How Valuable Are Your Collections? :)

[Huntn]

I stumbled across this TheStreet.com article: Worthless Collectacles that includes 15 products, names like The Franklin Mint, Hummels, Llardros, Norman Rockwell plates, Cabbage Patch, and I can't but help think of the crate of Beenie Babies we have stored in our attic. I did not collect them. Guess who did...

One thing is that Llardros are pieces of art and we have a few of those too, even if resale on them is low. I think in many cases, younger people today look at things like Hummels as things their Grandparents were into and have no interest in them. Personally I have never cared for them although I have a few that were my Mom's. I've always considered The Franklin Mint to be a scam.

 

[Melrose]

Whilst never actually being serious about it, I have an intermediate stamp collection.

The full set of WII 50th commemorative booklets, and a whole bunch of fancy First Day of Issues including a 10-pound holographic stamp from the Queen's Jubilee. I had a 1st Day 100 year anniversary of the Titanic disaster but believe it or not I lost it before it got filed.

I also collect words. I have somewhat unheard-of words I like to use when generating on-the-fly insults in ways that people have no idea what I'm saying.

And sayings. I have a text file with inspiration quotes... not like ditzy ones but ones that actual entail practical type stuff.

 

[malman89]

I've got a decent collection of holographic Pokemon trading cards that I forgot about for a long time. Probably past the peak to get rid of them. Part of me wonders if they're even worth anything at all. Doubtful.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Digitally collecting stuff has been more enjoyable for me than physically doing it. We like to complain that not having something physically ruins the experience, but really, I wouldn't be enjoying my stuff as much if I had it all in CDs and vinyls. Of course, the resale value isn't there, but that's the whole problem with collecting to begin with. There are too many people who take it up as a business, and not to actually enjoy whatever it is they're buying into. Too many people give in to having something the day it comes out too.

I have a stamp collection too. But I haven't added to it in years. It's all in a very small book though, so it's not as annoying as collecting other things.

 

[chown33]

I also collect words. I have somewhat unheard-of words I like to use when generating on-the-fly insults in ways that people have no idea what I'm saying.

And you didn't post any of these collectible gems? How preternaturally pusillanimous and egregiously eliding of you.

Personally, I appreciate assemblages and alliterations, as anyone around can clearly conclude.

 

[Apple fanboy]

My wife would say I collect camera gear!
I have quite a few old coins, lots of them are American, but they were my Grandads rather than mine so I have no idea of there worth.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I have a huge David Justice collection going back to when I started following his baseball career in 1990. Haven't added anything to it in probably 10 years, but there are over 1,000 cards including a few signed ones, magazines, jerseys, toys, baseballs, posters, etc. My favorite item from the collection includes a 1991 Topps card from the Desert Storm edition series (cards that had a special foil stamp and were issued only to soldiers). No clue how much this collection is worth, wouldn't care to sell it.

 

[Truefan31]

I've got a comic book collection that dates back to mid 80s. Death of superman series, knight fall batman, etc.

Also have a card collection. Griffey rookie, bonds rookie, etc.


Oh and my personal favorite. An autographed picture of my childhood science teacher, mr wizard

 

[Huntn]

I've got a comic book collection that dates back to mid 80s. Death of superman series, knight fall batman, etc.

Also have a card collection. Griffey rookie, bonds rookie, etc.


Oh and my personal favorite. An autographed picture of my childhood science teacher, mr wizard

How do those hold up over time, do the pages yellow?

 

[Traverse]

Nothing valuable. I have a music collection, personal photos, and a huge book of old Yu-Gi-Oh cards lost somewhere in the dark corners of my closet.

I suppose my old Pokemon games could count: Blue, Yellow (x2), Silver, Crystal, FireRed, LeafGreen, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald...

 

[AlliFlowers]

Star Trek here. The original Star Fleet manual, an Uhura doll BNIB. I take them out and look at them. I also have several replicas of various editions of the Enterprise.

 

[bunnspecial]

I consider my Macs a collection, although most of the stuff I hunt for most people would consider a waste of space. At the same time, stuff like the Clamshells and iMac G3s are going up in value. No one but me wants 20 G4 towers, though

I do have a pretty sizeable collection of American Pocket watches. I've spent a lot of time educating myself and researching, and have put together a collection that I feel like is pretty respectable for the most part. I love oddities and weird stuff. Some collectors would probably look at it and say "what is all this crap" but fortunately there are enough out there who know and appreciate what I have.

Fortunately, I also didn't get caught up in the Railroad Watch bubble of a few years ago, where common RRs like Hamilton 992s and 16 size Illinois Bunn Specials were bringing $300+. Good Bunn Specials have fallen down to the $150-200 range, while 992s are generally in the $150-200 range. As a real bit of sticker shock, about 10 years ago, a Bunn Special 161B(~50 made) brought $40,000, and the back-up bidder in that auction paid $38,000 about a week later for a second one. At Bonham's last week, a nice 161B sold for $13,750 with premium, or about, IMO, where they probably should be given their relative rarity(compared to other, less common watches, a 161B is hugely overprice).

 

[mscriv]

I have a comic book collection. Started in the 80's and collected into the 90's. I've been saying for years that I need to price them to see what current market would bring, but I never seem to get around to it. As to the question of "holding up" asked by @Huntn, my books are stored in comic boxes individually bagged with backing boards as is the traditional way of maintaining comics. As long as you don't expose the books to the elements they will theoretically maintain very well this way.

 

[rhett7660]

I have a decent size baseball card collection, most early to late 80's. Lots of worthless stuff I am sure. I also have over 3000 comic books. Some are worth a lot and some I would be hard pressed to get the cover price. All bagged and boarded.

But, I was a huge collector of Star Wars toys. I am actually getting ready to sell them, if I can ever get around to cataloging them. I haven't collected any Star Wars in about six years, but I have a garage full of stuff!!

I also have some stamps and coins. Most of the coins are the state quarters, the gold silver dollars, and of course some rare pennies. Couple hundred pieces in all. Stamps are the same way.

 

[ejb190]

I probably missed the boat on selling my GI Joe collection that is in my parents' basement. Should have done that when the first movie came out.

I do have a small collection of historically important science books. Just added a first edition of "Silent Spring" to the shelf. That is by far the newest book in that collection as most date to 1900 or before. I regret passing up a mint first edition of Deem's "Trees of Indiana", but I didn't have the $150 at the time. It ended up in a library collection, so I don't feel too bad.

 

[Huntn]

One thing that can be of value, are Lego collections depending on which ones. Without the intention of making money, just recouping some, I was surprised at how much our discontinued Harry Potter collections sold for (about 8 years ago) in some cases more than the original sales price. Original Hagrid's Hut- $40. This does not look like the original, but just saw one on Amazon, asking $180. Who knows if they will get that.

I have a comic book collection. Started in the 80's and collected into the 90's. I've been saying for years that I need to price them to see what current market would bring, but I never seem to get around to it. As to the question of "holding up" asked by @Huntn, my books are stored in comic boxes individually bagged with backing boards as is the traditional way of maintaining comics. As long as you don't expose the books to the elements they will theoretically maintain very well this way.

Realizing they use poor quality paper, I was just curious if like newspaper, the acids turn the color of pages as they age. I remember a method that could be used to neutralize the newspaper acid, but this involved soaking the newspaper in a solution of.... forgot, Arm and Hammer Baking Soda maybe.

 

[JoshMKB24]

I collect game used sports stuff. Most of my stuff is Lakers/Dodgers/USC based. I don't know what all the stuff would be worth if I tried to sell it, but I know my Kobe/Shaq jerseys are probably around 8k alone.

 

[rhett7660]

I collect game used sports stuff. Most of my stuff is Lakers/Dodgers/USC based. I don't know what all the stuff would be worth if I tried to sell it, but I know my Kobe/Shaq jerseys are probably around 8k alone.

Holy cow!!! Are they signed? or are these literally the jersey's they wore in a game and you were able to get your hands on them?

 

[JoshMKB24]

Holy cow!!! Are they signed? or are these literally the jersey's they wore in a game and you were able to get your hands on them?

The Kobe jersey is signed, the Shaq jersey is not. My Pau Gasol jersey is also signed. Yes, they are literally jerseys from games. NBA/NFL players go through a lot of jerseys and shoes just for this reason. At least the stars do.........I've looked at a Derek Fisher jersey that was used for almost all his rookie season and part of the next season as well. Stars like Lebron honestly wear 2 jerseys a game sometimes. I know NFL players like Peyton Manning have even worn 3 jerseys in a game, 1 pre game, 1 1st half, and 1 for the 2nd half. The new Adidas NBA jerseys also feel a lot different than any prior NBA jersey as they are now made of some weird recycled materials or something. People always love to see the Shaq jersey over any piece that I own, he obviously is a big guy so the jersey is huge. My mom is 5'2 and it goes down to about her mid shin when she has it on.

 

[Grey Beard]

My memories, and they are priceless. X rated, but priceless.

KGB

 

[rhett7660]

The Kobe jersey is signed, the Shaq jersey is not. My Pau Gasol jersey is also signed. Yes, they are literally jerseys from games. NBA/NFL players go through a lot of jerseys and shoes just for this reason. At least the stars do.........I've looked at a Derek Fisher jersey that was used for almost all his rookie season and part of the next season as well. Stars like Lebron honestly wear 2 jerseys a game sometimes. I know NFL players like Peyton Manning have even worn 3 jerseys in a game, 1 pre game, 1 1st half, and 1 for the 2nd half. The new Adidas NBA jerseys also feel a lot different than any prior NBA jersey as they are now made of some weird recycled materials or something. People always love to see the Shaq jersey over any piece that I own, he obviously is a big guy so the jersey is huge. My mom is 5'2 and it goes down to about her mid shin when she has it on.

That is awesome that you have those! Very cool! Who knows you could be a mad scientist trying to grab any little bit of DNA to create your own future "I am as big or bigger than Shaq" team!

 

[sim667]

Ive got a collection of photography books, which can sky rocket in value if you buy the right ones, i.e. first editions, limited print runs etc. I've inherited a David Bailey book from my mum which is now apparently worth about £2K (if it were mint, which it isn't), and some of my other books have increased in value by £200-£300.

I also collect reggae vinyl, which again, they can be worthless, but the right stuff can be very highly valuable..... Collectors of this stuff tend to really know what they're looking at though, which I'm not so experienced with. I did pay £50 for a record lately which is the most I've ever paid.

I'd really like to start collecting soviet union bootleg records that were carved into discarded X-ray plates, but they've become very popular amongst collectors all of a sudden, so the price has sky rocketed.

No if we want to talk about truly worthless collections, I know someone who used to collect deformed jelly babies.

 

[rhett7660]

Ive got a collection of photography books, which can sky rocket in value if you buy the right ones, i.e. first editions, limited print runs etc. I've inherited a David Bailey book from my mum which is now apparently worth about £2K (if it were mint, which it isn't), and some of my other books have increased in value by £200-£300.

I also collect reggae vinyl, which again, they can be worthless, but the right stuff can be very highly valuable..... Collectors of this stuff tend to really know what they're looking at though, which I'm not so experienced with. I did pay £50 for a record lately which is the most I've ever paid.

I'd really like to start collecting soviet union bootleg records that were carved into discarded X-ray plates, but they've become very popular amongst collectors all of a sudden, so the price has sky rocketed.

No if we want to talk about truly worthless collections, I know someone who used to collect deformed jelly babies.

These would be pretty cool to have actually!

I have a very small vinyl collection and large CD collection. The most expensive vinyl piece I have is KISS's The Originals (3LP Version) with included sleeves in rather great condition. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Originals_(Kiss_album)). I don't think it has seen a cd pressing yet.

 

[sim667]

These would be pretty cool to have actually!

I have a very small vinyl collection and large CD collection. The most expensive vinyl piece I have is KISS's The Originals (3LP Version) with included sleeves in rather great condition. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Originals_(Kiss_album)). I don't think it has seen a cd pressing yet.

Yeah they are really interesting pieces, even just to have on the wall on a lightbox.

It's actually quite clever too when you think about it, they were making money buy selling scrap that was sitting out back of a hospital....

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b0/b6/ba/b0b6bacbb53ef1516a77c5c852a672d8.jpg

 

[aaronvan]

I hoped to retire at 35 so I put everything I had into Franklin Mint Princess Diana Commemorative tea sets. Needless to say, I'm still working.

Last week at the U.S. Open my wife had Jordan Spieth sign her iPhone. Probably should have asked him to sign her ticket stub instead; that would (maybe) have been worth something.

Went to the Antiques Roadshow in Spokane a few weeks ago and found out my antique lamp was worth almost $700.