Should I get my mini's graded and sealed for all time ;} (Retro collecting in general, a retrospect)

[Ratmaster2000]

So obviously I am kidding, I PAINT my miniatures (well collecting/stocking up), and then display (or sell?) them, same with my plastic models and other toys:) I also collect video games and other things. Now I used to collect baseball cards and comics, and I can understand grading of these items and in some instances having them (essentially) hermetically sealed BUT, VIDEO GAMES?????? REALLY???? I buy my games to PLAY! NOT seal them up for all time and stick them on a shelf! Does anyone else think this is weird???

[NebulousMissy]

I can see sealing a cartridge of something if it also happens to be signed by the developer and if I have a ROM hack of the game so I can replay it whenever I want. Because the signed cartridge that maybe might work except nobody you know owns an NES anymore has scarcity.

 

Scarcity is what gives collections their value when sold. Any scarcity in modern video games is artificial scarcity. My unused and probably expired download code for Assassin's Creed isn't going to be worth anything because the data behind that code can be infinitely copied. To get any sort of scarcity and therefore monetary value you need to go back to Game Boy cartridges, NES, Atari, maybe SNES or even the N64...

 

In other words, yes it's kinda weird. 

[Kangaroorex]

Their is some pleasure to be had in chasing the elusive and in completing a set of something, I find the hunt to be far more pleasurable than the ownership.  What I dont get is the treatment of rare items and antiques as investments.   I wss talking to a friend who buys and sells magic cards like penny stocks, buying them and selling in lots of 10 or more as investments.  The fact that he is reasonably successful only disturbs me more.  I sort of get buying large lots and looking for gold among the dross but to buy large lots of single cards as investments is really weird.

 

Too each their own though, at one point it was the height of fashion to collect and display antique chamberpots

[Gadgetman!]

Collecting to resell later was one of the big reasons for the comics crash.

 

Buyers would get 3 or 5 copies of the same issue, bag and safely store them all in the hope that in the fuiture they'd get valuable...

The comics companies cottoned on, and started with all kinds of nonsense such as 'limited edition' covers, the same issue with many different covers and so on. 'Crossovers' became more and more common. In order to follow a single storyline you might have to buy 4 or 5 different titles, because you needed those extra 2 or 3 pages in each of them to follow the storyline you were interested in. 

The theory being that 'anyone who wants a complete collection will also have to buy the entire series of those other comics, also'...

 

Diamond distribution took it one step further, requiring shops to order set amount of one type in order to get another type and so on...

 

The first rule of collections is that 'Collectors editions' aren't worth anything. 

 

Me?

In addition to the Pewter Pile, mostly sorted, cataloged and stored in tackle boxes,  I also collect vintage computers and accessories. 

And that also includes games systems...

If it has the original box it's worth more, but not much more. 

If it works, is the really important point. 

The games are stored in wooden crates. Nicely stacked, because they take less space than if I just pile them in, so I can fit more of them...

The computers are either stacked in tall stacks in my attic, they're in wooden crates(I have a rack system for them in the attic) or they're stuffed into 30L cardboard crates, also in the attic.

 

Some of the smaller computers and accessories are in zip-lock bags so that parts doesn't disappear, but that's really all.

 

I have industrial handhelds from before 1980, I have the Osborne One, the Epson HX-20, Commodores, Psions(from the first to the last), Apples, Palms, I have the Atmark Pippin(game system based on an Apple and built by Bandai), the Nintendo VirtualBoy...  

 

This summer I've thrown away about a shopping net full of 'origijnal' floppies. 

I have the contents stored on my NAS, though. The contents that was still readable, that is.

(I still have 2 or 3x that amount to sort, and either junk, copy out and junk the original, or copy the contents and safely store the originals)

I'm also trawling the net for resources regarding the computers in my collection, and downloading anything useful that I find.   

It's slow going, though as my collection is at least past 250 now, and some computers are... uncommon... or never had a large fanbase. 

 

[Ratmaster2000]

@Gadgetman!What, no Amigas?????

[Adrift]

There will always be collectors; I don't collect anything that I wouldn't be heartbroken to see destroyed in a fire, flood, or other natural disaster. 

 

For me, the health and welfare of my loved ones are all that truly matter.

[Gadgetman!]

2 hours ago, Ratmaster2000 said:

@Gadgetman!What, no Amigas?????

 

They're lumped together with the Pet, the Vic20, C64, and the SX-64...

 

 

[DocPiske]

Yeah, I have a not quite complete collection of Dragon Magazine, but so many of us held on to them that most issues aren't worth anything. The memories though are priceless.

[haldir]

15 minutes ago, DocPiske said:

The memories though are priceless.

 

So very true!! Loved going through my friend's Dragon & Dungeon issues back in the day. I eventually started buying them regularly once 3rd edition came out.

 

My first Reaper play by post was Savage Tide out of Dungeon Magazine. Loved reading that adventure!!

 

I used to collect comics but for reading until I got tired of the whole "collector craze days". I dropped every one of them except Bone. Oddly I really want nothing to do with comics these days but I do like the Marvel movies. Collected nascar trading cards up until 2004 or so. I also did nascar car models but when my favorite aftermarket decal maker (Slixx) stopped producing the decals it kinda killed my enthuasim for everything nascar related (glad it did TBHWY). I also collected Decipher Star Wars & Lord of the Rings ccg cards not to play but just to have the entire sets.

 

Really these days about the only thing I collect are squirrel cards in Magic:TG (gotta have a squirrel on the card somewhere). I'm not going to count minis or the many many bottles of paint that I own as those get used in my weekly games.

[Zink]

All of my stuff that might have had a collectors value got so well used it's basically worthless. Never had the money to just buy and stash. The majority of my minis are plastics and they don't have a great resell value. I do have some old GW stuff that worth more but not huge amounts and it's mostly painted and well used too. I always try to buy cheap and in large numbers (like Bones) so even if I've spent thousands on my toys they are probably only worth what I paid or less on a secondary market.

[paintybeard]

20 hours ago, Adrift said:

There will always be collectors; I don't collect anything that I wouldn't be heartbroken to see destroyed in a fire, flood, or other natural disaster. 

 

For me, the health and welfare of my loved ones are all that truly matter.

 

You're mad I tell you, MAD!!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                         All right officer, I'll come quietly.

Edited July 7, 2019 by paintybeard

[Kangaroorex]

19 hours ago, Gadgetman! said:

 

They're lumped together with the Pet, the Vic20, C64, and the SX-64...

 

 

 

There are some people who would say that the Amiga is still an 'active' system and not for collecting...

I love the PET, the split memory was a godsend during the day when i could play a game on one memory chip and have a spreadsheet on the other.  Ambulance chaser: I still miss you!

 

12 hours ago, DocPiske said:

Yeah, I have a not quite complete collection of Dragon Magazine, but so many of us held on to them that most issues aren't worth anything. The memories though are priceless.

 

I still have my copies from 1 to 150.  I lost interest when 2nd edition hit full swing, but the memories of the old issues were worth preserving to me.  I also loved the artwork on those magazines!  I actually own prints of one or 2 of the cover artworks.  Wouldnt call them a collectors piece though.  Its not like I would be willing to give them up for any price someone is willing to pay...

[paintybeard]

Thinking about it I've got all the "White Dwarf" magazines fro Numbers 2 to 100. Stopped at that point as the tendency to paint everything BRIGHT RED was getting annoying.

 

I never got Issue 1. I sometimes see it offered for idiotic money on auction sites, which makes my collectors gland twitch a bit. Fortunately I've seen other peoples copies and it isn't that much of a must-have.

[Mad Jack]

4 hours ago, paintybeard said:

 

You're mad I tell you, MAD!!

 

 

 No, I'M Mad....