“You could buy an apartment for what these cost”: meet the women with massive toy collections
Heidi has over 500 My Little Ponies, and Tiina has 100,000 Pokémon cards. Aila retired from a daycare center and has a collection of fairy-tale characters from over a hundred stories. Take a peek at these collectors’ stunning collections!
“My entire fortune is in Pokémon cards”
“I estimate I have about 100,000 Pokémon cards. They’re everywhere: about a hundred binders have filled up my bookshelf, the trade cards fill a cabinet, and I have at least 100 kilograms (220 lb) of the least valuable ones in the sauna,” Tiina Torikka, 43, says.
“Especially after the coronavirus pandemic, the value of Pokémon cards multiplied. My most valuable card is Gold star Pikachu ex, which cost me a couple hundred euros. Now it’s worth 3,000 euros (approximately 3,500 dollars). By selling all my cards, I could buy my own apartment, which is why I have insured my collection. So my entire fortune is in these cards.”
“Sometimes I work part time to earn extra money for ponies”
My current My Little Pony collection would be absolute heaven for little Heidi, says Heidi Remes, 43.
“I started actively collecting ponies in the early 2000s, when I began studying and visited lots of flea markets. One day I happened to spot a pony called Sugar Berry, which I had dreamed of as a child. After that, I was always on the lookout for ponies, and the collection kept growing,” she continues.
“One pony costs about 20 euros (approximately 23 dollars) on average. From that, you can figure out how much money I’ve spent on this hobby. Sometimes I’ve worked part-time on top of my full-time job to get a little extra money for ponies.”
“They take up space, but I still couldn’t imagine throwing them away”
For 66-year-old Aila Holopainen, there’s always a story behind every intriguing toy: a fairy tale, a movie, or a children’s show.
“I spent my career working as an early childhood education teacher and daycare center director, but it wasn’t until my children were born about thirty years ago that I became interested in toy figures. I realized how valuable these toys could be once I saw how precious they were to my kids,” she says.
“It’s funny how special the toys have become to me. My hobby is visible in the stacks of transparent boxes around our home. They take up space, but I still couldn’t imagine throwing them away.”
