How your old Ikea furniture could be worth up to £15,500

The Sun

01-05-2025

IKEA has made the headline after finally swinging the doors open to its brand new Oxford Street store in the heart of London.
The new store, located in the iconic former Topshop flagship building, spans three floors and welcomed its first shoppers this morning.
But if your home is already filled with Ikea furniture, you might be sitting on a hidden goldmine.
Some of the most iconic items include the £55 Billy bookcase, the £80 Poang armchair and the £179 Malm bed.
While the Swedish retailer is celebrated for its budget-friendly homeware, some of its furniture pieces have skyrocketed in value over the years, becoming sought-after treasures for collectors.
In fact, collectors are willing to pay thousands of pounds for in-demand items, ranging from armchairs to kitchen chairs.
Pontus Silverstolpe, founder of the antiques website Barnebys, explains that furniture from specific time periods can fetch staggering sums.
He said: "It is especially designer furniture from the 1950s and 1980s from Ikea that is commanding increasingly high prices on the second-hand market."
The products commanding the highest prices are often those that struggled to sell in stores and were later discontinued.
Their scarcity has made them rare finds, increasing their appeal to collectors and driving up their value.
In fact, one piece has sold for an astonishing £15,500 at auction.
So, could your Ikea furniture be a hidden goldmine?
The Sun takes a trip inside the new Ikea Oxford Street
Bengt Ruda Cavelli armchair - £15,500
The Bengt Ruda Cavelli armchair, originally priced at just £20 when it debuted in 1959, recently shattered records by fetching an incredible £15,500 at auction in 2022.
This sale crowned it as the most expensive piece of Ikea furniture ever sold.
With only five of these chairs ever produced, its extreme rarity has made it highly sought after by collectors.
The chair was produced by Ikea's first-ever in-house designer Bengt Ruda.
Åke armchair - £2,863
This distinctive fluffy white armchair was created by Ikea's furniture group Åke, which operated between 1952 and 1956.
Originally sold in stores for just £8, it became a highly coveted collector's item decades later, with one fetching an impressive £2,863 at auction - over 50 years after its debut.
Impala Chair - £1,700
The Impala, available as both an armchair and a sofa, was designed by Gillis Lundgren in the early 1970s and remains one of Ikea's most coveted classics today.
With its unmistakable Seventies aesthetic, the Impala featured low-slung seats and a sleek, curvy chrome frame.
In 2021, a striking red Impala sofa, originally sold for £107 in the Seventies, fetched an impressive £1,700 at auction in Sweden.
Oti armchairs - £875
It may not look the comfiest of seats, but this Oti metal armchair went for nearly £900 at auction when a pair was sold recently.
A pair of these rare chairs would have cost £46 to buy in the 1980s.
Now, a pair of the chairs was sold for £875 in 2016.
Monaco chair - £412
Teak was all the rage in the 1960s, which is when Ikea introduced the "Monaco" set of chairs.
The Monaco chairs were notable for offering an affordable entry point into the world of teak furniture, and their timeless design continues to attract attention today.
Originally priced at just £20 for a set of four, these chairs can now fetch up to £412, depending on their condition.
SKOPA CHAIR - £180
In 2016, four examples of the Skopan armchair went under the hammer, each selling for just over £180.
Designed in 1974 by the acclaimed duo Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen and Torben Lind, these armchairs were originally sold for a mere £6.
The armchair remains a classic piece of Ikea's design history.
HISTORY OF IKEA IN THE UK
IKEA was founded in Älmhult, Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943.
Since then, it has gone from being a tiny mail-order company to becoming one of the most well-known home furnishing brands in the world.
High costs and damage rates when transporting furniture via mail order were constant thorns in Ingvar's side.
To help quell this issue, the furniture giant adopted the flatpack assembly method in 1953.
In 1987, Ikea opened its first UK store in Warrington, Cheshire,
This marked the beginning of its expansion into the British market.
Following the success of the Warrington store, Ikea rapidly expanded across the UK. Stores were opened in key locations, including Birmingham (1988), Leeds (1989), and Glasgow (1992).
In recent years, Ikea announced plans to open compact stores located close to our high streets.
Dubbed "XS Stores", these aim to cater to those that live in city centres.
Ikea opened its first XS store in Hammersmith in February 2022, with a second one is planned to open in Autumn 2024 within Oxford Circus.
These stores don't hold the full stock of the mainline stores but still have over 4,000 items to choose from, including a deli where you can get Britain's favourite Ikea meatballs.
As of 2024, Ikea operates out of 21 UK stores and employs nearly 12,000 staff members.