Matchbox No. 30 – $13K
Jack Odell, one of the three geniuses who brought us tiny toy vehicles, came up with the idea of Matchbox cars after her daughter’s teacher told the students that they can only bring toys that could fit in a matchbox. By the ’60s, 70 million of these toys were exported by Lesney.
In 1961, the Matchbox No. 30 made its way onto the market. Although they originally had a silver body and orange crane, the rarer kind was the light brown version, which fetched $13K in 2004. Eventually, Mattel came up with Hot Wheels that rivaled Lesney, who eventually caved in and was sold to Mattel.