Confessions of a Collector
(This picture is, of course Comic Book Guy, from the Simpsons in his supervillian persona 'The Collector'. Please no comparisons... besides I don't have a phaser... and Christmas is just around the corner... hint hint.)Ok so I collect things... I have trouble throwing junk away... I'm a Collector. But there is a part of my brain that wants me to believe some of this junk could be valuable one day. I first fell for this trap as a child. I collected baseball cards and comic books.
I looked up price guides and saw Action Comics #1 (first appearance of Superman) valued at 120k! I wanted a piece of that. So I bought New Warriors #1. I thought, perfect both #1's both first appearance. I'll just sit back and rake in the cash. Of course New Warriors 1 is now valued at like 1-3 dollars (I paid $1.25).
Of course its a problem of supply and demand. I'm no business master like some people but I can see the difference now. Action Comics 1 printed only a few thousand... these were bought by children... most of whom read them, bent them, put them in backpacks, lost them or their mothers threw them away. (If it would have been me my sister would have sold them in a garage sale.) So only a few survive. When I bought New Warriors 1 there were like 50 in the store, probably half a million worldwide. I was doomed.
I still buy things and think they will be worth something someday. But in the mass production era it is hopeless. Although when I was a kid I had like 50 star wars figures that could be worth a enough to pay off my student loans now. They were sold in a garage sale 25c a piece. Of course if I had them I couldn't part with them.
Now when I buy trash like comic books or action figures I know it is money down the drain, but I do it because its fun... and just maybe if a tornado destroys a Matel factory my limited edition Rogue Squadron Luke Skywalker could be worth a lot of cash.
Anyone else have the Collector gene?
posted by Trey Laminack @ 10:01 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I feel for you. I have a hard time letting go of stuff. The one thing that collectors might want that I have safely hidden away is an original G.I.Joe Mercury Capsule that was made shortly after John Glenn became a national hero in outer space. It is still in the box but not in the greatest condition. I once told a guy at a toy store that I had it and his eyes got wide. I hope I can finance a nice vacation for me and the wife someday with the proceeds. But like you said, there is probably someone with a warehouse full of them somewhere. sigh
I was also blessed or maybe cursed with that gene. My collections started with my Mom holding onto every doll, Barbie, Weeble, etc...
What to do with them now?
Now, I chose to collect Coca Cola items and this has been pretty profitable.
I don't have the heart to tell my mom that the "limited edition" Barbies that we have kept hermetically sealed for the past 10 years will probably have the same fate...They look cute in the girls' rooms though.
When I was a kid my parents used to drag me around to garage sales every weekend so I started collecting Nancy Drew Books - the old ones with the blue covers - I made a numerical list of them on my Underwood Typewriter (circa 1928) and every time I got a new one, I would have to type the entire list over - Underwood Typewriters did not come with a cut, copy and paste key...
I still have the books packed away somewhere. I don't know how much they're worth now butthey're priceless to me....
does collecting hangers from the dry cleaners count? or would that fall more along the lines of just being too lazy to through them in the trash?
Wezie the old typewritter may be worth more than the books now.
I can't part with dry clean hangers. I might need them in the future if I drop my keys behind the piano.
Slugbug - do you let your kids play with the beenie babies or is that only for the star wars stuff.
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