MATTOON - You may have a small fortune lurking in your closet or bottom drawer.

That is, unless you've already sold or given away (or thrown away) your old T-shirts.

"It seems that vintage style is coming back everywhere," said Jared Brown, owner of Sold Rush, a Mattoon business that buys and sells items for clients on eBay.

And whether it's through an online auction or secondhand store, the sale of vintage T-shirts may be generating revenue that far surpasses the clothing's original value.

So what qualifies a T-shirt as vintage?

"Everyone has their own definition of vintage, and if you asked an antiques dealer, they would probably laugh if you called an item from 1995 'vintage,' " said James Applegath, a Toronto, Ontario, resident who has sold such items on eBay for three years and authored the Web service's guide to vintage T-shirts.

"On eBay, in terms of T-shirts, it seems as though anything from at least the decade previous can be called 'vintage,' " Applegath said in an e-mail interview.

He noted that "vintage" and "showing signs of age" are not synonymous, and T-shirts may be in mint condition despite their age if they have been stored properly.

"I've had some people complain that an item was in too good condition, as they were looking for that worn vintage look," Applegath said.

His eBay guide listed a New Kids On the Block T-shirt that had reached $25 in the bidding process and a Britney Spears T-shirt that was going for $49.95.

"The most popular tees these days are concert tees," Applegath said. "Any old concert and band memorabilia is already collectible, and to top it off, they've also become fashionable."

Local eBay traders have found shirts bearing athletes or fictional characters to be quite popular.

Brown reported selling more than 100 vintage T-shirts since Sold Rush delved into that practice in late June. So far, the most profitable sale was a Nike shirt modeled after a Michael Jordan poster, which garnered $86.

"We were flabbergasted," Brown said.

Bidding for his T-shirts begins at $3.99. About 50 percent of the shirts are purchased at or near the reserve bid amount; however, the other half go for $10 to $20 or more, Brown said.

"We don't know the reason why," he said. "It's hit and miss. It's definitely just a buyer's market. It just takes two people on eBay (who) fight over it."

Brown said he has shipped orders as far away as Australia and the United Kingdom.

Of course, vintage T-shirts aren't just hot commodities on the Internet. Officials at local thrift stores and secondhand outlets report a thriving market for such items.

"We always carry a lot of T-shirts, everything we can come up with, from the rock groups to the restaurants," said Linda Spence of Spence's on Jackson in Charleston.

She stocks her vintage T-shirt supply from a variety of sources, including yard sales, estate sales and other secondhand and thrift stores.

Spence said Eastern Illinois University students in particular seek out these shirts. "The weirder, the better for the kids," she said.

A student paid $15 for a shirt bearing the logo for the game show "The Price is Right," even after Spence initially declined to sell it - she intended to use it for display purposes only. The rest of the time, her vintage T-shirts carry a $5 price tag.

"This is a T-shirt world," she said. "It's amazing what's on T-shirts - some of it good, some of it bad, some of it funny."

Meanwhile, at the Community Thrift Store in Charleston, owner Brenda Duzan said most T-shirts depart shortly after their arrival. She marks them all at $1.99, regardless of their vintage value.

"They go out pretty quick," she said.

Nathaniel West can be reached at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.