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Ten years ago, Lego released a collector's edition model of the Millennium Falcon. It would have cost you more than £300 to buy, but boy was it worth it.

Not only did you get the most realistic-yet Lego model of Han Solo's famous ship, with 5,000 pieces and 5 mini-figures, you also got one of the best investments you could have dreamt of.

That's because, after a limited run it was withdrawn and has gone on to become the most valuable set in the world.

Buying an un-opened one today will cost you almost £3,000 – while even ones that have been opened and built are selling for more than £2,300.

The better news – they're about to do it all again.

The ultimate Millennium Falcon

On October 1, a new version of the Millennium Falcon goes on sale – this time it's 50% bigger at 7,541 bricks, more realistic, has more mini-figures (7) and is updated so it can fit in the new films as well as the old (you get two Han Solos for example, one young to flirt with Leia, the other grey to hang out with Rey).

It's also more expensive. At £650 it's the most expensive Lego set you can buy.

But while that's a world away from the sort of cash you might want to spend on what is, still, a toy. It might not actually be a bad deal.

If the past is anything to go by, it's exactly the sort of set that will rise in price. In fact, it's already selling on eBay for as much as £849 - £200 more than the list price on the Lego site.

Of course, it might well not rise in price the way the last one did – and we'd never suggest Lego as an a serious investment plan. But if you have the cash, and want one, it's possible you'll get a nice little earner alongside one of the finest Lego sets ever made.

Do other Lego sets rise in price too?

Yes. Not all see values rise, but you can get money from almost any Lego you no longer want.

“In the UK alone, there are millions of pieces of Lego just lying around in homes and there’s huge potential for those who have standalone bricks, as well as complete sets, to make some serious cash by trading in their unwanted pieces,” said Liam Howley, marketing director at musicMagpie.

MusicMagpie lets people sell Lego by weight – currently £4 for a kilo – but people with specialist sets, or even collections, can make far more.

According to Lego investing site BrickPicker, the fastest price rise is currently for the Star Wars set The Phantom (75048) - which sold for just £20 but has more than doubled in price since Lego stopped producing it last year.

The fastest-rising non-Star Wars set was Marvel themed - with the Ant Man Final Battle set (76039-1) rising 95% in price.

What sells best

(Image: Internet Unknown)

The bigger, rarer sets tend to be worth the most - but with Lego frequently refreshing its range that means any old set that's large enough could be worth upwards of £1,000 .

It doesn't need to be Star Wars, either, with rare Lego City, Technic, Creator and Pirates sets all worth upwards of £2,000 too.

Sadly, to get the best prices for your Lego, it needs to be “mint in box” - which means not opened since it was bought and still factory sealed.

The good news for people who want to play with their toys is that you can still get good returns for assembled models – as long as there are no pieces missing.

Can you sell anything?

The easiest Lego sets to sell are Star Wars themed, with Millennium Falcons , Death Stars and X-Wings all selling well – and some prices in the thousands.

But there's much more than just Star Wars selling. A look at the best-selling kits on BrickPicker shows trains, play houses, dinosaurs, Harry Potter sets, Back to the Future Deloreans and Pirate sets all featuring.

How to sell your Lego

(Image: Sarah-Rose/Flickr)

Most of the sales take place on eBay , with BrickPicker providing lists of the top selling and biggest rising prices – as well as a tool letting you compare the price of sets .

You can also search on eBay for sold prices of similar sets.

If you've got a box of Lego, rather than a specific set, you can bulk-sell as well – although prices for these are a lot lower. MusicMagpie has a simple tool to let you sell if you don't fancy eBay.

That said, if you have the time and can split the box out by category (be it Star Wars, pirates, Medieval, Technic or whatever) these smaller – more specific - bundles will frequently sell for more than a job-lot of unsorted bricks.

You could also use a specialist auction site, with Catawiki holding regular Lego auctions too.

What to watch out for

(Image: Wales Daily Post)

To get the most value, you need to be selling pristine-condition Lego toys.

“As with any sort of collectible, the safe storage of the collectible is very important,” Ed Mack explains in a piece on How to make money from Lego . “Although the actual Lego brick is pretty much indestructible under normal conditions, the Lego boxes and instructions need special care.”

That means quite a lot of space to store them all if you're trying to make money from them, and possibly adding the cost to your insurance.

Then there are the seller fees on eBay . And the shipping costs – remember, Lego is bulky and could cost quite a bit to ship. And if you're selling to a collector, they'll expect it to arrive in good condition, so packing costs go up again.

Oh, and don't count your profits before you sell – the price of a set can drop fast if Lego re-introduces it while prices can rise as well as fall in line with demand too.