Mattel Earthshakers Price Guide

Because the Earthshakers were a short-lived Mattel creation, they are quite rare these days. At the time of writing there were a few scattered current and recent listings of Earthshakers on eBay. Digging through existing and completed listings, here is what I came across (all values rounded off):

• Ground Hog bulldozer, no packaging, good condition, sold for £26
• Scraper and Dumper, the latter missing the spill-gate, in otherwise nice condition, no packaging, sold for £12
• Ground Hog bulldozer, mint in packaging, closed for £58
• Ground Hog sans bulldozer/loader arms and attachments, with Dumper, and Scraper, nice condition, no packaging, sold for £29
• Ground Hog sans bulldozer/loader arms, with Dumper with broken spill-gate, otherwise in nice condition, no packaging, asking for opening bid of £19
• Scraper, good condition, no packaging, Buy it Now for £32
• Ground Hog sans bulldozer/loader arms, with Scraper, good condition, no packaging, sold for £8
• Dumper, missing spill-gate, otherwise in excellent condition, no packaging, Buy it Now for £24
• Scraper, excellent condition, no packaging, Buy it Now for £37
• Earthshakers Construction Set (Ground Hog loader, bulldozer blade, Scraper, Dumper, Tow-Bar), mint in packaging, Buy it Now for £97
• Ground Hog loader, Scraper, Dumper without spill-gate, otherwise in nice condition, no packaging, sold for £23
There was also a Ground Hog loader with Scraper, mint in the packaging, on ioffer.com, with a current offer of £16.

Powering up
If you happen to find a Ground Hog in working order, or are able to repair the motor and replace the rechargeable batteries in one, you’ll need a Juice Machine or Power Pit or equivalent system to charge up your machine and try it out. Once again I combed through eBay’s listings to see how easily the chargers could be had, and how much you might have to lay out to obtain one:
• Juice Machine, excellent condition, no box, sold for £2.60
• Two Juice Machines, one fair, one excellent, sold for £4
• Juice Machine, good condition, sold for £1.60
• Power Pit, 2007 edition (for late-generation Sizzlers), excellent, no box, sold for £8
• Power Pit, new in box, includes Hot Wheels 1970 Mustang, asking opening bid of £26
• Power Pit, excellent in box, closed for £13.50
• Power Pit, good condition, no box, asking starting bid of £3
• Power Pit, good condition, no box, current bid £6

Most all of these auctions were from US sellers, so UK buyers would have to consider the overseas shipping charges in addition to the closing prices.

This is an extract from an article in the October issue of Collectors Gazette, pick it up in stores from 20th September, order your copy online or search for it in the App Store.