in this specific model, and working units in good condition can now sell for over a thousand dollars.
The tactile feel of pressing play and the mechanical sound of the tape engaging offer a sensory experience that digital screens just cannot match. If you have one of these tucked away in a closet, you might want to dig it out and see if it still spins.
Tamagotchi Original Release
These egg-shaped digital pets drove teachers crazy in the late nineties, and now the children who surreptitiously fed them under their desks have disposable income. While not worth millions, rare unopened variants of the original Tamagotchi are steadily climbing in value as 90s nostalgia peaks.
The rarest versions, such as white ones with red buttons or special contest prizes, command the highest prices from dedicated toy collectors. It is funny to think that keeping a digital chicken alive could eventually pay off in the real world decades later.
Hewlett-Packard HP 65 Calculator
It might seem boring compared to game consoles, but this was the world’s first magnetic card-programmable handheld calculator, a true marvel of engineering in 1974. Engineers and scientists relied on these devices to perform calculations that helped land astronauts on the moon and build modern infrastructure.
A working unit with its original case and manual is a prized possession for computing historians, often selling for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. It serves as a reminder of how much computing power we used to pack into bulky, button-heavy handheld devices.
Vintage Commodore 65
This is the rare successor to the incredibly popular Commodore 64, but it was never officially released to the public, making it a true phantom of the computer world. Only a few hundred prototypes are believed to exist, created just before the company went bankrupt in the early nineties.
Collectors go wild for these machines because they represent what could have been the future of home computing if history had taken a different turn. Because so few were made, finding one at a garage sale is akin to finding a lost painting by a famous master.
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