Could You Have Valuable Polly Pocket Toys Hidden in Your Loft?

As with all collectibles, condition, completeness and rarity are everything, especially given the tiny dimensions of the many accessories, meaning that Polly offers a price point for everyone’s pocket. 

How Much Are Polly Pocket Playsets Worth?

Vintage toy sets go for as little as £10 or as much as thousands. A good condition 1995 original Polly pocket Children’s Hospital set standing three stories high, complete with babies in blankets, a pink wheelchair and rocking cribs recently sold for £335 online, but if you happen to discover one in your loft that’s still sealed in its original packaging, you could be looking at a windfall of several thousand. 

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What Are Rare Polly Pocket Collectibles?

Don’t despair if you don’t have one full playset in perfect condition; there’s major appetite amongst toy collectors for anyone looking to clear out the amassed Polly Pockets of their childhood. Just a few weeks ago a huge haul of more than 35 sets, including more than 210 dolls, sold for a whopping £1,750 on eBay. 

What is Polly Pocket Jewellery worth?

One particular joy of the brand is the toys’ continual evolution to include new variations and collaborations. The tiny dolls meant they could be repurposed into jewellery, and a selection of rings into which you could slot the doll were released, including a yellow ring featuring a blue and pink bed, a pink dressing table where Polly could sit and even a speedboat. A special display case for the ring collection was released, and if you’re lucky enough to own a complete set then you could garner around £120 at auction. 
 

How Did Polly Pocket Collaborate with Disney?

In the ‘90s Polly Pocket embarked on a successful partnership with Disney. A sealed edition of Princess Jasmine’s Royal Palace, featured in the film Aladdin, could today net you as much as a whopping £950, while a complete played-with version without packaging is worth around £100. Another Disney favourite with young girls of the time was Beauty and the Beast, and 1997 saw the release of a playset based on the castle in the film, with a sealed version selling for £250 in 2019. 

Why Did Mattel Change Polly Pocket in the Late ‘90s?

But all good things inevitably come to an end and, amid dwindling popularity, 1998 saw Mattel take over Bluebird Toys and redesign the brand. There was a sense that the market was turning away from micro toys, so Polly was made larger and more realistic, with a Barbie-like appearance including a straight blonde ponytail in place of her previous curly bob, and a new 10cm Fashion Polly range was introduced along with rubbery, interchangeable clothes. Amusingly, most Fashion Polly connoisseurs of the time seem to share a group memory of how satisfyingly chewable these garments were! These redesigned sets are less popular with toy collectors, but a sealed edition of 1998’s Action Park could still net around £40 online. 

What Happened to Polly Pocket in the 2000s?

The smaller-sized sets were completely phased out by 2002, and 2004 saw yet another redesign with the introduction of the Quik Clik range. Its major innovation was the creation of a new plastic clothing mechanism using magnets, enabling budding fashionistas to ‘quickly click’ their dolls in and out of outfits. Unfortunately, the combination of children and small powerful magnets didn’t mix well: 2006 saw the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission initiate a major and extremely costly recall of around 2.4 million Polly Pocket sets and dolls, as the magnets were falling out and causing a health hazard. The danger was that if a child swallowed two or more magnets they would attract each other and could cause intestinal perforation, a highly dangerous scenario which had already occurred three times, with each instance necessitating emergency surgery. 

Is Polly Pocket Making a Comeback?

Mattel attempted yet another relaunch in 2010 with yet more increase in the dolls’ size, but reception was mixed and by 2012 Polly Pocket was discontinued in the US. The beleaguered brand soldiered on, eventually only being sold in Brazil. That was until 2018, when Polly was rebooted once more, this time with a noticeably similar look and feel to those original ‘90s dolls, targeting original customers who now want to share their love of Polly Pocket with their own daughters. The overwhelming success of 2023’s Barbie film has even led to reports of a Polly Pocket movie to come! After all, there’s two generations of Polly’s fans who’d love to see her step out of the diminutive playsets onto the silver screen; perhaps she really was that iconic ‘80s big star all along. 

Who Invented Polly Pocket and How Did It Start?

Polly Pocket was designed by Chris Wiggs in 1983. Inspired by his desire to create a new kind of toy for his then three-year-old daughter, Kate, he took one of his wife’s empty makeup powder compacts, fashioning a tiny wooden house inside and an equally tiny wooden doll to live within it. Kate was immediately enamoured with the minuscule figurine, especially as the toy’s ultra-small scale meant it could easily be carried around all day, neatly fitting into her pockets. It was a no-brainer to highlight this unique quality and give her an alliterative first name, and thus Polly Pocket was born. 

Why Was Polly Pocket So Popular in the ‘90s?

Originally produced by UK company Bluebird Toys, Polly Pocket first hit shelves in 1989. Staying true to the product’s roots, many of the original sets looked very much like makeup compacts, although the wood of the prototype was replaced by plastic. When opened, they revealed a cute, intricate and cleverly-designed dolls house, complete with a 2 cm high doll who, just like the playset itself, folded in the middle to ensure she’d still fit inside when closed. The dolls also featured a moulded base allowing them to slot into the playset and stand upright.  Polly herself had blonde curly hair, often held in place with a red hairband, sporting a matching red dress. She was soon joined by a diverse cast of characters including Fifi, Polly’s penpal and Parisian owner of two poodles, the kimono-clad Suki and Atsuko who, according to the packaging, “run the best tea house in Japan”, Mr Sprout the farmer and Mr Moneybags the businessman. It might bode somewhat ill for the world of Polly Pocket that the bank manager is named Mr Skint!

Given that the designers were working with tiny dimensions (most makeup compacts are less than 10cm wide), you might forgive them if the toys’ design was less than meticulous, but they somehow managed to cram in incredible attention to detail and interactive features. Doors opened, elevators went up and down, and many sets included additional figures such as cats, dogs and even turtles. Polly Pocket exploded onto toyshop shelves, and, after Bluebird Toys signed a distribution agreement with Mattel, it was estimated that by 1994 roughly three quarters of all girls in the UK owned at least one set. In the world of girls’ toys, tiny Polly had become the big rival to that iconic American queen, Barbie. 

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