What (if anything) may be collectables in the future (i.e 10-20 years out)

[boont]

Old VHS

I wouldn't be too quick to throw out all those VHS tapes. When the rights to the music on some of these films ran out studios never sent them to DVD because re-reacquiring those rights was too expensive. So, some of the better films are only available on VHS and no where else. And, they likely never will be available. Film collectors will start going after those tapes, most of which have been thrown out.

b.

 

[HaveEnough]

Land, houses, apartment buildings don't seem to go out of style

 

[Jamie1101]

We make till mold breaks... mold not broken yet

I have been involved with the antiques market since the late 1960's. Pretty much any "collectible" marketed to "appreciate in value" has turned out to be a bust. Limited edition plates, china dolls, and hand painted birds immediately comes to mind. My friends and I joke about the "limited edition"mold breaking.

A "collecible store" down the street from me which had a ton of stock was liquidated a couple years ago when the owner died. I bought a bunch of Royal Copenhagen XMAS plates from the early 1970's for $1.00 each. My cat eats off them!

Genuine antiques go in and out of vogue. In the past 20 years or so I've seen the market collapse in many collectible fields. Top quality will always bring a premium over the average/run of the mill condition. You just need customers. The up and coming future collecting base does not have the money or space to build collections anymore. They will choose IKEA over Stickley any day.

If you are going to collect do it for the enjoyment you will get. I have many friends who bought and held onto fine antiques as an investment who are now saddled with items that they can't break even on if they try to sell.

There has been a lot written about this. What saddens me the most is how I've cared for family treasures such as oil paintings, cut glass, and other items that nobody in the family cares about. They could care less of having a piece of the family history.....

 

[Sconie]

Old, top quality, original, mint condition firearms have----and I suspect will continue to----appreciate in value; specifically, Winchester lever action rifles and Colt revolvers.

 

[ExitLeft]

Shoes seem to be today’s big collectible trend... and stuff from ‘Supreme’

 

[John Galt III]

I wouldn't be too quick to throw out all those VHS tapes. When the rights to the music on some of these films ran out studios never sent them to DVD because re-reacquiring those rights was too expensive. So, some of the better films are only available on VHS and no where else. And, they likely never will be available. Film collectors will start going after those tapes, most of which have been thrown out.

b.

Now you've done it! I am going to stuff them all away in boxes, and wait. Will have to check ebay in 5 years to see if any are worth anything. Will look for film collector sites on the internet. Already donated about 40 VHS movies already! Got about a hundred of em left. And then there's my vinyl records archive !!

 

[John Galt III]

I was referencing the value of the tapes. They are worthless because so few folks still have players. I tried selling our DVD player recently when we moved. Zero interest. With streaming now being so cheap or in some cases free, tapes and disks have little value.

Cheesehead, Yes I get it. I was just mentioning the VCR players because I saw some really expensive used VCR players for sale on ebay, but then saw some cheap ones at the Good Will store, like $20 I think. I'm not disagreeing that there are few of them around these days.

 

[steelyman]

I still have a working VHS VCR that I’ll be using to digitize a few old tapes that contain non-commercial video. Things like video interviews of family members, music performances, and so on.

I had another that I gave to a friend who also has old VHS tapes. The players are not collectibles but have value because they’re scarce. Once I’m done transferring the content, the player will be donated to a local thrift shop/charity store.

DVD/Blu-ray players are so inexpensive they’re not worth much.

I’ll be doing the same thing with audio cassettes (mostly live music) and a player. All in the spirit of downsizing. Less boxes to lug around and store.

 

[misanman]

We were visiting relatives in Louisville and found out a nephew is investing in Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. Not sure if this is a "collectible" or not. He plans to sell it eventually to pay for his kids education.

He says hundreds of folks show up when ever bottles become available. He claims bottles purchased at $100 are now worth thousands. Sounds a little like tulip bulbs to me but he is really gung ho about it.

Where (and When) To Find Pappy Van Winkle in 2018 | Fortune

 

[RunningBum]

If you are going to collect do it for the enjoyment you will get. I have many friends who bought and held onto fine antiques as an investment who are now saddled with items that they can't break even on if they try to sell.

I like this advice. For one thing, if you don't make money out of it, at least you can enjoy it. For another, you're likely to know more about the subject and are more likely to be able to learn more.

I could look through old baseball cards and pretty easily identify those likely to be more valuable just by knowing who the good players are. And over the years I've retained stories of why, for example, the Mantle rookie card is so valuable. If I tried collecting porcelain dolls, I wouldn't have a clue what makes one valuable, displaying them at home holds no interest to me, and any stories I might have come across in the past likely went unread.

For the last few months I've been going back through my old sports cards. I've spent a bit of money on albums and pages with clear pockets to store them in. It might preserve them better than the boxes I'd been using, but mostly it's so I can look at them more easily and remember the fun we had collecting them as kids.

 

[Jerry1]

They will choose IKEA over Stickley any day.

Such a sad truth. We’ve tried to get DD to fined good used wooden furniture over IKEA partical board, no luck. Like others have mentioned, people can’t give old furniture away, so, you can get better furniture cheaper and it’s still no deal.

Same thing with China. We’ve adopted families over the years and one of their requests is typically dining utensils (silverware, glasses, plates . . .). I used to go out and buy them, but my dad found a set of china for $10 and I gave that away. I know it’s china, but if someone can use it, let’s just use it. There’s a couple sets in our family and we’re thinking we should just start eating off of fine china every day.

 

[steelyman]

For the last few months I've been going back through my old sports cards. I've spent a bit of money on albums and pages with clear pockets to store them in. It might preserve them better than the boxes I'd been using, but mostly it's so I can look at them more easily and remember the fun we had collecting them as kids.

I hear you. One of the best (and unexpected) gifts I received this Christmas was an envelope containing baseball cards. The sender knew who my favorite Cubs players circa late 1980s are.

 

[Retiree_Having_Fun]

I don't collect anything but wondering if kids today may have the same nostalgia for their "first phone" since they are tied to their phones 24/7? They won't admit it now but maybe when they get "old" and nearing "being put out to pasture" (in their 30's) - they will look back at the device that replaced their parents, friends and finally kids.

 

[RunningBum]

I hear you. One of the best (and unexpected) gifts I received this Christmas was an envelope containing baseball cards. The sender knew who my favorite Cubs players circa late 1980s are.

Nice to know, I have a similar plan for a friend's upcoming birthday. It'll be just one card, but a good one. I hope it will be as well received. I showed him a pic of the card once and he was jealous, since he thinks he had it as a kid.

 

[John Galt III]

Some success stories from selling off my parents' house inventory when they downsized: 1923 wine press (working) with 1923 stamped on the iron part along with company name. Got $300 or so for it. A bunch of china, got $45. (other fancy china we had to donate). Old wine barrels, got about $20 each. Antique spinning wheel, got $45, plus listening to the lady who bought it rave about what a find it was, at $45 (she was the only person interested in it in 5 months). Collection of 20 wine glasses and 50 beer steins and glasses, $60. Big wooden dinner table fetched $300, I think. It was on Ebay for $2,000 but that doesn't sound realistic. Young couple bought it and refused to take the matching table cover, even for free!! They were going to use it as a family dinner table, and had kids. Beautiful China cabinet ended up donating it!

 

[Sue J]

My 34 year old son got the "collecting" gene from DH. They enjoy browsing thrift stores together and finding and rescuing old stuff.

He goes through phases of what he collects. One of the things he shows off on his desk at work is an old 1960s dial telephone. He works in IT so folks in his office enjoy the humor.

He also shows off a few of his best Polaroid finds like an SX-70. You can still buy film for these and other Polaroids.

It's admirable that he has a sense of appreciation for these items. Keeping and displaying these things is an issue. He's now collecting large storage totes to contain his stuff.

I have never been a collector of stuff. The process of cleaning out my parents condo after Mom died and Dad moved to assisted living changed something in me and I'm no longer attached to things. Weird but also freeing.

 

[Clone]

I have found that things that I would like to own tend to be priced as collectable.
Things that I would like to sell are priced as junk...

 

[Sunset]

We donated a box of china that my sibling had raved about being so valuable for years.
We then looked around in the charity store, and to our surprise found we could see they had thrown away 3/4 of the pieces, and only kept the ones in brand new immaculate condition.

Any suggestion of a chip/crack/scratch/fade etc means it's worthless.

 

[zippy2020]

We were visiting relatives in Louisville and found out a nephew is investing in Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. Not sure if this is a "collectible" or not. He plans to sell it eventually to pay for his kids education.

He says hundreds of folks show up when ever bottles become available. He claims bottles purchased at $100 are now worth thousands. Sounds a little like tulip bulbs to me but he is really gung ho about it.

Where (and When) To Find Pappy Van Winkle in 2018 | Fortune

Well....yes and no. Pappy 20 yr old Reserve was the very first bourbon I ever tasted, and yes, it was worth $150/bottle any time. But that was from the old Stitzel-Weller reserves, and SW closed down some years ago. The Pappy folks bought up as much as they could, but less and less SW reserve went into their own PVW Reserve as they got to the end of their hoard.

2016 was, I believe, the last year there was any SW stock still in the PVW reserve bottlings. PVW now ages its own reserve, but the SW that made it famous is long gone.

I'm not saying the PVW Reserve bottlings of 2017 onwards aren't good, but they are not from the SW stock that made them famous. Also, it's the nouveau riche who sent the price of artisanal bourbons soaring - the tacky billionaires who use PVW Reserve in sweet Manhattan cocktails, yuck. They are not people who are noted for brand loyalty.

The next wave of artisanal spirits is forecasted to be tequila, so your relative might want to start diversifying!

 

[CardsFan]

I don't collect anything but wondering if kids today may have the same nostalgia for their "first phone" since they are tied to their phones 24/7? They won't admit it now but maybe when they get "old" and nearing "being put out to pasture" (in their 30's) - they will look back at the device that replaced their parents, friends and finally kids.

You may be on to something here. Our 38yo DS called few weeks ago and asked if we still had his SEGA Genesis and games from the early 1990's. Apparently one game (M.U.S.H.A) is currently selling for $400-$500 on Ebay.

Unfortunately for DS, years after he went off to college and then moved to Chicago we gave the console and all the games to his younger cousin.

 

[CaliKid]

Most stuff isn't worth much. Some people still look at price guides and/or ASKING prices at Ebay and other places. The reality is the value is determined by checking closed auctions on Ebay. That's the price buyer and seller came together. Most stuff has a large supply than demand.

 

[annenrob]

This thread caught my interest. For the last 20-30 years, I had a blast collecting Possible Dreams Santa figurines and vintage (1940-60's) refrigerator boxes. Loved looking for them around the country; they were not expensive and I enjoyed collecting.

A couple of years ago, I realized I did not enjoy displaying the Santas, and gave them all (35+) as centerpieces to our neighborhood/church dinner, then donating to a person at the table. I was on a high for the joy for that for a year!

Then, I got down 5 big boxes of vintage refrigerator boxes (80-90) and negotiated with our church secretary who has an Etsy store [Mod Edit] and told her if she would sell them, she could take half and give half to the church benevolence fund. What a joy this has been in our lives!

We got the joy of collecting, for little investment, and now have the joy of gifting to others, with nobody having to deal with this STUFF when we are gone.