The Best Vintage and Collectible Monopoly Sets

1. Franklin Mint Monopoly Collector’s Edition for SALE

 This is a Franklin Mint Monopoly Collector’s Edition board game as shown by Mercari for $245 including delivery.

• This is a wooden 1991 collector’s set with 10 player tokens and all the money and houses/hotels, cards, etc. It is in fair to good condition and sells from a reputable seller.
• If I were spending over $200 on a set, I don’t think I would want it banged up like this – or I would want something a bit rarer. 
• This game made my recommendation because even though I found dozens of listings for this particular set, the set ranged upwards of $800 and many were missing cards and tokens.
• If you are trying to round out your collection for a reasonable price this would be worthwhile – especially since it is the ENTIRE set.
• I found numerous Incomplete sets from the 1940s that were from $100 to $500!

Stick with a complete set if you are thinking of the value down the road and not just the present display of it.

What do Monopoly, the Landlord’s Game, and Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox have in Common?

Collectors of the most popular board game in history will surely know or want to know, the answer to this and the details surrounding “Monopoly’s” creation, evolution, and present-day status. Spanning 103 countries, with 37 different languages represented and more than 300 editions available, is, you guessed it – Monopoly!

What do all three names (Monopoly, The Landlord’s Game, Br’er Rabbit & Br’er Fox) have in common? They are all built on the same basic original “The Landlord’s Game” board game by Elizabeth Magie in the first years of 1900. (Source is and another source is The Guardian).

So, for want of a clear explanation – all 3 are “basically” Monopoly! To learn more about Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox Game, click here.

Best and Most Popular Collector’s Editions of Monopoly

For a more thorough listing of the different editions of Monopoly, see Fandom.

The Spruce Crafts lists the most popular Monopoly games for Collectors:

• The Fine Edition (1946)
• The 50th Anniversary Edition (1985)
• The last official Parker Brothers Edition (1991)
• The Gold Foil 60th Anniversary Edition (1995)
• The Nostalgia Edition (2001)

Pass Go and Collect $200 or Not

Aah, Monopoly. The very word sends images and memories of fun and perhaps not-so-fun times with family and friends. Though it is a game to pass leisure time, it also is a sign of America and capitalism. Who can collect the most wealth can be argument inspiring for those that are highly competitive. (The game was also banned by several countries because it was too similar to capitalistic processes, according to the Library of Congress). Can you believe your friends were hoping you wouldn’t notice when you passed GO… and landed on Baltic Avenue?

Perhaps because of the familiarity of the processes of Monopoly, I certainly didn’t see it as being out of the ordinary or corrupting – but then, what did I know? To us, fair meant doing the right thing. The outcome wasn’t thought of as much as the means to get there. In my house at least. If we played by a set of rules that were understood by everyone – and everyone started equally with money – then all was “fair”. Was it fair that a very creative and whimsical 14-year-old lost to a 15-year-old coached, self-proclaimed “entrepreneur”? Well, there are many variables there that can be discussed, but we never got into that pot of boiling water!

I remember it as fun – chiding and laughing and even yelling at times (at myself) for decisions made and deals passed by. For me, it is still fun, and I don’t pay much heed when family members get exasperated because others aren’t playing “to win”. Who knew a game could be this controversial? Well, it seems that people are still playing it…

2. 1935 First Release of Monopoly for SALE 

Yes, this is the legendary first release of the Monopoly Game by Parker Brothers in 1935!

It is listed on Mercari for almost $700 with delivery!

It has the copyright and the year 1935 on the board as well as the Parker Brothers Name on the board.

It’s not in great condition, but to have this first edition that was made is almost mandatory for becoming a collector!

3. Monopoly Grand Folding Edition with Wooden Frame for SALE

This is a “guaranteed mint condition” Monopoly board game with all the pieces and cards/cash.

What I like about this set is that the player tokens are metal with a burnished copper look.

Also, the hotels and houses are wooden! Those are the best kind – no stepping on them and breaking them when they fly off the table!

This is a very fine set, indeed, with INTACT playing accessories! The only thing I would like is perhaps a more traditional or vintage-looking box for it – maybe in wood to match the wood of the board!

You can find this at Entertainment Earth for $110!

Things to Look for When Buying Monopoly (Vintage or Collector’s Edition) 

All experts and sources do agree on some commonalities when purchasing vintage and collector editions of Monopoly.

• Having an entire set that matches the date of manufacture is more important than the condition of the set (unless, of course, it’s so beaten up that you can’t read the words on the board or the cards – or the board is half missing where Fido chewed it off!).
• A sealed box of Monopoly will sell for a much higher price than an opened one.
• Any game from 1934 – 1954 will be rarer and therefore will fetch a higher price.
• The original iron player tokens are more valuable than the more recent alterations.
• The limited number of games with plastic tokens that were produced during the war (when metal was in short supply) are more valuable than the altered token sets of later years.
• The Franklin Mint version is a limited edition that is valuable to own. For a new game of Monopoly, it will run about $600, and for a second-hand game, it will run about $300.
• The original 1935 #7 Black-Box Monopoly game from Parker Brothers with the trade-mark label and the Parker Brothers name (only 25,000 were ever produced).
• Exceptionally rare are the Monopoly games manufactured in 1934 before Parker Brothers started to make them. It is estimated that there were only 1,000 made with a white cover, and with a black cover there were 7,500 made but most were not distributed.
• Monopoly Games from 1935 that have “1933” on the board, or that have the words “patent pending” on the box can be sold anywhere in the range of $350 to $800.

Who Knew Monopoly could be this Controversial?

Lizzie Magie knew – because that is what she conceived. And why she conceived it. To educate people on Politics. How the 500 million players who have played the game since its inception choose to interpret and play is surely more a sign of the times and their current realities than it is about a specific person’s intention. But, like many women of the Suffrage movement in 1903 – Lizzie sought to educate others and stimulate women to become involved in their lives. That concept has prevailed today, and this game does stimulate us to consider “how” we want and choose to play – despite the late hour!

4. Monopoly 1935 Vintage Bookshelf Edition for SALE

This linen-wrapped book will look so handsome on your bookcase until you get it out to play your favorite game!

This dates from 1935 and has everything completely inside the book!

It has die-cast player tokens, all wooden houses, and hotels and has the 1935 game board and cards.

This is being sold at Out of Print for $40!

Two Sets of Rules

I didn’t win at Monopoly very often. And by very often I mean almost never! But I still loved to play, because, for me, it was all about being with others and joking around with them. Sometimes I did get disgusted, but it was quick to vanish as laughter soon took its place.

We were taught how to play and taught the rules of the game from the start. We always played by the rules, until it got to be late and we just didn’t care anymore. (Is it wrong to lend/give my child $5000?). Let’s not get started. Side deals and conversations took over in our late attempts to regain some of our money. (I will say that I don’t ever remember thinking about the outcome of a Monopoly game after it was over – maybe some do, but I won’t be addressing that situation here).

Perhaps this uncanny ability to mirror reality is what made this game so vastly popular.

Speaking of rules…did you know there were 2 sets of rules for Monopoly? When Elizabeth J. Magie (Phillips) first put her thoughts to paper and created The Landlord’s Game to illustrate the politician and economist Henry George’s theories,  she drew up two sets of rules so people could choose which ones they wanted to use.

“She created two sets of rules for her game: an anti-monopolist set in which all were rewarded when wealth was created, and a monopolist set in which the goal was to create monopolies and crush opponents.” (Source is The Atlantic and The Indraprastha College for Women at The University of Delhi).

Abridged Version of Monopoly’s History

Seen here is a poster for the original hand-drawn “The Landlord’s Game” (Monopoly) by Elizabeth Magie c.1904. It is for sale at Zazzle.au for about $10 plus shipping charges. (Coming from Australia the shipping is maybe $20 or more).

The Landlord’s Game was patented in 1904 by Elizabeth Magie, and in 1906 she published the game through the Economic Game Company and was credited as half-owner.

She also patented it again in 1924 under her married name of Elizabeth Magie Phillips. Throughout the next three decades, it became very popular in the US and in the UK, both for colleges/universities (which is where Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox Game was named in Scotland in 1913) and for the general public.

Interesting to note, the game was usually called either The Landlord’s Game or Monopoly, (the word monopoly had yet to be officially attached to the game) depending upon which set of rules one used!

Side note that Parker Brothers had published Magie’s comedic card game called Mock Trial in 1910. She invented many games over her lifetime to reflect the current social woes.

During this time, Magie had updated her game with Chicago street names, and then a woman who played it in Atlantic City named her board with Atlantic City street names. It is this version that Charles Darrow played, and copied to sell to Parker Brothers.

In 1933, Charles Darrow had played the game with friends many times and had a handwritten version made for himself. He then brought the game to the attention of Parker Brothers, hoping to sell it. In 1935 Parker Brothers paid Magie $500 for the rights to the game with an agreement that they would manufacture and sell it. Parker Brothers then bought the small companies that were selling The Landlord’s Game already.

Charles Darrow named his game Monopoly and signed an agreement stating that he was the inventor of the game, and Parker Brothers patented the game.

Very quickly, sales of the game took off (with more than 20,000 games manufactured each week!). Charles Darrow rapidly became a millionaire, which was unheard of in that day for board game owners.

Where to Buy Vintage and Collector’s Editions of Monopoly

eBay may be very overrated but the collectors agree that there are no “treasures” or hidden gems to be found within that website. It has such an active Monopoly Collector audience that monitors the site daily that it is a scarce event when something slips by their nose. Your best bet is to look at:

• Yard Sales (listed in the classified section of local newspapers)
• Estate Sales (listed in the classified section of local newspapers)
• Auctions (liveauctions.com and invaluable.com)
• Thrift Stores
• Antique Malls
• Flea Markets (online events calendars for your areas or the calendars for antique publications)
• eBay (though it’s overrated, if you search for misspelled words, like Monply, etc. you can unearth some great things that others have missed!)

Don’t be afraid to read the first four or five pages of results you get when Googling “rare vintage monopoly game for sale”! Many links listed on other pages are excellent exact fits that many people won’t bother looking at. Being a collector means more time researching – (the key phrase there is “searching”) additions to your collection.

Speaking of Googling various misspellings of the word Monopoly, I searched with the misspelled name “Monoply” and came up with dozens of hits. Human error strikes again. This type of search can be done with anything you are looking at online – and the results won’t get caught with the people who look just for “Monopoly”!

5. “Monoply” Game for SALE – Sopranos Edition

And, just as we discussed trying to misspell a game’s name – here we have an example of one put up for sale using the misspelled name Monoply.

This is a great opportunity to catch these finds that largely go undetected by others.

It happens all the time to everyone. Typing along and a letter is missed and no one is the wiser, except Grammarly.

This is a brand new, unopened game from Hasbro and it is on Mercari selling for almost $80 with shipping included.

6. Regulation Cross-Stitch Monopoly Game for SALE

This is one of many fun things that collectors will purchase to complement their board game sets. 

• The integrity of this comes from the early ages of the Monopoly or Landlord’s Game creation when Lizzie Magie used to draw out and sketch her games on cloth, paper, cardboard, old dish towels, etc. at the request of people who had seen their friends play this game and wanted one of their own.
• You could adhere it to a piece of thin wood, or use cardboard in a pinch, and you could also lay it atop an antique desk or sofa, or frame it and hang it!
• This particular one has hand-made cross-stitching and features a regulation size “board”. No tokens or cards/cash come with this – just the cross-stitched board.

This would be a wonderful heirloom. It has been marked down from $2,000 to $1,546 on Mercari.

7. Anthropologie Monopoly Game Edition for SALE

This is so pretty it doubles as home decor!

It is new and comes with cards, chance community test, title deed cards, bankers tray, money, tokens, dice, and solid wood houses.

I love the solid wooden houses in pale colors!

It can be found at Anthropologie.com and is sold for $148.

This is an unusual style, with bohemian influences and wood features – this feels like a unique collector’s item!

8. Rare Vintage 1936 – 1946 Monopoly Set for SALE

This true collector’s Monopoly Game gives you a little bit of the best of two worlds!

It has pieces from a 1936 original game and pieces from a 1946 Monopoly game.

All wooden houses and hotels, wood and metal tokens for players.

There are a limited number of dollar bills in each denomination as well.

This is on Etsy by a very reputable seller and all the quantities are listed out for you. It is selling for $46.

More Recent History of Monopoly

This picture is of “Progress and Poverty” Game Set, 1906 Style Repro/The Landlord’s Game (Monopoly). It is selling on eBay for $100.

The newspaper articles covering the sale of The Landlord’s Game were very thorough in their quotes by Lizzie Magie regarding her game and her refusal to have any changes made to it as a condition of the sale. To read more click here!

Much information regarding the history of Monopoly was unearthed during a lawsuit with Parker Brother and Ralph Anspach over the game “Anti-Monopoly” in 1974. There was a settlement and then a US Supreme Court judgment in favor of Anspach, who wrote a book about the whole decade-long ordeal.

Hasbro company bought Parker Brothers in 1991, acquiring the rights to Monopoly. They immediately set off a stream of different variations and editions about all sorts of different things – from places to topics, sports, etc. Before that, Parker Brothers had only put out the standard edition and a deluxe edition.

Their revitalization of Monopoly also included changing out less favored player tokens, and polling readers on how closely they followed the rules of the game. The results they found precipitated an edition called “House Rules” in which they included the five most popular rules that players had created themselves during the game playing.

Time Magazine says, “half of all Monopoly players have made up their own rules and 68% have never read the official rules all the way through. The House Rules Edition includes the five most popular of those made-up rules, which include doubling the amount collected for passing “Go,” collecting an additional $500 for rolling “snake eyes,” and not collecting rent while in jail.”.

Hasbro closed the Salem, MA factory in 1991 that Parker Brothers had used to produce the first games of Monopoly in 1935. Hasbro manufactured the last 650 Monopoly games in Salem, MA under a special collection with writing on the top of the package to display the Salem, MA name.

They gave each worker at the factory one of these games.

In 1998 the National Toy Hall of Fame invited Monopoly to join their ranks, and they listed it as being the world’s favorite game.

10. Scooby-Doo Monopoly 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition 2002

Scooby-dooby-doo! Where are you? On a Monopoly board! One of America’s favorite loved detective teams is featured on this commemorative edition of Monopoly and combines two fun themes for leisure play!

This is available to buy at USAopoly (The OP) for $40.

I love this version because Scooby-Doo was one of my favorite things to watch as it was with my son, also. Many people can relate to this type of comedy and it does color the game with a more relaxed and comic vibe than a Wall Street Version of Monopoly!

A benefit of this is that children have an added incentive to play an “adult” themed game – with all the rules and nuances.

Look at the metal token pieces – how much better can it get? It has custom Scooby-Doo money, and “Ruh-Roh” and “Zoinks” cards, and monstrous locations!

This Scooby-Doo edition made the list because it is considered a collector’s item and it demonstrates one of the most important philosophies to be a meaningful collector of Monopoly.

Collect your interests. Since there are so many different versions and editions and colors of boxes available (some sources even put the actual number as closer to 500) it is important to not go on an overwhelming quest to own as many Monopoly games as you can.

Pick a particular topic you are interested in, such as a country, or city, or a sport or television show. This will become your “theme” for your collection.

Experts agree that you will be far better served to spend your energy on something that can hold your attention for the long hours it sometimes takes collectors to acquire the right games. It will narrow down your playing field so that you can see all the bases, rather than having an infinite background. You can truly become an expert in your particular niche of Monopoly, and even have as many rabbit holes in your niche as you would like.

For instance, if you like Hockey Monopoly, you could have a sub-division that has Hockey player’s favorite version of Monopoly, or investigate if any Hockey Coaches have ever played Monopoly with their families, and which version that is.

Any related memorabilia is a nice rounding out of your collection as well. A certain set of Monopoly chairs, tapestry wallboard, etc. all make your collection that much more exciting and entertaining for yourself and others!

FAQ’s

In Conclusion

Becoming or being a collector of Monopoly Games can be either fun and rewarding or frustrating and time-wasting. The experts agree – how you go about collecting is probably the same way you will be playing the game! Take some tips to make it stress-free fun.

1. Choose a theme for your Monopoly Collection and stick to it.
2. Decide on quantity or quality. Do you want to own each game in your theme right away, or can you hold out for years to acquire complete sets?
3. Budget your time and money. Stick to it.
4. Don’t forget to PLAY MONOPOLY!

Number 1 is very important as the Guinness Book of World Records lists Neill Scallan as the man with the most Monopoly editions. He has over 2000 editions!!!

11. Limited Edition Orvis Monopoly Game for SALE

My best recommendation for vintage and collector’s edition Monopoly Sets would be to have a framed version of the original Landlord’s Game prominently hanging in your display area and perhaps some original wooden tokens for that.

For the actual board game itself, I would choose this Collector’s Edition Heirloom Monopoly Game by Orvis.

You can see how the game has evolved over the past 12 decades, and how society has shown what is important to them in a Monopoly Game. The striking rich walnut finish of this wooden drawer inside a table is sure to be an eye-catcher no matter how used or worn it gets!

The pieces are all wood or metal, and there is spacious storage for all the money and cards – no more of them hanging over the table, floating away with a breeze or with an elbow!

It feels luxurious to sit down to a game of well-loved Monopoly and play it on an elevated, grand wooden piece. No need to “put it away” as it’s nice enough to keep on your table all year long!

This rare heirloom-quality limited edition Monopoly game from Orvis goes for about $400, but it would be well worth it – just seeing it sends my motivation to play sky high.

Recommended reads:

• Minecraft Board Game Guide
• Pokemon Monopoly Guide
• Star Wars Monopoly Guide

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We, the Dice 'N Board Team, are a passionate team of writers, tabletop enthusiasts, and veterans. We never stray too far from the 20-sided dice. We have accumulated over a thousand hours gathered around a table - reading rules, strategizing, and rolling dice. We spend thousands of dollars getting our hands on the finest tabletop games on the market. We go on quests to take the toughest campaigns around. We regularly keep up-to-date with the latest trends, updates, and expansions. We serve as a pillar of the community that caters to all generations of tabletop players.

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