(FORTUNE Magazine) – Don't sell your Elmer Fudd tiara yet. Prices for collectibles are rising. Auctioneer Ted Hake, owner of Hake's Americana & Collectibles in York, Pennsylvania, says bidders paid record prices in April for rings, buttons, badges, and other trinkets linked to comic book characters. An Orphan Annie ring that in 1942 cost 15 cents (plus a box top or two) brought $14,200; a Captain Midnight Mystic Sun God ring sold for $2,875. Hake says his business overall is running 15% ahead of last year. Why? First, collectors have discovered that memorabilia (vs. comic books themselves) are undervalued. Second, the confidence of these consumers has been building. Explains Jill Krutick, a leisure products analyst at Salomon Brothers: ''Consumers who want special treasures are investing again now that they feel better about the economy.'' Adds Hake: ''We saw people start buying again right after the November election.'' That was just about the time confidence measures such as the Conference Board's index began trending upward. In what may be a hopeful sign, collectors have remained bullish while indexes have wobbled. Prices for collectible cars turned up well before the broad confidence measures. The climb began back in August, says Mitchell Kruse, president of Kruse International, auctioneers in Auburn, Indiana. ''And since November the bidder-to-car ratio has increased to 4 to 1,'' he says. ''That's the reverse of what it was two years ago.'' Mary Ann Liebert, publisher of the newsletter Automotive Investor, agrees that car prices are firming. ''We aren't seeing anything resembling a frenzy yet,'' she reports. ''But buyers are paying top dollar again for what they consider quality -- '57 T-Birds, for example.'' Got one in mint condition? Don't take a penny less than $27,000.