Longaberger Baskets (No. 20)
The Longaberger Company was a multi-level marketing juggernaut that ruled the 1990s. Operating out of Ohio—complete with a seven-story corporate headquarters shaped exactly like a giant picnic basket—the company sold handcrafted maple wood baskets through a network of independent home-sales consultants. At the peak of the craze, collectors treated these utilitarian household containers like fine art, routinely spending $100 to $300 for limited-edition seasonal releases.
Today, the secondary market for these baskets has completely cratered. The multi-level marketing bubble burst in the early 2000s, and younger generations moving into smaller spaces view them as bulky, impractical dust-catchers rather than heirloom assets. Estate sales are completely flooded with them, and ordinary vintage Longaberger pieces struggle to fetch even $10 to $20 online. The brand’s decline was so absolute that its famous basket-shaped headquarters sat abandoned for years before being sold at a massive loss. Unless you own an incredibly rare, pristine 1970s prototype signed by founder Dave Longaberger, these baskets are worth a tiny fraction of their original purchase price.