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Iv got a load of old paints many of which are still sealed from the 90s, not sure if theres any value in them, maybe if some of the colours went out of production people may want them? i know the ones that were opened probably arnt worth a great deal though.

Was wondering if anyone thinks paints from this time would be worth more then ones that are in production now, I cant really find any on ebay to compare to. Thanks

The only thing from any of the old sets worth anything would be unopened pots of Devlin Mud.

Bestial brown is always a favourite and the metallic expert paint set. But tbh no not really nest off just using them

 Breotan wrote:
The only thing from any of the old sets worth anything would be unopened pots of Devlin Mud.

Ugh. I just used up my last post a few weeks ago.


I recently found a small stash of vintage GW paints from around 1996 or so. Was amazed they hadn't hardened.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
The only thing from any of the old sets worth anything would be unopened pots of Devlin Mud.

Ugh. I just used up my last post a few weeks ago.


I recently found a small stash of vintage GW paints from around 1996 or so. Was amazed they hadn't hardened.

Guess ideal if you had a vintage project.. Old colour scheme.. Old colours.
Or you wanted to revive thr old green painted bases to perfect accuracy!

LostSkaven wrote:
Iv got a load of old paints many of which are still sealed from the 90s, not sure if theres any value in them, maybe if some of the colours went out of production people may want them? i know the ones that were opened probably arnt worth a great deal though.

Was wondering if anyone thinks paints from this time would be worth more then ones that are in production now, I cant really find any on ebay to compare to. Thanks

There are lots of various lines of paints that are no longer around today, I assume you're talking about the old GW paints specifically?
If so, there could be some value from a nostalgia standpoint. Also, some of those colors weren't perfectly reproduced when GW changed over.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Also, some of those colors weren't perfectly reproduced when GW changed over.

...but are still produced exactly as they were, under the Coat D'arms label. And considerably cheaper than the current GW paints.

So no, other than to real die hard collectors, the old paints aren't going to be worth any more than the Coat D'arms range sells for now.


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 Breotan wrote:
The only thing from any of the old sets worth anything would be unopened pots of Devlin Mud.

That was a bit after the '90s...

Why is Devlin mud so sought after?

 Retrogamer0001 wrote:
Why is Devlin mud so sought after?

Because it's awesome, and the wash that replaced it is slightly different.

I switched to Army Painter Strong Tone instead, as it's more of less identical.

Un-opened, maybe? The old GW range is still in production by Coat d'Arms or somebody.

 insaniak wrote:

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Also, some of those colors weren't perfectly reproduced when GW changed over.

...but are still produced exactly as they were, under the Coat D'arms label. And considerably cheaper than the current GW paints.

So no, other than to real die hard collectors, the old paints aren't going to be worth any more than the Coat D'arms range sells for now.

That's the weird part, as I keep hearing it both ways. Every time the Coat D'arms range comes up, it's either still the exact same as the old GW paints, or "almost but not quite" according to people. I still keep meaning to pick some up to do some old school Ultramarines for funsies.

They're exactly the same. All that changed is the labels.

GW's paints changed, as they went to a different manufacturer. The old manufacturer kept making the range under the Coat D'arms label.

Speaking from recent experience, I can tell the OP to have no worries about using paint from the 1990s. Still works fine.

There is probably some nostalgia value in the paints. A few years ago there may have been more of a market but the availability of paint ranges and information on who makes then has seen that dilute.

OP £1.25 seems to be a price I remember from back in the mists of the 90's. Much cheaper than pots now so if you want to get rid of them that seems a good reference point.

 insaniak wrote:
They're exactly the same. All that changed is the labels.

GW's paints changed, as they went to a different manufacturer. The old manufacturer kept making the range under the Coat D'arms label.

The first range of Citadel Colour paints were sold in round pots with flip-top lids. The second range, introduced in the early 90s, were in hexagonal pots, but with the same flip-top lids. My understanding is that that second range is the paints now sold by Coat d'Arms (although Cd'A sell them in round pots). There was a difference between those two ranges (and some colours from the first range were discontinued and new ones were introduced; Salamanders Green - > Dark Angels Green, Titillating Pink -> Tentacle Pink, for example). That might be what leads some people to say there's differences between Citadel and Coat D'Arms, and others to say they're identical.

Ask on some Oldhammer groups; there's plenty of people who collect old paints there. Or you could just use them yourself, I suppose.

There was an advert for many many years asking reader to for tubes of clear glue...the stuff from the 70/80's that smelled like pear drop boiled sweets!

 insaniak wrote:

 Retrogamer0001 wrote:
Why is Devlin mud so sought after?

Because it's awesome, and the wash that replaced it is slightly different.

I switched to Army Painter Strong Tone instead, as it's more of less identical.

That's what I use now, and I really like it, as well as Dark Tone for Black washes.

On the side of 90's paints, I still have (and regularly use) the pop-top bottles of the colored metallics like Amethyst Purple and Sapphire Blue, and I love them.

 Breotan wrote:
The only thing from any of the old sets worth anything would be unopened pots of Devlin Mud.

Not really. Anyone who extentively used Devlan Mud (or Badab Black or Gryphonne Sepia) switched to Army Painters Soft, Strong and Dark tone inks. They're pretty much identical, and flow better.

 -Loki- wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
The only thing from any of the old sets worth anything would be unopened pots of Devlin Mud.

Not really. Anyone who extentively used Devlan Mud (or Badab Black or Gryphonne Sepia) switched to Army Painters Soft, Strong and Dark tone inks. They're pretty much identical, and flow better.

Really? I don't find the Army Painter washes flow all that well, they do they annoying thing where they go on well while wet but shrinkage as they dry causes them to light areas immediately adjacent to the dark areas.

 AegisGrimm wrote:

On the side of 90's paints, I still have (and regularly use) the pop-top bottles of the colored metallics like Amethyst Purple and Sapphire Blue, and I love them.

I still have some of the original paints I bought in 1994. It's a slowly dwindling collection, but still going.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Really? I don't find the Army Painter washes flow all that well, they do they annoying thing where they go on well while wet but shrinkage as they dry causes them to light areas immediately adjacent to the dark areas.

I haven't found that. maybe they just don't like the finish on certain paints.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

The first range of Citadel Colour paints were sold in round pots with flip-top lids. The second range, introduced in the early 90s, were in hexagonal pots, but with the same flip-top lids. My understanding is that that second range is the paints now sold by Coat d'Arms (although Cd'A sell them in round pots). There was a difference between those two ranges (and some colours from the first range were discontinued and new ones were introduced; Salamanders Green - > Dark Angels Green, Titillating Pink -> Tentacle Pink, for example). That might be what leads some people to say there's differences between Citadel and Coat D'Arms, and others to say they're identical.

Yup. I found an old pot of Citadel ghoul grey in a model shop, one time. Nice colour. I've had a look, and most modern mini paint ranges don't sell anything like it, let alone Cd'A.

IIRC, Ghoul Grey was a slightly greenish pale grey? There might be something similar in the Vallejo Model Color range.

The last survivors of my original Citadel Colour paints were the metallic green and purple. Eventually, the lids of the pots perished. Mind you, those metallic were terrible from the day I bought them; the metallic flakes lurked at the bottom of the pot despite vigorous mixing and shaking, leaving a rather disappointing colour with poor coverage. Easier just to apply ink washes over silver. I miss Burnished Gold, though.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Mind you, those metallic were terrible from the day I bought them; the metallic flakes lurked at the bottom of the pot despite vigorous mixing and shaking, leaving a rather disappointing colour with poor coverage.

Really? I used the metallic green a lot, and loved it. Was a happy day when I found out about Coat D'arms and was able to revert to my original colours for my first Marine army... I had switched to Dark Angels green when GW dropped the coloured metallics.

I miss Burnished Gold, though.

Shining Gold, for me. The golds the GW brought in instead were horrible, and the shining gold was more yellow and horribly flakey. So another happy re-addition to the range courtesy of Coat D'arms

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
IIRC, Ghoul Grey was a slightly greenish pale grey? There might be something similar in the Vallejo Model Color range.

Aye, yellowish grey to my eye. There's a Reaper paint that might be close, but I've yet to make an order to check it, or see if they've taken on any UK sellers in the meantime.

This is great news!

I still have a hoard of about 6 pots of Devlin Mud in a drawer somewhere that I got because I heard they were great and were going to stop being made.

Never found a use as I'm still using the original GW ink set and the follow up washes I bought in 1990; they just seem to go on forever.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

 insaniak wrote:

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Also, some of those colors weren't perfectly reproduced when GW changed over.

...but are still produced exactly as they were, under the Coat D'arms label. And considerably cheaper than the current GW paints.

So no, other than to real die hard collectors, the old paints aren't going to be worth any more than the Coat D'arms range sells for now.

That's the weird part, as I keep hearing it both ways. Every time the Coat D'arms range comes up, it's either still the exact same as the old GW paints, or "almost but not quite" according to people. I still keep meaning to pick some up to do some old school Ultramarines for funsies.

They're the same. Including slight variation in the same colours from batch to batch - just like the old GW days!

The OP never actually said which range they came from. If they're from the 90's I believe it could be the tall circular pop tops, the tall hex pop tops or the short stubby hex screw tops.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
The OP never actually said which range they came from. If they're from the 90's I believe it could be the tall circular pop tops, the tall hex pop tops or the short stubby hex screw tops.

Those short stubby screw tops can go die in a fire. Worst paint pots GW ever used.

I’m still using RT-era paints all the way up to modern paints. Except the screw tops. Those were just about single shot. You opened them, painted for about a week, then they were dry. Never got a decent seal to stay fresh.

wow thanks for the replies people, looks like their could be a little bit of value in some of the paints, its mainly the old flip tops iv got that are still sealed and a few of the newer screw tops. The ironic thing is I have all these old miniatures to sell and I live in nottingham and the warehouse is about a 5 or 10 minute walk from my house and im selling and asking questions on the internet... well not really ironic I suppose but kind of funny. I wonder if they would have any use for the old paints though

 Nevelon wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
The OP never actually said which range they came from. If they're from the 90's I believe it could be the tall circular pop tops, the tall hex pop tops or the short stubby hex screw tops.

Those short stubby screw tops can go die in a fire. Worst paint pots GW ever used.

I agree, though I believe that was the range that introduced Brown Ink which hasn't been around for a while yet is a key component in my Tyranid army, so I'd love to get some o' dat brown.