Fancy Bred

Where is fancy bred, in the heart or in the head?

 -William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

                    (And Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka)

There she was on the television news, clutching about a dozen copies of John Lennon’s LP Double Fantasy against her chest as if rescuing them from a burning building, smiling and just slightly out of breath.  Just exactly what the reporter asked her I don’t remember, but her answer was something about the LPs being collector’s items.  You see, John Lennon had just been murdered in New York City.  My thought was, can’t they just print more?  They could and they did.  What she probably should have done was buy out the entire store, because if the Double Fantasy LP has become a collector’s item it’s not because of the death of the artist but because of the death of the medium.  My memory sets the price for LPs in 1980 at about five bucks.  An admittedly short Internet search puts the best price of the Double Fantasy LP at just under $19.00 today.  That’s a 280% profit in 30 years.  I wonder if the Facebook stock with garner that much in 2042?

            This week a jersey that Babe Ruth wore sold at auction for 4.4 million dollars.  Unlike LPs from the eighties they can’t make more clothing worn by the Bambino so that jersey is worth more.  But not to everyone.  I like baseball gererally and the San Francisco Giants particularly.  I wouldn’t take a second look at a Babe Ruth jersey but I’d take several at one worn by Willie Mays.  But would I pay 4.4 million bucks for it?  Even if I had it, or if I had 20 times it, I don’t think I would.  I’m not a “collector’s item” guy.  I know people with signed baseballs and I like their collections but more for the esthetics than as an investment.

            Awhile back someone paid a couple million for the first Superman comic.  It went for that price because it was in good condition and very rare, and because someone was willing to pay that price.  Maybe in a few years he’ll sell it for twice or thrice that much.  But it’s already not as rare as it was on auction day.  About two weeks after the unnamed buyer got it, a nicer copy was found.  So if his copy was “very” rare, then the discovery of another, better one could only devalue his.  It’s a gamble like stocks, but unlike stocks you can’t always liquidate collectibles when you want the cash.

            This week a man in San Francisco was arrested for printing fake barcodes for Lego collectibles.  He would go to Target stores and put his labels on expensive Star Wars Lego items, purchase them at maybe 10% of their retail price, and then sell them on Ebay at 100% of their retail price.  What is interesting about this story is that not long, long ago (about three days), and not so far, far away (Mountain View) another man was doing the exact same thing.  The authorities describe the actions of these two men as, “extremely labor-intensive and not particularly lucrative.”  Those same authorities have found no connection between the two other than that they are willing to put a lot of man hours in for little return, and they “targeted” Star Wars Lego items. 

            These items are not rare.  They haven’t been locked away in a barn since the Yankees shared the Polo Grounds with the Giants or hidden in a childhood closet untouched since the Truman administration.  They’re new and there is no reason the Lego Company can’t make more.  Just like printing more John Lennon albums in 1981.  They are collector’s items for no other reason than the Lego company says they are.  They are called “manufactured collectables” in the industry. 

In a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the bad guy are sitting in a Cairo bar.  The bad guy – I forget his name but I remember that he totally eats a fly by accident in a later scene- pulls out a watch and comments how it’s only worth a couple of dollars today but if it gets buried for a thousand years it becomes priceless.  Maybe these two guys should hold on to their Star Wars items and then sell them in 20 or 30 years instead of right away.  On Amazon I found a Lego Star Wars Ultimate Collector’s Millennium Falcon for $2,700.  Those are serious dollars but I can’t see where how many have actually sold.

            What makes something a collector’s item?  Is it its rarity, the demand, a flaw, perhaps contact with someone or something famous or infamous, whim of fancy, a emotional connection to an childhood memory, marketing brilliance, or an intangible something that just strikes you?

            One man’s trash will always be another man’s treasure.  Whether its old baseball paraphernalia, brand new toys, or comic books that depict the origin of a pop culture icon, some things will be assigned value via the heart and some the head.  In the mean time, I’ll be stuffing my boy’s Lego Star Wars toys back in the boxes as soon as they move out.  Daddy needs a retirement fund.