Effects of Time On Valuation of Loot
While in Japan, I found a copy of this book. Originally retailed for 4000 yen, this artbook now have a street price that exceeds the original retail price.
But why is this so? Thinking back, over the years I’ve seen quite a few anime artbooks that were sold second-handed, and far majority of them were available from used book stores for less than their suggested retail price (and usually, but not always, lower than the discounted price of the new book). The example I linked above is probably more an exception in multiple ways, that it is a 2002 book that’s really out of print, that it has a place in a popular, long-running franchise, and there’s probably something about the illustrator that makes the book a particularly valuable collectible.
I think the book’s intrinsic nature as a collectible also plays a part. If it’s a nice, hard-cover bounded thing of a popular artist that hasn’t released much in terms of artbooks, and it’s out of print, then it probably will fetch a good price? Versus some cheap, stapled thing that was equally available in terms of supply and demand? I’m not sure. Is there some way to track how much are those super-expensive Range Murata books besides googling and looking at different online stores?
Now that I think of it, artbooks are fairly solid collectible items in terms of their general residual value. Unless you’re something like this guy.
In contrast, residual values of DVDs have the risk of being just totally washed out via either re-prints or re-bundling or even worse, re-release via a remaster or remaster+high def. That’s not even mentioning how that supply-demand curve is shifted towards whichever direction. But it isn’t to say there are no exceptions. This is a particularly mind-boggling exception in that licensing hell has trapped the pre-existing copies in a way that totally over-inflates the R1 release’s value (as of Jul. 14, 2009) beyond the Japanese Blu-Ray release. That is simply incredible; but hopefully this is just a glitch in the way of the world. Hopefully, in time, the licensing situation will resolve, and prices will come down once again via a new release.
But yeah, I would easily say that far most of my own personal collection depreciates at a rate of something like 75% of its value over the course of 2 years, discounting the really special cases like autographed items, original/actual artwork, cels, promotional posters or OOP goods. Maybe I also shouldn’t count LDs and VHS tapes, lol. Anyways, that 75% is more a feeling than a real number, so don’t take it seriously. If you do want to measure it though, you could probably look at how the video licensees are doing in terms of their bottom line as an indication…but this is where the common notion of bootlegging–instead of Gucci, you have Death Note–really hurts Japan’s bottom line, and not the usual, copyright-infringing notion.
So it seems, anime merch really is a crappy way to spend money… at least that kind of merch, at least using residual value as a measuring stick. Let’s not even talk about the things that really aren’t worth anything to begin with, like most cell phone charms or pins or keychains. Some things might hold their resell value if they have a lot of intrinsic value to begin with (like that Macross 15th anniversary leather jacket, or whatever). I don’t think figures do, sadly…but supply and demand generally favor demand for those items.
At the same time though, I think the medium is still relatively young on the scale of all things collectible. CDs didn’t take off until the early- to mid-90s, really; DVDs at least until 2000 so. Non-garage kit figures didn’t take off until like, 2006 or so, although gunpla-type things have been around much longer and could indicate how value plays out for all figures in that same general market. Or maybe action figures? That never really made much headway into the western markets until recently, outside the mainstream.
Do you still have your Pokemon cards? How much are they now?
Ah well, just one more thing to lament about spending too much money on nonsense.
I don’t know how many people actually purchased those Pokemon cards to play, but I was one of them and even though the resale value is pretty horrid, I think the value of the enjoyment I derived out of playing that game is roughly equal to what I paid, so while on the surface, it is a lot of money on nonsense, I can’t say I regret doing so. Thinking back, it wasn’t even a well-designed game. Oh well :p
I was quite surprised to see how inflated the cost of the 5 cm/sec R1 DVD is though.
A couple things. An item is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. (I know it’s one of those sayings, but it’s truth). Second, you should possibly note collectibles such as original records, limited released CDs, or other things from the music world (ticket stubs, photos, posters).
If we consider some of those items and relate them back to similar items in another entertainment medium, we might see something… I’m not sure what, perhaps the opposite, who knows. ^_^
Pokemon might not be the best kind of cards to expect price appreciation from. Magic: The Gathering, on the other hand, is a better bet, partly because some might still be rare, useful in competitive play, or both.
A long time ago, I read a Pitchfork Media article lamenting the death of vinyl, because the packaging art died with it. Packaging is also where the collectible value lies, but it’s questionable if people place a lot of value in even that.
CD cases (and even single DVD cases) being what they are, I’m a lot less interested in admiring whatever inserts there are than I am in what’s on the plastic platter. But what’s on the platter is just bits, which could possibly be obtained for the cost of internet access.
So viewing my purchases as an investment is inevitably depressing. If you don’t intend to part with any of them, thinking about how much they might fetch is also sort of like running around in circles.
I’ve found that resale value is difficult to judge without proper knowledge of the associated fanbase. Pokemon is one of the best examples, I think, though admittedly, it’s also the one I have the most experience in. I’m surprised to hear that you think cell phone charms, pins, and little items like that aren’t worth much considering that most of them are very limited run and difficult to come by after their initial releases. It IS a case of supply and demand, but consider that the smaller the fanbase, the smaller the run is, so there will almost always be a case of demand exceeding supply, making for a healthy collectors’ market.
Pokemon cards from the first several expansions aren’t worth much, especially in the US, where that was the height of its popularity — EVERYONE has those cards. But limited release cards and first editions will still fetch a pretty penny, especially if you know who to sell to.
I’m not all that familiar with artbooks, though most of the ones I’m interested in seem to be incredibly hard to come by.
I’m not that interested in resale, though sometimes stuff like this http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%AD%94%E6%B3%95%E5%B0%91%E5%A5%B3%E9%9A%8A%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B9-%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B8%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B5%E3%82%A6%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF-TV%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9/dp/B0002B58DQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1248668302&sr=8-4 tempts me, at five times the price I purchased it for.
nice pick-up…
The music’s nice, I just can’t fathom what would justify a price like that. The Yahoo auctions are set at a similar price-point, though I don’t know if any of the discs are ever sold.
It’s all about supply & demand. Unfortunately (for the values of our collections), the demand really isn’t that high for most things. Even when there is high demand, the supply is usually sufficient. Now obviously, there are a lot of factors in the supply/ demand interplay - show popularity, seiyuu popularity, director popularity, character popularity, availability, initial price, first press, limited edition, etc.
When a show that still has some demand goes OOP, the price skyrockets. Not necessarily because that’s what the market will bear, but because the seller only needs one person to buy at that price. That’s one of the major differences between selling mass-market vs second-hand.
In my experience, figures usually hold their value pretty well, simply because they usually don’t get produced in very high quantities. Artbooks are 50/50 since they’re a lot easier to reprint. For DVDs and CDs it’ll probably need to go OOP for it to have any real value after a year or so.
Overall though, you definitely can’t get into collecting anime expecting it to be a sound investment. But then, that’s not really why we buy this stuff, is it? :)
Even cels have dropped in value with the passage of time. I think there are fewer cel collectors now, and, except maybe for Evangelion, people are starting to forget the shows from the cel era.
But, yes, I didn’t get into this as an investment activity.
It hasn’t been nearly long enough for people to get nostalgic about Charizard and start forking over hundreds of dollars for it yet. I own several thousand Pokemon cards, and I still play the game. I think it’s way too early to expect value.
@dm: the point about valuation is not so much why we’re doing it, but in how we value our purchases. Let’s say there are two awesome things you can get and you have only budget for one. I would select the one awesome thing that depreciates less over time!
@digitalboy: You’re a while away from anything of value I think. Graduate from school and start make some real money first…