Clinton Frankenstein bucket

[Hepcat]

This pricing trend is ingrained into the collectibles market. As time advances so do collectibles values, so time becomes the enemy of collectors with meager funds still looking for their favorite pieces. But, time is the ally of long-time collectors who already have most of it including dupes to cash in on. The longer a collector waits the more they'll spend. Get it ASAP if you can afford it.

I only agree to a certain extent. Time has been the enemy of monster collectors over the last 35 years. But time will now become a friend to those hard core collectors who die last. Quite simply the explosion in the prices of toys and other collectibles from the 1950's to the 1970's is a baby boom phenomenon with its roots in nostalgia for those halcyon years. It will therefore wane and then reverse as baby boomers die off and their collections are dumped by their disinterested heirs.

[horrorhunter]

There may be enough younger people interested in older collectibles to maintain/increase market demand. Since there are a limited number of older collectibles to be traded it wouldn't take many newer collectors to carry on. I think heightened media exposure of older collectibles has a lot of younger collectors interested in them. Time will tell.

[skully]

A few different schools of thought here on this subject,  and both should be looked at.  I mentioned before about many older type toys such as cast iron pieces, or tin toys,especially older wind-ups from old comic characters made by early Marx,  and other pieces from the 20's, 30's, and maybe a bit later.  These are all still good toys, but honestly,  I'm not seeking them out,  the desire is just not there for them,  I'm the typical 66 year old baby boomer looking for toys of my time when I was young.  Cycles exist with collectibles, and yes, many factors today can put certain pieces on the map, such as the increase in prices with these Halloween blow-molds, monster toys, model kits,etc.  Hopefully the younger crowd will keep the monster craze alive and well, I kind of think that with the current situation with people being at home more now,  more people are looking at sites such as e-bay, and others, and have more time to access pieces, making buying more competitive, with the people that actually have the extra cash to purchase.  It just really makes me shake my head when I think of my last effort at my booth back in 2014, I had dozens of Halloween blow-molds, and it was like pulling teeth trying to get between 10 and 20 bucks for them, but now I see them on e-bay selling for over a hundred dollars in some cases.  It makes me want to go back and tell some of these hard-sell people to buy it on e-bay if they don't like my now give-away price!!  If I ever get another booth,  that's the mentality I'll have.

[skully]

Well,  with this talk on different views on monster toy prices,  here's some proof that at least for now, monster pieces are holding their own and look at the number of bids already--item# 324456080452.

[Hepcat]

It just really makes me shake my head when I think of my last effort at my booth back in 2014, I had dozens of Halloween blow-molds, and it was like pulling teeth trying to get between 10 and 20 bucks for them, but now I see them on e-bay selling for over a hundred dollars in some cases.  It makes me want to go back and tell some of these hard-sell people to buy it on e-bay if they don't like my now give-away price!!  If I ever get another booth,  that's the mentality I'll have.

Keep in mind that there can be and often is a vast gap between initial asking prices on Ebay and the actual selling prices realized.

[skully]

Hep, some of those pieces I've been bidding on, they really are selling that high now!

[skully]

So,  I wonder who bought the briefly listed Creature game?  Rare piece,  complete,  but so-so box.

[Allhallowsday]

Back in the '80s I started collecting "older" toys (which weren't that old then) like robots and monsters, tin plate GI Joes and Barbies.  I've seen prices drop for character toys, dolls, tin toys, steel plate... and continue to rise for monsters... and robots.  It mattered then what was any toy made of... tin, iron, steel plate?  Or is it plastic, rubber, wooden?  It was in the '80s collectors started to think of not what a toy was made of, but WHAT IS IT? 

[skully]

Allhallowsday, true.  I,  you,  and everyone else observed the shift.  Older dealers at the toy shows were really taking notice of what was selling for what.  Some still had a hard time acknowledging that plastic was selling better that steel or cast iron pieces.  It was just another sure sign of the upcoming cycle.  The Toy Shop newspaper, the Toy Scouts magazine and price catalog he produced helped fuel the monster craze along with the model kit boom. I remember the days of the Kit Collectors Clearinghouse club I belonged to.

[Hepcat]

Allhallowsday, true.  I,  you,  and everyone else observed the shift.  Older dealers at the toy shows were really taking notice of what was selling for what.  Some still had a hard time acknowledging that plastic was selling better that steel or cast iron pieces.

Demographics. The toys baby boomers remembered from their childhood years took over as the most highly prized from the tinplate toys that the older generation had cherished as kids. Now as baby boomers pass retirement age demand for their toys will slowly but steadily wane.

[skully]

Hep,  I don't know about that,  I'm past retirement age by a bit, and I'm still looking.  And, so are others,  I'm quite sure there are a few "older" members here on this site that still avidly search out pieces, as well as post and check this site out.  How old was the person who bought the Creature game?  I don't know but all I do know is that the person really wanted it badly to pay that for the shape it was in.  If prices are waning,  I've yet to see it.  Sure, every once in a while someone gets lucky with purchasing something sought after for a good or cheap price, and it's the thrill of the hunt that keeps a lot of us looking.  If it was a younger person that bought that game,  it shows that there is still interest with classic monster toys.  If it was an older person,  it also shows that interest in monster toys are still alive and well.  For me,  I'd much rather look at a nice speaker head in an original box as opposed to looking at a pressed steel truck!!

[skully]

Hep,  also,  I saw that Creature game right away when it was listed,  and if it would have been in much better shape,  I  would have sprung for it.

[horrorhunter]

Hep,  I don't know about that,  I'm past retirement age by a bit, and I'm still looking.  And, so are others,  I'm quite sure there are a few "older" members here on this site that still avidly search out pieces, as well as post and check this site out.  How old was the person who bought the Creature game?  I don't know but all I do know is that the person really wanted it badly to pay that for the shape it was in.  If prices are waning,  I've yet to see it.  Sure, every once in a while someone gets lucky with purchasing something sought after for a good or cheap price, and it's the thrill of the hunt that keeps a lot of us looking.  If it was a younger person that bought that game,  it shows that there is still interest with classic monster toys.  If it was an older person,  it also shows that interest in monster toys are still alive and well.  For me,  I'd much rather look at a nice speaker head in an original box as opposed to looking at a pressed steel truck!!

I agree, skully.

Prices obviously keep rising on monster items. I bought all four MPC Pop-Top 2-packs in 2001 at Monster Bash for $150 for the set, and now the 2-packs seem to sell for $500-$1K each (and sometimes with brittle figures inside). The Halloween blow molds we discussed earlier, monster toys from the '60s through the '80s, even newer items like the Sideshow figures sell for many times what they sold for new.

Eventually the old collectors dying off thing may cause a drop in demand and prices, but with the attention given to classic collectibles by social media these days many newer collectors become interested, so the demand for these items may remain or even increase. As Allhallowsday pointed out, it doesn't matter about what material the toy is made of but rather what character or genre it's of. Horror/Monster stuff has been popular for the last 60 years, and it should continue to be for the next several years (for our lifetimes anyway). I think the prices for Monster items will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. Past that I won't be around to observe it.

[skully]

Horrorhunter, yes.  I think monster toy prices will stay relatively strong, especially for the more classic pieces that are hard to find now a days.  But,  you sometimes have the other end of the spectrum, such as this totally absurd idiotic listing for this piece, it's been on a while, and the mentality here,  or lack of it,  totally escapes me. Item # 323853713590.

[Mike Scott]

. . . such as this totally absurd idiotic listing for this piece . . .

Anybody with that kind of money to burn is gonna want a MIB example.