What will be valuable and what won't?

seelsa73

Sr Member
I'm new to figure collecting and I'm wondering, as the title suggests, how do I know what will increase in value and what won't? I keep hearing that anything that is mass-produced, that isn't labeled as "limited" or the like, is not going to increase in value. Makes sense. But then I looked up one of my 6" Black Series Star Wars figures and it was going for as much as $130 online. So I'm a bit confused as to how this stuff works. If I have figures that aren't going to increase in value, then I wanna open those suckers up and pose and display them!
 
It's a gamble. It's based on demand and availability. Never collect with the thought of things increasing in value - that will lead you to a lot of disappointment and may not let you appreciate and enjoy your collection enough.

Personally I don't care about that stuff. What I buy I display. I'm not holding out for some future increase in value that may never come.
 
I think the label "limited" or "exclusive" has become fairly overused in the last few years. Everyone releases an item that is "limited" or "exclusive", no matter the quality or usefulness of the item. It is a matter of how you feel regarding an item. I am often right when it comes to collectibles (I collect mostly Star Wars and NECA figures) but I would say that I'm equally wrong. My advice is: Just collect what you like. Do not speculate on value, it's too risky. Have fun and enjoy the hobby; that's the most important thing. :)
 
Well I can tell you 80s-90s baseball cards aren't worth crap. I dug some out the other day and wondered what they were worth. It cost me more just to dig them out of the closet. :lol I just collect whatever I like and don't worry about what they're worth.

I wound up with a couple of thousand baseball cards after a friend of my mother's died and it was a waste of my time to just figure out how much they were worth. No point to it at all. Now they're just taking up space.
 
Last edited:
I learned long ago that trying to chase what what may be valuable one day is a fools errand. The stuff that really becomes valuable and HOLDS its value is stuff that no one thought to keep so they're hard to find. Just ask the people with boxes of Beenie Baby's that were once worth hundreds of dollars and are now worthless. Everybody hordes everything now and keeps them mint in box, so in the long, they won't be rare. Also, because something is listed as $130, doesn't mean it will sell for that. Just buy and display what you like and you'll be a lot happier in the long run.
 
I learned long ago that trying to chase what what may be valuable one day is a fools errand. The stuff that really becomes valuable and HOLDS its value is stuff that no one thought to keep so they're hard to find. Just ask the people with boxes of Beenie Baby's that were once worth hundreds of dollars and are now worthless. Everybody hordes everything now and keeps them mint in box, so in the long, they won't be rare. Also, because something is listed as $130, doesn't mean it will sell for that. Just buy and display what you like and you'll be a lot happier in the long run.

The overwhelming majority of things produced today will never be valuable because they are produced in such huge numbers and everyone is saving them. If you want value, you have to buy things that are already valuable, meaning they are already expensive, because they were made a long time ago and the majority have already been lost. Just open your stuff if you want and have fun with it. Otherwise, you're doing collecting wrong.
 
I started my Star Wars vintage collection in the mid 90's I'm talking mostly sealed MOC figures and MIB toys including 12 backs, POTF ect... which were still expensive but still affordable compared to now, I also many vintage loose figures, ships /playsets to play with lol!! I did buy the tons of new toys that came out in 97 with the release of the SW special edition ect... I sold everything at cost or lost and only kept all my vintage stuff that just keep on going up, better than money in the bank. :)

To be honest I have absolutely no interest in any of the new toys but become so excited when I see the vintage stuff, just brings me back in time, its just a special feeling. BTW I just find it funny when people list SW 1997 toys as vintage lol!
 
Last edited:
only kept all my vintage stuff that just keep on going up, better than money in the bank.

And prices on the vintage Star Wars have escaleted due to the kids from the 70's and 80's having better jobs and have some disposable income to collect things from their childhood again. There will come a day when these generations get older and start to sell off their collections, and the major buying market will have slowed due to age and lack of interest, and these vintage pieces will start to lose value. So there is no safe bet on what to hold on to.

Look at Disneyana items which hit an all time high in the 1990's, when the generations from the 50's and 60's went crazy buying stuff. Today you can look at prices which command only about 50% of what they were selling for back then. Heck... I am a huge Disney Animation collector, and I have been picking up original Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Peter Pan drawings at around $100 a piece these days, when back in the 90's I would have paid closer to a grand on each. There are some sellers still asking those prices, but they are not selling the stuff.

So as people here have stated.... buy stuff because you love it and want to display it. If you have to give it away for free someday, so be it. You need to approach it as... you got your moneys worth out of it through years of enjoyment.
 
And prices on the vintage Star Wars have escaleted due to the kids from the 70's and 80's having better jobs and have some disposable income to collect things from their childhood again. There will come a day when these generations get older and start to sell off their collections, and the major buying market will have slowed due to age and lack of interest, and these vintage pieces will start to lose value. So there is no safe bet on what to hold on to.
.

Kind a makes sense but in the meantime SW vintage stuff is still going up, but again I purchased my collection for my personal satisfaction and not to make money :)
 
Collectibles are also susceptible to "trending." Too many variables to count on. If something is really going for good cash because demand is up then license owners may decide the time is right to reproduce it and almost overnight your valuable collection is only worth a couple bucks.

Interest also ebbs and flows. People move on and some collectible is worth much less than, say, five years earlier. It effects almost all collectibles from Ferraris to action figures.

I have some $3 items that are worth TEN TIMES what I paid. WOW. I only had to store them and move them for almost 25-years and now I can sell it for $30. So not worth it. If you're looking to invest in the future, there are better ways to guarantee a financial return, they're just not as sexy.

Edit: Anything advertised as "collectible" at the point of purchase... isn't. On this point I would welcome opposing opinions.
 
Last edited:
I inherited a complete (!) run of post 1945 -2011 German stamps and a large collection of commemorative collector coins from my father-in-law. They are worth "just" a couple hundred euros, I know he spent the multiple of that sum on them. Damn subscription collection gangsters.
 
Completely agree with Lunajammer. I have a 30 year rule of thumb. 30 years after some novelty sold, some adult is feeling nostalgic about it and now has the cash and no one to stop them from buying what they once had or couldn’t have. Problem is very few want to perpetually lug around toys into their early adulthood, and at some point parents get tired of being a storage locker. I think if you wanted to profit from collectibles, open a shop and buy 30 year old stuff for pennies on the dollar from worn out collectors or parents and jack it up.
 
What actually rises in value is LARGE stuff. Large boxed items are among the most sought after collectibles. Because it is easier to store a hundred carded figs than a hundred Tydirium shuttles.
 
Collectibles are also susceptible to "trending." Too many variables to count on. If something is really going for good cash because demand is up then license owners may decide the time is right to reproduce it and almost overnight your valuable collection is only worth a couple bucks.

Interest also ebbs and flows. People move on and some collectible is worth much less than, say, five years earlier. It effects almost all collectibles from Ferraris to action figures.

I have some $3 items that are worth TEN TIMES what I paid. WOW. I only had to store them and move them for almost 25-years and now I can sell it for $30. So not worth it. If you're looking to invest in the future, there are better ways to guarantee a financial return, they're just not as sexy.

Edit: Anything advertised as "collectible" at the point of purchase... isn't. On this point I would welcome opposing opinions.


Let's not forget, "limited edition" :lol
 
Yea personally the modern stuff today is a huge gamble and I see these pop figures as being the next beanie babies as they are worth a lot now but so many people are hoarding them I dont really see them being all that much in the future.

If you're going to buy to "invest" do it with older items that are worth a lot but can maybe someday find at a steal. For example I recently bought a EFX limited edition vader helmet low edition number for only $600, now to me that a steal and I bought it not only because I have always wanted one but also because I know that if I wanted I could sell it at any time in the future for more.

There are very few items that retain value in the star wars collectibles universe such as the limited edition and legend vader helmets (as long as you bought it at retail or below)

I have personally overpaid for certain items but thats because they were rare, hardly come up, and I really wanted it such as my Pugman Blaster or Frank Cerney Training Remote and I am happy that I will most likely never get back what I put into them as long as I can display them and be proud to be one of the few people to actually have one.
 
Last edited:
Having watched the "collectability" tide rise and fall a few times, I can tell you that there are three different types.

First type is the FAD, when something suddenly becomes popular, leaving the manufacturer as surprised as anyone (and stocks low). The response is usually for the mfr to boost production and try to stay on the wave as long as possible, while knock-off artists flood the market. Examples include everything from fidget spinners to POGs to Beanie Babies to the 1978 flood of "Star"-this and "Space"-that, to try to take advantage of the Star Wars boom. Some of these products may be collectable again a few years later -- often because they were so popular that nobody bothered to save them.

Second is the TRADITION. Disney and Star Wars stuff are the biggest examples. Year after year, decade after decade, certain items in the field see interest come and go, and with that will follow the prices. PEZ dispensers are the BEST example, designed and marketed to be collectable. If you get, say, 5 of every one that comes out and hang onto them a while, eventually you will make a profit selling four and still get to keep one, simply because so many turn out to be for characters that don't last (such as the Green Hornet) -- those are worth more than the ones which stay in production for a longer period.

Third is the MEMORY. Got an original Corgi James Bond Astin-Martin? A big Fireball XL-5, complete with figurines? Monkey Patrol gun and helmet? Johnny Action (One-Man-Army) set? Stuff that has been long out of production, but is fondly recalled by people who care enough to try to find them. They weren't collectable then, but there aren't a lot left, so it's a seller's market.

What you need to watch out for is "Franklin Mint Syndrome," where you buy every Special Edition or Commemorative Series that comes along. You're best off staying with what you already collect yourself, and what you KNOW.

This reminds me that there is also what could almost be considered a FOURTH kind of collectable -- ENVIRONMENT. This is practiced by people who focus on a particular period of history, and try to recreate it by getting the things which were found at the time. Go into their homes and you step back in time to whatever year they chose (in some cases, each room has a different theme). I know one woman who has paid for her hobby by passing her name to WhollyOdd -- er, I mean HOLLYWOOD set dressers. If you are doing a film set in, say, 1973 (she does several different eras), not only does she have everything found in a home back then, she can tell you exactly how it would look in a "lived-in" house, or a "clean-freak" home, down to Flintstone jelly-jar glasses (which would, of course, have been around for a decade or more, since the kids were little) and Best Foods (west of the Mississippi) or Hellman's (east of the Mississippi) mayonnaise jars, along with other food packages of the era. She walked on one set, stopped and told the set dresser that some particular toy on the floor wouldn't hit the market until a couple of months after the date on the calendar that was on the wall. She is far from the only person like this out there -- set and prop guys keep the names of their experts secret!

I contrast that with some prop and set guys I've seen who figure that if they're within 20 years one way or the other, nobody will notice.

So, the bottom line is that nobody can predict. If you are looking at this as an investment, FORGET IT. Collectable value isn't something that you plan, it's something that you DISCOVER.
 
To the OP: Do you know what you're asking??? Why not just ask for us to tell you what stocks are going to go up in value or who's going to win at the ponies tomorrow? :facepalm
Tell you what. Why don't you wait right here while I run and get my crystal ball...
 
This thread is more than 6 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top