[78-L] Huh?

[fnarf at comcast.net]

From: "Steven C. Barr" <stevenc at interlinks.net>
> The one difference is that both stamps and coins have established (and
> often HIGH!) values, 

This is also completely untrue. 99% of all stamps ever issued are completely and utterly worthless -- you can buy a bag of a thousand of them for pennies. Most coins are also close to worthless (they've always got some metal value at least). I can buy a genuine 1,700-year-old Roman coin on Ebay right this minute for less than a dollar. Some are worth something -- just like some records are worth something.

> which can easily be looked up in somewhat
> "official" publications. While there have been a few attempts to create
> similar things for records (and, in fact, just about EVERY "collecting
> hobby" that has appeared?!), they have never attained the same
> acceptance as in the first two hobbies...!  Steven C. Barr

Record price guides are exactly as authoritative as any other price guide, including those for coins and stamps. You can use them to quickly ascertain which items are so common as to be more or less worthless. But the ultimate arbiter of what something is worth is what someone is willing to pay. One thing Ebay has done for every hobby is give us a record of what people are willing to pay for things. You should look on there sometime, you might be surprised.

I have to say that for all your talk about collectors being "in it for the money", there's no one on this list more obsessed with monetary value than you.