Show off your Weekly Finds.

[horrorhunter]

Aesthetically that's the one I prefer too. But I think the destruction factor for the Distinctive Dummies figures has been negligible.

It had a limited run of 50. A few extra are made to pay the sculptor, artists, and forwarder, but there are only 54 (or 55) in the world.

[Palifan]

Aesthetically that's the one I prefer too. But I think the destruction factor for the Distinctive Dummies figures has been negligible.


[/quote]

'Destruction factor', is there a problem with these DD figures in the long term?

Ian

[Hepcat]

What I mean is unlike the toys of old the Distinctive Dummies are not being played with and mauled by kids, i.e. destroyed. Consequently they're not becoming ever more scarce over time as did the toys of our formative years.

[Palifan]

What I mean is unlike the toys of old the Distinctive Dummies are not being played with and mauled by kids, i.e. destroyed. Consequently they're not becoming ever more scarce over time as did the toys of our formative years.

I see what you mean, nice!  (I bet someone's playing with them though  )

Ian

[Rockshasa]

What I mean is unlike the toys of old the Distinctive Dummies are not being played with and mauled by kids, i.e. destroyed. Consequently they're not becoming ever more scarce over time as did the toys of our formative years.

I'm not a collector of them, but it would stand to reason that if there are very limited runs of each DD figure then the "destruction factor" would be irrelevant. Right? I mean seeing as how they will be rare based on the limited run alone. I would think down the road, they might be worth alot money...if you're into investing. This might be one of those lines that 20 years from now folks are dropping thousands of dollars for...like the Tomland figures. Maybe?

[Hepcat]

I'm not a collector of them, but it would stand to reason that if there are very limited runs of each DD figure then the "destruction factor" would be irrelevant. Right?

No, I wouldn't say it's irrelevant.

I mean seeing as how they will be rare based on the limited run alone. I would think down the road, they might be worth alot money...if you're into investing. This might be one of those lines that 20 years from now folks are dropping thousands of dollars for...like the Tomland figures. Maybe?

In order for something to increase in price, either the supply must decrease as demand stays constant or demand must increase as supply stays constant. I'm implicitly assuming that demand for these figures won't change (although I think it might actually drop as the monster kid generation dies off). I also don't think that the quantity of these DD figures in existence will drop very quickly. Future price performance will therefore depend on how many of these DD figures actually make it onto the marketplace at any point in time because that's really the supply.

[BRICK]

If it's all supply and demand, I can't wait for my one-of-a-kind, customized figures to reach these kind of prices, just before I retire! 

[Monsters For Sale]

If it's all supply and demand, I can't wait for my one-of-a-kind, customized figures to reach these kind of prices, just before I retire! 

Right.  It took only 36 years for the Tomland Dracula to attain these heights.

[Hepcat]

The Tomland Dracula is an excellent case study. They were produced and sold in the hundreds of thousands in the 1970's. But unlike the case of bubble gum cards or comic books, hoarding of toys for investment purposes or otherwise had not yet begun. (Toy hoarding may only have begun around 1990.) The Tomland figures were considered junk for kids and treated accordingly, i.e. mauled, trashed, definitely not treated with kid gloves.

Fast forward 25 years to the year 2000 and the 10 year old in 1975 is now 35 years old. Most feel at least some degree of nostalgia for their boyhood days, and perhaps only one in a thousand feels nostalgic enough to try to re-amass the toys he had as a kid. But that still leaves at least hundreds of collectors for these Tomland figures. And there's only one publicly known example of a M.O.C. Dracula. So who gets it? Whoever is willing to pay the most outrageous price.

That's it in a nutshell.

[horrorhunter]

In order for something to increase in price, either the supply must decrease as demand stays constant or demand must increase as supply stays constant. I'm implicitly assuming that demand for these figures won't change (although I think it might actually drop as the monster kid generation dies off). I also don't think that the quantity of these DD figures in existence will drop very quickly. Future price performance will therefore depend on how many of these DD figures actually make it onto the marketplace at any point in time because that's really the supply.

The most important factor that you overlook is that most people don't know about DD figures until they see them offered for sale on eBay. That accounts for the ridiculous prices being given for some of them. Now that DD is for all intents and purposes going underground with sell-throughs on most offerings to DD customers on the list it will make them even harder to get. As time goes on and more and more collectors learn about DD figures the demand for certain releases will only rise. With the minuscule production runs I wouldn't count on monster collectors dying off to have much impact on demand for what few will be offered. Also, after the flurry of dealer offerings initially, the amount of DD figures to appear in the marketplace years down the road will be very small. Most DD owners seem to clutch them white-knuckled, and the most common scenario for selling in future will be when the owner croaks.

[Monsters For Sale]

Not too shabby:




Congrats, Ares!

[Mike Scott]

Wow! $20K! Ray hit the nail on the head! Congrats to ya, Ares!

[Palifan]

Most impressive 

Ian

[SpeedierThantheGrave]

That was fun! Like watching the New Year's Ball drop!
Good on you dude.

[raycastile]

Wow, I didn't know there was another discussion on this Dracula. That's quite a "weekly find," all right! Congrats to Ares!