5 Valuable Retro Gadgets Your Grandpa Might Still Have

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Warm weather is here, and for many that means doing a bit of spring cleaning. Going through everything and deciding what to keep, what to donate, and what to toss out. If you have grandparents, you might even find yourself up in the attic helping them clean out old boxes that have been collecting dust for decades. And hiding inside those boxes might be a treasure trove of retro gadgets that are making a comeback, but could also be worth a pretty penny because of it. 

From early cellular devices and game consoles, to throwback audio players and wacky cameras, there could be some interesting old tech grandpa still has that's more valuable than you think. We searched high and low online to find out what vintage tech treasures are worth some serious money. According to sold listings from online auction sites, these old gadgets are the ones you might just want to keep your eyes open for next time you're helping your grandparents sort through their stuff.

The Sony TPS-L2 Walkman is a fantastic piece of retro tech that was released in 1979, and has received a dose of modern attention thanks to its inclusion in films such as "Guardians of the Galaxy." It truly changed the face of music, as it was the first commercially available personal stereo cassette player. Units on the secondhand market today can sell for hundreds of dollars, like a Walkman that was listed as broken and best for parts, selling on eBay for $361 in May 2026. 

That's a pretty large sum of money for something that isn't working, showing just how popular these devices still are. If you have one in good working condition, be aware that completed sales in 2026 range from $565 to as much as $1,800. And if you find other Walkman models laying around grandpa's house, chances are they're worth something too, with vintage units from the 80s and 90s selling for $100 and up, even in non-working condition.

People of a certain age will most likely remember the Commodore 64 computer. It was a staple of the home and classroom in the 1980s before Apple arrived. And while the Commodore 64 can be worth something on the secondhand market in good condition, its the later Commodore Amiga 500 where the real value is. Perhaps not as popular as the Commodore 64 in the United States, the Amiga 500 was a final effort by Commodore to stay relevant in the growing computer market as losses racked up. 

It struck a chord with music producers thanks to an impressive audio processing chip, and some artists still use the machine to this day. Gaming also benefited, with titles such as "Lemmings", "Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty", and "Worms" hitting the machine. Complete Commodore Amiga 500s have sold online for $350, with units featuring music sampling software going for more than $600. 

There was a time where you could walk into a thrift store and find a CRT television selling for a couple of dollars. In 2015, major thrift retailers stopped accepting these types of TVs because the volume was overwhelming. In fact, I snagged a few for free, as my local Goodwill was going to simply toss them. But recently, the demand for CRT televisions has increased as younger generations get into retro video gaming. They are also popular with kids from the 1990s who are now adults with money to spend on rebuilding their collections. 

Good CRT televisions can be worth a pretty penny, but none more so than the Sony PVM line. These televisions sell for hundreds of dollars, with some units of the smaller PVM line selling online for over $1,000. That's a lot of money for an old TV that might simply be hiding away in a garage. My parents owned a massively heavy 36" Sony Trinitron that's now the centerpiece of my own game room. These models can sell online for over $150, making saving it from the scrapheap one of the best investments I made as a teen. 

Nokia is still making smartphones in 2026, even though some are cheap Android phones you should steer clear of. But older devices like the Nokia 9110i Communicator can be worth some serious money. A Nokia Communicator, from 1996, sold online for nearly $500 in February 2026. Others have sold for upwards of $300 in untested condition, and even upgraded models from the era have retained impressive value. This cellphone line from Nokia was popular with the business crowd of the day, as the face flipped open to expose a full keyboard and screen. 

The Communicator series came with a lot of tech for the time, including an MMC card slot and a web browser. But the main thing that made these retro Nokia gadgets unique was the GEOS operating system that ran as a layer on top of Embedded DOS-ROM. This meant the phone could run MS-DOS applications, and was one of the reasons it became sought after in the business world as it helped blur the line between a cellphone, PDA, and laptop.

Not every retro gadget that grandpa still has remains valuable today. Sure, old film cameras are popular again, but a vintage Polaroid 600 camera can be found online for less than $100 in 2026. But if you have a specific model of the camera, you might be able to translate that into a bit more money. Like the Polaroid 600 Tasmanian Devil edition that has traded hands for several hundreds of dollars. Released in 1999 and shaped like the head of the Tasmanian Devil, this retro camera is sure to draw attention. 

Polaroid even sold matching film that featured a Looney Tunes branded frame. Boxed versions of the camera have sold on eBay for as much as $350 in 2026, no doubt driven by its popularity among instant camera and Looney Tunes collectors. Seeing someone whip out the head of the Tasmanian Devil, only for it to open its mouth and take a Polaroid picture would surely be entertaining, and goes to show that modern technology feels like it's lost a step in terms of simple fun features.

When researching retro gadgets that could be valuable today, we looked to what has been selling recently on the secondhand market. This included eBay and other online shopping platforms such as OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, and Mercari. We avoided general speculation on pricing and overvaluation by collectors, relying solely on the final sale value of retro gadgets sold on these sites within the last year.