I would never have sold my Anverdi collection. I also would've kept all the P&L I accumulated for next to nothing.

Steve

I've heard that P&L, while still highly collectible, is not commanding the stinging prices it was a few years ago. Maybe it's time for you to go snag back some of those pieces and wait for the next high tide.

The collecting market is down overall, which has made it more possible for the average guys to pick up some nice stuff lately. There are however, some areas where you have to be King Midas to play in the arena... Cardini auction is a great example.

I have a collection of different jokers, originally I had a small bar and the idea was to have two of every joker so that I could put one face up and one face down behind a long glass strip that was above the bar. don't have the bar anymore and never got round to putting them behind the glass, if the collection grows a Little more I was thinking of doing the same thing with glaass topped tables for my magic den .

If you are collecting as an investment, you are not a collector. You are an investor. And, in my opinion, you are acquiring props for the wrong reason.

Collect because you love whatever it is that you collect. That way, you will never be disappointed when the market for whatever you happen to collect goes south.

To understand why I say this, read Charles Mackay's <i>(Memoires of) Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds</i>, in which the author explores this very subject. It was written in 1841, and it describes the folly of bad investing from several different viewpoints.

One noted example was the Great Tulip Bulb Bubble Mania of 1637. The Dutch tulip industry was cranking out special tulip bulbs like crazy. Someone finally bred a tulip that was black with an interesting petal pattern, called the Viceroy. This tulip sold for 3,000 t0 4,150 Florins, depending on the size of the bulb. That was about 10 times what a skilled craftsman earned in a year. That would be roughly a million bucks or so in today's money.

Someone pointed out that tulips were not edible, and therefore had no intrinsic value. So people began investing in other things that may have had more intrinsic value.

This reoccurs historically. Remember POGS? What about Beanie Babies? So what is the intrinsic value of a magic poster?

This is all food for thought.

BTW, I don't think of my cups and balls collection as an investment. It's more of an albatross. Have you ever tried to pack 2,000 + sets of cups for moving?

Bill, 2000 sets of cups!?!? that's neither investing or collecting. Don't take this personally, but....
that's just nuts
That's the most crazy collection EVER.
That takes obsession to a whole new level.

Next time my wife complains about my collection I plan on saying;
But dear, it could be worse, I could be Only Jonathan

PS- Email me when you open the museum website again. Would love to see it.

(hope you have a sense of humor)

More sage advice from Mr. Palmer...all true.

Case in point, I collected comic books as a teen and acquired quite a library. When the industry began to tank, all of my friends were telling me to sell while I could still make some money. I didn't, because I liked to go back and read them, and peruse the wonderful artwork.

I still have the collection today - granted, I've grown out of it, and they are worth close to nothing - but I still like the fact that I have them in case I want to relive some memories, or pass them on to my son or his children.

I would describe my collection as the results of being a magician and a hoarder. I don't buy for the investment, because I rarely if ever part with any of it. On the other hand, I look for the better deals. For me, it's never "acquisition at any price", like some items I've seen sell on auctions. In fact, those sales/purchases with ridiculous numbers, could hardly be described as sound investments, as it would take a thousand years to realize a profit from such folly.

I suppose you could say that these transactions are born from love of the art, but sometimes I tend to question that, too. In some cases, I feel these instances reflect power trips, and border on greed, especially when you see two bidders going head to head in a game that most people can't afford to play, even if they could, had the prices been within reasonable market value.

I will say though that fluctuations in the market affect my playing in this sandbox. When prices tank, I enjoy the luxury of feathering my nest with even more things that I could not have afforded at the higher prices.

One of the things that I did, once I had the means and opportunity, was to start buying copies of most of the items that I had when I was a kid, but had lost due to a number of causes. Some of them were rather difficult to find, and none of them of any real value, other than the sentimental value to me. Rosebud.

Bill,

I agree with 100%.

Gerry

Magic Posters

Owen Magic Supreme

I began collecting about 13 years ago.
I sometimes think it is an actual ILLNESS rather than a hobby.
At the beginning it was a mish mosh of anything "Vintage"...most of it was junk but it all felt good.
Then I began to educate myself and improve my taste.
I then obsessed over Milson Worth effects. Awesome quality and great designs.
I began an obsession with Snake Basket effects after purchasing a vintage Jack Hughes basket from John Mendoza. I ended up with over 30 SNAKE BASKET EFFECTS!! Ugh!
That is when the REAL ILLNESS began!
After years of driving my wife crazy with "secret purchases" I had to draw the line.
I had always been a huge fan of Owen Magic but could not afford their pieces in the early days ( truth is I can't really afford them now )
I had several Owen pieces in my collection from a large illusion to some smaller effects.
I just love the old school design and absolute unmatched CRAFTSMANSHIP and Engineering.
Simple for the most part but RELIABLE!
So I decided to start selling off my collection and turn that money into strictly Owen magic effects.
While I still have a LOT of misc manufactures pieces, I will eventually sell them all and attempt a lifetime goal of massing the largest own Collection in the WORL...OK...maybe my state

So far I have over 60 pieces and building it by the month.
I will post some pics someday to share the beauty of the true masters who's shoulders I barely stand upon.
Chance

1--- LMAO Although I'm pretty sure my wife sneaks shoes in.

2--- would love to see it.

Ironically, I'm betting there are a lot of secret purchases of Chance Wolf magic out there...including me.

I collect Magician's Tokens, I buy, sell, trade and maintain a website where I share information concerning these items with anyone else who collects the same...

Click here to view attached image.

That's very cool paulcourville.

I love magic history, but primarily regarding props and posters. I realize that's trite, as demonstrated by the ever-increasing prices (for the most part) of said objects at auction. But I also know and respect my background. My father enjoyed woodworking, and taught me enough that I was able to build my own magic props at a young age using nothing but library books as a guide. So now, I adore and admire well-crafted, collectible magic props...both big and small...contemporary and vintage. And, as I grew and followed design as my true interest...I became a commercial artist and fell in love with historic magic posters.

But these more obscure fascinations with rare magic ephemera make me very curious. What drew you to collecting magicians' tokens? What ignited your fire as a collector?

Something that the late Bob Lund told me about his collection - "I do not own any of this, I am just the curator for the moment until it is passed along to the next generation."

I have always kept that in the back of my mind - I collect the items, I do not let the items collect me - if that makes sense

With this sluggish economy, there are many deals to be had - anyone interested in anything can find deals out there to start collecting anything they want

If I were to start over, that presumes that I am without what I have currently collected. with that in mind, I would collect items of such inspirational performers (from my perspective) --> Neil Foster, Billy Bishop, Don Alan, Channing Pollock and Norm Nielsen

Magician Business cards

8x10 photos

Poster (vintage, specifically 1960 and later)

and I am a sucker for anything that relates to manipulators and manipulation

Ed I would add Gerlitz to your list for sure. Richards stuff is outstanding and very collectible. I wish he was building more these days than his watch effects. I'm a Tenyo, Magic Wagon, Gerlitz, Collectors Workshop, Thomas Pohl, and anything I find that is clever, well made, and mostly mechanical (some cases electronic and mechanical) apparatus. I have way too much because I just love everything I see. Plus I want to keep up with some of the more clever latest releases and I am nothing more than a hobbyist/collector meaning I do not perform this stuff. Again bottom line like many of you...my wife is not happy with me. Fortunately for me its not really about $$ for her but about space as I have it everywhere.

Charlie

I really love prop magic. No one uses props that are larger than a matchbox any more. I particularly like very ornate props, especially wooden props.
KJ

Many years ago I had my tokens stored in small envelopes. I wrote the token information directly on the envelope. I stored them standing on their edge in the metal boxes used to store film projector slides.

Then I moved on to storing those envelopes in plastic pocketed sheets in a three ring binder. I next replaced those small envelopes with 2X2 cardboard flips and still using the binder and plastic sheets. After a while I found a really good source for GOOD 2X2 2-pocket archival flips. After three generations of different label types I've finally what works. Labeling ended with Avery transparent labels.

Next I moved from the binders to jeweler trays which hold 15+ 2.5X2.5 inch items per tray. I stacked the trays in stacks of 5 trays with 3 stacks to a drawer in a Husky 52 inch roll away tool chest. Every time I added a new token or went looking for a token I had to pull stack after stack until I got to the right area. That process didn't "hurt" too much till my collection got larger and the 5 tray stacks turned to 6+.

I decided It was time for a change once more and this time I wanted to be able to get to EVERY tray without having to lift stacks of trays. I mapped out a cabinet that could hold each tray individually and can be "grown" as my collection grows. The cabinet is home to 854 tokens and is capable of increasing in size from its current capacity of 50 jeweler trays to 64 in a matter of minutes, I'd just have to add the shelves. Should I totally fill this cabinet to capacity then I will just build a twin cabinet next to the current one.

For the present time I am still housing items that are over 2.5 inches in a curio cabinet until I can figure out something different for that arena...

Very interesting thread here. I collect vintage effects and some more recent effects. I am retired (83 yrs old) and many years ago performed as a pro. I can relate to the wife and
purchasing effects. I collect for the pure joy of the history of this beautiful art and when a piece is used I wonder where and when and who used this effect. The vintage pieces are true works of art and the craftsmanship is great. I still do a parlor show now and again and have found folks are fascinated when you give a little history to the effect. My collection is small compared to some of you folks, only 30 pieces at this time.But I also have more recent effects also. I purchase what I like pure and simple I don't collect hoping for profit, I would not part with any piece I have.

Ahhhhh, History.... Sometimes history happens by accident. In my book Magic Tokens I've started to add links to additional information concerning specifics of a token and/or the magician, magic company, magic event etc... that is relative to the token listed. ONE such "accidental" historic event created a Magicians Token that the Magician himself NEVER created and that is the SIG BLITZ tokens... Funny how history sometimes works itself out. http://www.magictoken.org/magic/blitz.html

Enjoy ! ! !