Tim King is a remodeler who hails from Lombard, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The contractor was working on his parents’ house when he found something that had been missing for 46 years: a Christmas present still wrapped in Disney paper. Written on the present in blue ballpoint ink: “Timothy.” Little did he know he’d discovered some vintage Matchbox models.

Behind the drywall in a torn-apart bathroom, King came across the old, forgotten gift. He assumes it fell into its hiding spot from the attic above, where his parents kept all the bounty leading up to the holiday. The present was purchased in the fall of 1978 when King would have been just six years old.

It’s just the thing he would have loved

King took the liberty of opening his Christmas gift nearly 50 years after his parents wrapped it. Inside was an unboxed, die-cast set of Matchbox Thunder Jets.

Die-cast Matchbox models started up in the early 1950s by Lesney Products, a British company. In the early 80s, Universal Toys purchased the brand, and production moved to Asia. After another sale in 1992 to Tyco Toys, Mattel acquired Matchbox in 1997.

How much are unboxed vintage Matchbox Thunder Jets worth?

It’s the first question I had after watching the news of the discovery. A quick Google of auction listings, though, and you’ll find that they aren’t worth all that much.

Individual airplanes seem to go for less than 20 bucks apiece. Moreover, it’s possible the jets were decorated with lead-based paint, although the material was banned from toymaking by 1977.

Overall, King has the gift itself and a fond, now opened-up memory of a caring and thoughtful gesture his parents once prepped for him. That vintage Disney paper and the Matchbox set have me smiling, in any case.