Somewhat Off Topic: Emerging Collectibles Markets
stevepk
Posts: 238 ✭✭✭
In the 1950's, baseball card collecting started. No one thought they would ever be valuable. The hobby exploded in popularity in the 1980's. Now, everyone fantasizes about buying an original box of 1952 Topps baseball cards at 5 cents a pack.
In the mid-1980's, basketball card collecting gained a bit of momentum and now everyone daydreams about buying boxes of 1986-87 Fleer basketball cards for less than a dollar a pack. They go for several hundred today.
In the 1890's, coin collecting begun in the United States. Today, everyone daydreams about buying United States Coins at 1947 Redbook prices. No one probably imagined just how valuable classic US coins would eventually become.
In the 1930's stamp collecting started. Today, everyone daydreams about buying........um.........okay, so maybe that's a bad example.
Are there any new collectible markets that are just now emerging? These are markets that are just getting started that most people never expect to gain momentum and someday will regret not stocking up while demand is still relatively low.
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I do not know of anything as exciting as Numismatics
JMO
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I wouldnt call it a collectable but if you bought a $1000 in bitcoin in 2011 ish You could, ahh well, buy anything You want. Do the math, it's absolutely staggering.
Let the haters hate. But reality is reality.
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I had always expected defunct credit cards to become a collectible. I have some in a box with my pogs.....
Beanie Babies...er, no, wait...
Screen used movie props are definitely an emerging market. Prices for certain items in the hobby have been skyrocketing in recent years.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2017/09/26/iconic-movie-memorabilia-sells-for-over-5-13-million-at-auction/#715016933b3f
I collect poltical items. The 19th century presidential items have gone up a lot since I started collecting them in 1990s, but the buttons from 1896 to present seem to have lost a lot of steam. The market for them is better than stamps, but it's similar to coins. The collectors' "widgets" mostly weak sellers.
Like coins, the conventions and shows are most populated by "old men."
Around $14,000,000 in today's market.
Firearms do very well... some for historical reasons, some for craftsmanship, many for functionality.. and prices continue to rise. Cheers, RickO
Wow. If you did, chances are you would not be spending time on this forum
Or spending more time showing all your newly purchased coins from your bitcoin windfall.
It may end up being small, niche collecting markets....
But already you see a lot of nostalgia about EARLY electronics. Hand held computer games, game consoles, etc. The "things we grew up with".
I'm thinking that if you can hold out long enough, having that first iPhone, or Android phone, or similar, might turn into cash.
I don't know that it will be a widespread or long lasting "hobby", since most of those items don't have a real function anymore....Certainly not as functional as what is produced today. But the "special" items may hold some value for awhile.
I understand your point and it is a good question to discuss, but I do not think all of those things you mention belong in the same group.
Also, while some collecting is legitimately cyclical (or one way up and then one way down), some hobbies are destroyed by their own participants. Baseball cards, for example, turned into purposely concocted limited editions and contrived rarities. I think the truly valuable cards are the ones made for kids (or smokers, in the case of early cards that came with cigarettes) to collect and play with. They were not made as collectables, so condition and survival rate vary, creating true rarities. For example, I think there is one early Mickey Mantle card that is extremely valuable in decent shape because it was card #1 in the set that year, and kids would stack their cards in numerical order and then put a big rubber band around the whole pile. Poor Mickey always took a beating.
What becomes a hot collectable is often generational - as people get older and start having some disposable income, they buy things that they remember from their childhood or young adulthood. The price increase in old cars is quite predicable this way.
It is also possible to start a trend yourself - write a "definitive" book on a new area of collecting (after assembling a huge collection yourself), then when that item becomes hot, you can sell off your collection at a huge profit before the market settles back down (or even disappears). It happened with cookie jars and lunch boxes.
One other extremely important dynamic to consider is that younger generations are less likely to collect anything - they want less "stuff" than previous generations. That may change in the long term, but in the short to medium term that is the way things are headed.
I think (hope) most coins have a little more staying power than most of the things that have been "collected" over the years.
My attitude toward "collectibles" other than coins is simple:
Buy 'em cheap and flip them as quickly as possible. I have no interest in worrying about so-called "emerging markets. I want the cash now.
I think hand-held electronics and cell phones will increasingly become collectible items. I have no interest whatsoever in collecting these things personally, but the younger generations behind me might. Picture the world 40-50 years from now, and tell me the very first iPhones produced won't become nostalgic collector's items to someone who used them in high school.
I have a wide definition of "collectibles" and that includes my personal collections like comics, action figures, handheld console, game console from 1st generation to the latest and Old coins with face value or not.
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Have you heard about the growing number of "sneaker heads"? I don't know if they're collectors in an emerging collectibles market, or...pioneers...of a movement!
https://qz.com/831530/a-look-inside-sneakercon-the-greatest-sneaker-show-on-earth/
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all the phones are going to the gold extractors so you might be on to something
Best place to buy !
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If that Pafko card has any value then I am sure that is the scenario I am thinking of (not sure why MM entered the equation in my memory).
Tobacco collectibles. Early computer hardware. I had several from the prehistoric period including one from TANDY (Radio Shack?) and one marketed by EXXON Petroleum. Kept them in storage for decades but they got thrown out over my protestations.
Some folks don't appreciate a hoarder. LOL.
I won an Apple 2G at work back in the mid 80s. Never did hook it up - it is still in the boxes. Not as desirable was the earlier Apple 2 computers I imagine, but might be worth a small amount someday.
As for Tobacco stuff - I bought at a yard sale a newish (guessing 20-30 years old) Marlboro ashtray, but a BIG one - must have been for a hotel or something. Cast aluminum, heavy, and made to sit on a tabletop and collect dozens and dozens of cigarette butts. It really is an historical artifact - I can't even imagine ever seeing one in action at this point. I also picked up a couple nice glass cigar ashtrays that I will decontaminate and use for nuts or candy someday.
I have the very first Ipad gen 1. With the box, it was one of only 5 that best Buy had on the first day it was released. I waited in line 6 hours. That was also the time ATT offered unlimited cellular data for $29 month (which I still have to this day on my 4th ipad) they cancelled that option a short time later if I recall correctly.
I bet it will be a collector item to someone some day.
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The link does not appear to work. Do you have another?
Video Games have definitely emerged as a desired collectible.
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"Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me
No doubt about it. Our niece's kid has a substantial collection of sneakers, and buys/sells them regularly online and at shows. This seems to be a big deal.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
Some people will indeed shell out $500 for a pair of basketball shoes they remember from their high school days. One problem with this kind of "collectible" is that a company like Nike can start making them again, if there's that much of a market. Why wouldn't they?
Yikes! What language are you speaking?
I think I recall something about some game card being worth hundreds or thousands - probably the one you are talking about. I sure hope I don't stumble across one somewhere because I won't know enough to hold onto it.
Ya know, you make a very good point here.
If your average person can't sense an inherent "value" in something, the value is probably pretty questionable.
Old coin? Antique desk? Piece of electronics you remember from your youth? They all probably trigger the "value" button in just about anyone. (Sure, they could be counterfeit, or more common than we think...but that's beside the point).
A little stuffed animal? Or a printed game card? They don't seem to immediately scream "rare and valuable" in the human brain.
Not saying those who ARE interested can't get some joy from collecting them. Just that I wouldn't invest my life savings into something that isn't (nearly) universally identifiable as valuable.
There are many, many apparently valuable collectibles out there which, if offered to me, would receive no offer at all.
If I don't know the market I am not interested. Much like coins, there is always a learning price to be paid for new participants. I'm not interested in paying such a price, or in spending the time necessary to learn how not to be taken in a new collectible field.
mtgprice.com/sets/Alpha/Black_Lotus
Magic The Gathering is the original "collectible card game", where some of the most powerful cards are very rare and expensive.
A.k.a. a "pay to win" game.
And the things that we wanted when we were kids but never had.
Like those cool looking coins in the Red Book - 1804 dollar, 1864 Small Motto 2c, etc.
The Pafko card is extremely rare in high grade and commands a high price tag (especially for a guy many people have never heard of) for the exact reasons you described - he was #1 in 1952 Topps set, so even people who did care for and protect their cards (a rarity in 1952) often saw the 'top card' incur damage from rubber bands or simply from being 'on top.'
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
And, my guess is Pokeman cards - some people laugh at it, yet PSA ALREADY grades it, it is ALREADY global and has become ubiquitous across platforms. Also, it is now entering it's 2nd generation of popularity...
I own none, by the way...
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
In fact, they do. Nike's been putting out "Air Jordan Retro" releases since Jordan retired in 1999! Because they know precisely how much of a market there is.
https://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/06/09/sneaker-resell-market/
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Still have my 1st cell phone, about the size of a brick and about the same functionality.
I used to have a huge collection - unlimited power 9 sets, complete sets of Antiquities, Legends etc, couple master sets of dual lands etc. Unfortunately sold them all years ago as a set to finance my first computer. I sold my mint lotuses for 200 each.
I see considerable difference between collectibles and items acquired as part of a hobby or similar activity.
Hobbies have depth and persistence to them. They also have limits on content and range. They are bounded by clear constraints and availability, and the materials of a hobby require more than simple acquisition. Hobbyists might collect items related to their hobby, but the items are not typically considered "collectibles." [An amateur astronomy hobbyist might collect astrolabes, but an astrolabe is no a collectible.]
A collectible might be almost anything, but it's often cheap tsotchke, that has little or no inherent social connection or limitation. Virtually anything the seller calls a "collectible" is in this category of meaningless baubles.
A hobby also has a base component of interest that supports participants. Collectibles lack this and thus fluctuate wildly - usually downward as interest peaks then wanes. (Franklin mint silver plates, Cabbage Patch Kids, Bradford Exchange Kincaid stuff, etc., etc.)
Not sure they will ever increase in price, but I still collect Minichamps Formula 1 diecast cars.
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Games and phones. Maybe original iphone watches. Electric cars ? Who knows ? Emerging collectibles.... great ponderance.
Another way to look at it is that "collectables" have a high survival rate in new condition, but things that are "collected" come in a range of conditions and limited survival vs original production.
Early slabs. They keep getting cracked out.
Will there soon be slabs for slabs for slabs..... ?
Vintage video games have been doing extremely well for the last year or so. Toys from the 80's are doing well also
Nostalgia for people entering middle-age.
Vintage Rolex Sport Models have gone up a ton in the past five years and probably have some room to run still.
Old video games are becoming collectable and I think will probably remain so, with my younger generation.
Numismatist @WitterCoin
My 9 year old has a rather large and growing set of pokemon cards, which i do encourage, to an extent.
He's got the collecting gene. Likes coins ok, hoping someday he'll love em.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Early Playboys?
Only in unused condition....
Do you mean unread? How do you use a Playboy?