Collecting now

[Michael Sith]

So I have been collecting a number of years now on the vintage front, started off collecting any thing and everything as we all do once we get the fever! and then gradually found my way as to what I wanted to collect vintage SW wise
made plenty of mistakes, but gradually got on point with what I wanted to collect for me, rather than what was being collected at the time

so really my question is, with the impact of the pandemic ( which has made us all stop and think!) where are we now .., today with collecting, we have had the Toy Toni scenario, the baggie gate scenario , then. Covid 19 is the passion still there? Is there still the die hard collecting fraternity ,Are we still looking and searching for the next thing to complete a run, the next rare buy, basically now the films have died down and the furore has died down, is there still a die hard group of collectors there that still collect never mind what happens

i for one still have the passion there, still trawl eBay, still look at what I have on display, still think I need this, I need that!

where are we today as collectors?

just interested in others opinions?

 

[poncho]

I find the re releases of retro vintage style figures be it Starwars Heman or ghostbusters has put a damper on my collecting habits it's been abit of a kill joy.

I still trawl for smalls (loose toys from the 1980 70s ) that brings s smile to my face.

Vintage starwars is really expensive now I'm glad I have all I ever wanted. The fact i have several handful of figures that are worth several hundred pounds each that I picked up for less than £20 years ago blows my mind...its crazy.

I still look for vintage bargains very rare that I find anything these days mind.

 

[Palifan]

I moved on from vintage Star Wars years ago, partly to do with being happy with what I've managed to pick up over the years and partly down to the cost. I've focused mainly on vintage and modern Horror items but even that feels like it's near the end for me (with vintage at least). Again, the prices have risen over the past few years but I do still get the odd bargain every now and then which is good. I also pick up custom figures that I've really gotten into over the years but there's also a space issue now so again I'm really trying to restrict myself.

It's been a fun ride over the past 15 years or so but I'm starting to look to thinning down in some areas and you have got to ask yourself if it's really worth keeping a large SW vehicle when you've never had it on display and it's kept tucked away in a box? In some ways I'd rather someone actually got some enjoyment out of it but I know I will need to be mentally ready to let it go I know that I don't own it any more (I'm sure I'll see the logical side of that argument soon enough!).

I still have a hunger for general vintage knowledge and really enjoy researching about vintage toys so I think that will never go away. The same with collecting books on the subject although I've found the print quality of recent books disappointing. I also still check eBay every day to see what's out there and as long as I'm learning something new each month I know I'll keep up the enthusiasm for the hobby

Ian

 

[poncho]

Hey Ian I'm with you on the space issue I've no room I need to downsize big time. I've 2 ATATs here in the loft I cant display them think of all the other vintage starwars that could instead take that room up they take. Do I need 2 no! I should really move them on but then I wont own then anymore

I look for none vintage starwars stuff as its abit of fun but even thats got crazy.

I'm dabbling in fixing toys and customising also.

 

[grinchy]

i've seen your custom work poncho, very impressive stuff, i still collect though mostly modern these days, i did pick up a minirig recently, they can still be found for decent prices, had to sell a small chunk of the collection recently, needed the cash, i'll try and get back what has gone in the future,

 

[edd_jedi]

Similar situation to others, I already have a lot of the vintage items I like, and the ones I need either never come up for sale or are stupidly expensive when they do. I've bought about three things all year so far. I'm definitely not looking as hard as I used to, but I think I will always be passionate about it. I enjoy the hunt as much (or more) than the owning so maybe one day I'll start a new run or sell up so I can start again!

I have mainly been collecting video games this year, which has become a bit of an obsession!

 

[bosk70]

My star wars collecting has always been low budget if i found something good vintage wise at the boot sales or off friends that have let me trade there childhood star wars i have picked that stuff up for not much, i sold off all my modern star wars over the years at boot sales but i have always been low budget when it comes to acquiring vintage, if it comes along i will purchase it if its reasonable, but i have never been too bothered if it doesn't, that's half the fun . I do buy a bit of modern Star Wars but it has to be really good ,bought the retro Leia and Leia hoth carded really liked them, removed the stickers and white leaflet thou. Collecting has to be fun, not breaking the bank,( I too find the prices of vintage crazy) that's the key to long term enjoyment of the hobby.

 

[Pomse2001]

It has changed for me not only when we got corona but the last couple of years. I do not sell out of my collection. But my focus have changed because of the high prices and the less childhood lots coming up for sale.

My focus is more to try to get the last 2 boxes that I miss, to get all the moc that I miss and to get all what I can find with danish price stickers. And if I find some parts, some variants or some lots cheap then it is also great.

But I do not look anymore after to get all cardback variants, all box variants and all figure variants as I did maybe 6 years ago when prices was much better and I found childhood lots every month for much better prices than today.

It is not as funny as it was 6 years ago, but it is still cool to find something new to the collection. Today I think I get 10% of the star wars items every year than I did in 2015 and before 2015 so it has gone down a lot with buying star wars.

 

[Dr_Ball_MD]

I've sort of reverted back to what I originally wanted in the first place, a loose 96 collection in a display cabinet.

I sold a lot of my variants and paid for a nice Drew Tegg cabinet, very happy with my loose collection displayed how I always wanted and don't miss the variants.

I kept a couple of variants like VCJ, DT Luke, white hair Ben and small head Han and I have them separate in the first 12 mailaway stand.

Been buying a lot of black series and Transformers War for Cybertron figures lately.

 

[edd_jedi]

I do not sell out of my collection...

This is a really good point I forgot to mention. In the past my collection has always been quite fluid, I would regularly sell things to make space and raise funds for other purchases. I did this for about 20 years, thinking I could always buy things back again. But over the last five years or so I have had some major regrets over things I have sold in the past (Lily Ledi Luke Jedi MOC for £400, Trilogo Cloud Car Pilot for £500 ) that I will now never be able to own again due to the price they sell for.

Off topic but this also applies to video games as well - you may have seen the Mario 64 that sold for $1.5 million recently, I sold one in slightly worse condition for $300 6 years ago Don't worry mine wouldn't have been worth 1.5 million, but it would certainly now be worth tens of thousands.

So now I do not sell anything any more, unless I am 100% sure I won't miss it. I have been offered good money for things that would give me a big profit, but I won't part with them if I don't have to, or don't think I can buy back again for a reasonable price.

 

[Gadders]

Good thread..
My collection is at the point where I'm happy with it. There are a couple of items "missing" (MOC Yak to complete the 96 run and carded Imperial Sniper) but they are too expensive and I've come to accept i probably wont get those items. I have picked up the odd item for the collection over the past couple of years, but additions have been few and far between - generally just nice items that i like the look of and are at the right price.

My collecting has changed direction, and been more focussed on figure related paperwork and foreign adverts over the last couple of years. This is generally a lot cheaper and takes up a hell of a lot less space

As for selling, I'm of the same view as Edd. I've sold a couple of items in the past (around 2002) that i now regret, and wouldnt sell anything now unless I really had to. I've even upgraded a MOC or 2 and havent sold on the ones i've replaced

 

[Pomse2001]

This is a really good point I forgot to mention. In the past my collection has always been quite fluid, I would regularly sell things to make space and raise funds for other purchases. I did this for about 20 years, thinking I could always buy things back again. But over the last five years or so I have had some major regrets over things I have sold in the past (Lily Ledi Luke Jedi MOC for £400, Trilogo Cloud Car Pilot for £500 ) that I will now never be able to own again due to the price they sell for.

Off topic but this also applies to video games as well - you may have seen the Mario 64 that sold for $1.5 million recently, I sold one in slightly worse condition for $300 6 years ago Don't worry mine wouldn't have been worth 1.5 million, but it would certainly now be worth tens of thousands.

So now I do not sell anything any more, unless I am 100% sure I won't miss it. I have been offered good money for things that would give me a big profit, but I won't part with them if I don't have to, or don't think I can buy back again for a reasonable price.

Sorry edd to read about you sold some cool things and with some major regrets.

I also have one major regret in 2001 when I got my childhood lot back from my little brother then I mixed it with my new star wars toy that I have bought on ebay and from other collectors. Some of it I also upgraded to better pieces and sold the bad ones. A few years later I began to regret that I have sold some of my childhood collection and the rest I had mixed with new items.

Now I only have 1 y-wing and 2 maybe 3 figures with 1 weapon that I am 100% is from my childhood.

I had 3 vehicles, 1 beast, 1 playset and maybe 50 or 60 figures all complete with weapons from my childhood, most of it is gone or mixed, I know for sure since I always need weapons that I still have the 50 or 60 weapons mixed in my collection, I only have 1 weapon from my childhood that I know for sure is from my childhood

 

[JimboUK1979]

I'm still actively searching ebay and facebook for the few things I'm looking for. Over lockdown I made a decision to streamline my collection down to pieces I really love - this was partly due to my collecting room looking cluttered and not having the room to display 40% of it. I mainly collect mailers, leaflets, promotional flyers and paperwork which are part of the history of SW in the UK.

Still really enjoy keeping up with developments in the hobby through friends, swfuk, facebook and podcasts.

 

[TheJabbaWookie]

The pandemic has (surprisingly I think) elevated prices astronomically. Pre Covid I was finally streamlining my collection… focussing on the Star Wars movie… collecting vehicles and playsets and 20/21 backs… anything with the big Star Wars logo on it.

But prices are too high now for those items so since lockdown I have concentrated on variant collecting. I have picked up lots of relatively cheap figures (well compared to MOCs anyway), but more importantly done lots of research, made lots of new friends and attended a few meet ups.

Last year and this have been my favourite in the hobby simply because of these last two points, proving you don't need to spend big to thoroughly immerse yourself in the hobby and get a lot out of it.

 

[lejackal]

I'm still buying Star Wars (and selling it again) changing my display around and piling into my retro consoles and Games Workshop stuff. The cabinet is mostly for me, the gaming and modelling & painting I can do with the kids. Even Sue has a NES so that she can play Duck Hunt

 

[phreatobite]

Good thread, I had slowed down recently - hardly posting for a while either - but then I picked up a huge childhood hoard from a guy in my town which has renewed my interest. Insane that in 2021 there are still untouched childhood collections tucked away.

It was dirty and mostly incomplete but it has been amazing finishing some and selling other bits.

 

[robpmarsh]

I still pick up the odd Vintage Leia item when I see them but prices are crazy on some stuff now. I've bought more Star Wars LEGO over the past 2 years due to this and now have the problem of where to put it all

 

[peekaygee73]

I really haven't bought much over the past few years, mainly because of moving house and rising prices. There are items I'd still like to buy but they're going for (IMO) silly money - Palitoy Death Star, 12" Fett, ESB R2 solid dome MOC. Heck, even the Vader's Star Destroyer playset seems to go for a fortune these days.

That said, I'm really happy with the stuff I have. I finally completed my first 77 loose, have a number of MOCs I've wanted since the late 90s, some items with price stickers from my childhood toy shops (even managed to add to that collection a couple of weeks ago), the first 12 action figure stand (I swear I'm getting buried with that)... and have made some room to display them. Having more of my items displayed has helped me appreciate collecting beyond the need to find/acquire stuff. It's also been a source of stress relief in what has been a stressful couple of years.

 

[Ashrobbo]

So I have been collecting a number of years now on the vintage front, started off collecting any thing and everything as we all do once we get the fever! and then gradually found my way as to what I wanted to collect vintage SW wise
made plenty of mistakes, but gradually got on point with what I wanted to collect for me, rather than what was being collected at the time

so really my question is, with the impact of the pandemic ( which has made us all stop and think!) where are we now .., today with collecting, we have had the Toy Toni scenario, the baggie gate scenario , then. Covid 19 is the passion still there? Is there still the die hard collecting fraternity ,Are we still looking and searching for the next thing to complete a run, the next rare buy, basically now the films have died down and the furore has died down, is there still a die hard group of collectors there that still collect never mind what happens

i for one still have the passion there, still trawl eBay, still look at what I have on display, still think I need this, I need that!

where are we today as collectors?

just interested in others opinions?

Hello, I was wondering if you, or anyone from this thread, could advise me please. I've read your question Michael and some of the replies... I want to ask you all please, how do you know exactly how much each SW figure you own would sell for? and where exactly would you go in order to sell for the best price?
I ask because the pandemic has floored me. Im hoping to sell my old SW figures in order to make some money. I have a load of Star Wars figures from when I was a kid in the 1980s. They have been played with and some might be missing the odd weapon, etc (although not all) but generally they are good quality and must be vintage I would say. Certainly they were bought when the original SW films were released. Are you or anymore reading this able to please assist me in my pursuit to sell for half decent money? I'm somewhat desperate. If you wish to email me privately my email address is *mod edit- email removed*. Thank you for your time. Kind regards.

 

[peekaygee73]

Hello, I was wondering if you, or anyone from this thread, could advise me please. I've read your question Michael and some of the replies... I want to ask you all please, how do you know exactly how much each SW figure you own would sell for? and where exactly would you go in order to sell for the best price?
I ask because the pandemic has floored me. Im hoping to sell my old SW figures in order to make some money. I have a load of Star Wars figures from when I was a kid in the 1980s. They have been played with and some might be missing the odd weapon, etc (although not all) but generally they are good quality and must be vintage I would say. Certainly they were bought when the original SW films were released. Are you or anymore reading this able to please assist me in my pursuit to sell for half decent money? I'm somewhat desperate. If you wish to email me privately my email address is *mod edit- email removed* Thank you for your time. Kind regards.

The first thing I'd say is by providing your email address you're leaving yourself open to people making private offers... which could be less than your items are worth. I'd recommend not accepting any offers that way for now.

What you can do is post on the 'Vintage valuation request' sub-forum. Take some good pictures of what you have and upload them into a new post there. People will happily offer advice on what your items are worth and you can, if you chose, sell them on here.