I Guess Our 'Hobby' Is Worthless-Article On Explorer Main Page

"sleeze-stack"--

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The author has thrown together thirty things that are, to borrow a phrase, not like the other.

For example, serial marketing & this-year's-fad products were only 'collectible' in the pitch that sold them. They're not. Big deal.

Much of what she has to say is about unrealistic hopes, eg, that the train set gathering dust in your (not her) basement is 1) collectible, and 2) valuable. Okay, it is neither. That does not mean that collectible train sets were never collectible, or are not still collectible.

Yes, you cannot sell your children's badly worn children's books to a collector of children's books; this is news?

A local thrift shop dumped all of their worst costume jewelry into a display case prominently labeled "The World's Worst Costume Jewelry" ... and the stuff flew out the door at five bucks per. The manager, who wrote the sign, could only shake his head. "Forty-five years in this business, and I'm still learning."

The "brown furniture" thing is interesting; eating out has been wreaking havoc on the prices of all the bits'n'pieces of entertaining at home, including the dishes, the silverware, the serving pieces, the furniture that you set them on, and the furniture that you store/display them in.

Other lifestyle changes count, too:

Why Are Antiques So Cheap? Because Everyone Lives in the Kitchen
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/...-living.html

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

What annoys me about it is that it say "Worthless" in the title on the portal to the article and the image they show is specifically stamps, Its only if you actually click thru and read it do you see they say that stuff you clipped from incoming mail and stuff in beginners albums are of minimal or no value. So anyone who just sees the portal comes away with a false impression.

Hmm. So what we need to do is to market stamps to millennial hipsters in such a way that they develop an ironic love of philately. That'll revitalize the hobby.

How about promoting the use of personalized (vanity) self designed stamps? Mail your selfie to your friends. Great for Christmas Cards and special invitations and events.

Several relatives have made comments about having old stamps. It is surprise to them when I tell them the truth about stamp values. People horded newly issues stamps for years thinking they would go up. The more common material never went up that much even in the bubble yet people continued to purchase them. There is a misconception that still exists and you see it often when someone inherits a collection and learn the value for most material.

As for the original article, while it has faults, there is truth that most stamps have little value as an investment. They never really did.

The headline is 30 collectibles that are worthless. Kind of a shotgun opening.

Worthless? Absolutely not, as long as there is a buyer, or buyers.

Unrealistic expectations? Very probably.

I share the view expressed in an earlier post. If I had spent my "play money" on alcohol, tobacco, or some other endeavor with nothing good to show for it, then that would have been an absolute waste.

Stamps continue to be a fun and very enlightening use of free time.

A bottle of burgundy and a packet of Gitanes is never a waste ...

This article is another example of someone writing a story about something they know nothing about. Didn't bother to examine facts just "make it up" journalism.