I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I had a big medical scare in the fall - the dreaded "c" word - so I gave this topic more than a casual thought. I've collected for more than 20 years and totally love these toys. They bring me joy every single day. To me, they are the best kind of art to surround oneself with. But facing one's mortality puts things in perspective big time. There's a core part of my collection that I can't imagine selling. On the other hand, I've thought about downsizing because I've got so much "stuff." - At the end of the day, it is just "stuff" and you get to a point in life where priorities change. My biggest priority now is to enjoy my life with my g/f who is the most wonderful and amazing person I've ever met. She's supported my collecting habit - getting me some incredible pieces for b-day and Xmas presents, etc. When I mentioned to her that I was thinking about downsizing in order to spend some money on us/her, she told me not to sell certain things - "don't sell the vintage stuff! Don't sell the Zags!" Ok, twist my arm If something suddenly happened to me, I believe she knows who to contact to get get rid of it. I've also thought about how, in retirement, I could make a nice hobby out of selling all my crap - toys, books, tiki mugs, LP's, CD's - it's thousands of items. It would certainly keep me busy since "idle hands are evil hands."
i like the idea of paying for retirement by selling off these toys. hopefully it won't be selling a $70 toy for $20 shipped.
I still don't have kids but I'd love to meet someone young (in the future) who would love to learn and start a collection and I'd probably leave him/her my toys. It doesn't need to be one of my own kids, could be a niece/nephew, a friend's child, even a very young friend. I would probably give some to my kids even if they are not that into them. If I die before I meet someone I'd like my family to sell them or give them to someone who would appreciate them. I often think more of losing my collection to a catastrophe even over me dying. Because I live in Mexico City I imagine a big earthquake will take care of my home, materials things and toy collection (hopefully not my life and/or loved ones). This is the main reason I started my flickr (and still have a lot of catching up to do). It could be a fire or breaking and entering... I dunno, this scares me more than dying.
That's a really interesting idea. I have thought about opening up in a small storefront and stocking the whole place with my stuff. I would just be a crotchety old jerk and refuse to sell to people I don't like and give stuff away to cool kids when nobody is looking. That would be a pretty sweet retirement for a collector, making sure all of your beloved stuff went to folks you know will love it as much as you did and maybe teaching the young collectors what you know in the process. "You gonna feel up that Vader Dako all day or are you buying? Put it down if you're not. You're rubbing all the paint off!" "Of course this is a genuine Secret Release Green Matango! Here's how you can tell....Give me that! You're rubbing all the paint off!" Damn, I'd be good at that. I think I even have a catchphrase.
Oh! And also, I think that if you have a parter (significant other) that doesn't understand, like, love, agree with your collection, it really would be terrible he/she would throw it way because of that. You have put time, love, dedication to put that collection together and these are the facts that they should honour. Not the toys themselves. I used to have a girlfriend who wouldn't 'get' my collection but she would be very upset if I sold even one, she called them my treasures and would get mad at me because of this. I'm just saying... I'm not married but this is my take on this.
As a collector who's a little older, I'd have to say I definitely regret selling parts of my collection at times, just for some fast cash. I've dabbled in collecting many things, but the one constant love has been kaiju. I even had to sell off a big part of my record collection once, some really rare, well sought after stuff. That only slightly bothers me, yet selling all my Godaiken robots is a freakin' tragedy. I would hope that my little girl would take over my stuff, she already plays school with the littlest figures. Every now and then when I meet these 20 year old punk kids, I ponder giving them a bunch of my vinyl albums.... I don't think I could do the same with the toys!
My collection is appreciated by me only. The fate of it when I am gone? I am guessing garage sale or Goodwill store.
Collecting, whats in store for the future? Most likely its Charity and or other collectors. On a darker note: If the economy explodes food and gold would be the thing, maybe a $100 toy would trade for a few rolls of toilet paper. If the shit really hit the fan, atomic war/nuclear radiation would melt vinyl. In the end the whole solar system is heading for the black hole in space.
There's a guy here who collected rare toys for forty five years, got old and had a huge warehouse space loaded with toys who just up and decided to auction the lot....didn't quite turn out how he expected. I saw a Jumbo Getter 1 go for AU$190....things like 110 carded matchbox robotech figures (doubles obviously) AU$70.... crazy Japanese tin toys and kaiju go for as low as $30-40. The only things that went for high prices were boxed vintage cars. It was a travesty. I bought a lot of stuff for what I could afford and then left because I was so P.O.ed for this guy because no one was bidding so people were getting things for scandalous prices and his entire collection went for a fifth of it's worth. He would have been better opening a shop! I think when that Jumbo went at the end of the auction for that *%&$ING INSANE price, somewhere....a robot overlords heart broke. So you have to be careful how you get rid of your toys especially if you just decide to "leave them all to someone" because I've also heard stories of people who've left their life's collection worth $100 000 to their 20 y.o. son who went out and sold the lot for $300 so they could score some goof to impress a girl.
Well, if I was collecting for a future investment this would be upsetting and piss me off also. I buy what I like and when I'm gone it really doesn't matter what anyone gets for it. Sure it would be nice for my wife and kids to get something out of it, but that isn't why I collect in the first place. Just my two cents.
Toys are for fun. If you want to invest, look elsewhere. It's good to think of the future, but the day will come when it will not matter to any of us. Mark's thoughts on this sound very grounded.
Wow...this thread has evoked such contemplative mood into most of us, I guess...toys + death = uncertainty. When VGA (Vinyl Glow Addict) passed away a few years ago, there was a thread made in his name and sort of a tribute to his toy passion, especially for glow toys. I think I wasn't a member yet, or not that active on SB when he passed away, but I came to know VGA via the most kind words I've ever read for someone who loved something and was passionate about something. It was the same time that me and my wife were discussing about art (I have been collecting art for a few years) and my ever growing collection of toys. The plans for our art collection was simply to be left with my two kids and let them decide what to do with them. By then, hopefully, they can choose to sell or keep---up to them. I have started to sort of educate them about art, paintings and stuff--we're getting there, I hope. But, the toys, we have yet to have a concrete plan on what to do with them. I have been maintaining a "toy room", I guess, If I ever I go, I would want my wife to set up a small space in the house where she would display a few things about me and what I am passionate about. For the reason that I want my kids, my grand kids, and some friends and relatives can remember me by. Most of my toys will eventually go, I already expect this to happen, but I want at least a few toys to remain with my family. I am looking now at my Anrakus, My pinstriped Cronic Deathra, my only PK X Nag, my 2 Headed Bemon, etc.
My wife says she will put it all on eBay but she better be joking or I will haunt her ass! My Son loves my toys and even though she is only a year and a half nothing makes my Daughter happier than when she gets to hold one of daddies monsters under close supervision. I have asked my wife to let the kids pick out what they would like to have and to contact a trusted board member in order to help her sell them to you all. I often wonder about the state of our toys in a hundred years or so. I think it's obvious that Godzilla and Ultraman type toys already have a place in the pantheon of toy collecting. They will become sought after antiques but I think the collectors of the future may bemoan us for our need to open and play/display our toys. Nuts to them though. The more obscure stuff is more in question, will they just be unknown relics or will Antiques Roadshow have some crusty old bloke waxing poetic about Paul and Rich? Not to say they are obscure but just that their creations are works of their own imagination as opposed to the licensed stuff.
Oh I agree wholeheartedly but you don't want to see it all just thrown out or blown on something stupid. One of my friends who is the biggest toy collectors I know in my state has told his parents to contact me if he dies because he's autistic and they're very stuffy and he knows they'd just give it all away. He has thousand dollar toys and prop replicas that he's kept in almost vac storage (because he's autistic) and he wants someone who can manage the financial side to sell them and get the right money to his parents...as opposed to no money.
I'm going to have my body placed into my display cabinet, dump the toys on top Fear Factor style, then placed in a 20ft hole, then have it covered in cement. Or I'll be cremated and have my remains poured into my favorite gargamel toys. My collection isn't too crazy, but I could see myself selling some parts of it and keeping others until whenever. When I'm old, who knows if I'll still care about this stuff like i do now. I think I'll always think it's pretty cool on some level, but after years and years of releases, I might be over it. As it is now, I sometimes give away toys to my roommate's kids. they dig 'em. maybe if i have any that are worth something, I'll sell them and buy my future wife a nice pair of earrings or something like that. but really, i don't know if i'll care too much about what becomes of them after I die. I'll be gone after all.
I think when I die (Hopefully it's natural and I have time to plan) I don't want any worldly desires, obligations, worries. vices, holding me back and making me feel hesitant of passing, or attached to this physical world. I'll probably get rid of my collection, long before death. Give it to my future kids, grandkids, museums, toy drives, other collectors, friends, etc.
I have no kids (maybe someday) I do tho have a lot of nieces and nephews. I would hope they would take what they wanted to keep and not to sell. I have alot of nice prints. I even have 2 Banksy's, let alone the toy collection. I got alot of stuff from my grandparents that have died. Luckily me and my sis and bro are not the one's to fight. we all grabbed what we wanted, not what we thought would be worth the most. Turns out I have 2 maxwell parish prints from the 1920's that are worth alot. I couldn't see myself selling those. I have to many memories of the prints as a kid. I inherited alot of really nice stuff. I do have dreams of going to Antique's Road show and they say " yeah those dishes that you uses everyday are worth $100,000. I would probably still eat my cereal out of them. Fast forward 50 years from now, your loved ones bringing all you toys to the Antique's Road show. what would they say?
would be really fantastic if it came true.. although that would probably get me to want to hoard even more
This was my point about the Earlier licensed toys. Pog and BB where manufactured hype with quick arcs. Baseball cards and comics suffered the same fate as each other. Early on they were abused and mistreated thus finding good condition early examples is extremely difficult. Once people had an idea of the value everyone saved and cared for them reducing current cards legitimate worth to almost nothing. Vintage Goji toys are going to stay valuable but now there are many made for collecting. Things designed to be collectibles are usually the worst at holding value. It may go either way though for the toys we are buying new. As everyone from S7 to PK have pointed out, there are numerous reasons why they don't pump toys out by the thousands. So we do have a manufactured rarity but not always for the sake of generating a profitable collecting market. I think if the artistry in sculpt and paint appeals to future generations of collectors they may indeed become expensive antiques due to the low run sizes. Look how many toys were mass produced and are still hard to come by. Still, if future generations think of us as nut jobs who liked funny looking toys... Either way I would not consider any kind of collecting a sound retirement plan.
I have a killswitch set. Once my heart stops for more than 20 min. a remote trigger ignites my collection and a video of it will be recorded and posted here automatically with a prerecorded video slow motion laugh track of me superimposed over it all.
