Does collecting ever end?

[CJ138]

I hear what your saying Mel. I have small collection and (like you) enjoy having them displayed to appreciate as opposed to tucked away in a flat file.  There are still posters that I want but I am patient, picky and my list is nowhere near 1,000.  The pitfall I find is the more you look the more you find that you want!

[brude]

Aaaaahhhhh, Thanks for that, Tang.

Now, Raquel...kneel before Zod...

[Disheveledamethyst]

I know when I first started collecting I took posters home by the armful from the theatre. I had a pine hope chest that's just sort of been an unwanted piece of furniture in my family for a while so I finally gave it a purpose and started filling it with poster tubes. I set up a spreadsheet on my computer and kept an overly detailed inventory of everything I had and even set what I thought were the going prices and felt like I was entering something very lucrative and prestigious.

After a short time I ran out of space in the hope chest and realized I hadn't opened a single one of those tubes since I brought them home. I invited a friend over to "help me inventory" just so I had an excuse to take them all out and show them to somebody. By the end of that day (and realizing that these posters were essentially worth nothing) I reverse engineered my collection down to about three posters. Two of those three posters were for animated movies.

For a while I didn't collect much of anything until on a whim I started searching eBay for posters from the 90s and early 00s. To my surprise they really weren't that expensive, and the artwork was usually very nice (Iron Giant sold me) and I decided I might want to buy some of these. But it was a slippery slope.

1. I'll only collect Pixar posters, and only the finals!
2. I'll only collect CG animated movies, and only the finals!
3. I'll only collect animated movies from 1991 (my birth year) onward, and only the finals!
4. Nothing is off limits. If it's an animated movie I loved and the artwork is appealing, I'm buying it.

It was an organic entry into the hobby. Working with mostly Disney taught me about re-releases, poster artists, etc. But with a near endless supply of contemporary posters showing up at the theatre six days a week, live-action had its appeal too. When I hit a financial wall with animation posters and the ones I wanted were simply too expensive, I started buying live-action posters.

If I may quote myself:

It is very uncommon for any two movie poster collections to be the same. Posters vary by country, by format, by time period, and be genre. Since the point of a poster is to hang it on your wall, people collect posters they want to display. This is unique to a collectible such as movie paper. Other collectible material like coins and stamps tend to be collected in series and sets, like Morgan silver dollars. While these collections are impressive, they are not especially diverse.

The big draw with movie posters for me has always been the individuality that comes with it. My collection can be literally whatever I want it to be and still hold merit. Mostly, I interpret the value of a poster. It's an entirely personal experience.

There've been a number of times where I've sold off posters I don't want anymore, but I think that's part of being a collector. I went through a brief phase where I wanted to collect lobby cards, and three sets in I wasn't interested more. So about $100 into it and I'm bored. You have to see what you like, what you want, and what you value.

It's not like coins where a book tells you that a Double-Die 1955 Lincoln penny is the centerpiece of any high-profile coin collection. That's up to you.

[brude]

Well said.
I used to collect everything from certain genres, despite how poorly some of them displayed.
Now, I've likened my buying to that of a gallery curator.  I will only buy that which will improve the aesthetics of my personal 'museum.'
Meanwhile, I continuously weed out those posters that no longer appeal to me, so that the finer items I have look better and better.
Maybe, I'm becoming more like a gardener. 

[paul waines]

Speaking of Gardening, collecting will end. When we are pushing up the Daisys.

[jayn_j]

Speaking of Gardening, collecting will end. When we are pushing up the Daisys.

Nah, I thought the Pushing Daisies video poster was kind of boring 

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Speaking of Gardening, collecting will end. When we are pushing up the Daisys.

dammit.. I thought we could all be "Collectors in Hell" together, even if some of us get there earlier than others

[Dr Hackenbush]

Collecting does end, if only for a certain hobby.  Sometimes people get bored of one hobby and transition to another.  I really don't feel the collector mentality goes away, just the enjoyment of the particular hobby

[Zorba]

Collecting does end, if only for a certain hobby.  Sometimes people get bored of one hobby and transition to another.  I really don't feel the collector mentality goes away, just the enjoyment of the particular hobby

This is how I see it also.

Even though I did go grab me a place in line at Barry Sanders signing last summer I gave up on collecting sports (mostly football) autographs the minute I got my first posters.

[m154cath]

my earliest recollection of collecting was at the tender age of 5 when i used to save my pocket money up to buy Britains toy soldiers & line them up on my bedroom shelf. i then moved onto 2000Ad comics,records,cds,back to comics(marvel/dc/dark horse),watches,dvds & now movie posters. most of the stuff is either in the loft or ive sold to finance the next hobby.
With all my collecting ive made mistakes &, hopefully, learnt from them but Ive enjoyed every minute. my wife thinks im obsessed & my friends think im totally nuts but i find it all rather therapeutic.
so to answer the question - no - collecting never ends, just digresses!

[Dr Hackenbush]

i then moved onto 2000Ad comics

Brian Bolland 

[brude]

Brian Bolland 

+1
Bolland is a master!
Just love those 2000AD's...

[marklawd]

Yes - I stopped buying new-release Alamo prints with effect from January 1 2011. I am no longer interested in participating in the buying frenzy for each increasingly frequent release and also suspect there is some sort of cartel involving some of the re-sellers on ebay. I was an early collector of these posters and have 225 different styles covering the period 2005-2010 - I need perhaps a dozen more before I consider my collection complete.

Mark   

[joneyyy]

Yes - I stopped buying new-release Alamo prints with effect from January 1 2011. I am no longer interested in participating in the buying frenzy for each increasingly frequent release

Mark   

YES!! someone who has seen the light.

[bondposters.com]

I tend to think that collecting always goes on, no matter where you are, and who you are.

Some people hoard things - literally anything and everything.
Some people keep mementos of nights out.

The world would be a sad place without any sort of collecting.

Here's a philosophical statement to think about:
Aren't your memories a collection in their own right?

Ohh, this is too deep - think I've just at my own words! 

Best,
Adam

[archie leach]

Yes - I stopped buying new-release Alamo prints with effect from January 1 2011. I am no longer interested in participating in the buying frenzy for each increasingly frequent release and also suspect there is some sort of cartel involving some of the re-sellers on ebay. I was an early collector of these posters and have 225 different styles covering the period 2005-2010 - I need perhaps a dozen more before I consider my collection complete.

Mark   

[brude]

 

[ddilts399]

Yes - I stopped buying new-release Alamo prints with effect from January 1 2011. I am no longer interested in participating in the buying frenzy for each increasingly frequent release and also suspect there is some sort of cartel involving some of the re-sellers on ebay. I was an early collector of these posters and have 225 different styles covering the period 2005-2010 - I need perhaps a dozen more before I consider my collection complete.

Mark  

It would not surprise me if some of the ebay "flippers" are actually Mondo employees or friends that sells for the store.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Here's a philosophical statement to think about:
Aren't your memories a collection in their own right?

this is my wine collection. I am not the label collector type (someone who needs to complete a set of unopened bottles of "that winery"). I collect wines to drink them. I collect the memory of the wine.

does anyone want to know what an Inglenook 1959 Special Reserve Cabernet cask J-6 taste like?

how about a 1966 Chateau Cantermerle, or a 1982 Pichon-Lallande? or a 1985 Lynch-Bages.

How about a 1924 Malmsey?

[bondposters.com]

So it is safe to say you are a wine connoisseur, Rich?

[MoviePosterBid.com]

So it is safe to say you are a wine connoisseur, Rich?

I was for a long time, but the last 10 years not so much. I still have some great bottles to empty though.
I also have kept empty bottles for wines that were very special

[paul waines]

Wouldn't mind sampling a few of those myself Rich... If I'm ever in the neighbourhood I'll give you a knock.

[bondposters.com]

I was for a long time, but the last 10 years not so much. I still have some great bottles to empty though.
I also have kept empty bottles for wines that were very special

I have a good friend in Canada whose brother works for a wine company (Montreal).
When I was last over there he took me to one of the wine stores and I was invited to see some of the bottles they had for their mega rich customers (and collectors). I had to go down into their cellar, which was almost always locked - apparently not many people see this.
I may not be a drinker, but I was amazed at what I saw!
They had many bottles upwards of $500 each, but one bottle in particular stood out over the rest.
It was in a locked, toughened glass case and they had it priced in their book at something like $10,000 or possibly more! Can't remember exact price. I couldn't tell you what it was called, but what an expensive past time! Lol.

Because I don't know much about wine, here's a question, Rich:
Does wine increase in value, and do wine bottles hold a strong value?
I know some empty bottles of lager, beer, milk even, can be quite expensive.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

$10,000 was probably a bottle of 1961 Petrus

do wines or bottles gain value.

very good bottles of wine will always go up when stored & held properly
but once they reach their zenith in age/quality, it's possible they may start going downhill. Therefore you must match the perfect time to get maximum benefit, if that's your plan

I've never seen empty bottles for sale. I keep them for memories & they make great decoration

[bondposters.com]

Good reply, Rich.
I'm not actually planning on getting into wine - I'm just interested in how it all works.
It's seems to be quite a complex subject.

I bet having bottles for decoration purposes strikes up some great conversations!