Indie artist Laura Veirs is putting out a new album–on reel to reel! The obvious thought is “this was made for collectors, because who earth in 2013 is going to listen to an album on reel tape?” (Or even find a reel player?) What recordings/videos/books were released solely for collectors and will never actually be used by these people?
That’s pretty clever. It’s a fun and interesting way to collect some upfront money from super-supportive (and rich!) big fans to help with the release. They don’t expect anybody to actually be able to play it (though I could since we do have a working reel-to-reel player) and buyers won’t have to since it comes with an album download.
Since Laura’s music is very throwback (and quite wonderful IMO), it fits her even better than just plain old LPs. Good for Laura!
Leftover Cuties ought to release a collector-only wax cylinder.
Boy, there really isn’t an equivalent for other arts. A writer would be hard pressed to release a book in a form that only a few people could read.
Or an artist… I mean, I’ve done Etch-A-Sketch art, but anyone can see it.
Maybe release a book/work of art on 5 1/4" maxi-floppy disks? Or punch cards? Hey, maybe i’ll hand out a Game Boy cartridge with my portfolio on it…
Oooh, she reminds me of The Battle of the Land and Sea. I’ll have to listen to more of her songs.
Many, many, many stamps and coins and tokens never make it to the general public, but are sold pretty much exclusively to collectors.
even if a person had a tape deck they wouldn’t play it if they were a collector it’s MIB.
they could be selling blank tape with a label on it.
That reminds me of the story of a band that decided to actually play one of their Gold Records. Turns out the company that makes them just take any old album and plate it, then slap the appropriate label in the center. So this metal band ended up with a gold Cher album.
The Residents’ Ultimate Boxed Set is pretty much for serious collectors only.
Baseball cards and what not don’t really have any other purpose than for collecting. (Maybe also for inserting into your bike wheels.)
What does MIB mean here?
Mint [condition] in box?
Anything from the Franklin Mint?
William Gibson released a poem which erased itself page by page when you read it. Details at the link.
I don’t know if stuff like Dylan’s bootleg series count for the OP. I was excited to get the Wittmark demos which were recently released, having some of that stuff on actual bootlegs. I doubt if the average person is all that interested.
I recently watched a terrific, hilarious documentary called “So Wrong They’re Right” which was filmed in 1994, and it’s about 8-track aficionados. One of the interviewees was a DJ at a gay nightclub, and his patrons were none the wiser that he was playing 8-tracks. He also had the equipment and the wherewithal to dub some Madonna music from 8-track (yes, those were still commercially available in the 1980s) onto a 78.
The best stories were the ones surrounding Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music”. Some years back, my brother told a record store owner, “When this comes out on CD, you will know the apocalypse is nigh!” 
There’s a new movie called “Adjust Your Tracking”, which is about VHS collectors. It screened in my area Monday evening, with the filmmaker there for a Q&A, but the weather was awful and I decided to stay in. I’ll see it when it comes out on Netflix.
I have a booth at an antique mall, and the owner recently went to an estate sale and purchased a collection of pencil sharpeners. But not just any pencil sharpeners. THESE were brass miniatures of various common objects - pretty much anything you can think of, with a pencil sharpener included. :dubious: They’re about 2 or 3 inches high, fairly heavy, and priced at $2 each or 3 for $5.
Look online for info about Leica and Hasselblad special editions (Nikon, too, to a lesser extant) and you’ll find loads of items that were sold and the boxes were never even opened.
The fun part of specialty camera collecting were the one-ofs or changes in production runs, stuff like that, that weren’t marketed as a collectible, but became collectible later.
It’s done for books. I was in an anthology that had five states: a trade paperback, a regular hardcover edition, a limited edition hardcover with the signatures of all the authors and numbered from 1 to 100, a special hardcover edition with signatures and lettered A-Z, and the authors’ contributors copies, which were in hardcover and double lettered (AA, BB, etc.). Each edition had a different price. Currently, the A-Z limited edition is going for $45 on Ebay, while the paperback is $14.95.
Atlanta Nights had the infamous “purple cover” edition, which was auctioned off for charity.
I had a vision of a modern video game released on a pallet of 5.25" floppies.
Hot Wheels has started putting out cars marked “For the adult collector” for about $5. Normal cars are around a buck.
Is there anything stopping me from buying the regular ones and just not letting my kid play with them, or are these cars coated in platinum or something?
Presidential Dollar Coins. The US Mint has given up hopes of widespread circulation, and is only making them in quantities appropriate for coin collectors.