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Collectible auctions...

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Sherlock

Sherlock

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How many collectors out there? Not just your cars...

I make my attempts at collecting vintage photos, but alas get outgunned by the big dollar collectors... Pretty much stuck at the lower end market...

Went to an auction preview on the weekend, mainly to look at this item - https://hodginshalls.auctionflex.co...date=20501231&lso=lotnumasc&pagenum=1&lang=En - not that expensive considering the collectible market, but just simply too much for what I can afford right now, feeling like I missed out on something unique and one of a kind, how many items like this are out there anymore? I doubt very many if at all, but I can't cry over spilled milk

Just have to keep searching with what little money I have... :rolleye:
 
We're in the same boat! No money here either, for "real" collections of anything. So I muddle along with books and memories. Folks with collections of anything of monetary value are very fortunate. But each to his own - I do what I can! I'm fortunate to volunteer as a researcher at the New England Air Museum, with a massive collection of aircraft and aviation technical documents - a photos going back to glass plates from the USA Civil War. And we even have a wind tunnel test model of a Burnelli CBY! Also a volunteer at Old Sturbridge Village, which has collections of hundreds of thousands of items used by everyday New Englanders between 1790 and 1840.

Tom
 
I've had to come to three conclusions.

1. Collecting has gotten way out of hand. The proliferation of shows as varied as Antiques Roadshow and Barrett Jackson (and every thing inbetween) as well as Ebay has led people to conclude that everything has value, and therefore must be bought/ sold for silly prices. The corollary of this is that no one can enjoy anything any more because it will be worth something some day, so, comics, baseball cards, beanie babies are not enjoyed, they are stored. (when my daughter was very little, she brought one of her beanie babies to church - and forgot it there - the caretaker, returning it to the nursery (where he thought it belonged) "helpfully" cut off the ear tag. My daughter was sobbing because "it wasn't worth big bucks anymore" We had a VERY quick intervention about the purpose (and value) of toys. Of course it also means that we can't get rid of anything - ever - either.

2. I am cheap. I have to note this because there are things that go for a "reasonable" amount - I just refuse to pay it. So, for instance, while those slides don't seem unreasonably priced, I still wouldn't pay that price.

3. Collections are dangerous. I have a friend who is a "collector" - actually he is a hoarder, he just hoards shiny new stuff instead of nasty old stuff. I am not criticizing collectors or hobbyists, but, in my life I do know that "stuff" chokes me (and I am a packrat by nature) I have come to conclude that a few nice things enhance my life - too many things weighs down my life. I love watches and pens - though not expensive ones! but have had to ask family not to give me watches or pens because I now have just enough to enjoy.

My 2 cents.
 
Only thing I collect is vintage period advertising for cars -- and only for MGB and Bugeyes. Cheap, and my entire "collection" fits in a small folder. All are scanned in so I can make some poster sized prints for garage decoration. So here it's collecting for a use, not just to have.

I've nothing against real collectors, but I do hope that they enjoy the things they collect. There is a fine line between collecting and hoarding.
 
Some of the "collecting" mania reminds me of 1950s TV commercials: "Cereal box contains one Davy Crocket toy. Collect the whole set!"
 
Yup, definitely a real game out there and I'm a rookie at it... I still remember an attempt at an E-Bay collectible purchase a couple of years ago and being outgunned by bigger money... Collecting stuff is definitely addictive, I think it's the thrill of the hunt for something unique, like a recent acquisition of a small album of WW1 photos, definitely one-of-a-kind photos from one soldier, likely the only copies of those photos to exist... There will be more interesting old photos to crawl out of the woodwork, I've missed a few great finds, but have also had some great finds, the fun of the chase...

Just haven't trawled the auctions much, mostly purchase from antique stores or collectible or flea markets, when the price is right...
 
Sherlock said:
Just haven't trawled the auctions much, mostly purchase from antique stores or collectible or flea markets, when the price is right...
Click to expand...

Still recall reading an editorial from Tom Stoddard a few years ago (Classic Motorsports) His comment was that Ebay is a great place to sell but not such a good place to buy.
 
I'm with JP on all of the above. Best place for "finds" is garage sales. You get your hunt and low buck all in one. Might even snap some interesting photos of pickers too. We're fixin' to unload a buncha stuff.

BTW, I have a buddy who sold a bennie baby elephant for $2,500. It would brought more but the chick that gave it to him wrote on the tag.

Some things do have value but the BB crap is just outright insanity....it's also brillant marketing no doubt dreamed up by some fabulous s.o.b.

I mean really... $5K for a stuffed animal that wasn't but a year or two old at the time, seriously?!

My "collections" all have actual uses. While some things are cool to look at;if you buy something with no tanigible use and all you wind up collecting is dust. My pristine WWI 8mm Mauser is great to look at. With it at 800m I'm your huckleberry and Bob's yer uncle...well, at least he used to be. :wink:


Want a hobby collecting something? Try collecting cash instead. :laugh:
 
I would love to collect certain things, however there is always too much month left at the end of the money.
 
weewillie said:
I would love to collect certain things, however there is always too much month left at the end of the money.
Click to expand...

Totally agree here. I collect model trains and I'm always looking out for a great deal on some neat part. My HO model railroad is a semi freelanced route based on the Indiana Branch of the BR&P Railway from Punxy, PA to Blacklick, PA. I'm using the as-built by BR&P track plan from 1918 but setting this in a modern day time period. Now here is my problem... I have 50 locomotives but only 3 of them are "modern". The gf has a very hard time keeping me away from the neat looking and sounding steam engines and keeping me from spending money on more stuff I don't need... I guess I have yet to find my happy medium.
 
or a new girlfriend and remember it is not a question of need but of want.
 
I end up "collecting" as an accident.
In my 2-rail 0 scale stuff, I end up with a LOT of old ScaleCraft (which I really like), last batch of SC stuff had a 1939 NY World's Far "Eastern Railroads" tank car, original down to the CTC sensing resistor across one truck and the custom couplers.
Had a guy send me an old tank car last week. He'd helped clear out John Armstrong's Canandaigua Southern railroad, saved this car (kind of rough).
I have the frame and wheels all restored, saved the frame decals, re-worked the tank, saving all the decals (bubbled cardboard wrapper on wood...slit, work wood glue in with the point of an xacto blade, clamp), all touched up and cleared. Fixed the handrails/tie down straps last night.
Not too many folks have a NYWF tank AND an Armstrong tank.
Paid nothing for either.
 
That is really cool!
 
I collect too much. I've slowed down.

I have a llt of pharmacy antiques, including show bottles and globes, advertising, mortars & pestles, etc.

I have a large diecast car collection as well as a large 1/24th scale model car collection of unbuilt kits.

I have a complete collection of Playboy magzine, from issue #1 through current.

I have my pharmacy bottles and my Playboy collection insured under separate riders on my homeowners.

And then there's the barn....with 5-1/2 MGs....etc, etc, etc..........
 
Doug and I are 'collectors' and indeed our entire house is a series of collections. We've been at it for almost 40 years. Mostly yard sales, Goodwill, second hand shops and yes even e-bay. The only new items are the necessities such as appliances and yes some furniture. We furnished our house with collectibles and nothing we have collected does not get used for its intended purpose. Now that we have a complete house it makes the both of wish that we had to furnish another home. It is/was great fun to find that certain something that fit just the right spot. A prime example would be the two '50's gas pumps that were unregognizable until husband restored them where they now hold center stage in the livingroom. Without our stuff, it would be just fine but with the stuff it also is just fine. I kind of think of it as a way to get even with our kids who will be stuck with the stuff when we are no longer here. Not really?
 
Judy - a kindred spirit!

Whole house here is Goodwill type furniture. Only "new" things are pillows, mattresses, appliances, etc.; most outerwear is Goodwill or Salvation Army. I've always been in awe of kitchens with marble countertops, Italian tile floors, living rooms with new furniture, indirect high-intensity lighting, etc. Seems like a dream.

Want to borrow my complete collection of "Tightwad Gazette"?

Frugal Tom
 
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