What are your monster toys and collectibles really worth?

[horrorhunter]

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

Yeah, I don't know why so many people assume everyone is on Facebook. I'm not, and I don't plan to be. There are disadvantages to divulging too much on such a widely used social forum. That's why I like UMA. We can post here in relative anonymity without unknowingly becoming the target of unwanted attention. No public forum is completely safe, but an out of the way little board like UMA is certainly preferable to the spotlight that is freakin' Facebook. 

[Hepcat]

Yeah, I don't know why so many people assume everyone is on Facebook.

Facebook is the enemy, the Evil Empire!

[marsattacks666]

Facebook is the enemy, the Evil Empire!

FB truly is evil.

[Hepcat]

I also don't entirely agree with the statement that "any item is worth whatever someone will pay". The problem I have is that the concept of "worth" implicitly involves making a value judgement and making a universal value judgement involves getting into someone else's head. All I can say about the value of any collectible is the price at which they're listed in various guides, the prices at which they've been trading and the price (if any) that I'd be willing to pay myself. I'm not willing to go into anyone else's head and make a judgement about how much an item would be "worth" to some other fellow though.

I think my underlying problem with the statement that "any item is worth whatever someone will pay" is that it's very common for collectors to own items which because of the connection to their own individual psyches are worth far more to them than whatever price anyone else will pay. For example, a certain comic magazine may be listed in Overstreet at $3000 in NM. You however still have the much read, enjoyed and therefore mauled copy you bought as a kid (with your initials written on the cover!) in your possession today. To you that comic is worth a mint because it's among your most prized possessions. Yet nobody else would pay you even $200 for that comic. So what is that comic "worth"? I'd argue that it's worth whatever price it would take to get you to sell it less $1.

And that's also why I have no interest in programs such as Antiques Roadshow. How much items are worth to someone else is irrelevant to me.

[Mike Scott]

I think my underlying problem with the statement that "any item is worth whatever someone will pay" is that it's very common for collectors to own items which because of the connection to their own individual psyches are worth far more to them than whatever price anyone else will pay.

They all still fall under the umbrella of "someone". There's always going to be a high bidder. What their motivations are is irrelevant.

[Hepcat]

Keep in mind that I'm not saying the owner is looking for bidders, and the term "high bidder" implicitly assumes someone other than the owner. What I'm saying is that if the owner would not part with a certain item for less than $1500, than that item is "worth" $1500 (less a penny perhaps) even if nobody else would be willing to bid even $25. An item is worth whatever it would take to "tempt" it out of someone's possession.

[Mike Scott]

What I'm saying is that if the owner would not part with a certain item for less than $1500, than that item is "worth" $1500

I don't know anybody that figures an items worth that way? You go by what thing has sold for, not by the guy who "wouldn't take a million buck for" his.

[skully]

Hi Hep.  I've posted a few times in the past about values, or even perceived values on things and my thoughts.  If anybody has been following a few items recently on e-bay,  there has been quite some activity on a few items.  Check to see the closing price on the Bestsellers magazine with the Aurora poster intact inside, from 1964,  or the latest speaker head with the box that was listed a while back for upper 4 figures which was probably sold, just to name a few.  Are these items worth it??  Only the person buying can answer. 

[Mike Scott]

Check to see the closing price on the Bestsellers magazine with the Aurora poster intact inside

What are those going for, now?

[skully]

Hi Mike.  Well,  I think the example that was just sold recently on e-bay went between 5 and 6 thousand dollars!!  The magazine is rare especially with the poster intact with the Aurora King Kong and Godzilla.  I remember passing on a few of them back in the day for upper 3 figures, guess I should have bought them.  I remember paying low 4 figures for my Shock Theatre television movie book with spiral binding and pop-up Frankenstein thinking I over-paid for it,  but now I wonder?

[Mike Scott]

I think the example that was just sold recently on e-bay went between 5 and 6 thousand dollars!!

Yikes! Those have really gone up since last I looked!

I remember paying low 4 figures for my Shock Theatre television movie book . .

That's why I bought the MFTV reprint for $20. 

[Hepcat]

I don't know anybody that figures an items worth that way?

Actually every collector views his items that way. Otherwise he wouldn't be accumulating items with no "intrinsic" value.

You go by what thing has sold for, not by the guy who "wouldn't take a million buck for" his.

But that's precisely the point at which I'm getting. The reason I hate discussions of "worth" is because the subject isn't objective. It's subjective. And my own key determining factor is an item's worth/value to me, not to anybody else. And I am of course willing to extend the same privilege/logic to anybody else's items. If the item is worth that much to the owner, that's what it's "worth" and I'll concede its value. I'm simply saying that the worth of an item at any point of time is a function of its utility to the owner, as opposed to that of the casual observer.

This of course in no way implies that I must/will pay what the owner feels the item is "worth" if he is trying to sell the item to me. What I'll pay is a function of the utility/value of the item to me.

[BigShadow]

One thing I hate when dealing with "worth" is when the person believes their item is worth more than it is.  I usually come across this at flea markets where people, who don't know about the item, find the most expensive one on Ebay and think theirs is worth the same.  And when you try and explain it to them they think you're trying to get over on them. 

[Hepcat]

Truth. And there's a fine line between the self-deluded and scam artists. As soon as a huckster, amateur or professional, has an item to sell the word "mint" becomes as common a part of his lexicon as that in the prototypical used car salesman's.

[BigShadow]

Truth. And there's a fine line between the self-deluded and scam artists. As soon as a huckster, amateur or professional, has an item to sell the word "mint" becomes as common a part of his lexicon as that in the prototypical used car salesman's.

Lol, everyone thinks their item is mint.  If they're just an amateur seller I try, as nicely as possible, to explain condition and how it affects price.  Not many listen.  I once seen an Image comic at the flea market for $20 in mint condition.  It was a comic I've seen in mint condition a thousand time for like 50 cents.  Sometimes dealers just try and give them away.  Anyway, I tried to explain this to the seller, but they told me they knew how much the comic was worth and that I was wrong.  Three years later the comic was still there, lol.