What was once a 10 cent magazine in 1938 can sell for upwards of $40 or more today. Some are valued higher than others, depending on what celebrated icon is on the cover.

You will find that if your favorite star is Marilyn Monroe, you won't find too many available original vintage magazines with her face on the cover. She's in too much demand. Stars and movies that are way too popular are hard to find, almost scarce.

Justifiably then, a magazine that has all four stars of the Wizard of Oz from 1939 is not only hard to find but will be costly. Very rarely do you find any of cover magazines with Shirley Temple at her zenith, when she was under 10 years old.

I started my collection by collecting anything on Gone With the Wind, and found that magazines was a way to go to get vintage, original memorabilia. It's taken years to find many of these - Vivien Leigh as Scarlett on the cover of Time Magazine, A Ladies' Home Journal with Scarlett dressed in her barbeque hat ... One of the rarest is the 1939 issue of House & Garden Magazine with Tara on the cover - a decorators' edition featuring Tara's set design. The GWTW-themed magazines are out there, but are truly scarce.

The way vintage movie magazines are valued is based on the star power. In the 1950s you could find Elizabeth Taylor on more than one magazine per week. In the 1940s, you had Lana Turner or Esther Williams. The truly valuable ones are from the 1930s, where Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo and Carole Lombard were regular cover models.

MGM used to produce a magazine called "The Lion's Roar" that had amazing covers and promoted upcoming films. This was actually an industry magazine that went to specific individuals. It's one of the hardest magazines to find because they rarely go up for auction.

For your money, most magazines from that era start at about $9.99 and go up to $99.99.

I often find that dealers on eBay will try to price their magazines way too high -- yes, prices fluctuate in the collectibles market but considering movie magazines were printed in pretty high cirulations, there will always be another copy put on the market.

Many dealers, on the other hand, also know the value and the market. Value often depends on the cover star's popularity.

Let's face it. Magazines, newspapers -- and most old paper item are fragile. Many still have the old address labels stuck on the cover. There may be rips, tears, pages missing, crossword puzzles filled out. All adds to less value. However, it depends what you want to do with your magazine.

If you want to keep it, keep it in a safe, temperature-controlled area away from dampness. You can purchase special magazine-sized plastic bags that are great to use as storage.

If you want to frame your magazine as art, make sure that you do not use tape to keep the magazine in place. It will be difficult to tear off because the paper used is quite delicate.

Look for mint condition, although rare magazines may have writing, labels, small rips or tears -- the content is still attractive to many.

How to get started:

You may have a favorite star or favorite movie. There were dozens of movie magazines in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Just like today, the magazines gave the public what they wanted.

Do a little research; you may want to get a magazine based on content alone. Some of the old movie magazines have great one-page movie ads, and ads for anything from cosmetics to cigarettes.

If you want to see the magazine in person first, there are many antique and collector's shows that come around, or even movie collectible shows. I find that the magazines you find in person are priced much higher. However, if you go to a flea market booth or garage sale, someone may sell an entire box of old magazines just to get rid of them. You may find some treasures there.

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In the 1920s and 1930s, the covers of the movie magazines were works of art featuring portraits of movie stars painted by renowned artists. Even the women's magazines at the time had exquisite art.

There were many magazines to choose from. Silver Screen, Screen Album, Photoplay, Screen Romance, Movie Story, and general magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, Look, Life and Time Magazine that featured portraits of stars.

The magazine editors spared no expense in those days in having their stars look fabulous. Not only did the cover stars look gorgeous, but photo spreads inside the magazine were stunning. Each painted portrait was exquisite and you wonder where the original art lives today.