Central Kentucky Antiques and Collectibles

Copyright 2010 – Kimberly Clay

There has been an increase in the number of people seeking Star Wars collectibles, and as a result those with rarity value are becoming hard to find. The reasons for this increase are twofold:

a) The production of the latest set of Star Wars movies has given rise to a new generation of fans who have taken an interest in collecting the figures and other collectibles, and

b) As more people become interested and involved in collecting Start Wars items, their price increases and so even more people become involved in their collection. As long as the items remain desirable, it is a cycle that will continue until prices maximize and figures become the domain only of those who can afford to invest.

But, there is still a great deal of fun to be had in seeking Star Wars collectibles, and it is liable to be this way for a good while to come. Those figures that were common yesterday might tomorrow become rare. Not only that, but who knows what rare figures might appear in your next garage sale or local flea market. However, as with any form of collectible, as popularity increases then so does awareness, and with it prices rise and availability becomes scarcer.

So what should you be looking for in a Star Wars figure? Obviously rarity, but also demand. Rarity and demand go hand in hand, and 100 items sought after by 1000 collectors will command a higher price than 10 sought after by 50. Other factors that affect price are the publication of new novels, anniversaries of movie releases and the launch of special editions.

The original figures were produced by Kenner who bought the rights to the toys for the first three movies from 1977 to 1984. A large number of figures, spacecraft, vehicles, weapons and others were produced during that period, and since. The original figures can fetch premium prices, particularly in mint condition in their original boxes. If that box is still sealed, then . . .

Production of Star Wars figures recommenced in 1995, and the collectors and manufacturers have virtually created their own collectibles market. Figures were no longer launched as toys but as collector’s items. Even today, people purchase Start Wars figures to lay down, unopened in their original wrappings and boxes, awaiting the day when they assume a rarity value that renders their owners a good profit.

Those with greatest value are, as always, limited editions and exclusives. Among these are a model of Figrun D’An, made for Star Wars Insider, and real collectibles can go as far as the 1977 Obi-Wan Kenobi cloak, worn by Alex Guinness in the original Star Wars that sold 30 years later at Bonhams’, UK, for the equivalent of $90,000. Not all Star Wars collectibles are toys!

The way to collect figures that might one day make you your fortune is to seek them out at garage sales, flea markets, antique stores and other places where you could conceivably find something of which others might not be aware of its value. However, old, used toys are not worth collecting since most buyers are interested in mint items in the original box. The only exception to this would be an extremely rare item that has value regardless of its condition.

There are few doubts that mint Star Wars collectibles from the original 1977 – 1984 movie series will make better investments than those from the second series of movies, time introducing rarity. However, as the worth of such items have become increasingly more obvious, there has been a tendency for the manufacturer, and even the movie studio, to introduce characters and special editions with a view specifically to make money from their scarcity.

As with any other item that people collect, whether they have been produced with that in mind or not, market prices are dictated by rarity. This being the case, of course, does not infer that those items that are in relative abundance will necessarily be considerably easier on the pocket. Star Wars collectibles tend to have increased in value, and even those who collect them for their original purpose are having to dig deeper into their pockets for items of relatively low investment potential.

Just as great works of art are now beyond the means of the majority of those who would purchase them for their beauty as opposed to their future monetary value, so Star Wars collectibles are becoming the domain of the collector rather than the child or anyone else who would desire them for their worth simply as toys and nothing else. That, after all, was the original intention of their existence, but market forces now work to destroy such innocence of purpose, and such items are now manufactured with investment in mind.

Copyright 2010 – Kimberly Clay

The popularity of Coca Cola collectibles is likely connected both with the longevity of the beverage and also the unique shape that the bottle eventually assumed. It is also fairly ubiquitous around the world, and the brand even better known than McDonalds. The word ‘Coke’ has become synonymous with cola, just as ‘Hoover’ has with vacuum cleaners, and the fact that Coca Cola antiques are highly collectible comes as no surprise.

The distinctive Coke bottle shape was found by serendipity, in that it was intended to reflect the shape of the kola nut, but the artist was just an accountant and got it all wrong using the cacao pod instead. Without the mistake of an accountant, we would have had an altogether different shape of bottle to collect – but that’s accountants for you!

The worth on an old bottle depends on its age, shape, color and the design of the script. The very first bottles were Biedenharn Coca Cola bottles using a Hutchinson patent design. After 1900, however, the bottles were straight-sided with a crown top and had paper labels. They came in five colors of glass, namely clear, green, blue, amber and brown. You will generally pay more for an amber bottle than any of the others, although, as with any antique, the value of old Coca Cola bottles depends a lot on their condition.

The traditional Coke bottle shape, known as the hobble-skirt shape, was patented in 1915 and came into general use in 1917. These had the script embossed proud of the bottle as part of the mold. If you are seeking prices, straight-sided bottles are selling online at under $20 each. Some are a lot more, but the attraction of Coca Cola collectibles is their variety and their history, not their price. Nor are all collectibles antiques, because many people love collecting modern items – it is the name they collect rather than the age.

However, in saying that, it is the older items that most people tend to be interested in. Some will pay large sums of money for very rare items, such as the 50th anniversary cardboard poster issued in 1936 that sold at auction for $2,070 in 2008, or a 35″ x 11.5″ tin Coca Cola sign, selling for $805 in the same year. If you are interested in a price guide, check out Allan Petretti’s Coca Cola Collectibles Price Guide. You should be able to Google it for some useful pricing information.

This will give you information on prices for Coca Cola antiques, including antique bottles and collectibles in general. One 1934 tray is worth anything from $1 to $1800, depending upon the condition. As stated earlier, not all collectibles are antiques.

While most believe that those that are interested in Coke memorabilia must be restricted to bottles and advertising give-aways, this is not true because the company has issued a fabulous range of advertising paraphernalia that reflects the history of the cultural and artistic trends of the time. We can see the art nouveau influence of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the art deco of the 1920s to the 1940s, and the influence of the Second World War.

The posters offer an insight into the optimism of the 1950s, and then the freedoms that came in subsequent decades. There are no doubts that the company is unique in enabling collectors to follow the history of the entire 20th century in the reflection in its advertising of the social conditions and artistic developments of the day.

If you are interested in Coca Cola collectibles, or are already heavily involved in collecting old Coca Cola bottles or other antiques, what should you be looking for now? Who knows what will be collectible in the future, but modern technology has been responsible for the introduction of the plastic bottle, though it is interesting that these are available in both the straight and the hobble-skirt shapes. It is almost inconceivable that plastic bottles will one day attain some antique value, but then again, they said the same when iron and steel replaced the beautiful bronze sculptures of yesteryear, let alone the weapons!

However, back to the original question: why are Coca Cola antiques so popular? Perhaps because there are so many of them at such low prices, and that they indeed do reflect the society of their times. Perhaps because they can be easily categorized into trays, bottles, boxes and advertising posters, to name but a few. Specialization is possible, but not only that: they are colorful after a certain period.

And NO, coke is not an effective contraceptive, it did not become carbonated unintentionally, it has not been poisoned by Al Qaeda, it did not invent Santa Claus, it will not dissolve your teeth overnight and it will not get you high when mixed with aspirin. But, YES, it was once considered anti-Semitic, and yes, it did once contain cocaine.

And YES, Coca Cola collectibles are among the most collected items in the USA, and YES, prices of coca cola antiques can vary in price by 180,000% for the same item depending on condition. Happy hunting and collecting!

Copyright 2010 – Kimberly Clay

Believe it or not, the history of Nintendo starts in Kyoto as far back as 1889 with a card game known as Hanafuda, and it was not until 1974 that the company broke into video games by purchasing the Japanese distribution rights for the Magnavox Odyssey video game console.

The company expanded into the video arcade game industry the following year, but it finally established its position when the then little-known designer known as Shigeru Miyamoto designed Donkey Kong, the first of the massively popular arcade games entirely designed and marketed by Nintendo.

Nintendo engineer, Gunpei Yokoi, was responsible for hardware development and came up with the Game Boy in 1989, offering Miyamoto a fabulous platform for his software development. In fact, the Game Boy is Nintendo’s most successful games platform of all time. But what was Atari doing all this time?

Atari was inaugurated in the USA in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who developed the famous Pong tennis game using a black-and-white TV, a laundromat coin mechanism and a milk carton to collect the coins. In fact, at one time the game seized up because the carton got over-filled with coins, blocking the mechanism. They developed the rest of the hardware themselves in addition to the game software.

The company then branched into the developing home computer market with the Atari 2600 that rapidly developed into the 800 and the smaller 400. These were perceived by many as more advanced than the Sinclair Spectrum, but the company was running into difficulties, probably due to its rapid success and a lack of business acumen. The Arcade, Home Computer and Video Game Divisions were operated as independent units, and there was very little cooperation between them. It might have been better had they been integrated, with each working for a combined cause.

A poor version of PacMan resulted in large losses, although by 1982-83 Atari led the video game market everywhere but in Japan. Nintendo was by this time in the ascendancy with its Famicon system, or NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) in the USA. This was followed by the Super Famicon, then Nintendo 64 in 1996. Although the 64 was not very successful, the 2001 GameCube was even less so. It was not until the Wii was released in 2006 that the success of the GameBoy was at least partially emulated.

As for Atari, arguments of the distribution rights of Donkey Kong were the last nail in the company’s coffin and it was effectively finished in 1984. So what games will Atari be remembered for? What are the classic Atari games that people will be looking for as collector’s items? Pong consoles, obviously. The original consoles were large, around the same size of normal slot gaming machines.

These include Asteroids, Battlezone, Crystal Castles and Gravitar – all large console-based in their original form. Of the games produced for computers or hand-held devices, Yar’s Revenge was an original Atari 2600 game, and Adventure was the original adventure game. However, not all sell for over $5000 such as the ‘The Music Machine’ that fetched that on eBay. Nevertheless, if you have a copy of Pepsi Invaders (125 copies made) or Video Life (made for Magicard owners only), then you have a good chance.

Classic games are not rare: rarity comes from special editions and games developed for restricted distribution, and they do not become classics! However, Atari was ephemeral in comparison to Nintendo, so could any Nintendo games be rare enough to become worth collecting? In fact, several produced in the 1990s could be worth a bit today, including ‘1990 Nintendo World Championships: Gold Edition’, possibly up to $20,000 and ‘Nintendo Campus College’ is worth a few grand.

Lower priced, but still worth finding are ‘Bubble Bath Babes’, ‘Hot Slots’ and ‘Cheetah Man II’. ‘California Raisins’ is worth a bit, but many copies of these are already in the hands of those that are aware of their value. If you want to find a bargain, you are likely to be more successful trawling the junkshops and flea markets than searching online or in specialist games stores. You will be very highly unlikely to find classic Atari games of any real value in popular outlets, and the same is likely true of vintage Nintendo games.

Nintendo produced many more console and computer games than Atari, and you could conceivably be lucky at garage sales, flea markets, estate or moving sales and the like. Once you find an old game you think might be worth something, check out eBay and find if any other copies are for sale. If not, then make sure you have some idea of its potential worth before listing it: you could sell a $10,000 game for $1.99 if you are not careful.

Now that wouldn’t be good, would it? So get acquainted with the history of Nintendo games and of classic Atari games, and make sure that you know what you are doing buying or selling these potentially very valuable items. I sure wish I had an original Pong console! But I might know a man who . . .

Copyright 2010 – Kimberly Clay

In a recent article appearing on the website WalletPop, author Zac Bissonnette bemoans the downfall of Hummel Figurines as attractive and popular collectible items. It seems that the adorable figurines, first collected in the 1930’s by GIs overseas in Germany for family and friends at home, have lost their desirability among collectors.

Bissonnette sites renowned antiques and collectibles aficionado Terry Kovel as stating that the value of the once highly-sought-after Hummel pieces has for all intents and purposes landed in the toilet. She attributes the downfall, at least in great part, to the Goebel company’s desire to artificially create and enhance the secondary market for the collectibles when they began to manufacture “limited edition” Hummel pieces during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Now it seems, not only are everyday people not collecting Hummels (at least at the rates and higher prices they have in years past), but the collectors aren’t buying either. As a result, the value of the pieces has plummeted, leaving them worth a mere fraction of their previous values.

That’s one reason why it’s always smart to collect what you like rather than to collect strictly for investment. Markets can be fickle and highly susceptible to change; and those changes may not result in your financial favor.

So, if you like really cutesy boys and girls dressed in outfits from years ago, now might be the best time to buy Hummel figurines or keep those you’ve found stashed away in Grandma’s closet.

But if you’re looking for somewhere to put all your hard-earned investment dollars, you’d be well-advised to look somewhere else. And give grandma’s cherished box of Hummels to some deserving boy or girl who will appreciate them.

Copyright 2009 – Kimberly Clay

There are two major reasons for purchasing antique jewelry: as an investment and for fashion. While the term ‘fashionable antiques’ might appear to be an oxymoron, the wearing of old but tasteful jewelry has always been regarded as both fashionable and acceptable in society, and in fact a study of antique jewelry down the ages can tell a lot about the history and culture of a country.

The purpose of jewelry was originally to adorn ourselves, and then became a symbol of status. The ability to afford rare and expensive gems and metals was displayed publicly by wearing them on one’s person. “Look at me: I am richer than you!”

As design became increasingly important, the famous jewelry houses and designers such as Fabergé, Tiffany and Cartier were born from their unique design capabilities, but as the 20^th century came along, design became secondary to setting as many diamonds as possible in a piece to increase its actual raw material cost as opposed to its perceived value.

It is doubtful if today’s jewelry will ever become as sought after as that of the great fashion houses and jewelers, and now is the time to purchase antique jewelry for investment because, as it is snapped up and placed in collections, there appears little capable of taking its place. There is still a lot of antique jewelry to be found in antique shops, and even on eBay you will see many fine pieces selling at affordable prices.

It is still worn, of course, although yesterday’s fine pieces do not always fit with today’s clothes fashions. Nevertheless, as taste is replaced by price, this is less important a factor than it once was, and the days appear to be over when jewelry was designed to suit particular styles of clothing and fabrics. Today, anything goes as long as it is bright, glittering and expensive. In many ways, “Bling” has superseded taste and sensitive design.

So, what should you be looking for when purchasing antique jewelry – whether it is for investment or fashion? First check the symmetry of the piece. True antiques are not symmetrical: they are hand-made and each side is slightly different than the other. You can also tell a lot from the fastenings, because barrel clasps are modern, as are post and clip and clip-back earring fastenings (1930s at earliest). An antique will be smooth to the feel, and have no jaggy edges that catch on your hands and clothing.

Platinum and white gold were not used until the 20^th century, and earlier 19^th century jewelry was made of silver, although gold was used. Also keep in mind that gemstone cutting machines were not used until the mid 19^th century, so any modern cut was not possible until then, the elongated baguette cut being introduced in the art deco and art nouveaux pieces of the 1920s.

If you intend purchasing antique jewelry for investment, therefore, it will pay to learn about the subject. Either that or never purchase a piece until it has been checked by an expert. Fashion, on the other hand, is a different thing entirely. While real antique jewelry prices can be set by the piece itself, the value of fashion jewelry is largely set by trends rather than intrinsic value.

Art deco jewelry, art nouveaux, retro – name it what you will, but a large proportion of jewelry designed and produced under these labels had little real value, and some even less in terms of design. To take a corollary with furniture, the ‘in’ furniture style of the 1950s and early 1960’s, ‘G-Plan’ had no mitigating features other than that it was different, and so became the furniture fashion statement of its era. Although it is now enjoying a resurgence under the label of ‘retro’, G-Plan will never be regarded as antique, irrespective of how old it is.

That is as true as the fact that you could never imagine true antiques being referred to as ‘retro’, yet the term can be, and has been applied to the art deco jewelry designs of the 1920s. Whether these designs will ever become fashionable again is another question, but it does raise a question as to antique jewelry and its place in fashion vis a vis that acquired for investment.

Would an art deco piece of jewelry be purchased as a fashion item? Not at the moment, but perhaps as costume jewelry. Would it be acquired as an investment? Doubtful! Can the same be said of art nouveaux? And what else? So where does fashion end and investment begin, or is there no defining line, and do people purchase the jewelry that appeals to them rather than for its projected future value?

One thing is certain. Real antique jewelry has a part to play in the worlds of fashion and of investment, and it is wise to take expert advice prior to parting with your money irrespective of your purpose in buying it. However, would you wear your investment? Only you will know that, and even then only when the time comes to choose – or to show off!