People collecting worthless cr.p. How about silver?

[LoveSilver]

One can not avoid noticing that people are collecting all kind of things. In USA it is baseball cards, hats, jerseys, plastic cars, basketball team cards and what not. In Canada hockey memorabilia. Then there are beer bottle caps, coasters, snowballs, postcards and similar things. I am not into sports, maybe high-level boxing, some UFC but either way would never spend a single dollar for some cards about it. So for me 99.999 of that stuff is a worthless s...! 

There is an article exactly about that here: https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/collecting-a-worthless-bad-collect-silver-instead-stupid-1418e004b645?source=friends_link&sk=bcbdd73306620bdb142f11aba3744ac9

I think people should collect silver and gold coins instead. For many reasons (16 listed in that article). I think the silver round and coins are perfect for that. What do you think? Do you ever spend your money on things like that or your every €, £, $ goes against silver? Is there a temptation to buy some other collectible?

[RacerCool]

You're right, many people collect junk.  I used to collect lots of plastic junk, and I came to a point where I realized that that's exactly what it was: plastic junk, or just plain ol' junk.  Did it all have a meaning to me?  Sure, in some way, to a point.  But more specifically, I realized that it was taking up space and collecting dust, and not actually doing anything other than that.  Oh, and it cost money to acquire it.  

And then one day I started doing something about it.  I began to measure everything by a simple rule of thumb, which was that if I didn't have a real use for it then I got rid of it.  Not "well, someday I might!"  No, if I don' t need it or use it, then it goes.  And to this day I still operate by that rule, and I have to be ruthless about it.  Only the most sentimental of things will be allowed to get a pass on that rule.  (eg-birthday cards or personal notes that people have given me over the years, I still keep those, and they're kept in a water/fireproof file safe, along with all other important papers.)

What I began to realize was that there's a deep personal insecurity that drives such collecting and spending.  And when a person can get to the point where they can simply let go of unnecessary things, then they're getting to where they can move beyond some of those insecurities.

Now, the only things that I will acquire that just sit around collecting dust, are coins, artwork, certain books (and they will be weeded out after a while), and game pieces for the games I play.  The main game I play regularly has literally thousands of pieces that have been released for it over the better part of twenty years.  But even there, I will only acquire or keep the ones that I reasonably could use at some point.  "Completion-ism" is strictly forbidden (except maybe in coin series, and that's only because at the end of the day, it's stacking). If I don't need it or don't reasonably have a use for it, then it goes bye-bye.

[Draconicus]

Allow me to slightly disagree.

Yes, they are just that...Junk! A total pile of trash. But for us,not for the person who collect the items!

I can give you a real example: I collect Tea Pots and Pocket calendars. One can say the pots are just clay, porcelain, etc and the calendars just plastic! But not for me! The Tea pots are almost magic for me as I have this weird attraction for them size kid (Maybe because a tea pot looks very similar  like a Aladdin's Lamp?...lol), and the calendars was one of my first "toys" when I was a young kid , as my Grandfather used to gather them for me because They have not that spare money to buy normal toys for me. So I get used to them, and love the nostalgia sensation when I look to them in this days! And they help me remember this great persons who rise me!

We must always think that one can collect the most bizarre things because of some special relation with the items, not because they are thinking in getting profit with it one day!

With precious metals it's kind of different, as they always have valour and tend to increase that valour with the passing years. People who collect them are always collecting as a investment,  not just because they have a special relation with the items.

 

But hey... we never know! Here in Portugal I know of a case where one collector of restaurant and Bar trays sold his collection of near 2000 trays for something like 10.000€!

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

In some ways you are right but in some ways you are very wrong. I think a lot of people do collect a lot of stuff that is completely worthless or worth considerably less than RRP. Silver and gold though are not an exception to this. How many over priced coins are there out there that get sold every day that will never be worth anything close to the sold price in the future? Sure you can argue that those coins will still have the intrinsic value of the metal but equally the plastic tat and non rare cards usually have some value sold at a garage sales/car boots/charity shops.

Generally within any subject that people collect for there will be items that hold or increase in value. If your interest is purely in investing you do your research and seek out those items that will give you the best chance at growing in value - the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card has done very well for it's owners as one example. The key is not getting caught in the trap of the mass produced tat that no one will care about in 10, 15 or 20 years time. It is just as possible to get caught in that trap collecting gold and silver coins as it is anything else mentioned in the original post.

[itslikegolddust]

As the saying goes "One man's junk is another man's treasure" so in my eyes each to their own and everyone is different, it's what makes the world spin round. If you enjoy it then why not? If its junk to someone else so what! Some might say collecting coins is silly/stupid/crazy/boring etc but I enjoy it. Junk can be a great conversation starter. Anyway that's my 2 pence worth, I'm off shopping to Keep the Mrs happy! Wish me luck! 😎

[StackinJack]

Not intended to collect, but slowly becoming a nice collection; Guitars, bass guitars and other musical/audio stuff 😅

It is all about the the fun of collecting something, and probably the hunt for that special part or edition.
Just more of a hobby.
Happens to be that our hobby has a nice value to it.

And the Mrs is working on expanding her collection @itslikegolddust?  haha 😛
Women do like to collect!

 

[itslikegolddust]

1 hour ago, StackinJack said:

And the Mrs is working on expanding her collection @itslikegolddust?  haha 😛
Women do like to collect!

She sure has, we are proud owners of yet another pair of shoes ...

[SiliconToad]

Collectors collect things for a variety of reasons, usually to feel good in my opinion. I also think it's really no different for gold/silver collectors or stackers. They just have financial elements, right or wrong, entwined in the emotion. Honestly, imho, gold and silver have no more tangible value than any other durable, rare good in today's day and age. Rather, its about the warm and fuzzy feelings rooted in one's worldview that these metals reflect back toward the person who systematically acquires them.