What are your monster toys and collectibles really worth?

[Hepcat]

My Dad gave mine(Monster Rally LP) to me back in the '60s. He worked in a small radio station in Dalton Ga. and saved it from being tossed out. I still have it and several other monster LPs. I made a cassette tape of it and some others 30 years ago and listen to it every Halloween. I just heard the tape in my car a couple of days ago and it still sounds great!

It's so cool to still have a treasured object from one's formative years in one's possession!

Here are a couple close-up photos of my present day copy:





And here's a more detailed picture of the sleeve that I lifted off the net:

[Hepcat]

I made a cassette tape of it and some others 30 years ago and listen to it every Halloween.

I play this CD for the benefit of both the trick or treaters and myself every Halloween:



Here's one of my favourite tracks:

! No longer available

[marsattacks666]

I play this CD for the benefit of both the trick or treaters and myself every Halloween:



Here's one of my favourite tracks:

! No longer available

Such an awesome cd.

[Wich2]

Balance in all things...

No one cherishes Personal Worth more than I do; at age 59 1/2, some of my most dearly treasured possessions include things like a battered set of View-Master reels of "The Nativity" that I got when I was three or four, and a worn stuffed Yogi Bear from the same era.

But -

- The Wife and I are executors of veteran actor Arthur Anderson's estate. He and his wife accumulated all manner of things over their approx. 90 year lives. And I can testify that after the family & friends, libraries, and Salvation Army take what they want, there is still a remnant that must by necessity "go the way of all flesh."

These things can have wondrous auras. But if that feeling is not shared by others when they pass from our ownership, they return to their roots as Just Things.

Best,
-Craig

[Hepcat]

- The Wife and I are executors of veteran actor Arthur Anderson's estate. He and his wife accumulated all manner of things over their approx. 90 year lives. And I can testify that after the family & friends, libraries, and Salvation Army take what they want, there is still a remnant that must by necessity "go the way of all flesh."

These things can have wondrous auras. But if that feeling is not shared by others when they pass from our ownership, they return to their roots as Just Things.

Why does the disposition of the articles Arthur Anderson and his wife accumulated over their lives matter? If no one wants these articles now, so be it.



What's key is that they added richness and delight to the lives of the couple while they were alive.

[Wich2]

I'm sorry you didn't get my point, Hep.

My wife and I were almost family with the Andersons, and they handed over to us a sacred trust: to try to place the memorabilia garnered by them over their long, full lives in appreciative hands...

Props from Broadway shows. Scripts from Golden Age of Television episodes. Items from rare Commercials. Studio recordings of Classic Era radio.

And to them, "the key" was that, if any of this stuff did indeed have any worth, that would last beyond just their lives.

-Craig


(PHOTO: BARBARA MERTENS PRIMOSCH)

[Hepcat]

And to them, "the key" was that, if any of this stuff did indeed have any worth, that would last beyond just their lives.

But that's just it. That's not my key. My key is the delight, satisfaction, comfort, etc. my collections provide me with today while I'm still alive.

And if my heirs don't feel the same way about my collections, they can always opt to sell them to someone who might appreciate them more.

[Wich2]

That's your right, hep, and I never said it wasn't. It's a big world.

As far as your saying,

"if my heirs don't feel the same way about my collections, they can always opt to sell them to someone who might appreciate them more."

I had just written,

"they handed over to us a sacred trust: to try to place the memorabilia garnered by them over their long, full lives in appreciative hands."

So I guess we agree more than you seem to think.

Best,
-Craig

[Hepcat]

Typically I don't bother to even show my collections to house guests unless I'm aware that they have the collecting gene. Otherwise the conversations would tend to go something like this:

GUEST - So how much is all of this stuff worth?



HEPCAT - What does it matter? It's not about the money for me.

GUEST - But what are you going to do with this stuff when you die?



HEPCAT - Nothing. I'll be dead. I won't be doing much of anything then.

GUEST - I mean have you ever thought of selling your collections now to buy something you can enjoy? 



HEPCAT - That's actually why I have these items. I enjoy having them! They bring me satisfaction and delight.

Oh, and by the way, what would you propose that I do with the money I get for my collectibles? Spend it on beer, wine and pot like you do leaving nothing other than a few more dead brain cells?

[horrorhunter]

Typically I don't bother to even show my collections to house guests unless I'm aware that they have the collecting gene.

I'm very choosy about who I show my stuff to as well. Unless they have a genuine interest in older toys, comics, or monsters, it's really a waste of time that would probably result in a negative experience. It would probably be a flurry of silly questions as you mentioned, or it could even make your home the target of thieves if the wrong people found out about it.

Since I moved a few years ago I've really only shown my collection to two people. One was an older relative who was helping out with some family problems. She always seemed fairly reasonable and intelligent so I showed her some of my displayed collection. She got that deer in the headlights look and jumped to an unsavory conclusion about violence toward women?! WTF? She saw my original Terry Beatty painting of the cover of Scary Monsters #39 with Dracula holding the lady and jumped to that distasteful conclusion. I was thunderstruck! I ended that tour really quickly and never offered to show her anything else monster related. Her reaction came from a combination of ignorance and religious zeal which is problematic and has historically led to nothing but trouble.

The other time I showed my stuff was to a fellow monster enthusiast with whom I had watched monster movies and talked on the phone several times. This fellow had a large collection of movies and books himself but he was hung up on his family being poor. I thought he would appreciate seeing my stuff but this guy turned green with envy and began acting strangely. He started handling my books without asking first, then he became downright rude and started saying things like "what if there's a fire, do you just start throwing all this stuff out the window?" sarcastically. It was very surreal the way he changed. He went from being a monster buddy to a rude *sshole, and then he started almost demanding to borrow things. He knew up front that I don't loan or borrow (I've had bad experiences with that in the past and I just don't do it now), but yet he insisted on borrowing things. After that fiasco I was sorry I showed him anything in the first place. I haven't been in contact with that person for a long time which is a good thing.

Showing pics on UMA and discussing our stuff here is by far the best way to interact with fellow collectors, at least according to my personal experience. I would love to find a few like minded people to share the whole monster collecting/movie watching thing with but it just hasn't been in the cards up to now. If not for the internet in general, and UMA in particular, there would be no social interaction regarding this stuff as far as I'm concerned.

[Hepcat]

...or it could even make your home the target of thieves if the wrong people found out about it.

Indeed! That's another very real concern of mine. My neighbours know nothing about my collections and that's the way I prefer to keep it. And that's also why I like the relative anonymity of posting handles.

[scarey1scd]

 I can appreciate and agree with these last couple posts. I don't talk very much about my collection with people who don't also collect or share my passion for Halloween/horror/monster stuff. A lot of people just don't care, and Im perfectly ok with that. No reason to annoy them lol. Plus like the previous post said, the more people know what you have, the more chance for sticky fingers. I love my collection, I appreciate and am grateful for the fact that I can even have a collection and a home to put it in. I do hope that when Im dead and gone, my things wind up with other people who appreciate them (of course that will be well out of my control, unless I come back to haunt 'em  ).

[Gory Glenn]

Remember cabbage patch kids?

thm

Oh man does that bring back a memory. I was in Chicago doing some recording with my band at the height of the Cabbage Patch Kids craze. I was listening to the radio and the DJ was telling a story of how they broadcasted a joke about them. They said on the air that if people went to Wrigley Field at a predesignated time an airplane would fly over head. When you see the plane hold up your credit card and they would air drop you a doll. The kicker was that people actually believed it and showed up. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaQuxCWWTaI

[John Pertwee]

I had to have some extensive plumbing work done on Monday and wasn't very comfortable with he two plumbers working in the same room my collection was stored in. The guy that came out to do the estimate was overly impressed, so I am glad he wasn't there for the work. They had no idea that the stuff on display was the tip of the iceberg.

I hate for people I don't know to see my collection in person, but don't mind showing some things on Facebook.

[Hepcat]

Facebook!!! What about showing some of your items to us here on UMA?