Established collection patterns
Seasoned antiques and collectibles dealers may consider the concept “old,” but the truth is that the more popular and desirable something is, the more likely it is to sell quickly. However, that truth is not always apparent to those who are new to this rather specialized field of sales. So the ‘True Collectible’ guideline is an attempt to convey the principle.
The field of online sales can also seem infinite in scope, with millions of potential customers around the world. However, success in selling collectibles on the Web is achieved in the same way as in the physical world, by knowing the needs of buyers and satisfying them. Success can largely depend on whether or not you are offering collectible properties capable of meeting at least one of these three key business elements:
1. It is not easy to obtain locally.
2. Broad appeal due to a current surge in popularity or because an item is able to ‘cross’ collection boundaries.
3. Competitive prices.
Consider the market opinion of the item
Say that whenever she can, your neighbor’s Great-Aunt Mable clips articles about David Hasslehoff from current newspapers. She collects them by pasting them into a scrapbook. Are multitudes of other people likely to share your desire to do this? If you tried to sell such a scrapbook full of modern cutouts online, would many buyers react favorably and compete to buy it? While his scrapbook can indeed be described as ‘rare’ or a ‘one-of-a-kind’ item, who else but Mable could want to own it, still? How can such an item be assigned secure status as a ‘true collector’s item’ with an established and recognizable monetary value?
Because collectors often view their collections as having investment potential, collectability always has monetary implications. Manufacturers therefore often exaggerate the ‘limited’ nature of the new items they have for sale, or may place a public statement on the item itself, to imply a safe and certain future value.
However, neither limiting production nor printing the words “Excellent Collectible” on an item or the box it came in can guarantee that future collectors will want items more than others today, or be willing to pay more for they. Owning Them Great Aunt Mable’s Scrapbook illustrates that simply knowing that someone, somewhere, collects a particular thing cannot automatically give that thing the status of a ‘true’ collectible. Maybe 50 or 100 years from now, Mabel’s scrapbook will be all the rage. Today, and probably in the near future, others will think of it as a scrapbook filled with ordinary cutouts.
Only the market at large can decide which things are highly desirable or more valuable than other objects. The individual collector or manufacturer has little real power to influence secondary market choices regarding preferred items.
So what is a ‘true collectible’?
Basically, a true collectible is an item for which a reasonably large audience of avid buyers can be expected to exist and for which a recognizable pattern of trade has been established in the secondary market.
If that statement doesn’t make the notion clear enough, it may be helpful to mentally replace the word ‘true’ with the word ‘legitimate’. A 20-year-old sock that used to belong to a musician would not be a “legitimate” collector’s item. But a sock of the same age, and the unblemished provenance of having been on Elvis Presley’s right foot while he performed ‘Jail House Rock’ on the Ed Sullivan show, would be legit, since the Elvis memorabilia trade is a collectible. Well established. niche.
‘Collect’ means to accumulate as a hobby or to study. A ‘collection’ is a group of objects or works to be viewed or kept together. But a ‘collectible’ is a group or class of objects sought after by collectors. Note that the definition is expressed in the plural form, ‘by collectors’.
When something can stand the ‘test of time’ and, although it is an older item (or perhaps because it is older), people seek it out, then logically one can expect to offer it to collectors on the open market at a attractive price will result in its sale. . If something very new still cannot be found in a printed price guide, printed for collectors, it is likely that the sale is slow or non-existent, or that the price at which it must be sold to remove it from inventory is not generating an appreciable profit.
Confirming whether a piece has been mentioned in a printed price guide as required by the site’s listing requirements can help ensure that it meets the “true collector’s item” designation, as defined above. If decisions like this are always made before listing newer items, shoppers are likely to start finding a wider variety of the types of things they are actively looking for. And a gradual increase in sales may well be the welcome result.