Wall of text, I know.
Here's some of the things I've collected:
Star Wars figures.
I got Vader in Feb 1998 for $1.99 and it took me until 1986, but I managed to put together a collection of every figure that had been released to the mass market. The last five I actually had to contact Kenner and they sold them to me and shipped them from the warehouse because no retailers were carrying them anymore. I bought five figures for four dollars each, and got the Luke Stormtrooper (x2 I opened one), the last Ewok, and two other figures I forget that go for a lot of money now because very few of them ever made it to a store. I sold the whole lot around 2002 for about $1500. That was more than the retail value of the collection, but mostly because of a small number of figures that were worth a lot.
I only decided to sell them because I needed the money, and because they had started releasing new figures again in 1995. That collection was getting big, fast, so I decided to part with the vintage collection. Now instead of the 150 vintage figures I had, I have 1,200 figures, and I'd consider myself lucky if I could get $1,500 for ALL of those together. Plus I have ships coming out my f'n ears.
Videos and CDs: I worked for a music and video distributor for 5 1/2 years and had a crazy amount of CDs and movies. I was a buyer on the video side, then the music side. I got them free every week from the vendors, (by the 30 ct box sometimes for CDs). For two years, I paid for my gas to and from work clear across town by taking CDs to the local used store and selling them for gas money. As for movies - anyone want some VHS tapes? I've thrown enough of them away to insulate a house.
Star Trek figures. When SW figures were between the vintage and new eras, Star Trek figures were the only game in town. I have a damn-near complete collection of about 175 figures that aren't worth even a dollar a piece anymore.
Gashapon/Trading Figures. Japanese figures. Usually cute or sexy girls. I won six DOAX figures in a website contest and had no idea there was such a thing. Now I've got over 400. I know someone in LA who will buy the collection, but then my gameroom would be a lot less fun to look at.
Video Games. Not that crazy, actually. Maybe 50 Xbox 360 games, some mroe at my kids' house, less than 250 between Xbox, 360, Gamecube, PS1, and PS2.
Dala Horses. An icon of Sweden, but I have a Greek one, a Japanese one, a Brazillian version. Maybe ten altogether.
Faceplates. You know.
Game shirts. Not a collection as much as a wardrobe.
I've dumped a lot of them.
Oh, and other figures. I have like four boxes of assorted figures. DC, Marvel, anime, tv show. I have a Mork from Ork, three original TRON figures, a Twiki from Buck Rogers, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Sigmund the Sea Monster, Bob and Doug McKenzie, Space Ghost, and on and on.
Maybe they were different hobbies. Maybe they were different variations of the same hobby. Maybe its a laser-focused version of hoarding.
But I never did any of that stuff from the point of view of "return on investment." I did it for fun.
Oh, and I totally forgot about my collection of forums posts, that I keep scattered all over the internet. Add that to the addictions that haven't shown a return on investment, either.
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