I can’t remember exactly where I first heard this concept, but there is idea of a “lifecycle” to collecting that I find intriguing. The first part of the notion is that for any collector there is a set time-frame that surrounds their formative years going back and forward about 15 years. So, with me, for instance, I was born in 1977, and my formative years are basically 1981-1991. Going backwards and forwards 15 years gives me a collecting range of 1966-2006. Taking a hard look at the stuff that I’m into and actively collect, this 40-year window is pretty accurate. I’m thinking of stuff like the music I’m into, bands like the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, the later Beatles and Beach Boys, T.Rex, the New York Dolls and David Bowie leading into Punk, Hardcore, Post Punk, and Alternative, and kind of ending with the last big NYC scene in the early 2000s (the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, TV on the Radio and The Rapture.) Sure, there are a handful of bands or albums that pre or postdate that window, but it’s fairly accurate. It’s the same for movies, ephemera, toys, etc.
The second part of the idea is that this window stays static, and as we move on through life we become further and further removed from the tail end and we enter into the windows of other collectors. As one window’s general age bracket goes through life, the perceived value of the things that fall in that window slowly increase as the income of those within the age rises and they’re willing to spend more on less. But eventually, on a long enough timeline, the items on the tail end of the spectrum being to age out of the window of popularity shared by all of the folks who would be into that particular thing. Eventually, what is generally popular to the largest possible group of people moves on down the timeline and the perceived value of the things on the tail end of the spectrum start to decline, and thus the prices of those things start to fall.
The way it was framed to me was in examining the merchandising around a character like Howdy Doody. There was a time when the vintage marionettes and toys would fetch hundreds of dollars at auction, but these days it’s fairly easy to find dolls and toys for $20 or less. The folks who are or were (RIP Paul Rebuens) into Howdy Doody aren’t the ones pop culture is concerned with anymore and those folks are aging out of collecting actively and there’s no interest from younger collectors to pick up that stuff.
I bring this up because lately there seems to be a feeding frenzy of sorts in my window of interest that is driving prices up on practically everything that I’m into. If you’re looking to collect vintage 80s era toys, trading cards, or whatever you thought was amazing in that beloved decade, you better have a lot of extra cash on hand. Mint items in particular are becoming close to unaffordable for most folks as carded figures and gem mint comics are sent off to grading houses and folks expect to find values that are 1k times the likely actual worth. Since that stuff is so expensive, the dregs, the incomplete figures, well worn out of print books, partial sets of trading cards, what have you, all rise in prices as folks snap up every potential deal they can find. Some of this is in the hopes of flipping the items, some of it is hoarding, and some of it is pure FOMO. The point is, it’s rough out there for collectors.
But, as my window of interest stays static and I age out of it, I’m finally seeing the instance when stuff from the tail end has actually started to drop off the radar of collectors and prices are finally dropping on some of the weird, fringe items that I’m still into but apparently not a lot of others are. The place where I’ve seen this the most is in vintage school supplies. Stuff like Trapper Keepers and mechanical pencils, stuff that was routinely fetching $100 or more 5-10 years ago, is now dropping down into the $20-50 range.There was a time when I just couldn’t justify purchasing vintage Trapper Keepers at exorbitant rates, but $20 is way more my speed. I wrote about my recent obsession with the line of Mead Rad Dog Data Center binders that are for all intents and purposes Trapper Keepers without the specific branding. Well, I’ve branched out and have been finding a lot of stuff in this sub-genre of Mead products. Their Organizers and Data Centers in particular have been really fun to hunt down, and they’re super cheap too, Some of the designs on these binders feature the exact same ones that pop up on Trapper Keepers too.
One of the Trapper Keepers that I had my eye on for years featured a bunch of knock-off Star Wars spaceships that is pure 80s nostalgia.I finally found that exact design in Mead’s Organizer series in mint condition with the original sell sheet still attached, and it was only like $25 shipped as opposed to the $120 for the Trapper Keeper version. The binder features off brand X-Wings, Snow Speeders and even a modified Viper from Battlestar Galactica.
Now, part of of this is also a concession, opting for a more obscure Mead imprint than the uber popular Trapper Keepers, but I still believe even these would have fetched more on eBay 10 years ago. Either way it’s really cool and it’s just making my appreciation of the Mead brand grow.I guess I’m a Mead nerd now.
