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VHS collecting
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146 posts in this topic

Looks like all the big auctions houses have started auctioning graded VHS. anybody here a veteran VHS collector or recently gotten into it. 

wouldn't mind picking up some 80s cult horrors I grew up on as a kid, before they go crazy like Pumpkin head, Return of the Living Dead, They Live, Night of the Creeps, Howling etc. just dont know what price points are.

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I have collected VHS, CDs, and LDs for years. 

CL archives their auction data. Here are the most recent results

CertifiedLink :: Online Certified Collectible Auctions

I have also been maintaining some points of data:

As far as recent stand outs; a slabbed mint/mint Ghostbusters just sold for well over $10K.

A 1st edition Risky Business mint/NM and CBS Fox Star Wars mint/mint recently sold for high 4 figures each.

Top Gun mint/mint sold for over $4000.

As a reference point for noobs, here is the grading scale standard:

Grading Number Scale (1-10) | Investment Grading

A lower tier mint starts at 8.5 but 9.0 is also mint where gem mint would be 9.5 and "epic" is 10.

Basically anything in 8.5 range sells at bigger multiples.

 

 
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On 2/18/2022 at 10:29 AM, 70s80sTimeMachine said:

I have collected VHS, CDs, and LDs for years. 

CL archives their auction data. Here are the most recent results

CertifiedLink :: Online Certified Collectible Auctions

I have also been maintaining some points of data:

As far as recent stand outs; a slabbed mint/mint Ghostbusters just sold for well over $10K.

A 1st edition Risky Business mint/NM and CBS Fox Star Wars mint/mint recently sold for high 4 figures each.

Top Gun mint/mint sold for over $4000.

As a reference point for noobs, here is the grading scale standard:

Grading Number Scale (1-10) | Investment Grading

A lower tier mint starts at 8.5 but 9.0 is also mint where gem mint would be 9.5 and "epic" is 10.

Basically anything in 8.5 range sells at bigger multiples.

 

 

Awesome thanks  -hard to keep track of the multiple prints for VHS. even the boxes that have the same year for example like an early 1984/1985/1986 ox seems to have little variations in boxes, watermarks, seals that make one version a lot more rare than another. 

 

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On 2/18/2022 at 12:09 PM, rabidwolf said:

Looks like all the big auctions houses have started auctioning graded VHS. anybody here a veteran VHS collector or recently gotten into it. 

wouldn't mind picking up some 80s cult horrors I grew up on as a kid, before they go crazy like Pumpkin head, Return of the Living Dead, They Live, Night of the Creeps, Howling etc. just dont know what price points are.

I’m heavily into it. The first prints/releases are already selling for thousands sealed on most popular movies. They’re super tough to find where as later stuff, after 1989 is a lot easier to find sealed. 

Pumpkinhead around $2000

Return of Living Dead $2000 to $5000 depending on version. 
 

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On 2/18/2022 at 10:38 AM, Gruson said:

I’m heavily into it. The first prints/releases are already selling for thousands sealed on most popular movies. They’re super tough to find where as later stuff, after 1989 is a lot easier to find sealed. 

Pumpkinhead around $2000

Return of Living Dead $2000 to $5000 depending on version. 
 

awesome thanks - would love to see some pics of 80s horror if you got some

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On 2/18/2022 at 1:45 PM, Gruson said:

They’re being graded by VGA. :)

Thanks for mentioning this. My entire collectible ecosystem started for toys under AFA, so naturally I gravitated to VGA for video games, etc. and actually prefer VGA for VHS. In case anyone else is curious, here is how their grading system works:

Grading Scales (cgagrading.com)

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On 2/18/2022 at 12:38 PM, Gruson said:

I’m heavily into it. The first prints/releases are already selling for thousands sealed on most popular movies. They’re super tough to find where as later stuff, after 1989 is a lot easier to find sealed. 

Pumpkinhead around $2000

Return of Living Dead $2000 to $5000 depending on version. 
 

I have a Return of the Living Dead Part II and The Wizard (NES/Fred Savage movie) sealed. Any value to those?

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On 2/18/2022 at 11:31 AM, Falcon760 said:

the world must be insane to want graded VHS tapes, some of which are a dominant presence in land fills.

I think thats what people said when comics and video games started becoming valuable collectibles.

 

In facts there is actually a massive landfill of Atari games from the 80s. 

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My biggest issue with this is the 'sealed' bit.

You can get a VHS resealed in seconds with a machine that you can find anywhere.

How do grade a 'sealed' VHS?

 

I get the 'rule of 25' on this - I loved some of those films - but there seem to be a high number of 'sealed unused' classic movie VHS tapes 'found' recently.

I'm highly dubious about the whole thing.

 

I do love laserdiscs though - especially as you can now buy replacement lasers very easily

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Heh.  I have to check my attic.  I know I dumped a large box of VHS tapes off at the GoodWill 10+ years ago, which included the original Star Wars trilogy (these were all opened/viewed tapes though, so I can't imagine they would have had that much value today).  But I guess I have no idea.  

My arm was twisted to even dump that box though (I am a bit of a hoarder by nature.) 

I guess I should keep all my DVDs and Blu Rays now,  yes?

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On 2/18/2022 at 12:15 PM, Beige said:

My biggest issue with this is the 'sealed' bit.

You can get a VHS resealed in seconds with a machine that you can find anywhere.

How do grade a 'sealed' VHS?

 

I get the 'rule of 25' on this - I loved some of those films - but there seem to be a high number of 'sealed unused' classic movie VHS tapes 'found' recently.

I'm highly dubious about the whole thing.

 

I do love laserdiscs though - especially as you can now buy replacement lasers very easily

I think the safest bet to confirm if its factory sealed is if it has watermarks on the shrink wrap. In fact I've seen a lot of the 80s tapes say on the back factory sealed only if it has a specific watermark picture on the back of the box. 

Frankly I don't doubt this will end up with a big collectible market especially with all the major collectible auction houses alloting auctions to VHS. look at videogames from the 80s going for 5 and 6 figures in just a couple of years. especially the horror genre which I dig has some really cool art on the boxes

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On 2/18/2022 at 3:15 PM, Beige said:

My biggest issue with this is the 'sealed' bit.

You can get a VHS resealed in seconds with a machine that you can find anywhere.

How do grade a 'sealed' VHS?

 

I get the 'rule of 25' on this - I loved some of those films - but there seem to be a high number of 'sealed unused' classic movie VHS tapes 'found' recently.

I'm highly dubious about the whole thing.

 

I do love laserdiscs though - especially as you can now buy replacement lasers very easily

As @rabidwolf mentioned, more vintage/80s VHS has distinct features i.e. watermarks, security seals, holographic stickers, vent openings etc. There is a pretty solid blueprint you would follow. Also the texture of the shrink wrap etc.  So for instance if you had a specific VHS version/release, you would quickly be able to reference exactly what the packaging should have.  

This burden of verification is similar to what you see in allot of toys with mounted bubbles on cards, or originally factory tape seals on sides of boxes. I remember years ago the factory tape seals on an awesome near mint G1 MEGATRON had dried up but were still in tact. Someone at some point put a clear piece of tape over one of the sides thinking it would reinforce the original drying tape. But what it did was exclude the ability from AFA being able to certify it as originally factory tape sealed thus leaving $15,000 on the table to never be had. 

 

 

 

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I still have a decent amount of laserdiscs.  If they really want to go for the nostalgia factor, they should grade Super 8 movies. All of the classic horror movies with new artwork, some of it better than the original movie posters.

 

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