Collectibles of the Future?

[1Cool]

Just brainstorming during my 45 minute commute and was questioning if collecting is becoming extinct. I started collecting comics for the same reason most do - liked the stories and couldn't get a girl to go out with me. I am now married but still love the hobby and like to finish collections and appreciate the effort and satisfaction. Do kids today get that experience? What do kids collect? I guess a cool library of computer games is a collection of sorts and are these going to be worth a lot of money when they grow up and re-live their childhood. Everything is so disposable now - it almost feels like a collection of items is anti- current culture.

 

60 years from now when the 80's kids are gone - what do you think will be a collectible?? My guess would be the first MP3 players and game systems. We will see.

[joe_collector]

Men will always get nostalgic and collect stuff, but I get the feeling that there may not be that same "generation-defining" collectible like we had with stamps, coins, sports cards and comics.

 

There is so much choice these days, and the number of different consumables that the "golden age of youth" 12 year-old male buys is astounding. So I see that same level of choice in collectibles going forward, including video games, toys, cards, etc.

[Flaming_Telepath]

I think that collecting will diminish considerably...and may never return.

 

We live in the 'must have it now' age and the internet, and Amazon, and home deliveries, and TV home shopping, and....

 

All of this means that very, very few people have the patience to collect a damned thing, anymore!

[The Troll King]

Some of you may have seen my posts on other forums or even this one regarding what I call the "Instant Grativication Society"

 

That's what we've become and it's not a good thing....

 

I blame Al Gore.

 

Why?

 

Cause he invented the internet

 

Seriously though... The internet has caused so many people under the age of 40 to reach a point of not even attempting to learn anything on their own any more.

 

Why do hours or days of research on a subject that interests you when you can just type in a few words into a search engine and read the info (right or wrong) on any one of 1000's of web sites?

 

It's too late to turn back now. I feel that as time goes by society will have fewer and fewer free thinkers as everyone will be dependant on the instant knowledge that the internet provides.

 

If you read the writings of the founding fathers these people were LOADS more intelligent and WAY more literate than any of us could ever hope to be. All that even before electricity!

[143ksk]

Antique food

[Davenport]

I wonder if there'll be a huge difference in "collecting" what can be digitized vs. what can't.

 

With soaring costs I can imagine consumers going for huge digital collections of vintage mass media...old movies, comics, cards, etc. As opposed to, say, antique firearms, sculptures, or toys. Artifacts where the collecting pleasure is more of a 3D experience, instead of a 2D view it or read it type item.

[skybolt]

As mentioned in a previous thread...............moon rocks!

[seank]

My nephew, who is 9, is a collector. He's been through his rock phase and his Thomas the Tank Engine phase. (Imagine wooden train tracks ALL through the living room with three trains going and a five-year-old giving the orders.)

 

Right now, he's big into Star Wars Legos. When he's thirty, I expect he'll be paying big bucks for them on eBay. I've tried to get him interested in comics but I can't get him hooked. (Hardy Boys novels were a hit though. As was Risk.)

 

Good thing my friend's seven-year-old is a comic book and Spidey nut. He gets all the kid-friendly beaters people here send as extras when I purchase books.

[1Cool]

I am not saying that kids are less smart or less able to collect than I am (it doesn't take much to read a comic and put it in a plastic bag!) I am curious about what kids collect today. My daughter is only 3 and loves movies but I can't see a Dora video being a collectible in the future. Its hard to imagine comics or cards not being a part of future generations since they have been around for so many generations.

 

Side note - I remember getting into comics for the stories but I have to admit that I was also caught up in the increase in prices of my books. It was cool to find out that a $.50 book was now worh $50.00. Since most new comics loose about 80% of their value once you buy it - I can see why kids don't want to get into the collection side of comics. No thrill of the good purchase.

[joe_collector]

Its hard to imagine comics or cards not being a part of future generations since they have been around for so many generations.

 

But look at the reasons why comics are so popular now - kids were the mainstay of the market, whereas around 1989-90, that changed to an almost purely adult-driven market that continues today.

 

No kids = no comic nostalgia in 20-30 years =

[Mad Dog]

I think the direct opposite of what you do... i think that in the future (lets day 60-150 years) new material will ONLY be published digitally, that being movies, music, textbooks, books,COMICS, anyting that you today have in a "hardcopy" will be digitalised in the years to come... something may come slower due to nostalgic value, such as books... e-books were tried and failed miserably... it needs another generation that are so used to digitalisation that they cant see the real value of a paper book but much prefer the easier and cheaper digital version...

 

But history shows that many society trends are in part, cyclical, such as religion.. over the centuries western society has shifted between believing that god created the world, to worshipping information and technology and back to appreciating religion again, not like the centuries before but in a Neo-classical way...

 

There may be a gap of 50-70 years (one generation) where comics, books etc will be considered to have no or very less value... as that impression slowly will root inside societies minds, many of the current books people have will disappear (same with comics) when parent die, their kids will not keep the books and papers and memories but will dispose of them...

 

The generation after that one, will look back at their parents with the desire to rebel and the desire to be different than them. They may look into the past and discover some of the items that were treasured in the 20th centure, such as books, comics, etc and consider these items to have great importance and value and be an example of what we considered valuable in our time period. By then Printed papers will be so rare that they will have bery high value and become desirable again, not to the majority of the public but for a priviliged few, much as true art is today. You may even see a "book museum" or a comics museum where people will go and long for the past treasures like funny books and superhero stories....

 

Thats my two cent worth (may not be worth more than one)

[skybolt]

I never rebelled against my parents, and actually thought it was cool that my mom collected movie magazines as a kid.

[Mad Dog]

I never rebelled against my parents, and actually thought it was cool that my mom collected movie magazines as a kid.

 

Then thats way overdue...

 

 

[skybolt]

I never rebelled against my parents, and actually thought it was cool that my mom collected movie magazines as a kid.

 

Then thats way overdue...

 

 

 

Shhhhh............I don't want them finiding out I'm using these message boards, since I may get grounded.

[mica]

For various reasons most forms of collecting will vanish.

[topofthetotem]

I never rebelled against my parents, and actually thought it was cool that my mom collected movie magazines as a kid.

 

Then thats way overdue...

 

 

 

Shhhhh............I don't want them finiding out I'm using these message boards, since I may get grounded.

Goody two shoes.

[Bronty]

For various reasons most forms of collecting will vanish.

 

Couldn't disagree more. Things around us change so fast today that the nostalgia we feel is more powerful than ever, IMO (think of the kick you would get from looking at a brick sized cell phone). And that spark of nostalgia has sprouted many a collection... be it michael jordan sneakers, or comics, or whatever.

 

I'm biased. I'll get that out of the way now. But I think when kids stopped reading comics they started playing with video games and action figures, by and large. My generation was right on the cusp so all three were popular (til the 90s crash came ) Games and figures are fledgling hobbies both at this point but lots of three and four figure sales already. I think its entirely likely that those hobbies, or hobbies like them, will gain some serious steam. There's a lot of GI Joe/ transformer nerds out there and a lot of awkward kids who spent half of their childhood playing video games. Of course its also possible that they won't catch on, but time will tell I guess. Personally having made the switch I find I get a lot of satisfaction collecting stuff from my own generation's time instead of my father's generation's time (as cool as 60s comics are) so I'm happy either way.

[mica]

Oh I want to disagree with myself too. I'd like to see it continue.

[BuckeyeChaos]

For various reasons most forms of collecting will vanish.

 

This is just "back in my day" garbage.

 

Unless we are all using the term "collecting" differently, how could you suggest that collecting will go away. If collecting comes from some obsessive complulsive thing, will that change in the future? People have and always will collect stuff for many reasons. Have you ever heard the phrase "the more things change, the more they stay the same".

 

I think that the line of reasoning that ends with "For various reasons most forms of collecting will vanish" is seriously flawed. What reasons?

 

Do you remember the movie DEMOLITION MAN? It takes place in the distant future where most things are banned. People did collect stuff. I know its only a movie but it felt right. Even digital age kids like physical stuff.

 

Collect On!

[kc120us]

For various reasons most forms of collecting will vanish.

 

I would disagree. I think collecting will always be around in some form or another. Comics may not survive but collecting will. I have two young nephews who collect all sorts of things (yugio cards,NASCAR related stuff,dinosaur fossils,etc...) They don't collect comics but they are familiar with most of the major characters. Now, whether this will translate into some form of future collectibles market I don't know.

 

Casey