# "Collectibles" that are never going to be worth anything **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433 "2009-11-05T16:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/21 "2009-11-05T18:54:18Z")
??? but I have all four covers of Youngblood #1. The foil covers! Authenticated by Dynamic Forces. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/22 "2009-11-05T18:56:26Z")
I got five Gretzky rookie cards I’m saving for my retirement. Fingers crossed. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/23 "2009-11-05T18:56:44Z")
2 things come to mind as a cause for this - 1.) The idea that ‘everything’ is a collectable - thanks to this marketing ploy - we even have limited edition cookies in collectable tins. 2.) The advent of the Internet and E-bay - thanks to ebay - its now much easier to find/get things that used to require specialty shops and flea markets. What used to be scarce is now much easier to find. Price guides (like Becketts) are amazing - they’re great when you want to feel good about something ’ hey, the dealer has it less than beckets!’ - because while the idea of a price guide is good, you have to look long and hard to find people actually buying some of the items for the prices listed. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/24 "2009-11-05T19:05:49Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I got five Gretzky rookie cards I’m saving for my retirement. Fingers crossed. An interesting bit of trivia is that Gretzky will never sign one of his rookie cards for a fan. He only ever signed five of them, one for each of his kids. Those cards will be extremely valuable. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/25 "2009-11-05T19:09:42Z")
Well, then, I better collect his kids. I wonder how much _they’d_ be worth and how much personal security they have. ---
**Author:** ![Lips\_Obsession](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbce88/32.png) [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/26 "2009-11-05T19:10:23Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Mint postage stamps. Far too many people have been buying and putting away the current mint postage stamps in the US as an investment over the last 50 to 60 years, so that you can now buy them on eBay in bulk at below face value. Yes, you can buy $100 worth of 4 cent postage stamps that are 50 years old for a bit less than $100. (4 cents was the base rate for a letter back then, and it’s more than 10 times that now, so if they had held their relative value, those stamps should be worth $1,000). So are you suggesting you can buy postage (to use) on eBay for under face value? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/27 "2009-11-05T19:34:06Z")
> [@Lips\_Obsession](#): > > So are you suggesting you can buy postage (to use) on eBay for under face value? I wouldn’t be surprised. In the case mentioned by the OP, it’s going to be a shit ton of 4 cent stamps so you’d have to put eleven of them on a single letter so it’s probably not worth it. A friend of mine is a stamp collector. He told me that stamp dealers get families coming to them all the time with stamps that they’ve inherited. They’ll have full sheets of various collectible stamps with famous actors or hundredth anniversary of historical events on them. Stamp stores will buy them for 50 cents on the dollar. When my friend would get a stamp catalog mailed to him it would be plastered with the craziest stamps like from the 1968 Olympics and such. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/28 "2009-11-05T19:40:48Z")
> [@Lips\_Obsession](#): > > So are you suggesting you can buy postage (to use) on eBay for under face value? Yes. I haven’t looked for a while, but I don’t things have changed much in that field. I have a shoebox full of unused stamps that I’ve bought for under face, and that I use for postage. Some came from a friend who was a coin dealer in Australia, and they were even cheaper because some sheets were stuck together. (But when you soak them in water and separate them they are still valid for postage: you just need a little glue.) ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/29 "2009-11-05T19:48:49Z")
Sad story about the \*\*baseball cards \*\*my brother & I collected religiously one year. It was the 1987 Topps baseball cards with a wood-grain pattern. We carefully cataloged and preserved them in plastic sheets. We got the entire set (and enough extras for a third set, probably). If only Mom hadn’t thrown away those 22-year-old cards, we’d be zillionaires right now. Or not. eBay has the complete set of 792 cards offered for $8.95 So much for that money-making scheme. There were 17 cards in a pack for 40 cents each. 792 divided by 17 equals 46 packs minimum to get the whole set (assuming no duplicates, which is totally unrealistic). Those 46 packs from 7-Eleven would’ve cost us $18.40 in 1987. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/30 "2009-11-05T19:51:22Z")
> [@simster](#): > > . . . 1.) The idea that ‘everything’ is a collectable - thanks to this marketing ploy - we even have limited edition cookies in collectable tins. . . You think collectable cookies are bad. I have an anniversary tin of spam, in a collectable tin. The idea tickled me and, hey, if the apocalypse ever comes, I’ll have spam. The anniversary tin is a replica of the original tin, so I’d guess that it’s not as valuable as the original. As to the Monkee album, the Reader’s Digest article linked said that it was not valuable. It was only worth $19. That’s about $18.50 more than I was expecting. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/31 "2009-11-05T19:55:56Z")
As the son of an antique and collectible dealer and a sometime toy dealer myself, I agree with everything that has been said so far. Right now, I’m expecting to see a wave of Phillies world series ‘collectibles’ all of which will be worth nothing. There are, OTTOMH, two big exceptions to the nothing produced to be collectible ever is rule Hess trucks- AFAIK, these still go up in value Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments- Especially the Star Trek ones. They are manufactured to be collectible, but they are low in cost and often used on trees and get worn. Re Comics After the polybagged holofoil chrome 90’s, the market took a serious hit. I expect that someday, things will return to normal. That the majority of people buying comics will be doing so for enjoyment- if the industry survives the next twenty years. Re Beanie Babies Anybody have the first bat? The black one? I collect bats. Re The Franklin Mint Sheesh. This goes for the Bradford Exchange too. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/32 "2009-11-05T19:59:30Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > You think collectable cookies are bad. I have an anniversary tin of spam, in a collectable tin. The idea tickled me and, hey, if the apocalypse ever comes, I’ll have spam. > > The anniversary tin is a replica of the original tin, so I’d guess that it’s not as valuable as the original. I have a tin of Spamalot spam. It just seemed to me that most people would laugh at the label then eat and dispose of it. My gut told me that tin would be worth money one day (even if that day is decades away). I have learned to listen to my gut on these things. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/33 "2009-11-05T20:31:08Z")
My friend’s mother kept every cork she could get her hands on and told us they would be worth a lot of money someday. I still have no idea what she was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/34 "2009-11-05T20:37:02Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > Sad story about the \*\*baseball cards \*\*my brother & I collected religiously one year. It was the 1987 Topps baseball cards with a wood-grain pattern. We carefully cataloged and preserved them in plastic sheets. We got the entire set (and enough extras for a third set, probably). If only Mom hadn’t thrown away those 22-year-old cards, we’d be zillionaires right now. > > Or not. > > eBay has the complete set of 792 cards offered for $8.95 > > So much for that money-making scheme. > > There were 17 cards in a pack for 40 cents each. 792 divided by 17 equals 46 packs minimum to get the whole set (assuming no duplicates, which is totally unrealistic). > > Those 46 packs from 7-Eleven would’ve cost us $18.40 in 1987. :smack: As stated previously, you weren’t the only one who did that. That’s why so many 1987 Topps are still around and why nobody wants them. Overproduction of cards in the late 80’s and 90’s are the reason why they’re barely worth the cost of the cardboard they’re printed on today. What really killed the hobby (at least for me) was the rare insert card fad in the 90’s. Collectors would just buy packs for the inserts and throw away the rest–even the superstar and rookie cards. It was too much like gambling and just wasn’t as fun anymore. (Incidentally, I have a collection of about 40,000+ cards. I have a fair number of notable cards from the 50’s and 60’s but most are from the 70’s and 80’s. I stopped collecting years ago and am contemplating selling the whole thing if I get a good offer.) ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/35 "2009-11-05T20:42:16Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, then, I better collect his kids. I wonder how much _they’d_ be worth and how much personal security they have. I’ve got dibs on [this one](http://mikeresponts.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/gretzkygirlbig.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/36 "2009-11-05T20:53:44Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I wish it were true, but see my comment about limited-edition Replica guitars above… Then let me amend that to “Anything at all produced with the expressed purpose of being a collectible, and sold as such in _Parade_ Magazine.” ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/37 "2009-11-05T20:59:29Z")
All of my mom’s LPs some day they will be worth a fortune! Sadly all her Ray Coniff’s and Andy Williams are only worth about $5.00 each. Even the Whipped Cream & Other Delights is only going for $10.00. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/38 "2009-11-05T21:00:49Z")
I would imagine rising home ownership in the US is a part of the story. 60 years ago people were more likely to rent an apartment and throw out stuff when they moved. Today it’s much easier for people to keep stuff in their home basement for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/39 "2009-11-05T21:25:22Z")
If you want a quick and dirty look at what’s collectible (meaning, what’s worth money) and what isn’t, visit your local thrift store, where you can get Herb Alpert’s entire catalog for $1 or $2 each, including “Whipped Cream And Other Delights”. EVERY THRIFT STORE IN NORTH AMERICA has at least one copy of “Whipped Cream And Other Delights”. What is the deal with that? Was Herb just handing them out on street corners? What I love is seeing beat-up old Charlton comics (Charlton was the cheapest low-rent comic book publisher ever) that Grandma tells us “books for $8”. What book would that be, Grandma? The [Crazy Grandma Comic Book Price Guide?](http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics43.html) That’s right, “Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff” # 37 is worth thirty dollars, sure it is, you read all about it in that article in the free weekly about how all those old comics in your attic are worth big bucks. Well, they are worth about a dollar each if they’re particularly stupid and I happen to be in a stupid comic buyin’ mood that day, Grandma. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433/40 "2009-11-05T21:31:10Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Completely untrue. Go to [http://www.beckett.com](http://www.beckett.com) and start looking up some recent cards, while they won’t match the $25,000 someone could pull down for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, to say they’re worth nothing is ridiculous. I never said they were worth nothing, just that their value doesn’t match that of older cards. And, really, Beckett? That’s wishful thinking. To see what cards are really selling for, look at eBay. The 1967 Brooks Robinson – a card that was selling for $800 in its heyday – it can be had for $77 right now. Even the Buy it Now crowd isn’t going over $300. Meanwhile, a 2000 Pedro Martinez can be bid on for under a buck. His rookie card is going for less than $20. When he gets into the Hall of Fame, the rookie card might go up to $50, then start dropping back, just like the older cards. If you buy the cards in packs and keep them, you may make something selling them, but if you buy them on eBay or – worse – pay Beckett’s prices, you’re throwing your money away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collectibles-that-are-never-going-to-be-worth-anything/516433.md?page=3)