The weekend did not turn out as planned. This probably should not have been a surprise, since it is October, after all. I always have a problem with October.
Since I am still in the middle of several small projects that should have been finished by now, I think it’s a good time to reiterate and clarify my policy on gifts, gifting and other forms of compensation with regards to this blog, since it has become an issue lately.
I consider this blog to be one of my "contributions" to the hobby, so there is no expectation of compensation. I haven’t enrolled in any ad, banner or rewards programs, because I feel the amount of compensation would be far outweighed by the amount of visual (and moral) clutter they would bring.
While I am flattered by the offers of models I am sometimes given, please be aware that my collection is currently in a state where I need to remove items, not add more. The handful of items I would run through a busy intersection for are fairly obscure and not likely in your possession.
If you happen to point me in the direction of one, I’d be happy to venture there myself and negotiate. And if you yourself have it, I want to pay a fair market price for it, whenever possible.
I grew up in a family atmosphere where gifts were never really "gifts", either: there was a price attached to everything, literally or figuratively. This is not said to elicit an emotional response of any kind, I am just explaining that this is how I was raised and constitutes a part of my moral matrix. I have a hard time accepting gifts, plain and simple.
(If sometimes I forget to say "thank you" in response to a gift, it is because that’s not how it worked in my family, weird as it sounds. It’s not a learned reflex: it’s something I have to actively remember to do.)
Information is always welcome, though. As are gossip, history, insider information, ephemera, pictures, and stories of a salacious nature. (More ordinary ones, too!) You should know by now that these are the kinds of stuff I treasure more than physical objects, anyway.
I do provide a Paypal donation button somewhere on the sidebar if you ever are in a giving mood. It’s mostly there because when I did the initial research into starting this blog, all the sites I visited said having one was a good idea. I forget that it’s there most of the time.
I will accept compensation for other services rendered to the hobby, but my schedule at the moment precludes me from doing much beyond rendering opinions on photos or questions sent my way. (And as you may know from personal experience, even that might take a while.)
There are always exceptions, naturally, like providing the location of another Copenhagen Belgian, or being in dire need of assistance and within a not-horrible driving distance from my house. Offers to either visit, or be visited are also welcome and will be accommodated whenever possible, especially if your family and non-hobbyist friends are anything like mine. (Familiar with the "Not the horses, again!" eyeroll?) Because sometimes "talking horses" is an absolute necessity.
I think that covers anything. More actual horsey stuff in a couple of days, I’m hoping.
Showing posts with label Values. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Values. Show all posts
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Crazy Days
Man, another crazy set of days. I just want to go outside and run around the yard like the dog does when she’s in one of her moods. I’m not going to, because the consequences would be inconvenient, at best. I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next several days, and I don’t think they’d let me do it from whatever location they’d send me to if I did.
Anyway, I’ve been given clearance to talk a little about the project I’ve been working on over the past couple of weeks. It’s not related to the Black Family Arabians in any way, so that’s going to have to wait a few more days to be discussed, because the matter I want to talk about today is somewhat time sensitive.
Much debate has been made in hobby circles about what to do with our collections when we are gone, or are past the point of managing and/or enjoying them to their fullest. We fret over the how the dispersal of our plentiful herds will happen, and if it will be done in as careful and meticulous a manner as they were assembled.
I was recently contacted by an old acquaintance who was facing this prospect. She has a rather large and impressive collection, but for a variety of reasons - some related to her health - she decided it was time seriously downsize.
When I mean "seriously" I’m talking about 1000 pieces, give or take.
Ebay, understandably, was not a practical solution to this problem.
The decision was made to send it to an auction house, one that would allow online bidding concurrent with the live auction. The collection would be broken up into discrete lots, and descriptions and notations carefully written to accompany them to assist the auction house. They were familiar with Breyers, and had auctioned some in the past, but nothing of this scale.
The first lots went up, and - well, here’s a link to them and you can observe for yourself:
http://www.mundaauctions.com/
(Auction house web site direct link. The auction in question is May 10th.)
https://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=65691
(Direct link to catalog.)
Things did not go according to plan. This is a hobbyist who took a great deal of care to acquire this collection, and had a very good eye for oddities, variations, or just darn good pieces - in Chicago in the 1980s, so you can just imagine the kinds of stuff she has just from a Breyer standpoint. (There are more than just Breyers involved, but I'm assuming by your presence here that that's what you're looking for.)
Of course, none of this work is visible in the auction listings, which are cursory at best, and oddly focused on the dimensions of boxes, rather than the contents within.
After much phoning and e-mailing, it was decided that I’d come in and help curate the rest of the auctions. This will involve sorting, organizing, matching boxes and sets back together, getting proper descriptions written focusing on the details collectors would actually be interested in, and so on.
In the meantime, the auctions that are running now can’t really be changed, and since I haven’t seen them in person yet, I can’t give you any more details than what I can see myself. All I can say for sure is that there’s good stuff to be had there, and will be in the near future.
I have been given the go ahead to "advertise" these auctions, as they are, from every avenue available to me. This is being done in the hope that it will generate a response enthusiastic enough to catch the auction house’s eye, and perhaps garner a little more respect for the items being auctioned off at a later date.
The ultimate goal of this exercise - other than the dispersal of a collection - is, I hope, to set an example for these kinds of sales and auctions in the future, and allay some very real fears that we all have about the dispensation of our beloved herds.
More on the story, of course, as it develops.
Anyway, I’ve been given clearance to talk a little about the project I’ve been working on over the past couple of weeks. It’s not related to the Black Family Arabians in any way, so that’s going to have to wait a few more days to be discussed, because the matter I want to talk about today is somewhat time sensitive.
Much debate has been made in hobby circles about what to do with our collections when we are gone, or are past the point of managing and/or enjoying them to their fullest. We fret over the how the dispersal of our plentiful herds will happen, and if it will be done in as careful and meticulous a manner as they were assembled.
I was recently contacted by an old acquaintance who was facing this prospect. She has a rather large and impressive collection, but for a variety of reasons - some related to her health - she decided it was time seriously downsize.
When I mean "seriously" I’m talking about 1000 pieces, give or take.
Ebay, understandably, was not a practical solution to this problem.
The decision was made to send it to an auction house, one that would allow online bidding concurrent with the live auction. The collection would be broken up into discrete lots, and descriptions and notations carefully written to accompany them to assist the auction house. They were familiar with Breyers, and had auctioned some in the past, but nothing of this scale.
The first lots went up, and - well, here’s a link to them and you can observe for yourself:
http://www.mundaauctions.com/
(Auction house web site direct link. The auction in question is May 10th.)
https://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=65691
(Direct link to catalog.)
Things did not go according to plan. This is a hobbyist who took a great deal of care to acquire this collection, and had a very good eye for oddities, variations, or just darn good pieces - in Chicago in the 1980s, so you can just imagine the kinds of stuff she has just from a Breyer standpoint. (There are more than just Breyers involved, but I'm assuming by your presence here that that's what you're looking for.)
Of course, none of this work is visible in the auction listings, which are cursory at best, and oddly focused on the dimensions of boxes, rather than the contents within.
After much phoning and e-mailing, it was decided that I’d come in and help curate the rest of the auctions. This will involve sorting, organizing, matching boxes and sets back together, getting proper descriptions written focusing on the details collectors would actually be interested in, and so on.
In the meantime, the auctions that are running now can’t really be changed, and since I haven’t seen them in person yet, I can’t give you any more details than what I can see myself. All I can say for sure is that there’s good stuff to be had there, and will be in the near future.
I have been given the go ahead to "advertise" these auctions, as they are, from every avenue available to me. This is being done in the hope that it will generate a response enthusiastic enough to catch the auction house’s eye, and perhaps garner a little more respect for the items being auctioned off at a later date.
The ultimate goal of this exercise - other than the dispersal of a collection - is, I hope, to set an example for these kinds of sales and auctions in the future, and allay some very real fears that we all have about the dispensation of our beloved herds.
More on the story, of course, as it develops.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Catch and Release
Spent the past couple of days trying to get through a bit of a philosophical roadblock in the NaNo novel, and catching up on the word count. Haven’t had much time to think about the horses in the meantime. (Though, ironically, one of the few bits that involved the horses came up in the plot today.)
I did spot another Gloss Valentine and Heartbreaker set, though, at a store I normally wouldn’t have gone to, except for work. I was sort of surprised to still see it there, especially since it was unaccompanied by any of the more common matte-finished ones, on the shelf.
I didn’t buy it: I didn’t need it. I did a "catch and release" on the set, and let it go. Let someone else have the joy of finding it.
Sometimes hobbyists forget - and even I forget - that what an active, vocal subsection of the hobby wants or prefers isn’t necessarily what the general public, casual collectors, or the silent majority of hobbyists want or prefer. They didn’t switch over to matte-finishes in the late 1960s for nothing.
Reeves seems to have done a better-than-average job in estimating the desire of the online hobbyist community for this variation. The prices are a bit elevated on eBay and MH$P, but not hysterically so.
It’s a little too soon to tell if the prices will remain there. The market is in such a state of flux right now. It’s really difficult to tell if the determining factor in that state of flux is the economy, or market saturation. I tend to think it’s the economy: people aren’t buying, because they don’t have the money to spare.
When you’re flush with spendy cash, you can always find room for more horses. Don’t lie: I know you’ve spent just as much time as I have "rearranging" your herd to accommodate just one more horse to the shelf.
Of course, you could switch to Stablemates, but considering the sheer number of Stablemates releases there have been in the past 35+ years - and the average Stablemate addict’s propensity for rationalizing away every slight variation as "essential" - that’s really only a short term solution.
(Been there, done that.)
I’m hoping to be all caught up where I need to be on the novel by tomorrow, so the next post should be somewhat more substantial.
I did spot another Gloss Valentine and Heartbreaker set, though, at a store I normally wouldn’t have gone to, except for work. I was sort of surprised to still see it there, especially since it was unaccompanied by any of the more common matte-finished ones, on the shelf.
I didn’t buy it: I didn’t need it. I did a "catch and release" on the set, and let it go. Let someone else have the joy of finding it.
Sometimes hobbyists forget - and even I forget - that what an active, vocal subsection of the hobby wants or prefers isn’t necessarily what the general public, casual collectors, or the silent majority of hobbyists want or prefer. They didn’t switch over to matte-finishes in the late 1960s for nothing.
Reeves seems to have done a better-than-average job in estimating the desire of the online hobbyist community for this variation. The prices are a bit elevated on eBay and MH$P, but not hysterically so.
It’s a little too soon to tell if the prices will remain there. The market is in such a state of flux right now. It’s really difficult to tell if the determining factor in that state of flux is the economy, or market saturation. I tend to think it’s the economy: people aren’t buying, because they don’t have the money to spare.
When you’re flush with spendy cash, you can always find room for more horses. Don’t lie: I know you’ve spent just as much time as I have "rearranging" your herd to accommodate just one more horse to the shelf.
Of course, you could switch to Stablemates, but considering the sheer number of Stablemates releases there have been in the past 35+ years - and the average Stablemate addict’s propensity for rationalizing away every slight variation as "essential" - that’s really only a short term solution.
(Been there, done that.)
I’m hoping to be all caught up where I need to be on the novel by tomorrow, so the next post should be somewhat more substantial.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Clubbing, Pt. II
I didn’t feel like risking hypothermia, so I skipped out on the flea market today: we missed the snow, but still got the cold. There hadn’t been much to see the past few weeks anyway, and I had already blown my wad on Saturday on a couple pairs of work shoes and some quilt supplies at the local Salvation Army.
(Unworn Sanita Professional Clogs, in my size, for nine bucks? Darn right, I’m buying them!)
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again and again: collectibles aren’t that good of an investment:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/113722/worthless-collectibles-street
There’s been some discussion of this on Blab already, but since it ties in with previous post about the new Breyer programs, I’ll add my two cents here, rather than there.
The article refers to collectibles that are considered worthless in the secondary market - among them things like Beanie Babies, Norman Rockwell plates, Hess Trucks, Precious Moments, and anything sold by the Franklin Mint.
Why are they worthless? The article itself doesn’t provide a point by point checklist, but it basically boils down marketing: these are mass-produced items that are specifically targeted towards the collector’s market, and marketed (implicitly, or explicitly) as "investment" vehicles.
The only problem is that when it comes time to "cash in" your investment, the buyers aren’t there.
Seems like Breyers could fit into that definition rather neatly, right?
There are certainly a great many Breyer models that are essentially worthless: take a look at the sheer volume of items listed on eBay and MH$P, many of them priced at body-box level. On the flip side, there are also models that have a great deal of value, and have a good chance (I believe) of retaining a good portion of that value in the long term.
In that sense, I think Breyer models have more in common with collectibles like comic books and PEZ dispensers, rather than Beanie Babies and Precious Moments figurines. While the market for more recently minted comic books, PEZ dispensers and Breyer models is not great, it is not without occasional bright spots. The market for vintage pieces? Also not great, but with a little effort and research, you’ll do okay.
So, what distinguishes comic books, PEZ dispensers, and Breyers from the more worthless types of collectibles?
One word: History.
Having a history means that there was some distance between the start of manufacturing and the onset of direct marketing. That means that there’s a body of "stuff" made prior to the active or organized involvement of either the company or of collectors. It’s stuff that has become genuinely rare or hard to get in good condition because it got used up, worn out, and thrown out - as opposed to direct-marketed things that went straight from the factory warehouse to the collector’s attic.
There’s also history in its more intimate sense: did the objects themselves impact life or history in a meaningful way? Both comic books and Breyer models, for instance, contributed significantly to the happiness of countless children. (They were both certainly a part of mine.)
And thirdly, the history itself should also be interesting on its own. Was there mystery, drama, or complicated legal actions in that history? Lost objects, lost opportunities, or a universe of questions worth investigating?
You’re reading a blog devoted to that third type of history, so I think you already knew that.
Will I be joining up with either of the two new Breyer "clubs"? I remain undecided. My mind's been on other things, lately.
(Unworn Sanita Professional Clogs, in my size, for nine bucks? Darn right, I’m buying them!)
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again and again: collectibles aren’t that good of an investment:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/113722/worthless-collectibles-street
There’s been some discussion of this on Blab already, but since it ties in with previous post about the new Breyer programs, I’ll add my two cents here, rather than there.
The article refers to collectibles that are considered worthless in the secondary market - among them things like Beanie Babies, Norman Rockwell plates, Hess Trucks, Precious Moments, and anything sold by the Franklin Mint.
Why are they worthless? The article itself doesn’t provide a point by point checklist, but it basically boils down marketing: these are mass-produced items that are specifically targeted towards the collector’s market, and marketed (implicitly, or explicitly) as "investment" vehicles.
The only problem is that when it comes time to "cash in" your investment, the buyers aren’t there.
Seems like Breyers could fit into that definition rather neatly, right?
There are certainly a great many Breyer models that are essentially worthless: take a look at the sheer volume of items listed on eBay and MH$P, many of them priced at body-box level. On the flip side, there are also models that have a great deal of value, and have a good chance (I believe) of retaining a good portion of that value in the long term.
In that sense, I think Breyer models have more in common with collectibles like comic books and PEZ dispensers, rather than Beanie Babies and Precious Moments figurines. While the market for more recently minted comic books, PEZ dispensers and Breyer models is not great, it is not without occasional bright spots. The market for vintage pieces? Also not great, but with a little effort and research, you’ll do okay.
So, what distinguishes comic books, PEZ dispensers, and Breyers from the more worthless types of collectibles?
One word: History.
Having a history means that there was some distance between the start of manufacturing and the onset of direct marketing. That means that there’s a body of "stuff" made prior to the active or organized involvement of either the company or of collectors. It’s stuff that has become genuinely rare or hard to get in good condition because it got used up, worn out, and thrown out - as opposed to direct-marketed things that went straight from the factory warehouse to the collector’s attic.
There’s also history in its more intimate sense: did the objects themselves impact life or history in a meaningful way? Both comic books and Breyer models, for instance, contributed significantly to the happiness of countless children. (They were both certainly a part of mine.)
And thirdly, the history itself should also be interesting on its own. Was there mystery, drama, or complicated legal actions in that history? Lost objects, lost opportunities, or a universe of questions worth investigating?
You’re reading a blog devoted to that third type of history, so I think you already knew that.
Will I be joining up with either of the two new Breyer "clubs"? I remain undecided. My mind's been on other things, lately.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
An Interesting Twist
FYI: I wasn’t even aware of the high-priced resin on Auction Barn while composing my last post on money and value. I had seen that the discussion thread on Blab was insanely long, but hadn’t bothered to take a look because (a) I don’t have that kind of money to spend, (b) I don’t do resins, and (c) Auction Barn is just barely on my radar. (No slight on the site itself, it’s just that there’s generally nothing there of interest to me.) Me being totally crunched for time had a little to do with it, too.
It’s a shame that some thoughtless commenters have made the usual thoughtless comments, and have completely derailed what could have (actually, should have) been a meaningful discussion about the impact a sale like that has on the hobby. Instead, all we get are endless posts about how awesome capitalism is and how good this is for everybody involved - opinions that area about as controversial as the cuteness of kittens and puppies, and about as relevant.
I’m still a little discombobulated from the oral surgery yesterday, so that’s about as far as I’ll venture on that topic, for now. I’m hoping to incorporate most of what I need to say about it in an upcoming post about perspective (the philosophical kind. I’m decidedly less intrigued about the artistic variety.)
I finally found a little time yesterday to clean up the office a bit, so here’s a photo of a few of the weekend’s findings:
The Fighting Stallion is going to be a restoration experiment, the Bucking Bronco is a keeper (near mint, and just super!) and since I already own that particular variation of the Gem Twist, he'll be heading to the sales list after a bit more work.
The Gem Twist is from the first year of production (1993) and though you can’t see them in the photos, he sports the long, fully painted braids. The second version had the same braids, but with "ribbon dots" instead, and the third version had remodeled ribbons with similar dots. I don’t own the second version, but that’s more a matter of a lack of will than a reflection of its rarity: I have no idea which one is the rarest, to be honest. Haven’t bothered to do the research, though I probably should.
Aside from the ribbon remodeling, there was another significant, but invisible, change made to the mold: it was made less tippy. The earlier examples of the Gem Twist mold are extremely unstable; that glorious Moody tail made him exceptionally bottom heavy. You’ll find some that are "weighted" correctly, but it’s very hit or miss, and the guy I picked up Sunday is definitely a miss.
(He’s in otherwise pretty nice shape, other than a light scuffing and yellowing, so whoever owned him previously didn’t play with or display him much.)
Later models made with the Gem Twist mold tend to be less tippy, so Reeves was evidently aware of the problem, and took steps to correct it. I suspect some work was done on the interior surfaces of the mold (some areas shaved, others built up?) to even out the weight distribution. He’s still not the most trustworthy model on the shelf - none of mine are currently on display, mostly because of "Hurricane" Vita - but it does take a little bit more than a sneeze to knock the later examples over.
It’s a shame that some thoughtless commenters have made the usual thoughtless comments, and have completely derailed what could have (actually, should have) been a meaningful discussion about the impact a sale like that has on the hobby. Instead, all we get are endless posts about how awesome capitalism is and how good this is for everybody involved - opinions that area about as controversial as the cuteness of kittens and puppies, and about as relevant.
I’m still a little discombobulated from the oral surgery yesterday, so that’s about as far as I’ll venture on that topic, for now. I’m hoping to incorporate most of what I need to say about it in an upcoming post about perspective (the philosophical kind. I’m decidedly less intrigued about the artistic variety.)
I finally found a little time yesterday to clean up the office a bit, so here’s a photo of a few of the weekend’s findings:
The Fighting Stallion is going to be a restoration experiment, the Bucking Bronco is a keeper (near mint, and just super!) and since I already own that particular variation of the Gem Twist, he'll be heading to the sales list after a bit more work.
The Gem Twist is from the first year of production (1993) and though you can’t see them in the photos, he sports the long, fully painted braids. The second version had the same braids, but with "ribbon dots" instead, and the third version had remodeled ribbons with similar dots. I don’t own the second version, but that’s more a matter of a lack of will than a reflection of its rarity: I have no idea which one is the rarest, to be honest. Haven’t bothered to do the research, though I probably should.
Aside from the ribbon remodeling, there was another significant, but invisible, change made to the mold: it was made less tippy. The earlier examples of the Gem Twist mold are extremely unstable; that glorious Moody tail made him exceptionally bottom heavy. You’ll find some that are "weighted" correctly, but it’s very hit or miss, and the guy I picked up Sunday is definitely a miss.
(He’s in otherwise pretty nice shape, other than a light scuffing and yellowing, so whoever owned him previously didn’t play with or display him much.)
Later models made with the Gem Twist mold tend to be less tippy, so Reeves was evidently aware of the problem, and took steps to correct it. I suspect some work was done on the interior surfaces of the mold (some areas shaved, others built up?) to even out the weight distribution. He’s still not the most trustworthy model on the shelf - none of mine are currently on display, mostly because of "Hurricane" Vita - but it does take a little bit more than a sneeze to knock the later examples over.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Stock Market
Good, good day at the flea market today - lots of cheap, cool stuff, just the way I like it. I could have easily blown my whole wad, without much effort, on things like "Pajamas of Oriental Splendor" (seriously, that’s what the box said!), a chunk of petrified wood, or an animatronic Elvis head (no joke.) I decided to stick to my core competencies: Breyers, books, and minis.
(No pic today - it’s late enough as it is, and my time management skills apparently went on vacation sometime last week. Anyone who’s still waiting on a package or e-mail from me, I am working on it!)
Other than the indiscretion with the Valentine and Heartbreaker set, I’ve been so good with my money over the past two weeks. I’ve been rooting around the deepest, darkest corners of my closets before venturing out shopping, and rocking the coupons when I do have to set foot in the nearest enclosed retail compound.
Money is probably my least favorite topic to talk about in regards to the horses, especially in the contentious area of estimated price or value.
I am not completely uninterested in how much certain models are worth, but I am a little disturbed at how obsessed many hobbyists are with tracking prices - creating spreadsheets, graphs and flowcharts, like it’s the stock market. It is, kinda, but I’ve never been one to think of my horses as that crucial a part of my investment portfolio. (If I come close to breaking even, I’ll be happy.) Its mutable nature also turns me away: my time is better spent tracking down the unknown - and there’s a whole lot of that, in Breyer History - than keeping track of the unknowable.
When pressed, I can spit out the necessary numbers for you, and I’m usually not too far off the mark. I work in inventory services, and any one who works in that industry develops an almost savant-like ability to estimate price and quantity with just a quick glance. But as a general rule, I’m more interested in figuring out the "why" than the "how much".
Like with the Traditional Spirits and Rains: I do not particularly care in how much they’re "worth," except for the fact that their going prices are preventing me from adding them to my collection. I already have a Rain - the Lady Liberty BreyerFest SR from a couple years back - but I never got around to getting a Spirit when I could. (Technically I did own a Ringmaster - for about a week. It was a pick-up for a friend.)
I think there are a number of factors in play with the Spirit and Rain prices. One, neither mold has been in production for three years: that’s an eternity, nowadays. Two, there have been limited number of releases on each mold - two for Rain, and three for Spirit - and because of the cartoonish aspects of the molds, not a lot of future releases seem likely. And three, it’s the movie, silly: movie merchandise sells, and animated movie merchandise sells really well. A quick visit to the toy department at Kmart, Target or Walmart can tell you that.
The fact that the models are fairly good representations of the characters as they appear in the film also helps. (As they say in the industry, they’re very "on model.") That would help explain why the secondary market for the Classic and Stablemates Spirit merchandise isn’t quite as superheated. Out of its proper context (box and/or accessories) there’s nothing to distinguish them from any other Breyer Classic Mustang releases. There’s no mistaking the Traditional Spirit and Rain for anything other than what they’re supposed to be.
That’s also another reason why I have to roll my eyes whenever I see a hobbyist kvetching about Spirit’s eyebrows: you know, if it wasn’t for those eyebrows, you wouldn’t be able to sell your MIB Spirit for 150 dollars now, would you?
(No pic today - it’s late enough as it is, and my time management skills apparently went on vacation sometime last week. Anyone who’s still waiting on a package or e-mail from me, I am working on it!)
Other than the indiscretion with the Valentine and Heartbreaker set, I’ve been so good with my money over the past two weeks. I’ve been rooting around the deepest, darkest corners of my closets before venturing out shopping, and rocking the coupons when I do have to set foot in the nearest enclosed retail compound.
Money is probably my least favorite topic to talk about in regards to the horses, especially in the contentious area of estimated price or value.
I am not completely uninterested in how much certain models are worth, but I am a little disturbed at how obsessed many hobbyists are with tracking prices - creating spreadsheets, graphs and flowcharts, like it’s the stock market. It is, kinda, but I’ve never been one to think of my horses as that crucial a part of my investment portfolio. (If I come close to breaking even, I’ll be happy.) Its mutable nature also turns me away: my time is better spent tracking down the unknown - and there’s a whole lot of that, in Breyer History - than keeping track of the unknowable.
When pressed, I can spit out the necessary numbers for you, and I’m usually not too far off the mark. I work in inventory services, and any one who works in that industry develops an almost savant-like ability to estimate price and quantity with just a quick glance. But as a general rule, I’m more interested in figuring out the "why" than the "how much".
Like with the Traditional Spirits and Rains: I do not particularly care in how much they’re "worth," except for the fact that their going prices are preventing me from adding them to my collection. I already have a Rain - the Lady Liberty BreyerFest SR from a couple years back - but I never got around to getting a Spirit when I could. (Technically I did own a Ringmaster - for about a week. It was a pick-up for a friend.)
I think there are a number of factors in play with the Spirit and Rain prices. One, neither mold has been in production for three years: that’s an eternity, nowadays. Two, there have been limited number of releases on each mold - two for Rain, and three for Spirit - and because of the cartoonish aspects of the molds, not a lot of future releases seem likely. And three, it’s the movie, silly: movie merchandise sells, and animated movie merchandise sells really well. A quick visit to the toy department at Kmart, Target or Walmart can tell you that.
The fact that the models are fairly good representations of the characters as they appear in the film also helps. (As they say in the industry, they’re very "on model.") That would help explain why the secondary market for the Classic and Stablemates Spirit merchandise isn’t quite as superheated. Out of its proper context (box and/or accessories) there’s nothing to distinguish them from any other Breyer Classic Mustang releases. There’s no mistaking the Traditional Spirit and Rain for anything other than what they’re supposed to be.
That’s also another reason why I have to roll my eyes whenever I see a hobbyist kvetching about Spirit’s eyebrows: you know, if it wasn’t for those eyebrows, you wouldn’t be able to sell your MIB Spirit for 150 dollars now, would you?
Friday, August 20, 2010
I Hate My Teef!
Don’t be alarmed if you see me listing a lot of items for sale on MH$P in the next few days; I have a rather large dental bill coming due soon, and while I can pay it, I’d rather not pull money from the savings account to do it.
But I’m not selling the Glossy All Glory. Selling it would just about cover the cost of the bill, free and clear, but that’s not something I’m even going to contemplate. I don’t enter contests like that for the money. I do it for the satisfaction of accomplishing something. Period. The money will just have to come from somewhere else.
That somewhere else is… my BreyerFest leftovers. Not a lot of excitement there - some nice pieces, but nothing that’ll generate a lot of cash quickly. One good Chalky, some decent reference material leftovers, a few okay bodies, some TRU Specials and not very recent regular runs. Sigh. Maybe I’ll get lucky at the flea market this weekend. (Yeah, that’s it, let’s think positive!)
Actually, I don’t mind dwelling in the "bottom" of the OF Breyer market. There’s a whole lot less chance for fraud there. Sure, I’ve had my share of scammers - like the lady who faked a near-death experience to get out of paying for a measly $17 horse on eBay - but nothing that’s risen to the level of out-and-out grifting. Which I think might have been going on with that whole Glossy Prize Nokota nonsense being discussed on Blab recently.
The thread, if you want to read it: Glossy Nokota Transaction Gone Bad
And if you can't or don’t want to read it, the summary: very young girl with obvious limited knowledge of the hobby and of Glossy Prize Models attempted to scam several hobbyists, simultaneously, with both real Glosses she scammed from other hobbyists, and with Fakes. Possibly in collusion with her father, whose attempts at recompense may or may not have been intentionally ill-worded.
Every once and a while I’m going to "get lucky" and find something pretty sweet that I can make a lot of moolah on, but the lower end of the market is my bread and butter. Five dollars here, twenty dollars there: it doesn’t seem like much, but I make it up in volume. I did pretty well at BreyerFest this year with my sales - the best sales in several years, in fact - and I don’t think I sold any individual item for more than 50 dollars. I managed to cover most of my expenses, and if it wasn’t for my dental issues, the remainder of those expenses would have been paid off by next month.
While I’d like to get as much money as I can for whatever I find in the secondary market, I’d rather just take a smaller cut and rotate the stock out. Nothing irritates me more than seeing some of the same horses listed over and over on eBay or MH$P. The word "shopworn" comes to mind: not the physical damage done to merchandise while it sits on the shelf unsold, but to the perception of the item in the marketplace. Some shoppers may start getting the impression that there must be something wrong with it if it hasn’t sold yet - above and beyond the price, which is the usual reason a good model doesn’t sell in a timely manner.
I’d rather take a smaller profit or sell it at a loss. If someone else wants to try and get the rest of the value out of it, they can be my guest.
On a more personal note, I’d like to note the passing of one of our "part-time" kitties. His "house name" was Jasmine, but we called him Sumo, for rather obvious reasons:
Teeny head, big body! (With an adorable, tiny kitten voice to match.) He and his little brother Hoover technically lived next door with the neighbors, but spent so much time in our yard - either hanging out on the porch, or cruising for vermin in the garden - that we always referred to them as our "part-time" cats. (Our neighborhood is fairly secluded with low traffic, but they never ventured very far. There was no need: the squirrels and chipmunks were fat and plentiful.)
He was the most lovable cat in the history of cats. If you were outside for more than five minutes, you’d be greeted with either a vigorous leg rub or a head butt that would just about knock you over from the 20 pounds of weight behind it.
I had been so wrapped up in my own issues that I hadn’t noticed the lack of recent personal appearances, and the neighbors hadn’t been super social lately. I’d seen Hoover sunning himself on the driveway, and just assumed all was well. I knew he had been getting up in years - 15 or 16 years old or so - and was not as nimble as he once was, and just assumed for those reasons that he had been made a permanent indoor kitty.
Goodbye, my happy Sumo. May the squirrels and chipmunks be fatter and even more plentiful in the afterlife.
But I’m not selling the Glossy All Glory. Selling it would just about cover the cost of the bill, free and clear, but that’s not something I’m even going to contemplate. I don’t enter contests like that for the money. I do it for the satisfaction of accomplishing something. Period. The money will just have to come from somewhere else.
That somewhere else is… my BreyerFest leftovers. Not a lot of excitement there - some nice pieces, but nothing that’ll generate a lot of cash quickly. One good Chalky, some decent reference material leftovers, a few okay bodies, some TRU Specials and not very recent regular runs. Sigh. Maybe I’ll get lucky at the flea market this weekend. (Yeah, that’s it, let’s think positive!)
Actually, I don’t mind dwelling in the "bottom" of the OF Breyer market. There’s a whole lot less chance for fraud there. Sure, I’ve had my share of scammers - like the lady who faked a near-death experience to get out of paying for a measly $17 horse on eBay - but nothing that’s risen to the level of out-and-out grifting. Which I think might have been going on with that whole Glossy Prize Nokota nonsense being discussed on Blab recently.
The thread, if you want to read it: Glossy Nokota Transaction Gone Bad
And if you can't or don’t want to read it, the summary: very young girl with obvious limited knowledge of the hobby and of Glossy Prize Models attempted to scam several hobbyists, simultaneously, with both real Glosses she scammed from other hobbyists, and with Fakes. Possibly in collusion with her father, whose attempts at recompense may or may not have been intentionally ill-worded.
Every once and a while I’m going to "get lucky" and find something pretty sweet that I can make a lot of moolah on, but the lower end of the market is my bread and butter. Five dollars here, twenty dollars there: it doesn’t seem like much, but I make it up in volume. I did pretty well at BreyerFest this year with my sales - the best sales in several years, in fact - and I don’t think I sold any individual item for more than 50 dollars. I managed to cover most of my expenses, and if it wasn’t for my dental issues, the remainder of those expenses would have been paid off by next month.
While I’d like to get as much money as I can for whatever I find in the secondary market, I’d rather just take a smaller cut and rotate the stock out. Nothing irritates me more than seeing some of the same horses listed over and over on eBay or MH$P. The word "shopworn" comes to mind: not the physical damage done to merchandise while it sits on the shelf unsold, but to the perception of the item in the marketplace. Some shoppers may start getting the impression that there must be something wrong with it if it hasn’t sold yet - above and beyond the price, which is the usual reason a good model doesn’t sell in a timely manner.
I’d rather take a smaller profit or sell it at a loss. If someone else wants to try and get the rest of the value out of it, they can be my guest.
On a more personal note, I’d like to note the passing of one of our "part-time" kitties. His "house name" was Jasmine, but we called him Sumo, for rather obvious reasons:
Teeny head, big body! (With an adorable, tiny kitten voice to match.) He and his little brother Hoover technically lived next door with the neighbors, but spent so much time in our yard - either hanging out on the porch, or cruising for vermin in the garden - that we always referred to them as our "part-time" cats. (Our neighborhood is fairly secluded with low traffic, but they never ventured very far. There was no need: the squirrels and chipmunks were fat and plentiful.)
He was the most lovable cat in the history of cats. If you were outside for more than five minutes, you’d be greeted with either a vigorous leg rub or a head butt that would just about knock you over from the 20 pounds of weight behind it.
I had been so wrapped up in my own issues that I hadn’t noticed the lack of recent personal appearances, and the neighbors hadn’t been super social lately. I’d seen Hoover sunning himself on the driveway, and just assumed all was well. I knew he had been getting up in years - 15 or 16 years old or so - and was not as nimble as he once was, and just assumed for those reasons that he had been made a permanent indoor kitty.
Goodbye, my happy Sumo. May the squirrels and chipmunks be fatter and even more plentiful in the afterlife.
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