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9 Completely Worthless Collectibles
http://finance.yahoo.com ^ | October 29, 2011 | Jason Notte

Posted on 10/30/2011 3:10:05 AM PDT by lowbridge

If you stare at the Thomas Kinkade painting on your wall each day thinking "There's my retirement fund," prepare to pour skim lattes until you're 90.

Collecting as a hobby can be a fun, worthwhile and potentially lucrative way to pass time. Amassing collectibles as investments, however, can be a disappointing endeavor yielding nothing but piles of devalued tchotchkes for the next of kin to sort through.

The founder of comic book industry bible Wizard, Gareb Shamus, said a year ago that the best advice a collector could heed was to buy what they liked and do their homework. Then again, he's also a Spider-Man collector who paid $1,700 for an issue with a cover drawn by artist Todd MacFarlane featuring the villain Sandman. The book's value jumped to between $30,000 and $40,000 when the Sandman appeared in the latest Spider-Man film.

-snip

"Collectibles" investors, however, are beholden to a very subjective, eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY - News)-driven market in which their precious knick-knack can be worth $800 or less than $50. While sites such as Kovels.com offer some guidance, "collectibles" and the companies that make them are slaves to demand and market forces — and the realization that their mass-produced product is only worth as much as a buyer will pay for it.

"I tell people that keeping collectibles is like storing money under your mattress," says Lou Kahn, head of the Bakerstowne Collectibles appraisal and consignment service in West Hempstead, N.Y. "You're going to have the same amount of money next year, but it's going to be worth a lot less."

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Hobbies; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: barteritems; betterthangold; cashsaleitems; collecting; corgiicon007figures; notaxtransactions; pre1898coltrevolvers; swapitems; vintagejewelrygood
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To: sodpoodle
We were in the same hoise for 30 yeras. My ex-wife wasd a pack-rat..Never threw anythign away..it all went iup into the attic..we had a BIG one..when we sold tghe hosue, and I had to finally clear it out..I found cartons for TVs, appliances, that we hadn't owned for decades.

However, we did have one useful item..our 'regifting' carton..big box up there..all the really bad Christmas and birthday gifts nobidy could stand, went up there..then whenever we needed a last minute gift..for a co-worker, or a secret sanyta..just run iup there, rummage around, and pull one out..

101 posted on 10/30/2011 7:18:03 AM PDT by ken5050 (Cain/Gingrich 2012!!! because sharing a couch with Pelosi is NOT the same as sharing a bed with her)
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To: lowbridge

On graduation from flight school my great grandad gave me several coins, last check they were worth over ten grand.


102 posted on 10/30/2011 7:22:20 AM PDT by SkyDancer (Pilot: n. The Highest Form Of Life On Earth)
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To: Darkwolf377

I had a friend like you who collected comics from grade school through college and had visions of selling them off for lots of money (for his favorites he even bought a storage copy and a reading copy). I don’t think he even got the cover price when he finally sold them. Unless you have some really rare comics (#1 of a new comic, not just a renumbering of an old one) which became popular later then you might have something. If you just have a stack of 1980’s Spiderman comics then just enjoy them.


103 posted on 10/30/2011 7:22:37 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Herman Cain: possibly the escapee most dangerous to the Democrats since Frederick Douglass.)
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To: sodpoodle

I paid $300 for a pocket watch in a silver case. The Case is made in England, the Mechs in Germany.

The coolest parts are the face, which is beautiful and the tiny chain that moves the gears.

I was watching Antiques Roadshow and they showed a similar watch that would fetch $1,500 and I got all excited.

Mine is in way better condition and just beautiful for the details.

Thing is, I’ll never sell it.

I buy for pleasure and just don’t think about the resale value. I love touching things I buy and wondering about who held it and what it meant to them.

I have a storage site full of antiques and will never sell em.

I occasionally give them away for a special event but that’s it.


104 posted on 10/30/2011 7:25:13 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Darkwolf377
People were paying $75.00 EACH for a copy of that Amazing Spider-Man comic with Zero on the cover just a few days after it was released. Now they are all over eBay for a buck or two...no bids.

On the other hand; just TRY to find a copy of Steampunk Sarah Palin #1 on eBay...I saw one a few weeks ago for $35.

The difference? Marvel printed BOATLOADS of the Spider-Man book...Palin's had a very conservative print run. Which one is the TRUE collectible? That should be obvious.

105 posted on 10/30/2011 7:28:30 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: duckman

I don’t recall if 45 or 78 but I do know most if not all were on the Sun label. I hid those things 50 years ago in between the pages of a huge book so they are pristine needless to say she has been offered enough for them that she is no longer mad at me for hiding them!

I do recall one of them had a price on the sleeve it was 20 cents lol.


106 posted on 10/30/2011 7:30:47 AM PDT by Lees Swrd ("Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order in the world as well")
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To: lowbridge
They should mint a coin with Obama's image.
 
It would be a stimulus coin and quite possibly the best investment anyone could make
 
Becuase as every collector knows coins with a mistake on them are more valuable.
 
AC
107 posted on 10/30/2011 7:30:58 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: proxy_user

I watch that ‘picker’ show on TV and am amazed at the prices they pay for worthless crap

Some of it is interesting but they pay more than I would pay retail for it

they must have hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in inventory


108 posted on 10/30/2011 7:31:54 AM PDT by Mr. K (We need a TEA Party march on GOP headquarters ~!!)
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To: Future Snake Eater

I’m looking for a Sidd Finch rookie card.


109 posted on 10/30/2011 7:33:49 AM PDT by Baynative (The penalty for not participating in politics is you will be governed by your inferiors.)
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To: lowbridge

the only collectible worth it right now is real estate

even with the bottom falling out you are still doing ok if you bought rentals and had them filled


110 posted on 10/30/2011 7:34:03 AM PDT by Mr. K (We need a TEA Party march on GOP headquarters ~!!)
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To: lowbridge

ping


111 posted on 10/30/2011 7:35:11 AM PDT by FoxPro
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To: bert

Norman Rockwell got his start as the art editor of Boy’s Life, and though he soon left, he had a warm relationship with the Boy Scouts for the rest of his life. Some of his Boy’s Life works are on exhibit at the the Rockwell Museum. There is a small room where two hallways cross, with each corner cut at 45 degrees, from which hang the original four freedoms, four of my least favorite Rockwell drawings.

They were obvious propaganda and weak examples of his craft. (BTW, the Latin word “ars” -gentive singular “artis - translates just as well as craft as art.) He was swing for the fences and hit a single, imho. His best work was his more mature and spontaneous stuff. Incidently, some of the docents at the museum were his models or people who knew him personally.


112 posted on 10/30/2011 7:38:13 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Ceterum autem censeo, Obama delenda est.)
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To: Lees Swrd

“don’t recall if 45 or 78 but I do know most if not all were on the Sun label.”
I believe he made only 4 on Sun in 1954, so you may have dupes. In 55 he went to RCA and did Heartbreak Hotel. From that point on, there were sooo many Elvis records sold, I don’t think they were worth very much IMO.


113 posted on 10/30/2011 7:39:47 AM PDT by duckman (Herman 2012 Zero's worst night mare.)
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To: gunsmithkat
Buy vintage firearms they almost never lose their value. My collection has doubled in value since 2001.

Even my humble Mosin Nagant M44s (bought for 79 bucks in pristine condition) have jumped in value.

114 posted on 10/30/2011 7:40:43 AM PDT by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: ken5050

My mom never threw anything out. When we finally cleaned out the house, I found my baseball cards, including a few Mickey Mantles.


115 posted on 10/30/2011 7:41:05 AM PDT by chopperman
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To: DCBryan1

Collectible plates?

116 posted on 10/30/2011 7:41:29 AM PDT by Baynative (The penalty for not participating in politics is you will be governed by your inferiors.)
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To: Fresh Wind

The only thing that would have made it even more perfect was if the example self portraits of other artists were replaced by photographs of Che, Lenin, Marx and Alinsky.

117 posted on 10/30/2011 7:45:03 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Ceterum autem censeo, Obama delenda est.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

“His retirement fund was knocking out the same painting every couple months and charging some Paris collector thousands of francs for the privilege of owning it.”

Dali did the same.

I collected old Fender guitar stuff. 5 amps between ‘52 and ‘64. ‘57 custom-colored Strat. ‘61 Tele. They’re not bringing as much as they used to, but still vastly more than I paid for them. And they paid for themselves many times over, just through gigging with them! Now is a good time to buy old Ampeg amps.


118 posted on 10/30/2011 7:45:37 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: Mr. K

here in Florida..the bottom can indeed fall out of the real estate market..it’s called a sinkhole..(g)


119 posted on 10/30/2011 7:46:30 AM PDT by ken5050 (Cain/Gingrich 2012!!! because sharing a couch with Pelosi is NOT the same as sharing a bed with her)
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To: coolbreeze

That’s a favorite collectible of governments too.


120 posted on 10/30/2011 7:47:26 AM PDT by xp38
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