How about NASCAR Restrictor Plates?
I’m the daughter of a Norman Rockwell plate collector. I’ve had two garage sales in the past few years, and the most I’ve received for any of the plates was about $3.
Add to that list: Anything produced in huge multiples, anything a million other people are collecting, anything mundane or humdrum, and most of all anything called a collectible . . .
Better choices: the truly ephemeral that no one else has thought of collecting, anything connected with an obsessive fan group, anything that has a strange appeal to you and you alone and you don’t know why, anything that evokes nostalgia and will never be made again . . .
I have several boxes of (Marvel) comics from the 70’s that a friend urged me to put in plastic bags. He was a collector as an adult, while I stopped reading comics once I left 8th grade.
I still have the comics, and they’re still just in boxes, getting worn down. I take them out once every five years or so and enjoy them as what they are, nostalgic mementos. Then I put them back in the boxes and that’s it for another five years.
I’ve been told I’m ruining a fortune. I don’t care. I don’t want to turn them into investments, and now they’re too far gone to be of interest to anyone else.
My only real ‘collection’ is of film music, first albums, now CDs. Some are selling for hundreds online. I listen to the music while writing.
I guess I’ve just never been into turning my hobbies into financial games.
Speaking of comics, I always thought it was funny how people buy things labelled “Special Collector’s Issue!” One person proudly told me he’d bought copies of the comic book in which Superman was killed, and I then informed him it was one of the best-selling comic books ever, and why would that be worth lots of money? It wasn’t rare.
I’ve honestly never even heard of about half that list.
Then again, the only thing I collect is dustballs under the couch. (’tis a bachelor’s life for me!)
Hummels are useful, at least. The are great for target practice.
Looking at that list, it’s funny how some things “seem” like collector’s items to non-collectors, like the Kincaide paintings.
I’ve never understood the fans who froth at the mouth for “maquettes” or whatever they call those superhero statues. No one seems to buy them for quality reasons, it’s all about buying them because they’ll be worth money someday. Where’s the fun in that? I bought all that Star Wars junk I still have because I wanted the stuff, not because I hoped to sell it.
How about NASCAR Restrictor Plates?
People really collect that crap?
I put my son through Helicopter Pilot school by selling my late husband’s childhood model train collection. People from all over the world bought them. I also had his comic book collection from the 1940s-1950s not in pristine shape but still sold them.
I once went to an auction and bought a bag of plastic and junk items. Inside was a whole bunch of Funny Face fruit drink cups (a woman in England bought them all) and an old metal souvenir piece from the 1915 World’s Fair. I bought the bag for $2.00 - after sales - $150.00. Fun, big profit but not high dollars.
You never know what will be collectible but I know what WON”T be: things that are sold as “collectible.”
I know a couple of foolish women who invested heavily in Beanie Babies. They never mention them any more, I believe they are boxed up in their attics. I wonder what their R-value as insulation is?
People tried to tell them they were throwing their money away, but they wouldn’t listen.
I remember seeing an old price guide book published at the height of the Beanie Baby craze that had projections for what these made-in-China blobs would be worth today. Many were listed at $1,000 plus.
Everything on that list is junk, with the exception of early Hummels. ANYTHING advertised and sold as a “Collectible” is NOT. I have been in the antique business (mostly historical letters, Civil War items, old sports, etc.) for over 30 years. As soon as something moves into being a collectible and is no longer thrown away (baseball cards, comic books) etc. get away fast. The OLD cards and comics are valuable because most were thrown out, as soon as everyone keeps them the sales market far exceeds the demand. I bailed out of baseball cards in 1985, just in time watch the crash from a safe distance. I get calls all of the time about people who need money during this Obamaconomy and now want to sell things they thought they were saving for a rainy day like their Franklin Mint items, collector plates, Beanie Babies, Longaberger baskets, etc. etc. They get angry at me when I tell them that I don’t want to buy this junk at any price,or (if they are lucky) I’ll give them silver value for their Franklin Mint collection.
I bought a Scripto Vu Lighter at the swap meet for $1.50. It had a Jack Daniel’s logo inside.
I put it on eBay and it sold for $150.00!
I collected baseball cards when I was a kid, but then so did every other kid. Maybe the craze will pick up again and I can offload some of ‘em?
If you are a picker who buys what you like dirt cheap at garage sales from people who don’t know what it is, you will do all right. The trick is to collect genuine items, and not stuff that was made for the sole purpose of being collected.
Right now you can get good buys on many types of items, such as solid-wood furniture from the 20s and 30s.
In my life as a record collector, I have found quite a bit just by looking. Anything off the beaten path, 99.999% of the people don’t know what it is or that it’s valuable.
Obama Chia Pets?
A note on Thomas Kinkade paintings and on collecting art in general: only buy what you like and feel comfortable living with daily. I say this as an art historian who has advised clients in the past and who have been satisfied with their acquisitions.
NEVER by art - paintings, prints, or sculpture - solely for its investment value. Nothing is worse, even physical torture, than having something hideous in your home that you see every day and wish you’d never bought.
If you buy Thomas Kincade, look for his earliest work. It’s his best, but eventually it is in the eye of the beholder.
Maxfield Parrish worked as an illustrator and commercial artist most of his life. He was very successful and financially secure but never treated with the respect due a fine artist by critics. (Neither was Norman Rockwell). Today his paintings, the originals, used to create stunning scenes of New England for calendars fetch hefty amounts in auctions. One just never knows what will be worth big bucks in the future.
Whatever happened to pogs?
How about gold coins?
At least stamps retain their face value.