Christmas gifts that grow in value

Posters, stamps, coins, books and medals – presents that increase in value needn't be dull. In fact, chose well, and even toys can prove to be an investment. Dinky toys are very popular with collectors at the moment, as are Corgi and Matchbox toys and Hornby locomotives. If it's pre-1970 and in good condition, you may have a collector's item on your hands. When Dinky toys were first sold they were produced without boxes, but packaging became more detailed in the Sixties and toys were produced to tie in with television programmes such as Thunderbirds, so the packaging adds significant value to toys from this era. The boxes can even be worth more than the toys – in the case of a Batmobile from the Sixties, for example, 60pc of the value is in the box. Pop and rock memorabilia became sought after as collectables in the Eighties and the value of items have generally increased dramatically over this time. The most expensive and probably well-known sale in this sector was John Lennon's piano on which he composed 'Imagine'. It was bought in October 2000 by the singer George Michael for a hammer price of £1.45m, with an extra 15pc commission bringing the total sale price to £1.67m. Though this sector generates some high end items, music memorabilia is a good starting sector for the budding collector or investor. Neil Roberts, head of the department for Popular Culture for auction house Christie's points out tickets and flyers as