[78-L] Subject: Re: Collecting vs. 'Investing'

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Thornton" <fnarf at comcast.net>
> One of the saddest things I've ever seen was a woman at a Barbie show (it
> was an anthropological visit on my part) having a show organizer explain 
> to
> her that no, actually, her large collection of recently issued "limited
> edition" Barbies (in editions of 100,000 or so), Mint in Box, as they say,
> was not, in fact, worth very much at all, since no one really wants them.
> 50s Barbies, yes; 60s Barbies, sure; 90s and 00s Barbies, not so much. I
> overheard the woman say she had bought them as an investment for her
> granddaughter's college.
>
This would actually depend on the grand-daughter's age! If she is now a
"toddler," the collection might well have recovered some value in the 20
or so years from "now" to whenever she starts college; it is very likely
that most of the other "Barbie collectors" will have tossed their hoards/
hordes of  "limited"(?!) edition dolls once they realized that said items
hadn't reached five-figure value numbers...?!

Basic reality: items sold and promoted as "sure to increase in value!!"
VERY rarely do...except that, decades later, they may have certain
values as collectibles, because 99.9% of them were tossed when
they failed to live up to their overly-optimistic promotions...?!

Somewhere out there in Radio-Land there lurks "the next BIG
collectible"...something totally unexpected! It will have to be
something which:

(1) Evokes nostalgic interest among we "old f...ogeys," causing
us to buy or hold onto them...

(2) Exists in a fairly limited number of varities; too many means
there is NO hope of acquiring a "complete set," while too few
means that the collector can quickly obtain that set...?!

(3) Is small enough that the collection doesn't require a warehouse
or similar structure for its storage (note that while auto-mobiles
might be thought of as an exception here...there are two important
points involved: first, most collectors stop with one example...and
second, most houses have the needed structure...the garage!).

(4) Is, when found, NOT unaffordably expensive...! Expensive
items (like jewellery) can be collected...but NOT by us ordinary
folkses...

In fact, I wonder if the hobby of "computer collecting" will be
"the next big thing"...or, for that matter, has already started?

...stevenc