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Death of investment in certain areas

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moXJO

menace to society
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Probably could have chosen a better title, but couldn't think of the right word (medium? Class?)

Anyway, was talking to a guy that invested in antiques who thinks the market in them has been trashed. Reckons a lot of stuff is destined for the dump. Which got me thinking to the generational change that is going on.
Obviously the market aged or died with not enough new investors coming online.

I think a similar thing was happening with numismatics. But they brought out the coloured coins and hit social media to draw more people in.

Art goes through cycles as well.
 

A lot more people are living in modern, small-to-medium sized apartments or townhouses. So you can't furnish them with heavy, dark, antique timber furniture. If you own a large period house, there are massive discounts on second-hand, high quality furnishings for that style. A lot of the best art has a style which is similarly unsuited to modern aprartments. Younger people will spend on eating out, uber eats, entertainment, holidays and technology ahead of anything else.
 
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Anything rare will appreciate.

Coins, art , old cars as long as they don't need too much restoration or maintenance.
 
Yeah it's probably kind of a fantasy for many people to find an old rusty piece of, apparently, junk in some dark corner of the garage etc that turns out to be worth a motza. It accounts for some of popularity of shows like Antiques Roadshow, American Pickers, and Pawn Stars.

I'm hoping my Coles Little Shop Collectables set me up for life in later years

Some of these shows feature seemingly pathological hoarders. But maybe hoarding is the way to go? If you keep all the stuff you ever acquire over your life, including cars etc (so you do need space), there's decent chance something might be worth a serious quid to your great great grandchildren!
 
The US has some really niche areas of investing.
Smaller items that are easily shipped seem to trade well.
 
moXJO said:
Anyway, was talking to a guy that invested in antiques who thinks the market in them has been trashed. Reckons a lot of stuff is destined for the dump. Which got me thinking to the generational change that is going on.
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The one I don't get is collecting sneakers. New ones, OK. But people sell used sneakers! I find that unhygienic.
 
I think much of this "alternative" investing is about creating a market. The idea of making a product look like an attractive investment which in turn creates its own buyers who then boost the "value" of the item.

I'm thinking here of the relentless increase in older car prices and I don't just mean old 356 Porsches. How much do you think old Holdens, Fords ect are costing ? Punch it in and see. Then check out the magazines that promote these cars like Unique Cars. My understanding is that there are plenty of wealthy people using these cars as a way to store their wealth.
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The questions of furniture antiques is quite valid. It does require people with period homes to still want these items in the numbers that are around. Of course the antique dealers will always try to keep up the price won't they ? Not good for business to let cheap stuff become obvious...
 
I don’t really consider buying antiques “investing”, it’s more closely related to speculation.

Sure, if you like an object and it brings joy to your life buy it, and if in 20 years it’s worth more than you paid for it consider that a bonus.

But hoarding stuff hoping hat in the future it will be worth more seems like total speculation in my opinion.

It’s a bit like there beanie baby craze.
 
A factor to take into account is China, for the uber rich millionaires there having a real european antique among their flat is a great status booster..as well as a ..we got you now...
But small enough and sophisticated only, not a medieval fork ...
Stamps is another area which died in my opinion
 
Yeah this is true. Its more speculation rather than investment.
 
Zaxon said:
The one I don't get is collecting sneakers. New ones, OK. But people sell used sneakers! I find that unhygienic.
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I've been collecting sneakers for the last 5 years and this was also what I thought when I started - why would anyone buy used shoes?

Basically it's because the particular sneakers are limited and kids these days want to show off to their friends AND on social media. So if a particular type of sneaker is limited and in high demand, the resale price will often be much higher than the retail price. The people lucky enough to buy at retail will wear it once or twice to show off, and then sell it for a profit (albeit a lesser profit than if the shoes were brand new) and the next person gets to show off an almost brand new pair of limited sneakers for lower than the market (resale) price.
 

Thanks for that, I now understand why my Mrs and two daughters have sooo many shoes. They are Collecting them! Wonder when they are going to resell them. Even at a big loss there is still a fortune there.
 
So_Cynical said:
Just to many coins - market saturation and trivialisation.
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Stamp collecting has gone the same way, They have added in variants of the same products things like gutter pairs. Very difficult to keep up to date.
Have a near complete collection of Australian, No idea of its worth but it is a far cry from years ago.
Have an old mate who has dolls and toys of different themes like star wars. Very interesting oddities that have a story with each, a few cans of duff beer before they were outlawed, a few lolly/food packets that were banned because of packaging. had many a beer chatting over some of his items.
As a kid he became famous for having a flagpole in the backyard and displayed a different flag most days. The flags and pole became a landmark as it was visible for commuters on a busy Melbourne highway. People used it as a timing point as to whether they were late or early for work. Kids would ask what flag is that and so on. One or two of the monthly magazines ran a story on it.
 
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