Newbie with potentially basic question buried in a waffling post

[Accidentalcollector]

Hi, I'm new here and in need of a bit of advice. I've kind of stumbled into collecting animals (mostly Schleich) for my kids and have now become a little obsessed...  To be completely honest, I'm not really sure who the collection is for anymore I haven't counted them recently but, including animals, horses, people, dinosaurs etc we would have between 500 to 1000 models. And I still feel like there are gaping holes in the collection haha, so you get a feel for my level of obsession The animals are all available for play (my kids are 1 and 3) and, apart from teaching them to be gentle and value their toys, I hold myself back from being too precious about the collection. The animals are kept in toy 'baskets' and the kids are free to play with them whenever they like. I have a small shadow box low on the wall in which I occasionally set up a display but they are able and encouraged to interact with it (code for empty and dump on the floor... did I mention that one of them is 1😂)

If you're baring with me, I'm getting ready for my question I promise! I just think a little background info is important. My collecting MO is searching for bulk lots which contain animals that we in 'need' of and selling on the doubles to recoup the investment. I've actually managed, over the last year or so, to be in profit with the collection. So, the fact that the animals have essentially cost me nothing but my time helps a lot with staying nonchalant in viewing them simply as toys, though I understand that they are actually worth a small fortune.

With this all in mind, my question is; Apart from a fairly generic value that I onsell our doubles for, I really have no good idea of the individual worth of each animal. Is there a good resource to find out if there are some animals in our collection that I should maybe take out of circulation in order to keep them safe? For example, I recently found an elephant and polar bears that I thought were fakes so I advertised them as potential fakes and tried to sell them off cheap. Nobody bought them and then I thought I should double check and subsequently found out that they are super early models. I don't have any idea if this means that they are valuable though... I would have happily got rid of them because they show the mold joins which I generally see as a sign of poor quality. But I thought maybe I should keep them just incase...

Any advice on resources to work out which models I should treat with a little more decorum would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance:)

[sbell]

I don't think there is a specific resource that could tell you, unfortunately. Some brands--like Schleich--have been around for some time, and older ones can be more valuable.

But old is still mid-80s at earliest. Models before that are tougher to tell.

While nowhere near complete, this site is run through a different forum that can at least help track down what some of the older ones might be. Then the trick is determining if they are valuable (in money terms!) or not.

As well, sometimes it's the species that matters...animals that are rarely made tend to be wanted more, even if they're not great. Most lemurs (not ring-tails) and unusual carnivores and antelope, for example, or unique reptiles and birds.

[AnimalToyForum]

Welcome to the forum. I think it's great that your toys are being used for their original intended purpose. 500-1000 is a healthy collection!

I'm not aware of any price guides or rarity guides for animal toys. That's something we could potentially develop here on the forum based on our collective knowledge of what sells for what.

[Accidentalcollector]

Thanks for the replies! A values database would be amazing, though it would fluctuate with time and by country so it would be a big undertaking. There are amazing resources for lego which track the sales on several websites and give you current values of each set in a few different countries and whether the value is rising or falling. I don't imagine anything like that would be possible with animal figures but it is an amazing resource.

Maybe just a star rating system that indicates rarity rather than value? That would already be super helpful... unless there already is something like that and I haven't stumbled upon it yet?

[Accidentalcollector]

While nowhere near complete, this site is run through a different forum that can at least help track down what some of the older ones might be. Then the trick is determining if they are valuable (in money terms!) or not.

Thank you! Yes, this is an amazing resource!

[sbell]

Thanks for the replies! A values database would be amazing, though it would fluctuate with time and by country so it would be a big undertaking. There are amazing resources for lego which track the sales on several websites and give you current values of each set in a few different countries and whether the value is rising or falling. I don't imagine anything like that would be possible with animal figures but it is an amazing resource.

Maybe just a star rating system that indicates rarity rather than value? That would already be super helpful... unless there already is something like that and I haven't stumbled upon it yet?

Once you start going through things like the Toy Animal Wiki, it starts becoming clear that even a rarity rating is really hard to establish. There are lots of companies that do or did (or will) make animals, and they can vary in the rarity from city to city, never mind over time! But if you can determine a brand, it definitely makes it easier! If your figures aren't breaking with small children play, they are probably more recent, established brands (older rubbers tend to break down, and things like composite and are obvious when they are old and therefore possibly rare)

[Advicot]

My collection is over 1000 strong and I've been collecting 14 years  (all my life) My oldest model is a Schleich Turkey from 1988. When I was little I'd play with my figures in the garden so some of my older figures have a bit of rubbing on their feet such as my elephants, lions and tigers. Now my figures are looked after better so few have rubs on their feet.

I store my wildlife in 6 medium sized boxes, and my farm life in a selection of drawers. I usually get 40 figures per year, but this year it has been over 60 and there is many more on the way for Christmas.

[sirenia]

I'll admit I could store mine better, I use boxes, bags and all sorts. Some of mine are old but have dog damage (puppies like to chew).

Older figures are better to search on eBay, I feel. Newer ones on sites like amazon and Minizoo.

[Advicot]

Since Xmas my collection are on 2 shelving units