I have talked a few time in the past about collecting and my main advice to everyone being: Never collect with value being the main concern, only collect what you have an actual passion for and want to collect. The best example to defend this idea is Beanie Babies, where people have lost thousands of dollars on them, being left with a bunch of worthless little plush figures that they really don't care about, yet had invested a big chunk of money on.
Never invest in fad collectable for any manner of long term investments. Most of the time you will lose a lot of money.
Now with that being said, I look at trends and I really am thinking right now is a great time to take some chances with collecting.
What is it that makes collectable valuable? It is all based on supply and demand of course, rarity vs popularity. The 90s killed the collectable market by over producing collectibles to a truly insane degree, with so many people believing that they could make a lot of money by buying up all these over produced items. Most of the stuff from the time are not highly desirable because it is not hard to get a hold of.
Now however actions figures are not being produced in those kind of numbers, in no small part due to kids not being as interested in them as much as in past decades, in no small part because of the rise of video games.
The new Star Wars film are a perfect possibility for long term value. The films did well and have a following, even if there are a pocket of the fandom who dislike them. Looking at patterns, there is a good chance that these films will actually be more appreciated in a decade or so, as which point there will be a fans looking for collectibles. With how low the production runs have been for Star Wars toys over the last few years, that has the possibility to create a demand for the action figures that were put on clearance because they weren't selling. Just because something does not sell now has nothing to do with there being a demand for it in the future.
Also, comic books right now are having some of the lowest production runs ever, as the market is hurting due to various factors that have been around for some time and I have written about in a past post here. And since you never know what new characters or events will be considered significant until years later (Deadpool and Squirrel Girl are two great examples of this), there is a chance for all levels of significant issues to be put on the market and not have a high production run and that is how you get valuable comics. But once more, there is no perfectly accurate way to really know which issues are going to be considered significant for a few years.
So while I do not collect for value, I am aware of what pieces I own that are valuable and am aware of what makes them valuable. Right now seems to me to be a great time to take some chances and build up a collection that has a high potential to become valuable for not a high monetary risk. The logic I have talked about her is not going to change my collecting habits and it will be some time before we know if I was right.
I just enjoy collecting and will keep on doing it as my situation allows.
No comments:
Post a Comment