All very valid and interesting facts of life in this weird hobby. I can understand why lobbies of Rita have and will continue to drop in value, but I think good posters of her will always hold a premium. Does Good girl / bad girl art steadily escalate in value? What about other genres? What is holding and what is not? It seems like romantic dramas die despite star power, but most film noir still seems to command respect even without a big name. Sci-Fi and Horror are obvious winners. And art? Not so much by artist, but subject matter like war, western and circus movies? I'd like to hear what the seasoned pros think. - Ted
--- On Sat, 7/3/10, James Richard <[email protected]> wrote: From: James Richard <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Is there something wrong with this hobby? To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, July 3, 2010, 2:55 AM Channing, There is a serious recession on and it is affecting collectible prices across the board. I am picking up collectibles in all fields on Ebay for 20% to 30% of what they were routinely going for 5 years ago. Those who deny the severity of this recession are simply in, well, denial. Beyond that, you certainly know that an auction that gets no interest this week can suddenly get a lot of action three weeks later -- it depends on who is looking at any given time and there's no way to predict that. And then there's the fact that Ebay has become primarily a venue for those looking to make cheap scores. But, besides all those things, there is another issue affecting prices on older material that too many collectors and dealers simply won't face up to. I've been saying this for years and every time I do the sellers on MOPO come out and slap me down and say "Oh no, Rita Hayworth/Fred Astaire/Charlie Chaplin/Paul Newman/Steve McQueen/You Name The Star are "just as big" and "just as popular" with buyers "as they ever were" and that paper on those older stars still commands the kind of prices it did 10 or 20 years ago. But the value of any memorabilia is in the *memory* of the beholder. And those who remember -- and want to collect -- material on the stars/films/books/toys of the 1920's, 1930's, 1940's and even the 1950's are far fewer now than they were 10 or 20 years ago. Heck, even the 1970's are now getting to be about 40 years ago. (gasp!) For a young person of today to be big on collecting stuff from the 1950's (about 60 years ago) would like us being back in the 1960's again and caring passionately about collecting stuff from 1910! Actually, it's pretty amazing that so much memorabilia from the 1930's through the 1960's is still in as much demand as it is. Thank god for modern medical science, classic movie channels and The Antiques Road Show. The brutal fact-of-life about collecting any memorabilia is that those who collect it grow older, fill up their walls and shelves, buy less and less as time goes by and eventually they die and drop out of the market completely. While that process is happening, younger generations come along who have their own stars and they are not so hot on the stars of the previous generations. After a few generations, most of the "old" stars inevitably lose much of their collectible and money-bringing luster. It's just the way life goes. Sure, there will always be a few iconic titles that pull in the bucks because they have become a "Legend in the Hobby" (whatever hobby you care to name). The newer/younger collectors will always want to buy the Legendary Items because they've heard so much raving about them from the old timers. But just because a star was part of one legendary item does not mean that, over time, the coat tails of that item will extend to that star's other paper. A good example is Steve McQueen in BULLIT. That particular legendary title will always command a good price, but how much do most of the posters for Steve McQueen's *other* movies go for these days? Not much. Honestly, how many people under 40 know much, if anything, about Rita Hayworth? Other than knowing the name is that of "a great old movie star" I mean. Of those younger buyers who do know something of her and her films, how many care very much, at least as far as their own collections go? Of those younger buyers who know and care somewhat, how much are they willing to pay for a Rita Hayworth lobby card? You found out the the answer: Not much. Time passes. -- JR channinglylethomson wrote: Is there something wrong with this hobby? I ask this for the following reason. Today, I had an auction closing on EBAY for an original 1941 lobby card -- a beautiful linen-paper portrait card of Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire in a tuxedo from YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER that I've had for years. I started this auction low because I was conducting a sort of test. I wanted to see if a card like this would reach its real value at auction on EBAY or not. Well, unfortunately, the lobby card sold for a closing amount of $11.50. 15 years ago this card would have sold for between $125. and $200. You probably could have made a phone call and sold it for that. Now it sells for $11.50. I posted the auction announcement on various sites including two separate ones on MOPO. It ended up selling to a man in NYC for $11.50. Now as you may imagine, I was disturbed that it sold for so little. In the future, I will probably only start one of these low opening bid, Bruce Hershenson-style auctions if the piece is something like a lobby card or poster for a major 1950s science fiction film or a classic movie or obviously collectible poster or card. I think a lobby card like this one is still of value despite changing tastes. Maybe I'm wrong but I think there are still people who know who Rita Hayworth is and who Fred Astaire is and admire their work and their films. However, since no one in MOPO found this worth bidding on, even if they could have gotten the card for as little as $12.50, maybe I'm all wrong. Thoughts please? Channing Thomson P.S. One other consideration -- I live in a major American city (San Francisco) where I routinely see elderly Chinese people digging through trash cans all over downtown trying to find cans or plastic bottles for recycling. Sometimes they carry big plastic bags of these balanced on bamboo polls over their shoulders. These are men and women who are often as old as 70 or 80. You really can't go more than a block without seeing them digging through the trash. Nobody seems to think there's anything wrong with this here but it disturbs me and makes me think we may actually be in a depression rather than just one the typical recessions. The economy definitely BLOWS! Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
