Well said, Rick. For us "non-dealers," I only collected what I liked and NEVER acquired movie paper as an investment. The only time I ever thought of the word, "investment," was when I was lucky enough to own a duplicate of anything. And I DISPLAYED everything on my walls EXCEPT most of my old lobby card collection. I never owned storage trays or boxes of tubes filled with paper lying around. More than 94% of what I consigned or sold on my own during the past 10 years - occurred during the past five years, when the recession started to take hold. But my motivation to sell was not to "score on my investments," but to pare down paper after the fire evacuations scared the hell out of us - and I shifted my collecting to portable Beatles memorabilia. My "returns" on all that movie paper still exceeded my OWN expectations as a collector. Today, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions, we own NO movie paper with a value greater than $1,000. Our "Gilda" style B was the last (and actually, the "only") blue-chip item we owned, and even the blue-bloods of our hobby know that its value never reached the heights of Universal horror, which we have NEVER owned. -d.
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:38:48 -0400 From: rixpost...@aol.com Subject: Re: Is this the best time ever to find and buy vintage movie posters? To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU I'm sure glad I started collecting 30 years ago and acquired the majority of my collection then. I know a few collectors who got into the hobby 10 or so years ago, bought up a shitload of lower to mid-range titles---ie: one collector in particular who---thinking that all Steve McQueen material would increase in value--- bought multiple one sheets on Papillon, Nevada Smith, The Reivers, etc. Now, he can't ecen come close to recouping his initial investment. Back in the early 80's, the concept of "buying movie posters as an investment" wasn't anywhere near as prominent as it became in the mid-90's. Back then, I remember caring more about loving the film I wanted to find a poster on, beautiful graphics...all the aesthetics involved. Of course, the idea of "investment" was in the back of my mind, but it wasn't the main priority in getting into the hobby and remaining in it. They always say...if you want to be a musician. artist, writer, etc. do it because you love the doing of it...not because of the fame, fortune and adulation that will come from the doing of it. I kind of think the same principles should apply where collecting is concerned...although there is a completely different reality in our greed-riddled society today than existed 30 or 40 years ago...and it reaches far beyond the hobby of movie poster collecting. When you can make a million bucks or get a TV show for making a YouTube of yourself picking your nose or scratching your ass, something's definitely wrong with this picture. Just my two cents... Rick In a message dated 8/10/2012 12:57:26 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, kainb...@aol.com writes: I agree...for most posters there has not been any appreciation or increase in prices for 15 to 20 years at least...don't buy for investment purpose...actually most of the posters have gone down because of the large increase of supply and demand has not increased for a lot. The only people making money are the auction houses with their inflated fees. You can make more money keeping your money in the bank and getting no interest rate. Philipp Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T From: Richard Halegua Posters + Comic Art <sa...@comic-art.com> Sender: MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:24:31 -0700 To: <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> ReplyTo: Richard Halegua Posters + Comic Art <sa...@comic-art.com> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Is this the best time ever to find and buy vintage movie posters? no it definitely is not the best time ever to find and buy vintage posters.. Those days are long gone they were the days of $200 Forbidden Planet posters & $100 Frankenstein lobby cards however, compared to just 15 years ago, this probably is a better time.. compared to 20-30-40 years ago?? absolutely not At 03:55 AM 8/10/2012, Bruce Hershenson wrote: It is my personal opinion that this is the best time ever to find and buy vintage movie posters. There are many thousands of real no reserve auctions every week (some 99 cents, some $1, $10, or $15). and there are LOTS of "major events" of "better posters", plus there are at least 100 dealers with bulging inventories, many of who have all or most of their posters well illustrated on their sites. There just aren't that many posters (other than the super-scarce ones that have ALWAYS been very hard to find) that one couldn't reasonably expect a good opportunity of acquiring over a few months or a year's time, and there are lots and lots of bargains all over the Internet, both at auctions and from dealers' sites. And unlike the pre-Internet days, where you often had to buy off of a tiny black and white image (sometimes no image at all) you now can almost always see a giant image of the item you want to buy. So I ask you, is this the best time ever to find and buy vintage movie posters? Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu 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: lists...@listserv.american.edu 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: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.