Could your old VHS be worth $25k?

Nostalgic 30- and 40-year-olds are driving prices higher. Some are trading as high as $25k as Chris Carter explains.

Many families in the 1980s and 1990s collected mountains of VHS tapes in the years before online streaming and Blu-rays became available. Then, in 1997, the DVD arrived, exiling all those VHS tapes to trunks and chests in living rooms and dusty cardboard boxes in attics to be forgotten.

Should any videotape still be in its original cellophane wrapping – because it was bought by mistake, or received as a gift when you already had it – it could now be worth a bob or two. 

It’s hard to tell for sure as the auction market in old VHS tapes is still in its infancy. Texas-based Heritage Auctions (HA), one of the leading auction houses in selling memorabilia, held its inaugural VHS sale only last June.

Then, an almost mint-condition copy of Back to the Future, owned by Tom Wilson, who played bully Biff Tannen in the 1985 sci-fi classic, sold for $75,000, including fees.

Collectors are driving up demand

Demand is being driven by collectors who grew up in those decades and who are now in their 30s and 40s, together with the “near- impossibility” of finding VHS classics still in their wrapping. Sealed, slabbed memories On Christmas Day in 1982, “Bubba” Kroeger was born in Indianapolis, in the US.

His father, James, fetched a trunk and put in it all manner of things from that year – newspapers, magazines, a Rubik’s Cube, and an unopened copy of the film recently released to VHS, Rocky III, starring Sylvester Stallone.

The new father even added unopened copies of the first two films in the series for good measure. The three films cost $60 each from a DIY shop, the elder Kroeger remembers, which would equate to around $184 in today’s dollars. Imagine paying that for a new-release ultra-high-definition 4K Blu-ray, which tends to cost around £25 today. 

His son, on his 40th birthday, would then be able to delve into the time capsule. Jay Carlson, consignment director of HA’s newly minted VHS and Home Entertainment department, told James that the three Rocky tapes were “the only known factory-sealed copies” in existence. They are, says Carlson, “true holy grails of VHS releases”, valued at around $25,000 a piece.

They were also the star lots in HA’s “VHS and Home Entertainment” sale last week, alongside a 1983 copy of Star Wars and The Goonies from 1986. All had been properly sealed in transparent boxes and graded for condition by Investment Grading Services (IGS) or the Collectible Grading Authority (CGA). 

“What had once been set aside and maybe even forgotten about has become valuable to the collector for whom these VHS tapes have become artefacts,” says Carlson. “It has been a real thrill to see people rediscover that all over again when they hold a sealed, slabbed memory.” Slabbed memories fetch high prices. The three Rocky videos fetched $53,750.

Recommended

How to keep your dividends safe from the taxman
Personal finance

How to keep your dividends safe from the taxman

We look at ways to keep your dividends safe ahead of the decrease in tax allowances.
28 Mar 2023
Shoppers feel the pain as food inflation hits a record
Personal finance

Shoppers feel the pain as food inflation hits a record

Data from the analytics group Kantar showed food inflation hit a fresh peak in March 2023
28 Mar 2023
11 investment trusts for inflationary times
Investments

11 investment trusts for inflationary times

Inflation eats away at the value of your money, but these investment trusts can help you grow your wealth.
28 Mar 2023
Best junior stocks and shares ISA platforms
Isas

Best junior stocks and shares ISA platforms

A junior stocks and shares ISA is a great way to save for your child tax-efficiently. But it can be confusing deciding which investment platform to ch…
28 Mar 2023

Most Popular

Will energy prices go down in 2023?
Personal finance

Will energy prices go down in 2023?

Ofgem’s price cap is now predicted to fall below £2,000, based on average typical use, from July, for the first time since 2022. We have all the detai…
21 Mar 2023
Government plans could see NS&I boost interest rates
Savings

Government plans could see NS&I boost interest rates

The government-backed bank has a new funding target, which could prompt it to boost the rates on its Premium Bonds, ISAs and bonds.
16 Mar 2023
Where will house prices go in 2023?
House prices

Where will house prices go in 2023?

We explore what could happen to house prices in 2023 as the market continues to slow down.
24 Mar 2023