A couple of weeks ago, I was helping my sister clear out her attic. She had all kinds of toys from her childhood, and most of them seemed kind of worthless. A few of them seemed like artifacts that she could most likely pass on to one of her nieces or nephews, but for the most part, everything else seemed destined for Goodwill in the trash.

On a whim, however, we decided to look into the value of some of her old dolls. Neither of us were antique doll collectors, but we figured that it would only take a little bit of time. You would be amazed at the amount of old doll information on the Internet. Back in the day, you had to seek out a specialist or a collector to even get a vague idea of how much your old dolls might be worth. Nowadays, however, you can find all kinds of pricing guides online.

What we found out was pretty surprising: my sister had a lot of antique dolls in her collection. Even her old Barbie dolls were worth something. A lot of people assume that old Barbies aren't worth anything because so many girls buy them as kids. They assume that there will be tens of thousands of any model still floating around. What people don't realize is that most kids toys get broken, thrown away, or lost eventually. If you have old dolls in good condition, the chances are that they are worth something to someone. Maybe you won't make a fortune on them, but they're still worth holding onto and seeing if you can find a buyer.

Doing all that research got both of us more interested in antique dolls. My sister didn't have any of the really sought-after stuff - no antique porcelain dolls, or other collectors items like that - but it was interesting to read about the people who did. You wouldn't believe how fanatical people get about their old dolls. It is one of the most diehard and dedicated fan communities there is. I guess it has a lot to do with childhood. People put a lot of value in their antique toys because they remind them of growing up. As adults, however, folks are more likely to want to collect them than to want to play with them. Nonetheless, it still gives people a way to enjoy their old toys and reminisce on growing up.