Right but I meant something that was bought by an adult in the first place becuase “it will be valuable some day” like that Franklin Mint shit.
Granted. There are two sorts of “collectibles”. Things that had been naturally collected by enthusiasts of [whatever] and stored for decades. And shit that had been created and marketed as being inherently collectible as such.
The former has both genuinosity going for it, and the inherent scarcity of lost collections over time plus anything popular when the comparatively poor USA had 80M people will be scarce in a world with 380M much wealthier Americans. Even our poor now are better off than 1920s or 1940s poor. The middle class now is far better off than middle class then. Yes, middle class is losing ground now and has been for 30+ years. But they’re still far better off absolutely than 1930s or 1940s middle class were.
The real problem with shit marketed as collectible is that everyone interested was buying new. Then once they owned it, there was nobody from later who wanted it.
I should point out that the Franklin Mint pieces made of real silver are sought after. People will pay a premium over spot for them. I was in the bidding for a complete set of their “Banks From all 50 States” and dropped out at spot. It went for not too much more. But that was a year ago when silver was $24 a troy ounce and now it is $34.
The problem being that kids from my era didn’t care what condition their toys were in.
I remember telling the local Comic Book Guy that my fondest memory as a kid was buying the latest Spider-Man comic, rolling it up, shoving it in the back pocket of my cutoffs, and jumping on my Schwinn Sting-Ray to go get a Slushie.
“And, now that I’m retired, it’s still my favorite thing to do!” And I rolled up the latest Spider-Man comic he’d just sold me, and shoved it in my pocket. He winced as I yelled over my shoulder: “Now, I’m riding my bike down to the 7-11 for a Slushie!”
So, lots of us have old Supes/Batman/Spidey comics… that’d be worth a ton if the condition wasn’t, well, crappy.
I’d put the emphasis more on the market strategy than the handmade part. Rolexes are mass produced, and I know some car brands like Porsche, that are much more mass produced than Ferrari, and they similarly gatekeep premium models.
I think your post is correct, and enlightening, but I think it’s also worth asking why a brand would care about flippers. If a car is available on the grey market for more than the RRP, why should Ferrari care?
It’s because the exclusivity is a key brand strategy. Rich people are used to buying whatever they want, but then suddenly a brand is saying they need to earn a particular model, and earning it will be some measure of the respect and esteem in which they are held… That’s a beguiling challenge for them. Plus they get to show off their car and get asked “Is that the XKS!? I thought it was impossible to buy those”.
It generates extra sales directly (by people buying cars / watches to build their relationship with the dealer) but more than that builds brand hype and creates brand evangelists.
As you can tell by the way I’m writing this, I’m a bit cynical about such tactics. However, when you think about it, such psychological gimmicks are used at all price levels, it’s not just rich people being irrational, we all are.
On the up side, eBay makes it possible for many people to find things that would have been impossible to find otherwise outside of chance.
I collect Seeburg 1000 records: background music recorded on proprietary 9-inch 16 2/3 RPM vinyl records. Both the machines and the records that they play are rare. Without eBay I would not be able to collect them.
I wonder if that’s because there is a perception that they are way less likely to be a complete loss - even if the ‘collectible’ value of them evaporates completely, they’re still made of silver, so they have a failsafe value as scrap.
Absolutely.
Oh, I do! In exchange I will tell you about my small collection of WW1 era paraffin (aka kerosene) camping stoves… I love nerdy hobbies. One ex-girlfriend collects kitchen balance scales.
Back on topic, no one is ever going to try sell you a fake Primus stove…
I had to stop wearing watches when I had wrist issues including carpal tunnel, so I dont wear one now and just use my phone.
But when I did, I preferred a black Casio I typically bought at Walmart for about $20. Same as you, I cycled through a few of them over the decades.
Those watches are often made to get attention. A big gold watch draws the eye the way a cheap black one does not. Someone seeing a flashy watch just might be curious.
As for collections, one person’s total waste of time and money is another’s fun hobby.
I personally collect ties. Standard neckties. It started when I realized I had a dozen lovely ties in the closet that I never wear and never get to enjoy, so I decided to display them in my wall. That led to an obsession. I now have most of the free wall space in my bedroom covered with ties on display racks - easily 500. And I’ve probably got that many more in a storage container in my garage because I don’t have any space to display them.
Yet I still feel compelled to visit thrift stores regularly and see what I can turn up.
Really the only times I wear a watch recently are on airline flights or in the movie theater. In both cases, my phone is off.
You should turn your home into a pub. Then you could legitimately say you have a tied house.
Mine is silent and/or airplane mode but never OFF. Those are both places I may need a flashlight at a moment’s notice and it isn’t too hard to conceive of a life of death situation, perhaps farfetched but not impossible, where the house/cabin lights go out entirely.
I always want my camera ready, too, but not like a light. In fact, the phone is my backup flashlight.
Pulling your phone out of your pocket. even to glance at the time, can be a big distraction for others. I was in a theater last year and the Apple Phone on the wrist of the guy next to me was almost as bad.
Ready to go, as said. But I agree that frivolous use of a distracting device of any kind is rude. “Ya, I’m in line at the DMV, I can talk!”
Probably too much information: I avoid my own screens on airplanes but make a little game of learning the time by peeking at other people’s watches, lockscreens, laptops, overheard convo. I say game but, a lot of time, it’s effortless. There are hundreds of timepieces on a typical passenger jet and people are fidgeting with them, basically nonstop. You can’t assume timezones on other traveler’s watches, either. Challenge accepted!