Would you still want Vintage if it cost a £1?

Someone asked me recently would you want a Ferrari if it cost a £1 which got me thinking about collecting. Why do you want certain collectibles, Grail items is it because it is expensive, would you still want them if they cost a £1?

I collect Vintage Star Wars because I owned and loved it as a child, and I love it still. I've always said I wish it was all completely worthless and collected by nobody else, because then I could have it all. I've never been in this game for the money, and I don't think many true collectors are. Some people will always brag about what their collection is worth of course, but then some people are assholes

I wasn't so much focused on how much figures go up by, more what makes them desirable in the first place. Are some things desirable just because they are expensive and thereby unattainable e.g. MOC Palitoy VCJ would they still be desirable if they cost a £1 instead of £15,000+.

Value has nothing to do with anything I collect. It's a passion not an investment or monetary bragging right.

Cost means nothing to me I am collecting for the love of it. It would be great if everything was £1 then I could finally own every figure. Unfortunately the way things have got I don't believe its possible for me now.

It would be great if it was all a quid, I'd buy tons of it.......but if it was all a quid hardly anyone would be that worried about preservation so mocs would be getting opened left right and centre

In the case of the Ferrari... I'm no fan of Ferrari's anyway.. more of a Porsche 356 man myself; by all means throw one my way.. I'll give you a quid.

In the case of SW, value isn't at all important... I wish it were all cheaper. Having a collection is just that, a collection. It has nothing whatsoever to do with value. For me its about completing runs, making sets, getting something new and different to oggle at and enjoy. Funnily enough most of the super high priced items have less interest to me; maybe the price is a bit of a turn off, but they are often just not my thing. Sure if they were £1 I'd pick them up to complete the sets, but they are not something I aspire to owning due to their value.

In the modern sector, I buy Force Attax cards, they cost a £1 pack, I keep them as clean and mint as I can, file them, keep them perfect. The fact that the vintage is old, makes not difference to me. If I collect it I keep it as perfect as possible, no matter what the 'value'

I guess if value was all that was of interest I'd buy shares instead and look at a spreadsheet all day instead of my collecting room...

I have several items in my collection that cost a pound, and many more that cost less than £10.

Value is only relevant if I'm trying to buy something and if I can afford it. Outside of that, I collect items I like, irrelevant of wether they cost £1 or £1000.

I would rather everything was £1. It would make collecting a lot easier.

Questions like this highlight the difference between colllector and investor. If the market crashes tomorrow and everything is worth £1 each it makes no difference to me other than I could buy more

As others have said I wish it was cheaper than it is now, money does restrict my buying and means I'll probably never finish my trilogo run as I just can't justify thousands of pounds for a General Madine. That said part of the fun and enjoyment is definitely the hunt which is at least patrtly driven by money, if I could just walk in to a shop and buy these things at will there would be no buzz.

It's a shame that in Star Wars rare means money these days, I collect lots of other things like video games that come up far less often than some 'rare' or expensive Star Wars items, but sell for virtually nothing when they do.

I'm not sure I understand the logic behind the question - surely there aren't any collectors out there who purchase vintage Star Wars purely because it's not cheap? Or are we just talking about the 'big boys' out of whose way we need to move?! :wink: :lol:

Richard_H said:

Questions like this highlight the difference between colllector and investor. If the market crashes tomorrow and everything is worth £1 each it makes no difference to me other than I could buy more

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Well I asked the question so does that immediately mean I am an investor, if I was to retract the question would that then mean I would become a collector again. I personally think the use of labels such as this is ugly and stops newer collectors such as myself from posting and entering into a meaningful discussion.

peekaygee73 said:

I'm not sure I understand the logic behind the question - surely there aren't any collectors out there who purchase vintage Star Wars purely because it's not cheap? Or are we just talking about the 'big boys' out of whose way we need to move?! :wink: :lol:

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I am not sure whether there is any logic behind the question either I am just interested in whether price determines desirability. Most collectors have a grail item and most of these grail items are rare and expensive so why do we want these specific grail items is it because they are unattainable due to thier price and rarity?

I'm having the most fun I've had in a long time putting a beater run of figures together having completed my complete loose set. The fact it's great fun and I'm trying to make sure I don't pay more than £2-3 per figure (Last 17 should be fun :lol sort of answers your question

I don't think Rich was aiming his comment at you asking the question, more peoples answers. I think you'll find we are all some split of collector and investor, although recently I've certainly seen a lot more people tipping towards the investor side. But vintage has never really been cheap - when I collected in the 90s yes you could buy a carded figure for £30 that would now cost £300, but £30 was a lot of money back then! I was at school so it would take me weeks to save up to buy each carded figure. I think my purchases back then probably cost me more in real terms when compared to how much I was earning (paper round and pocket money!)

Wreck-It Ralph said:

Richard_H said:

Questions like this highlight the difference between colllector and investor. If the market crashes tomorrow and everything is worth £1 each it makes no difference to me other than I could buy more

Click to expand...

Well I asked the question so does that immediately mean I am an investor, if I was to retract the question would that then mean I would become a collector again. I personally think the use of labels such as this is ugly and stops newer collectors such as myself from posting and entering into a meaningful discussion.

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I agree, pretty sure Rich wasn't having a pop at you personally, just highlighting that there seems to be a focus at the moment on values for vintage, and the financial aspect of collecting rather than the actual collecting.

You raised a valid point but I'm sure most of us here collect because we have a genuine love for the hobby, it's nice to know that something has a value or we'd all be out there collecting shells but there really should be rhyme and reason behind a collection, not simply the acquisition of investments.

SW £1? I would think most peoples initial reaction would be to rush down the pound shop and go crazy. On second thoughts, my collection is so much more cherished for the fun/time/energy I've gone through jetting up and down the country visiting sellers and having a good old chat about the history of the items and also having a good old haggle. Obviously this collecting game costs more but the journey is so worth it if you have ever found a SW gem at the carboot on a freezing autumn morning at 7am or routing through a dusty toy box in the charity shop and find a sparkling Boba Fett! For me I love the SW collectors journey which I started in good old '77 and forever may it continue! :wink:

Wreck-It Ralph said:

peekaygee73 said:

I'm not sure I understand the logic behind the question - surely there aren't any collectors out there who purchase vintage Star Wars purely because it's not cheap? Or are we just talking about the 'big boys' out of whose way we need to move?! :wink: :lol:

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I am not sure whether there is any logic behind the question either I am just interested in whether price determines desirability. Most collectors have a grail item and most of these grail items are rare and expensive so why do we want these specific grail items is it because they are unattainable due to thier price and rarity?

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OK, I see what you mean. It seems more to me that desirability drives price, although over the past 18 months it seems that the root cause of price increases and desirability is a lack of knowledge. It does seem there are a few (mostly new) collectors buying 'grail' items because they're there, rather than because it's a grail item to them. I suppose it's possible a percentage of those are doing that purely to show off they've bought an expensive grail item.

edd_jedi said:

I don't think Rich was aiming his comment at you asking the question, more peoples answers. I think you'll find we are all some split of collector and investor, although recently I've certainly seen a lot more people tipping towards the investor side. But vintage has never really been cheap - when I collected in the 90s yes you could buy a carded figure for £30 that would now cost £300, but £30 was a lot of money back then! I was at school so it would take me weeks to save up to buy each carded figure. I think my purchases back then probably cost me more in real terms when compared to how much I was earning (paper round and pocket money!)

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I am sure your right maybe my interpretation of the post is wrong. I would like to think of myself as a collector not an investor, but naturally I don't want to loose money on what I collect. I am not concerned whether it goes up as I buy it because I love it and it makes me happy.

Awl Skulkerkey said:

SW £1? I would think most peoples initial reaction would be to rush down the pound shop and go crazy. On second thoughts, my collection is so much more cherished for the fun/time/energy I've gone through jetting up and down the country visiting sellers and having a good old chat about the history of the items and also having a good old haggle. Obviously this collecting game costs more but the journey is so worth it if you have ever found a SW gem at the carboot on a freezing autumn morning at 7am or routing through a dusty toy box in the charity shop and find a sparkling Boba Fett! For me I love the SW collectors journey which I started in good old '77 and forever may it continue! :wink:

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£1 shop you say? look what i bought a few months ago for **** and giggles from a pound shop.