The True Value of Your Passion for Collection

Collectibles come in all types, but often, toys and other models are what most people spend their time and money acquiring. Sneakers, artworks, rare stamps and coins, comic books and vinyl records are just a handful of things that collectors spend their time on. More often than not, it follows their passions. These collections start out as interests and become a potential investment.

For collector Simon Sim (@00simons00 on Instagram), his collection started out in exactly this manner. It morphed into a way to trade collectibles and make some money so that he could gain access to rarer artefacts. Today, he has a core group of collector friends, their friendships forged over the pursuit of rare toys. He even makes annual pilgrimages with his wife to Japan, which they both love, in pursuit of skiing, fine Japanese cuisine and rare anime toys. “Obviously most toys don’t see a massive increase in value over a short period unless they are very rare pieces. But over a few years, you’ll see that mint condition toys increase in value, probably around 3-5% a year,” he opines.

However, it’s not always easy to tell which collectible will end up attracting interest on the grey market, and which ones won’t. Used vintage Hasbro G.I. Joe figures that are non-limited have fetched up to six figures on eBay, and first edition comic books are often valued in the thousands. As a rule of thumb, dealers have a “20-year rule”¹. That’s the time it takes for kids who grew up with these pop culture influences, to mature into wealthier adults who can afford to buy these toys to reminisce about their childhood.

There are, of course, other factors. Popular culture often turns typical cult collectibles into covetable investments. For example, after The Walking Dead was turned into a television series and became incredibly successful, copies of the comic’s pilot spiked in prices online². The fact that there are more platforms out there today for collectors to reach interested buyers has also changed things. From StockX to Carousell and even Reddit, people can easily offer up their collections for sale. The result is that rarer pieces now fetch even greater demand and prices, compared with non-limited collectibles.