The only “collectables” that are actually valuable and increase in value are items that were never “collectable” in the first place.
Old-old baseball cards are worth a lot because back in the 40s-50s nobody was collecting them except kids. And they weren’t keeping them in mint condition either or too concerned about losing them over the years.
Same goes for old lunchboxes. They were produced as a collectable item, they were made for a kid to take his lunch to school.
Original star wars figures were produced as toys, not as collectable figures.
Trying to produce something as a collectible that will increase in value is a pretty rare feat. The 25,000 minted figure means there are 25,000 people out there who are hoping to one day sell it for more than they bought it. I don’t know where they hope to find the 25,000 interested buyers.
How about the ‘Hummel’ figurines? Like 'em or not, people seem to buy them as collectables, and I’ve heard at least some of them do appreciate in value.
Collectable appreciate only if collectors are interested in getting them at all costs. The Franklin Mint collectables don’t appreciate because anyone who would be interested in buying them buys them from the Franklin Mint when the first come out. Since there’s no market for them, they don’t appreciate.
And what about collectible card games, such as Magic: The Gathering? Yes, they have a purpose other than collecting, and thus tend to accumulate wear, but they’re also intended to be collectible (hence the name). A booster pack of fifteen random cards is a couple of bucks new, but some individual cards can be much more than that. On eBay, for instance, I see alpha Black Lotus cards going for hundreds of dollars, and one currently at $1250. To be fair, that’s the rarest Magic card on the market, and other rare cards seem to have a mint price ranging from about $1 to $100, but almost any booster pack would contain cards valuing more in total than the cost of the pack.
Chronos Are those the asking prices or the selling prices? I avoid eBay ( I fear I’ll go on a massive shopping spree), but I’ve never seen a Magic card sell for more than $30 or so.
This is another issue which confuses people. There are plenty of things which tend to have a high asking price, but a much lower selling price. For instance, the Star Trek phaser target game can often be seen near mint in box at $80-110 asking price. I’ve never actually seen one sell for more than $40.
Are "limited editions " REALLY limited? Like those Christmas Plates 9from Bing&Groendahl)-they make maybe 200,000 every year…is that whatis meant by “limited”? Of course, plates break…and maybe, come 2065, some collector will want a 1955 Christmas plate. But who can wait that long?
How do you make money in the short term?
How many people have seen anything from Franklin Mint on Antiques Roadshow?
You’ll see those baseball cards and toys, though.
On one episode I learned that a silver anything is valued by the content and weight of the silver. a) What’s silver currently priced per ounce? b) What’s the weight of this thing in silver? c) There’s your price. Unless there’s another facter, like this was made by Tiffany.
Oops! I forgot to add a “sarcastic” smiley. Of course it wasn’t a great investment for the original buyers back in the 1970’s-1980’s. We buy this stuff today from either the original purchaser or their heirs.
I’m off to add that smiley to my post—one of the perks of being a mod.
You can’t make money in the short run on “limited edition” items. You can’t make money on them in the “long run” either.
If you come back in 2065 and check eBay for the price of that B&G plate, and discover that they’re bringing about $200.00, your first reaction would be one of jubilation. Your investment finally paid off! But then, when you went to call your brother from a pay phone to tell him the news, and the operator said “please deposit $500.00 for the next three minutes,” you’d find out just how bad an investment it was.
Every edition is limited. The eventual heat death of the universe will close the manufacturing plants. More seriously, unless a manufacturer specifies the number produced, the edition isn’t really limited. The Bradford Exchange often says “limited to thirty firing days”. What this actually means is that they do an initial run before they advertise the product. If there is sufficient demand, they make more. They’ve never to my knowledge defined “firing days” exactly. Even by a strict definition, they could have assembly lines around the world making 10,000 plates a day each for thirty days.
If a reasonably reputable company says “Only 5000 will ever be made.”, you can believe them. However, many companies will re-issue limited editions with slight differences. Later editions may be identical to the original except for a date stamped on the bottom or a single detail in the painting.
Some times I have picked up an old coin or banknote because I’ve been interested in having something from a particular period or a type coin. (In other words, I’m not looking for a particular low mintage rarity.) I’ve been amused to figure out that although I’m paying what I perceive to be a fair bit for the item, the price I’ve paid is often close to the original value times the inflation rate since then, although in most cases it is much lower (for example, with Ancient coins). For the vast majority of items, you are better off investing in some safe bond/stock type of thing.
US Mint proof sets can, in many cases, be purchased now for less than the original price. They don’t even hold against inflation.
As for the 50-State quarters, what I’ve read, and believe, is that there are so many people holding on to them, they will never be worth as much as run-of-the-mill quarters from regular dates just before the 50-State program. Eventually they will be valuable because they are a few hundred years old, but so would anything else of that age.
An unwritten rule of collecting - Anything stated as being “collectible” at release time, isn’t.
One small caveat, Sam. If you strike at the right time, while the market is trying to define itself, you can do OK.
Example…I used to do baseball cards (and still do for very old stuff) and back about 1991 I ended up with a card for some Orioles pitcher (who’s name escapes me) from a regular pack. This card had his first name wrong.
I took it to the first card show I found near me and moved it for $20 to a dealer…not a sucker but a dealer. This would be in the Maryland suburbs of DC. I checked it from time to time and it’s valued (now) at a minimal price as an ‘error’ card.
So if you’re in the right market (near Baltimore in my case) and early in the game there can be some short-term profit for you. But on the whole you’re right. It’s best to avoid trying to get wealthy from collecting and just collect what appeals to you.
Y’know, along this line, I got a package in the mail from the biological connection to life and it had in it a 1999 silver dollar with Lady Liberty painted on the tails side.
In another blue display box was a 1986 silver dollar with accompanying half dollar.
I question the painted silver dollar even retaining its value of one dollar.
These don’t actually have any appreciable value, do they?
No apprciable value, but the silver dollar from 1999 has at least $7 in silver in it, no matter that it’s painted. Your 1986 set is probably the Statue of Liberty commem set, worth about $10-12.
