Been reading this thread and some of you have made some excellent and interesting comments.
I've been collecting for over 50 years, been a full time retailer for 18.
IMO, the economy has little to do with any of this. I travel quite a bit to shows (ok, I don't do 50, but I do more than my fair share) and the roads, hotels and restaurants are all crowded. At the shows, the crowds are still there and they are spending money, that is for sure as if they were not, I wouldn't keep going.
As far as collectors; when you collect anything for a long period of time, at some point, I don't care how big your house is, you are going to run out of room. One of my long time customers started with one curio cabinet in his computer room, then he had two, then three, then he remodeled his basement and put beautiful shelving in and bought several more cabinets. Fast forward to today and all the shelves are filled, all the cabinets are too.
He has slowed down quite a bit in his purchasing, money has nothing to do with it, space has everything to do with it. He either has to sell some stuff to make room, do more remodeling, or stop collecting, it's that simple.
I see several of you in this thread who used to buy from me; some of you have told me about the space issue and you're slowing down, others have moved on to other dealers, it is what it is.
At some point, you have to wonder as you get older, how much is enough, when to say when, a couple of you have told me your sons/grandsons have zero interest in toy soldiers, so what's going to happen to your collections when you are gone? Some soul searching is being done as to when to say when.
This year, I have been offered the most collections than any year previously and it's only July; have passed on several, have purchased others. The issue there is who is going to buy all of this aftermarket stuff, it's sad but this is not a young mans hobby, I'd venture to guess the average collector is 40 to 70, with the heart of that age group being 50 to 65. As more and more collections come on the market, the value of things is going to drop, it's called supply and demand. Also, as collectors age, retire, downsize and move to smaller homes, get sick and pass away, more and more collections are going to come on the market and again, who's going to buy all of this stuff or more importantly, what are they going to be wiling to pay.
This hobby, like any hobby, has brought out the speculators, who buy several of a limited edition item with the hope of flipping it to people waiting in line to buy it. From what I've seen the past few years, there aren't a lot of people waiting in that line.
The real issue as a couple of you have pointed out is the way a hobby grows is by new collectors coming into the hobby and buying new items. As a kid, I lived and breathed toy soldiers, as did all of my friends. I got out of the hobby for awhile, then got back in for nostalgia purposes and to relive my childhood, I've got a lot of great memories of toy soldiers from when I was a kid.
Who in this country under the age of 40 has great childhood memories of toy soldiers; they have great memories of their first smartphone, laptop, first person shooter computer game, Iphone, Ipad or whatever other gadget they had as that is what they grew up on, not toy soldiers.
Unless you bring new blood into a hobby, the hobby will eventually flatline and the values will tank.
I love this hobby, I love this business, I will continue to do both going forward, I am a lifer and I'm proud of it. Toy soldiers combined with my love of history equals a great, great hobby, wouldn't trade it for the world. Being in the business has afforded me a very nice lifestyle, not to mention I've met hundreds of people I never would have met otherwise, a great side benefit to all of this and we all share a love for the hobby, it's a great club to belong to IMO.
Appreciate it for what it is, try not to get caught up in the negativity, life is too short, enjoy the ride everyone as it's a one way ticket with no refunds, exchanges or do overs...........
