The vast, vast majority of those things were simply trashed as they wore out or the kidly owner outgrew playing with them. Of the small fraction remaining, as you say, the vast majority were well-used, not in mint condition.
The vast expansion in the size of the middle class between the 1950s and 1990s also meant that far more current era people where chasing prior era goods.
As you say, once everybody had the idea to buy to store for future profit, there was a temporary speculative bubble right then, amply supplied by the manufacturers, so not much secondary market profit, then the outyears demand never materialized anywhere near the outyear supply.
Oh well. Another kidly dream of easy riches dashed.
This is exactly what happened with comic books in the early 1990s.
In the late '80s and early '90s, auction prices for highly-collectible older books skyrocketed, fueling a speculation boom. This led the publishers to chase profits by producing multiple “variant” (i.e., theoretically collectible) covers for many of their books, and special “event” issues, all of which collectors snapped up, hoping for appreciation of value – but, of course, no collectible is going to rise much in value when there’s zillions of copies of it out there that collectors are carefully curating to keep in pristine condition.
The publishers got greedy, comic book readers got burned out on the constant stream of “special” releases, and of course the bubble burst, driving a lot of retailers out of business, and damaging the industry for years.
My Mother-In-Law had an old set of Bradford Exchange Norman Rockwell commemorative dinner plates on the wall next to the kitchen table. I looked up the current price and…meh.
One of the people I volunteer with at the library gets really annoyed because I want to put kids’ books out that are in rougher condition than she thinks we should display for sale. I never had kids, but she did, and in fact is a GREAT-grandmother, and we’ve had to explain to her that this is a USED bookstore, and people come here for bargains because they know the kids are going to wreck them, one way or another. She only wants to put kids’ things out that are gift-quality, which excludes about 99.9% of what we get.
Oddly, she isn’t as selective regarding the not-for-kids adult books.
Yeah, I have bought a few of their “valuable collectables” for pennies on the dollar (often just a dollar) from yard sales, etc. Some are kinda nice.
It is not really a “con”. You really get the merchandise, and it is not badly made, either. Now, the “collectable” part is a maybe if you think they are going to become valuable later, sure, but a lot of people collect nice looking things just for the joy. If that is why you buy these fine. But they aint appreciating in value. (a very few early ones have, I heard).
For my high school graduation, my Mother ordered a Princess Diana Bride Doll from the Danbury Mint. It was typical of her to waste money that way, and to buy me gifts that she wanted. She filled out the order form in my name, so that the “Certificate of Authentification” would be made out to me. :sigh:
Then she proceeded to make none of the payments. So my high school graduation gift was bad credit.
My late uncle had a Civil War chess set that could have come from the Bradford Exchange. He got a couple of pieces every month. It’s very nice. It’s in storage at the moment.
As a GGMom, she had/has a couple kids, a few grandkids, and a mob of GGkids.
With the result she’s bought a lot more kid’s gifts over the years than she did stuff her own kids used and wrecked. And that “they’re gonna wreck 'em anyhow” experience was long long ago, while the “perfect gift for my angelic GGkid #12” experience is recent.
The idea that younger people scoff at collectibles is misplaced. They may be into things like toys, watches, sneakers and such instead of plates and figurines, but it’s likely that their homes in many cases are filling up with crap even as they roll their eyes at what their parents and grandparents collected.
Old-fashioned/antique Xmas ornaments (like blown glass ones) are likely to hold interest/value for later generations, in my opinion.
I’ve got some Hummels that my Step Grandmother brought from Germany about 1930 or so. Plus a few that I bought while there in 1978. Don’t know their value.
Collectible plates are so dumb. Anyway, let me show you my thirty different Stanley cups and my nineteen different copies of the same Taylor Swift album each on a different color vinyl and with different covers. Have you seen my binder of Pokemon cards? I camped for two days in front of a Target to get them.
I think the most egregious example of this is the Birkin bags. All of them are basically the same except for the color and texture in the leather. They are well made, and made by real artisans who are paid a fair wage under French guild laws. And the retail prices are not ridiculous. But once they hit the secondary market the cost can easily hit six figures. For a while there, the entire “Real Housewives” franchise was nothing more than an infomercial for them.
These things make me crazy. If you are walking around flaunting a handbag that cost enough to provide a homeless family with housing for life, you need to review your values and priorities.