Collectibles

[JD Spydo]

I would think that when you are collecting something that unique like fountain pens, political campaign buttons or books from a certain era>> I believe you would frequently run into the problem of establishing authenticity in many cases.

I had a old friend who collected Charles Manson memorabilia and he was always telling me how many fraudulent items that people would try to fool him with. Also when you collect stuff like that which is extremely rare because there wasn't that much of it to begin with I would think your overall market would be quite limited to a very small cult-like following.

I met a guy at an antique mall once who had a collection of items related to the old 1960s TV Show "My Mother The Car" which Dick Van Dyke's brother played in. He even admitted to me that there was a very, very small market for items that obscure and basically unheard of. So some of these collectibles are truly a labor of love and intrigue rather than finding treasures that attain monetary value over the years.

[Water Bug]

I like collecting old, wooden, antique duck decoys and fishing lures.

[JD Spydo]

I like collecting old, wooden, antique duck decoys and fishing lures.

Interesting!! Because the collecting of old fishing lures is getting big here where I'm living. About a year ago I was offered to join a fishing lure collecting club for $30 a year. I have some really old balsa wood fishing lures that one of my uncles left me when he died. The old ones are really interesting. The State of Missouri has a contest at a couple of their state lakes using only old wooden fishing lures and quite a few people participate.

I see duck decoys at some of the estate sales I go to but I don't know enough about them to know whether or not they are worth investing in.

[Mad Mac]

Can't say that I collect anything but when my Dad passed away he had about 1,500 books. We were selling the house. They had to go. Some of the family members and I held back a few for ourselves but gave all the rest to our town library. They were able to fill in gaps in their own collection and replace books that were in bad condition but most were sold at their semi-annual fund raisers.

He also had a collection of the Wings of Texaco model planes which I kept.

When we sold the house we talked to an old estate sale auctioneer. We didn't have enough stuff for him to bother with but he told me that the collectibles market peaked in the 1980s and it would never come back. In his opinion, the collectors were dying out and young people had no interest in collectibles. Later, I saw him on American Pickers. He never said a word about doing estate sales and auctions.

[SkullBouncer]

The only theme my so-called knife collection has is “do I like it”.

Good point Michael - when it all comes down to it, that's my first consideration. Next would of course be budgeting disposable income and evaluating "opportunity cost" -- then moving on from there.

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Beside Golden CO Spydercos, I also collect Beattie Jet lighters -- ( USA 1944 - 1961).
High quality pieces today command $120 and more.

Back when I started collecting, a very good to NIB condition could be had for +/- $40.00. New, back in the day, the price stamped on the boxes was $6.95.

Alas, so many Beatty Jet lighters listed on ebay, for auctions or 'buy it now' prices,
are in good to poor condition.

These lighters are designed to be frequently maintained and they do occasionally require disassembly --
-- they have very small parts and are very tricky to place back inside the lighter's interior when cleaning is properly completed.

Quite the innovation, these Beatty Jets.

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:spyder: :spyder: SB / BRUCE :cool: :cool:

[SkullBouncer]

dp

[James Y]

There are people who collect pocketknives, usually traditional patterns, such as Case (for example), as investments. But IMO, in all likelihood, you won’t get much if any return on investment with knife collections. I’ve heard of instances where someone thought the pocketknife collections they’d amassed over a lifetime would pay off for them later on, only to find out they were worth virtually nothing to anyone, except for the owner himself. In one instance, a woman said that her father had lovingly built up a collection of pocketknives over decades, and he felt that after he was gone, those knives would benefit his loved ones financially. But after he passed away, the woman said she discovered that his knife collection was essentially worthless as a financial investment, and the only true worth they had was the joy they had given her father during his life.

So anything I collect, I collect for the joy of it, and not because I think I’ll make a killing on it down the line.

Jim

[kiwisailor]

When we sold the house we talked to an old estate sale auctioneer. We didn't have enough stuff for him to bother with but he told me that the collectibles market peaked in the 1980s and it would never come back. In his opinion, the collectors were dying out and young people had no interest in collectibles. Later, I saw him on American Pickers. He never said a word about doing estate sales and auctions.

Interesting comment.
Here in New Zealand, People still collect stuff.
Maybe the Market that the Dealer identified with, was his perception, not the "modern reality" i.e. Flea bay etc.
These "Digital Auction Houses" seem to be doing a roaring trade..

I picked up a African Assegai at a bricks and mortar Auction House here recently by chance.
Had never seen one before," in the flesh" so to speak.
Very well made and a real Work of Art, with very fine copper wire weaving, binding the head to shaft which in turn is exquisitely even in its' shaping.
You would swear it was done on a lathe.
Suspect it is circa late 1800's or earlier as the Purveyor was known to travel there early 1900's.

[Mad Mac]

The PBS Antiques Roadshow has been showing reruns from decades ago. They include current estimates under the original estimates. Most of them are lower.

Collectibles can be fads and quickly lose their luster. And there is no limit to cranking out new collectibles. There is also the generational factor.

The owner of a company I worked for in the '80s had flathead Ford V8s from the '30s, the cars of his youth. He bought a 1953 convertible, the last year for the flatheads. When I asked him about it he said his generation was dying out and prices were going down and he wanted to move his collection forward in time.

On a side note, there once was a fellow who collected Pez dispensers. He asked a friend if he could help him sell his dispensers on the Internet. Working out of the bedroom in his apartment, the friend set up an auction site on the web. You may have heard of it. eBay.

[JD Spydo]

The PBS Antiques Roadshow has been showing reruns from decades ago. They include current estimates under the original estimates. Most of them are lower.

Collectibles can be fads and quickly lose their luster. And there is no limit to cranking out new collectibles.

Those are some most insightful points you bring out "Mad Mac" :) I've wondered over the years if that PBS Antique Roadshow isn't rigged like WWE wresting matches on TV. I found it really difficult to believe that the average person bringing in really odd ball items to discover that they are real treasures :confused: For one I find it difficult to believe that there are that many honest dealers and appraisers in the antiques and collectibles field.
When I've dealt with people in the business I find most of them trying to make a killing for themselves instead of being helpful to others

Plus I've found over the years it's not all that easy to have certain items authenticated>> and to find someone honest and with integrity that you can trust. If people on that show really are that lucky then more power to them.

Now your observation on certain collectibles being hot one day and then totally out of the spotlight in less than a year after they fetch big prices>> I've seen that happen first hand on a couple of occasions. In many cases it falls in line with a very simple saying that my dad used to have>> "It's Worth What Someone Will Pay For It". bottom line: Knowledge really is power when dealing with "collectibles" of an type>> And you better be armed when dealing in collectibles of any type.

[benben]

My main hobby is collecting baseball gloves, mainly custom, pro-issue, and exclusive Rawlings, not retail gloves! At the time of this pic, this is about a third of what I own or have owned. My daughter is a freshman playing college softball, all through travel ball I was always known as the glove guy and the parents would always hit me up for recommendations on what to buy or have me repair / re-lace their daughter's gloves. Now this hobby is the one my wife absolutely loves..... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[benben]

Here's a custom I made on the Rawling's builder, I'm pretty proud of this glove and the way it turned out.

[TkoK83Spy]

Still waiting for the right time/buyer for this one. When my parents moved to VA 5-6 years ago, they needed me to come to their house and take a bunch of stuff I kept there over the years because they had way more storage space. I started looking through all my old cards and came across this one. Only handled by me once and put into a card sleeve. It's now in a plastic case that's screwed together. Hoping some day this will fetch me a couple nice knives! :)

[benben]

Still waiting for the right time/buyer for this one. When my parents moved to VA 5-6 years ago, they needed me to come to their house and take a bunch of stuff I kept there over the years because they had way more storage space. I started looking through all my old cards and came across this one. Only handled by me once and put into a card sleeve. It's now in a plastic case that's screwed together. Hoping some day this will fetch me a couple nice knives! :)


Resized_IMG_20160312_173647086_22328290395538.jpeg

That's awesome! I'll wind up stealing that pic for one of the glove forums I frequent. Check out that basket web.....Jeter had his own Rawlings model, it was a 11.5" DJ2, which was really just an 11.5" NP4 that was modified with a basket web, his preference.

Basket webs have fallen out of grace, none of the cool kids use them anymore, Jeter used one his entire career which is good enough for me. Thanks for posting this TkoK, wish I could help you move this but cards are something I know very little about.

[TkoK83Spy]

Still waiting for the right time/buyer for this one. When my parents moved to VA 5-6 years ago, they needed me to come to their house and take a bunch of stuff I kept there over the years because they had way more storage space. I started looking through all my old cards and came across this one. Only handled by me once and put into a card sleeve. It's now in a plastic case that's screwed together. Hoping some day this will fetch me a couple nice knives! :)


Resized_IMG_20160312_173647086_22328290395538.jpeg

That's awesome! I'll wind up stealing that pic for one of the glove forums I frequent. Check out that basket web.....Jeter had his own Rawlings model, it was a 11.5" DJ2, which was really just an 11.5" NP4 that was modified with a basket web, his preference.

Basket webs have fallen out of grace, none of the cool kids use them anymore, Jeter used one his entire career which is good enough for me. Thanks for posting this TkoK, wish I could help you move this but cards are something I know very little about.

Let me know if anybody on your other forums would have any interest, or knowledge about it. I know when I first found it I looked into it, it's actually a even rarer edition of the card. It's the "foil edition" because of the foil looking edge around the card.

I googled it and found it valued anywhere from $5 to $800 hahaha. All depends on how their graded by the experts.

[The Mastiff]

Started collecting ammunition when I was about 10. Gave it up for a long time. I mostly read more than collect now.

Military unit patches. Gave that up

Watches. Gave that up as too expensive for the watches I like.

I used to collect knives in different steels until Spyderco made it way too easy . :) I often had to go custom and at times import knives.

There are some others I've played around with but honestly I've found I enjoy the research of items more rewarding than actual collecting. Now I'm retired and have more responsible things to do with my money. I still enjoy Spyderco sprints in fun high performing steels.

Joe

[JD Spydo]

There are people who collect pocketknives, usually traditional patterns, such as Case (for example), as investments. But IMO, in all likelihood, you won’t get much if any return on investment with knife collections. I’ve heard of instances where someone thought the pocketknife collections they’d amassed over a lifetime would pay off for them later on, only to find out they were worth virtually nothing to anyone, except for the owner himself. In one instance, a woman said that her father had lovingly built up a collection of pocketknives over decades, and he felt that after he was gone, those knives would benefit his loved ones financially. But after he passed away, the woman said she discovered that his knife collection was essentially worthless as a financial investment, and the only true worth they had was the joy they had given her father during his life.

So anything I collect, I collect for the joy of it, and not because I think I’ll make a killing on it down the line.

Jim

When it comes to knife collectors of days gone by I've noticed that the guys that seem to do well with that hobby are ones that tend to specialize in just one brand. For instance an old friend of my late dad only collected stuff made by Keen Kutter>> and boy did he have a huge collection of their stuff. He even had some of their old straight razors. It truly blows my mind how many of the older American knife companies also made straight razors.

Oh there are certain knives and straight razors that would fetch a lot of money at an auction but they are usually rare. I've had some luck over the years collecting high end fishing reels. Especially the old German made D.A.M. Quick models. Penn, Abu Cardinal, and Mitchell are some others I've flipped for a pretty good nickel

But again most any collecting you do has to be specialized and focused. Any item out there is truly worth what someone will pay for it>> no more, no less>> and values are always subject to change due to overall market conditions.

[ChrisinHove]

Military unit patches. Gave that up


Joe

I collected a few special cap badges as a youngster.

A great family friend had Captained a Sherman in Normandy, and (many years later) gave me his Lothians & Border Horse cap badge. His tank Regiment was seconded to US command.

I also have a Somerset Light Infantry badge, in memory of my Great Uncle who also fought (as pbi, wounded twice but survived) in Normandy, and a Gloucestershire Regiment cap badge (actually recovered from the Somme battlefield) in memory of another Great Uncle who subsequently was killed in 1917, after being wounded on the Somme in 1916.

More Talismans than a collection, I suppose.

[The Mastiff]

I also have a Somerset Light Infantry badge, in memory of my Great Uncle who also fought (as pbi, wounded twice but survived) in Normandy, and a Gloucestershire Regiment cap badge (actually recovered from the Somme battlefield) in memory of another Great Uncle who subsequently was killed in 1917, after being wounded on the Somme in 1916.

Imagine living through the **** on the Somme only to get it later. Those soldiers were in it for the duration aside from a short leave now and then. There were days when more soldiers were killed on that one day then were KIA during the whole of the war in Vietnam ( Americans) . That was a truly horrific war even as wars goes.

Joe

[RustyIron]

I collect big things. If it weighs less than a 3000 pounds, I'm not interested.
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Here's a video clip of one of my engines running:

http://youtu.be/eKFVWG7xti8




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