How much does investing guide your purchasing decisions? (1 Viewer)

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wadepat

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Gentle Friends,

As I have reviewed many of the posts on this forum, I have noticed great interest in the growing monetary value of collectable figures and sets, especially from the King and Country fans. As I generally purchase what captures my interest and what my budget can allow, I seldom give too much consideration to what value the item may achieve in the future. If something costs too much and, if I cannot pay cash, I do not purchase the item. In short, I collect mostly for pleasure. I do not generally spend money on my hobby with the intent of making money. It seems to me, that building a collection that is satisfying to my personal preferences is what the hobby is all about. But, as I learned long ago, I do not always have a complete understanding of the motives of others. Consequently, I am interested in how much weight others give to investment value when they make decisions regarding what to purchase. Therefore, my question is, "How much weight do you give investment value when deciding what toy soldier figures, sets, and vehicles to purchase?" Your thoughts and comments will be most welcome!

Warm regards,

Pat
 
For me the answer is simple,
Zip, nada, zilch!

I collect for one reason and thats my pleasure.

I think its great if they become more valuable but I wont be selling them and I hope my kids will be smarter than the fellow some of us saw recently take a bath on what his sets were worth simply due to lack of education or caring. I have been trying to put the entire collection in a database with all the information they might need when I check out. Of course I hope they will keep some of them.:rolleyes:

Have a great day!

Dave
 
Dave,

Thanks for your reply. It sounds like our philosophies parallel one another. I, too, have no plans for selling my collection or even selling parts of it. I am simply too fond of what I have collected.

I also have my entire collection catalogued for my wife and children should something happen to me. I have plans to develop a written set suggestions, complete with dealer lists, on how my heirs might go about disposing of my collection if that is what they wish to do. Of course, like yourself, I hope my heirs might want to save some of the more rare and expensive items for their own enjoyment.

Warm regards,

Pat
 
Wadepat, my congradulations on a Very Interesting Topic! I first began collecting all the old toys I could not aford in my childhood. In the 1950's

Lionel, Dinky, Revell Model Kits and others produced Catalogs with all the items we dreamed of. When I became an adult, I begain to collect many of

these elusive items. For the first 10 to 15 years I searched for items, there was of course no E-bay, just endless shows and garage sales. There were

no price guides so early items were hard to find but fairly inexpensive. As more people became interested prices begain to rise (as we now see with

King & Country) I have experienced this numerious times. What to do?

Before long, dinky toys once costing $10 now went for $300 to $3500, Lionel trains, well some are the price of automobiles, do you stop looking?

Finally I decided to let my collection pay for itself, now if I see something of interest, no matter the cost, I simply pass something else along to

another collector. I only deal in like new items, and do not choose to obtain everything as some of my colleges do. Condition is most important

to me. In the last few years I have greatly reduced my collection to items that I can display, I have friends that have items in boxes so numerious

they don't even know for sure what they have.

When I begain with King & Country I was only concerned with the pieces, after a couple of hundred sets you would be foolish to ignore the value.

It is simply the recoginition of a quality product and Andy C 's creativity.


Njja
 
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Hi
I also buy what i like, Like any one its always nice too see something you own go up in value ,but i think if you are buying in the hope everything will continue to go up in value you could well get caught short,i would consider investing buying a rental property or shares [something that gives a yield without having to sell it] .Regardless of the fact old king and country etc
has markedly increased in value that is pure speculation in my books.
I think if you stick to the enjoyement you cant go wrong .
regards Rob
 
Hi Guys

Njja has made some good points but I will continue to collect what I think I like for the time being, especially since I dont have an unlimited source of fund s for this stuff.

Anyway Hope you all have good luck finding good sets for the right prices!

Dave
 
I also only buy models I like, and if some increase in value that's just a bonus as I don't sell many. After 35 years collecting diecast I've found that investors-collectors cause over inflated prices that eventually plunge hurting the pockets of those that got carried away with speculating.
 
I collect K&C and other stuff because i absolutely love it, pure and simple. I've been buying quite a bit lately because i'm addicted. The addiction thing is a problem i'm sure a few other people here have. I buy loads of Forces of Valor tanks and vehicles and lets face it that stuff is never going to make me rich in resale but it's good fun to play with.

As for investment purposes. Nah not really. It's always a nice bonus though when you see something go up in value.

This game isn't good for investment really. The market is too variable. I don't have a high paid job to afford this stuff but I was fortunate enough to inherit a considerable sum of money. I invested it in property and now 3 years later have doubled it. That's where real life changing/enhancing investment is i guess.
 
I buy strickly for enjoyment, but I will not buy a K&C piece if it is of inferior quality, just to save a few bucks.
I was long into baseball cards, never ever thinking I would sell them. Well along came K&C, and out went the cards.
Condition is everything when it comes to selling, so when it comes to selling, never say never.
Gary
 
I collect for the pleasure not the cash. I have made some foolish selling decisions when it comes investmenting in toy soldiers, but I only want to do what appeals to my sense of enjoyment. I have sold or traded all of my K&C DD and WS sets with numbers less than 20. I had many multiples of most of them (except WS1 to 4) and sold or traded them for far less than what the market is bringing today. Do I regret it, sure, only because I could always use more money to buy more sets of Napoleonics. I suppose that I have invested thirty to fourty thousand dollars in my passion. I am sure that there are others who have spent much more and others who are just begining to spend, but if I were interested in fishing I might spend twenty thousand just on the boat alone. Add insurance, cost of trips to use it and other costs, the price of fishing can be equal to or greater than collecting toy soldiers. You can apply any hobby to this example. Its all a matter of commitment and ability to spend. I love toy soldiers, always have, always will. :) Michael
 
Once you sell something "Forget About It, It's History" I usually sell items

based on what they cost me to begin with. Often when I am switching areas

of interest I pass along items with a target price for a group of items in mind.

The closer I get to my target the lower the price for existing items in the

sale group. I sold a Mint Boxed Dinky Pinder Set for $200, now they bring

$1000, oh well, at the time I felt $200 was a good price. Life is to short to

worry about what might have been!

Njja
 
sceic2 said:
I suppose that I have invested thirty to fourty thousand dollars in my passion. I am sure that there are others who have spent much more and others who are just begining to spend, but if I were interested in fishing I might spend twenty thousand just on the boat alone. Add insurance, cost of trips to use it and other costs, the price of fishing can be equal to or greater than collecting toy soldiers. You can apply any hobby to this example. Its all a matter of commitment and ability to spend. I love toy soldiers, always have, always will. :) Michael
Click to expand...

Yeah, those "free fish" add up. Patrick McManus, our favorite outdoor writer has a great essay on how much it costs to get your "free deer" when you go deer hunting after purchasing all the gear, necessary and otherwise to hunt. It's a riot.
 
I second the comment that this is an interesting topic for discussion. I personally have never sold a single King & Country item. I have, in fact, given duplicates away or offered them to others in trade for something I don't have (often something of far lesser value, for example I traded my co-author Larry one of my spare wood tigers (one of which sold on Ebay for $2,150) for a wood Japanese Zero (which sell for between $450 and $600)). I don't collect to make a profit, and would only sell my collection in the case of an emergency, like needing money for my son's college tuition or for an operation not covered by insurance. For me, this is a passion, a pleasure. I don't think there are too many toy soldier collectors in it for the money. At least I hope not.
 
For fun and nothing else. This is why I buy Britains and not K&C. They look good in a diorama and I don't have to remortgage the house to get them. I have been bitten way too many times by the 'ol unstable collectibles market. When I was into lighthouses I too would buy only the best sculptures available and I payed dearly for them. Now they sit in boxes in a closet because they are lucky to get a bid on ebay and when they do it usually is for 50-60% of what I paid. I bought many pieces in the $500-$1000 range at shows and now they are just another trinket on the shelf that sells for $50-$100 if you are lucky. Believe me from experience, when someone pays $1000+ for a collectible, they aren't doing it solely on admiration, they are also planning on a good return for their money in the future. If I told my wife I was paying $1000 for that tank, by God I better be able to prove to her that it will be worth that or more if I ever sell it. I don't worry about investment value anymore, I do it totally for the fun of it. I play with them, handle them constantly, don't keep the boxes and if one gets broken.. that's ok it didn't cost me much, throw it away and get another maybe. To me the soldiers are only accents for the dioramas just like the trees, stones, grass, etc.
 
This is just fun for me as these soldiers are a living illustration of the history I like to read about. Appreciation is a bonus but since I'm not planning to sell these, it's irrelevant. I haven't and don't intend to sell any part of my collection. Heck, why buy it then? I've bought a few pieces with the sole idea of selling them and I did all right. Can't complain. But nothing I didn't have. I also sell some for a friend but as for my stuff, no way. If I have to worry about whether I should sell a piece because it's appreciating, forget it. I'll stop collecting.
 
I too also do it for fun. Not just King and Country but Britains, Conte, HJB, Frontline, FOV, Patriot models, Del Prado, and so on.
 
Alexdakar said:
I too also do it for fun. Not just King and Country but Britains, Conte, HJB, Frontline, FOV, Patriot models, Del Prado, and so on.
Click to expand...

Yes, but isn't it true you have a small oil well or two pumping in your

backyard?



Njja
 
I'll join the "not at all" crowd. I have heard some people comment that they buy one for fun, and more to put away. It's a free country and that's their right, but I'm basically an overgrown kid. Toys were meant to be played with! The stuff that I have in the box is because I don't have enough dsiplay space to get them out.

Like many others I can easily get compulsive about the collecting, but then I ask myself "why?" and calm down. That's why I'm looking at selling one or two older GI vehicles, sacrificing a "complete" colection to get more buildings and the stuff I need to create some scenes that I want.

Gary
 
I am getting ready to sell a few retired sets to get money to get some of the newer stuff. I probably will regret it later:(
 
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