Advice selling old Citadel miniatures

Havana_UK

Havana_UK

Havana_UK

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20-30 years ago I LOVED collecting Citadel miniatures, specifically Warhammer 40k. I have quite a lot! Most still unpainted, and most of them are the metal types (though some of the later ones are metal with plastic arms etc.).

I've got quite a few boxed sets (Harlequins, Terminator Squad, Eldar Guardians, Death Company, Tactical Squad, Gery Company etc.) and also a LOT of loose figures and a few even with their original blister packs (though all opened).

I've kept them for years for mainly sentimental value, but now I'm under (wife) pressure to free up some space so I started looking around to see what they're worth.

As I say, many are unpainted and quite a few with their original packaging, so I think pretty desirable as these things go.

Do any of you have any recommendations for the best way and place to go about selling these figures & sets?
 
It all depends if you want to get rid of in a big lot or have the time to sell and package each item.

Least effort, but likely least return, would-be to contact troll trader. If you fill out their sell-to-us description form and add some photos, they'll give you a quote.

If you want to put in significantly more effort, for a higher return, but more faff with postage and transaction fees etc, then list each item on a public site (eBay) or a community site (FB groups/hobby discords).

Before any option, go through what you have and itemize it in detail. Do your research for the names etc if needed. You'll maximise your return, for any means above, if you know exactly what you are selling and categorise it appropriately. Selling 'box-o-random-minis' will yield the worst return!
 
Yeah if you know the characters some can be valuable.

Chances are not, but... for example on of the Grey Knight characters if you have him in metal, I honestly cant remember the name sorry, but he is worth around £125 just for the one model.

I hate to say it though, but most of the old miniatures are probably not worth as much as you'd like to think, I dont think you'd even get your money back on them when you factor in inflation over however many years youve had them, infact you definitately wont on most.

Plus GW keep making new models and quite frankly, they are much better quality moulds, so unless you are appealing to old school collectors (in which case they need to be somewhat rare) the majoirty of people who are collecting just to build armies wont pay the money for those.

As above though, if you can be bothered sell them on ebay as either individuals or small squads to maximise money, but obviously most hassle.
 
Do people still buy/sell the metal figures? I hate the weight/feel of plastic figures so still use my 40 year old metal ones for D&D (Warhammer is MEH to me!)
 
Yes, but they don’t necessarily hold the premium people hope. I bought a metal Mephiston, Corbulo and Tycho recently for £15 or £20 total. They’re old but not really rare.
 
The metal ones are mostly nostalgia, but i still bought a few when i picked it up again :P

Old Patriarch on a throne is about £40 last time looked. That's one i got still from when i was younger.

Things like old tactical marines aren't worth much, but if in good condition with paint removed and all the bits they will still sell.

Characters and the Eldar as a whole are probably worth the most.

As job lot i wouldn't be surprised if you got £50 + postage straight off. But as mentioned time vs money.
 
MoNkeE said:
There’s FaceBook groups for it, plus the market place within FaceBook itself is good for selling too.
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Thanks, found some stuff which was expensive IMHO.. and then good old YT flagged a "random" video for me on 3D printing Warhammer figures which had no problems with the legality of it... But it was a thought!! :-)
 
You know I actually had a look on ebay, not really bought any minatures for over a year, more like a year and a half, before the pandemic kicked off anyway, and prices are significantly higher than they were.

Probably a good time to sell.
 
The metal ones that are well looked after, rare good quality models sell well because of collectors and recasters.
The vast majority of the old metal models look like random blobs of metal you just pulled out of a fire pit or are partialy badly painted. These do not sell well. They just get re listed over and over again.
 
MoNkeE said:
Yes, but they don’t necessarily hold the premium people hope. I bought a metal Mephiston, Corbulo and Tycho recently for £15 or £20 total. They’re old but not really rare.
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Interesting. I have a large stockpile of GW stuff from the mid-90s at my dad's house, including Mephiston, Corbulo and Captain Dante. Always wondered if they are worth anything. I remember coming up with tactics like having Corbulo accompany the Death Company due to the combination of Buff and being able to heal the 'extra' hit point they had. A lot of it is the old lead miniatures before they moved to a different type of metal, for example GW did a clearout at one point where lead stuff was half-price so I bought a big Blood Angels Army box set for £45 iirc. I think in total I had a 7000pt army or something.

Like the OP I mostly kept it for sentimental reasons but I haven't actually looked at it properly in over 20 years so would like to get rid of it I think to get cash, free up space and ideally put it in the hands of someone who can make use of it.
One downside is my painting skills were pretty terrible, nearly all those that are painted looks like it was painted by a younger child than I actually was :) Although I probably have a good chunk of unpainted stuff too.
 
BUDFORCE said:
Yea can paint strip plastics.

Use biostrip works really well.
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Yup Biostrip is probably the best paint stripper for models regardless of if they're plastic or metal (not sure i'd use it on resin, but i'm not sure how resin would hold up anything).
Leave it to soak in a tub, take it out and drip most off, then scrub with a toothbrush over a bowl and if needed do again.

We tried most of the stripping methods in the past, and biostrip is the only one that really seems to work, and has the bonus of not burning the skin off your hands or absolutely stinking the house out.
 
Thanks for the biostrip tip... but for me, I kinda like the old painted figures I have, not perfect but they are "antique" in their own way.. 40 year old paint an all ;)
 
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