14 Treasures to Keep an Eye Out for at Southern Tier Yard Sales

Weekends in spring are the perfect time for yard sales across the Southern Tier.

I found a bunch of things that might be worth big money. So, if you stumble upon any of these things, grab them!

1. Star Wars action figures
Toy company Kenner began selling these action figures in 1977 after the original "Star Wars" hit movie screens. The line was discontinued in 1985 but reintroduced a decade later. Many of those earliest collectibles were produced in limited quantity and can fetch a pretty penny, including a 1978 Darth Vader with a telescoping light saber (up to $6,000) and a 1978 Jawa with vinyl cape ($2,000). Jawa's cape was quickly replaced with a cloth version and Vader's saber with a less-delicate single-piece version. Because these were so popular, the non-rare ones don't usually sell for large amounts.

2. Marbles
The simple game of marbles has been around a long time, so it's possible that the small glass orbs you once played with have been, too. If your father passed along the marbles from his childhood and his father passed them along and so on, you could be sitting on marbles worth anywhere from $5 to hundreds of dollars apiece. Of course, chips decrease marbles' value, and they may be worth more to you in sentimental value than the cash you could earn by selling them.

3. Stuffed animals
Like a lot of toys, the oldest of these are the most valuable. A teddy bear made by Ideal (founded by Morris Michtom, who created the bear for Teddy Roosevelt and asked permission to name it after him) or Steiff from the early 1900s could easily earn you $5,000. But an original Care Bear from the 1980s could still put a couple hundred bucks in your pocket.

4. Metal lunchboxes
In 2003, a 1954 Superman lunchbox by Adco Liberty, with a Thermos bottle and the original box, was auctioned for $11,500. Another Superman lunchbox was sold for $4,649 on eBay in 2006. Superman isn't the only valuable character: Mint-condition lunchboxes with popular characters that are now hard to find are most valuable. And if your lunchbox has some wear and tear, you might still get $50 to $100 for it.

5. Barbie
Barbie was "born" on March 9, 1959, at the American International Toy Fair and has been a fixture in the lives of little girls ever since. While the doll sold for $3 in 1959, a mint boxed Barbie from that year went for more than $3,500 in an online auction in 2004. Original Barbies not in the box will still sell online. Some people are even willing to pay ($25 or more) for a loose Barbie head, if they have a body to match.

6. Japanese-style tin robots
These metal men -- many of them with battery-powered flashing lights and sounds -- were popular in the 1950s, but interest in them waned when plastic became cheaper and the U.S. government stepped up safety regulations. Authentic vintage robots can fetch from a couple hundred to several thousand dollars if you find an interested collector.

7. Michael Jackson dolls
Dolls modeled after the King of Pop in costume from his hit "Thriller" arrived in stores in 1984 and cost about $12. Many other doll versions followed. Since his death in 2009, some mega-fans have been willing to pay $500 or more for rare versions of mini-Michael, as well as for signed dolls or original dolls still in their boxes.

8. Transformers
These man-to-machine toys first appeared on U.S. shelves in 1984, after their birth in Japan. The Autobots and Decepticons became prized possessions of little boys, who excitedly watched Saturday-morning cartoon versions of their heroes and acted out the scenes they saw on TV with their own action figures. Some of these action figures are now worth thousands of dollars, usually if they are still in their original boxes. Some loose Transformers that have been played with can still earn you up to $100 each, depending on the specific toy.

9. Windup toys
Before batteries became commonplace, many toys were powered by windup mechanisms. Early versions of these, made of tin, can fetch as much as several thousand dollars in online auctions. Plastic windup toys came later and are less valuable, though a few rare ones go for a hundred dollars or more. A rare, tin-plated World War II toy tank sold for $4,500 in an online auction.

10. Children's books
You might not consider your mother's copies of "Where the Wild Things Are" or "Horton Hatches the Egg" to be of any monetary value, but a first edition of each of those books is worth well over $4,000. And while first editions of any book are hard to come by, many other vintage children's books are of value to collectors. Hot Wheels and Matchbox die-cast cars Matchbox cars originated in the 1950s, while Hot Wheels didn't reach the market until the late 1960s. The two brands competed for years for the attention of kids and their parents. Both are now highly collectible and valuable: Depending on condition and rarity, you could get a thousand bucks for a single car.

11. Comic books
Comic collecting is big business, and rare editions will, of course, fetch the best prices. A mint copy of Action Comics No. 1, which introduced Superman, cost 10 cents in 1938 but sold for more than $2 million late last year. The most valuable comics are the ones that were never thumbed through by sticky-fingered youngsters. Any fairly old comic book will probably be worth something to someone, though, so check your attic.

12. G.I. Joe action figures
Hasbro coined the term "action figure" in 1964 when it introduced G.I. Joe to boys, who were not going to play with "dolls." While any of the oldest versions of Joe are of some value, the G.I. Nurse Action Girl is among the most valuable of these figures, since she was on the market for only a year (she wasn't a big hit with the "play army" crowd). She can fetch $2,500 in mint condition. Because she's so rare, you're likely to find a willing buyer even if you didn't keep her in pristine condition.

13. Lionel and American Flyer trains
The popularity of model railroad sets likely began when department stores incorporated them in their Christmas window displays in the 1920s. American Flyer and Lionel were two of the most popular makers of these toys, which were collected by children and adults alike. Not all old trains are valuable, but the oldest varieties in good condition can sell for thousands. Recent Collectors Weekly auctions saw train sets selling for up to nearly $3,000.

14. Happy Meal toys
Believe it or not, these once-free and cheaply made items can be worth something. Collectors will pay for a hard-to-find item to complete a set, and a collector's club has gathered yearly for more than 20 years. An entrepreneurial 11-year-old in the United Kingdom sold 7,000 of the promotional items in 2009 for 8,000 pounds (about $12,500 in today's dollars).