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Below is an essay on collecting. I hope you enjoy it and find it informative. Afterwards please take a few minutes to fill out my quick collecting survey. This will help me see what people collect, and add to, and update my Collectors Secrets.
Collecting: An In-Depth Look Are you a collector? Are you a collector and don’t know it? Or maybe you’ve thought about starting a collection. Well, it seems everywhere you look, you see “collector’s edition” this and “limited edition” that. It brings up some puzzling questions. What makes something collectable? What makes a collectable valuable? Who determines what a collectable is worth? And who collects all this stuff anyway? Believe it or not, almost everyone is a collector of some kind, whether they’re the connoisseur/purist, the speculator, the user or the scalper. People collect anything and everything from bottle tops to bamboo, cards to candles, angels to elephants. The reasons people collect are varied and determine what kind of collector one is. Also important is a consideration of how to collect. Decisions on picking a collectable, understanding the limits of a collection, finding the collectable, restoring the collectable and providing routine care and display are important parts of collecting. I’ve been collecting for about 20 years. I’ve collected comics, cards, books, porcelain statues, original art, knives, and so on. At first I didn’t realize I was a collector, nor did I understand how to collect. As time went on, though, I learned I was collector and have worked at becoming a better collector. I have observed that almost everyone is a collector, whether he or she is aware of it or not. I have also seen that there are basically 4 groups of collectors. The connoisseur/purist is on a quest for “cool stuff,” with “cool” being a relative term. The purist collects things because he likes them. No other reason is needed. The purist isn’t concerned with the value of the collectable, and once he has a piece for his collection, he is reluctant to get rid of it, no matter what the offer. Ownership of the item is more important than all other considerations. Purists usually collect things based on a specific genre, product, or character, such as someone who collects all things Mickey Mouse. This group makes up the most diverse of the collectors. A lot of people in the category have no idea they are collectors, because they collect these little things without realizing what they are doing. This is my favorite of the group because they love their collections for the only reasons I think one should collect: the thrill of the search, the pride they take in a great “find,” and the care and love they put into preserving and displaying their collectables. The speculator buys so-called collectable items as an investment. He buys things in the belief that they will be an investment. He buys collectables, keeps them awhile, and the TRIES to sell them for a profit. The problem with this group is that most speculators just don’t understand basic supply and demand, nor do they understand that a price listed in a price guide doesn’t ensure finding a buyer who’ll pay that price for the goods in question. These are the people who think that tiny stuffed animals with a particular nametag on them have some inherent value, and that that value will continue to increase with time, or at the very least, remain stable. The real truth is that collectables are only “worth” what someone is willing to pay for them. When demand dwindles, so does value. To make it more difficult, the amount of stuff out there to speculate on makes it no better than picking stocks at random. A classic example of this is in comics. I owned a comic book and game store for about 1 ½ yeas and later worked for a friend who owns Ground Zero Comics. Comics have had grading guides and pricing guides for years. I can’t remember the number of times people would come into the stores with a comic the price guide would say was worth $x. First off, as a shop owner, you can’t afford to pay the full value for an item, sell it at value and stay open. As a rule, I would offer 50% of a book’s value if it was popular and I thought I could sell it quickly. If it wasn’t popular, I would offer less, or not offer to buy at all. Another problem would be that a seller would expect full value from a book that was beat up and in bad condition. The speculator thinks that collectables are a money-making venture and most do not collect for the item itself. Speculators are also the hardest for shop owners to deal with, because they expect shop owners to save “hot” items for them and then buy them back later at full resale value, or accept returns on items that failed to increase in value. Some even expect shop owners to buy items the speculator bought from the competition. The third group are the users. Users are almost always unconscious collectors. They buy things and use them. They buy toys to play with, tools to use, videos to watch and games to play. The users also take care of their collectables, just as other collectors, and they buy their items based on specific products, genres, characters, etc. These are people who have tool collections, video collections, Beetles music collections and so on. Lastly we have the scalper. These are the ones I hate! My experience with scalpers has been in the comic and toy business. They are the guys (or girls) you see at the toy store with 8 of the same action figure, or 10 copies of the same comic book. These are also the ones who bought several cabbage patch dolls and furbies when they were “hot.” They turn around and sell them for as much as they can get. Unlike the speculator, scalpers thoroughly understand the law of supply and demand. Their habit of buying 10 of the same action figure is not based on a desire to have 10 times the profit, but to ensure that they are the only ones who have the action figure, thereby ensuring profit. They target popular but hard to find items, buy the entire supply, and then sell back to real collectors at an inflated price. They can only get the inflated price because the collector can’t find the item anywhere else. These people are the reason you can’t find that favorite toy for your kid’s birthday. In my opinion, they are the scum of the collecting world. I have collected a lot of different things over the years and now understand what it takes to be a good collector. Picking a collectable is very important, but it’s also the easiest. The important thing to remember is to pick something you like and enjoy. If you look around your home or office, you probably already have the beginnings of a collection. After selecting what you wish to collect (or perhaps already collect without knowing it), it’s time to set some rules and limits. Most people can’t afford to be a “completist.” If you tried to buy everything related to your collection, say anything pig-related, you’d quickly run out of money and space. So, setting rules for your collecting is always a must. Rules should be simple and to the point. Instead of collecting snow globes, for instance, limit your collection to Christmas snow globes. Price limit is also very important. Set a collecting budget and try to stick to it. Remember that collecting is supposed to be fun. Don’t beat yourself up over something that was out of your budget. Just save your money and find another later. If you never knew it existed until you saw it, then chances are good you can, in fact, live without it. The next step in collecting is finding new pieces for your collection. There are many places to look for everything. The internet is a great place to find just about anything. Garage sales, flea markets, antique and collectable shops, and newspaper ads are also very good places to search for collectables of all kinds. Once you’ve found your next piece, you may ask yourself, “What is it worth?” Remember the golden rule – something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. There are price guides available for all types of collectables at local bookstores. Hobby and collectable shops sometimes carry collectable price guides as well. Don’t forget that guides are simply that – guides. They are generally based on what shops are getting for those items. Part of an items value is based on its grade or condition. In comics I use the “Overstreet Grading Guide.” IT gives the user several scales to use based on how detailed someone wants to grade something. It tells you what to look for and hot to total “points” and thereby establish the value of an item. I have found that it is very useful in grading not only comics and magazines, but other collectables and antiques. The scale is based on a 100 point grading scale. 98-100 mint 90-97 near mint 75-89 very fine 55-74 fine 35-54 very good 15-34 good 5-14 fair 1-4 poor Grading influences the value of a comic greatly. For example, a copy of Detective Comics #41, the first Robin solo story, is worth $2600 in near mint condition. In fine condition it is only worth $900 and in good condition, its value drops to around $300. There’s a huge leap in value from $2600 to $300. If you had something worth $50 in mint condition, it would be worth only a few dollars in less than mint condition. In looking for collectable pieces, find out the items relative value and work downwards based on its condition. Avoid people who say “It’s in great condition for its age.” That’s a dead giveaway that they a) don’t know what they are talking about and b) are asking more than it’s worth. IMPORTANT – don’t’ walk into a dealer’s store and expect to get full value for a piece you are trying to sell. At. BEST you can expect 50% of its value. Shop owners are running a business and have overhead that must be met. They must be able to mark up their goods just like every other business. No one wants to pay more for an item that it’s actually worth, so give them a break. Now that you’ve gotten a good deal on your latest piece, it’s time to restore, care for and display your item. The instructions are short and sweet – study. Restoring anything can lead to trouble. Find out what you can and cannot do to a collectable to restore it. There are professionals who can restore just about anything, but weigh the cost against the value. Don’t spend $60 to restore something that’s only worth $40 in mint condition unless it’s truly what you want. For display there are containers and cases at most collectable and hobby stores designed to hold, protect and display your pieces, and display them you should. What’s the point of having “cool stuff” if no one ever gets to see it? In conclusion, I hope this clears up a lot of questions about collecting and hope you have found some direction as to what kind of collector you are. Remember that collecting is really just a quest for “cool stuff.” Finding things you love and taking the care to restore and display them in your home or office or workshop is its own reward. Back to top
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