help collecting

jillmastersonfanboy

Im not gonna lie I am a 16 year old kid whose got a good amount of cash and was wondering if you guys had suggestions for bond things to collect. I already started collecting original film cells and props from the roger moore era of bond, but would like to hear suggestions from more experienced colllectors on what you guys started collecting. Thank you for your reply

PoorMansJB

jillmastersonfanboy wrote:

Im not gonna lie I am a 14 year old kid whose got a good amount of cash and was wondering if you guys had suggestions for bond things to collect.

In the words of Napoleon Dynamite: "Whaever [you] feel like!"

Seriously, I really wouldn't look to someone else to advise you on what to collect; a hobby is a personal thing. From my own perspective, though, I would say that had I to do it over, I probably would have narrowed my focus earlier on rather than wind-up with a massive collection of "everything." That is, I might have gone for just die-cast cars or just action figures had I realized that there would ultimately be so many pieces over the years and that I could never own it all.

You might also want to consider how you will eventually store or display your collection. For example, while I enjoy Bond posters, there really isn't any practical way to display but a few (mine are mostly in a rack normally used for retail sales ... not exactly something appropriate to the living room and still holds only so many); but there are several fine books--which I can readily leaf through any time--showing many hundred more posters than I could ever hope to own (or view) so, for me, those books are reasonable substitutes.

It will seem difficult at times, but I would try to buy only the best condition pieces possible. Over the years I've bought loose or damaged items because they were either what I could afford or I was convinced I'd never see another. But as I've upgraded those items, I've also often found some of the inferior pieces hard to liquidate; thanks to resources like eBay, many items that we thought impossible to find 20 years ago have since proven to be not quite so rare.

I do think people often ask "what should I collect" when they really mean, "what should I invest in." Again, I think you should buy what you enjoy and not what you think the [unpredictable] market dictates. That said, I don't think most commercial products (other than a few true limited editions) from the Brosnan era will ever be worth that much as almost all were sold as "collectible" with everybody buying multiples, keeping them all mint, etc. To that end, the demographics of Bond collecting are shifting with the spotlight largely shifting from Connery to Moore in terms of bidding, etc.

jillmastersonfanboy

Thank you PMJB for your response. I will certainly take all of your advice into consideration when buying my itmes. I ves seen the list for james bond die-cast cars and noticed that in 20 years i still wont have them all. I like to collect things in sets so I guess I'll have to do more searching on what james bond items I would like to collect

s96024

That is the problem, there are so many different things you could collect. Narrowing it down to a specific type of item or concentrating on one thing is probably the answer, unless you got unlimited cash. But then again theres always pieces that are expensive whatever you choose. I started collecting UK Quad Posters, but soon had reached my limit on what I can afford to spend. Now I just collect pieces that I really like, whatever they are, posters, autographs, magazines, props e.t.c. But it definitely is down to what you personally like.

The Bond Experience

It doesn't take a significant amount of money for one to be content with their collection. For me the hunt is NEARLY as fun as the acquisition. Making other Bond acquanitences along the way can be a reward in itself.

s96024

Indeed. But if you have not got unlimited money and you want to start a collection on a certain area, and you want to complete the collection then you have to think. I wanted to complete my collection of UK quad cinema posters, but soon realised I could never justify spending thousands, nor afford it, on the early ones. Depends on your collecting needs. Horses for courses and all that.

PoorMansJB

The Mantis wrote:

It doesn't take a significant amount of money for one to be content with their collection.

True; in fact, there are pieces that are quite reasonably priced, I just can't afford the time to sort them out! I'm thinking specifically of the explosion in Corgi cars over the past 5-10 years; there are just too many models, packaging variations, sub-brands, etc. I've picked-up what I felt were the "must haves" yet I'm left feeling my collection is incomplete.

For me the hunt is NEARLY as fun as the acquisition.

While eBay has opened-up collecting in ways we could never have imagined, it's also removed the challenge. Once upon a time, nearly everything in my collection had a story associated with it. But the scale tilted in favor of "I got it on eBay" long ago.

Making other Bond acquanitences along the way can be a reward in itself.

Though I'm afraid a good many of them--AJBers excepted, of course--tend to make Star Wars fans look positively normal ...