Jamie's Collecting Space

I was browsing the web today and I came across one of the most surprising antique appraisals I’ve ever seen. I’ve always been pretty fond of guitars and I have even owned a few. I thought I knew a little bit about them, so I was shocked when the seemingly normal old guitar on the video below was valued at $60,000. I wonder if that is the highest value antiques like guitars have gotten on Antique Road Show.

 

My interested was piqued so I did some research. Fender has been making Stratocasters since 1954. They were designed by George Fullerton, Leo Fender and Freddie Tavares. Apparently, the design of this guitar has been widely celebrated and featured in museums. Many year models of the guitar are highly sought-after collectibles, though the highest value is generally placed on strats from 1954 to 1958.

The 1957 model is particularly collectible because of style and material changes made over the years. Buddy Holly and other famous stars have owned and played 57 strats throughout their careers, which also lends to the model’s popularity. Fender still makes and sells Stratocasters today and even has a custom shop where your guitar will be made to your specifications. Who knows, in fifty years or so, your guitar could be one of the hottest antique collectibles out there.

Apparently, there are a lot of fakes out there so it is important to be an informed buyer and to find a trustworthy dealer. While I was researching, I noticed that many strat collectors out there have horror stories of bad sellers that they are more than willing to share. I hate that those people were tricked, but at least they are sharing what they learned from their mistakes. It is always good to see collectors who are so willing to look out for each other. I hope you enjoyed this video, I’ll be on the look-out for more interesting items to share.

By Jamie.

Apparently huge sports card memorabilia companies like Topps, aren’t above April Fools Day trickery. Today they announced that the widely questioned Kazuo Uzuki “Future Stars” card was a hoax. You can almost hear the “I told you so’s” on message boards across the country.

With all the new Japanese players in baseball these days it was hard to tell if “The Uzi” was real or not. His card said he was going to be the first Japan-based high-school student to go right into the major league here in America. Topps says it created the card to generate excitement for the upcoming 2008 season.

Collectors might be wondering how this little stunt will affect the baseball cards worth. It could really go either way. The card is limited to one in every seventy-two packs, so already it is probably considered a short-print card. That and the added buzz that was created by the joke might raise prices on the card’s online auctions.

Collectibles prices all boil down to supply and demand. If most collectors think the joke was funny and want to add the interesting card to their collections the demand for it will be high, if they decide they don’t want a rookie card of a person who never existed the demand will be low. It really depends on how they value things. My personal prediction is that the demand for this card is going to be high. I’d want it for my collection.

All in all, I think it was a pretty good prank. For those of you who don’t value baseball cards, don’t worry! There are April Fools Day jokes for you too. Check out this video I found of a classic April Fools Day prank.

 

This weeks Antique Roadshow was shot in San Antonio, Texas, and originally aired this Tuesday. As I’ve said in previous blogs, I’m partial to the shows shot here in Texas, so I was pretty excited about this one.

The first item I wanted to talk about today was a painted candy box from 1910. I selected this item because it was so interesting to me that it was made of China. Of course antique china is fairly common. I’ve seen so many antique collectibles made of china, I can hardly count them, but never a candy box. Suzanne Perrault valued the professionally hand painted candy box at up to $600 dollars. I thought it was such an interesting item, because the original owner’s uncle had her childhood portrait painted on it for her as a gift. Apparently, professional portraits on china are rare from that time period. What a sweet story and sentimental item. Out of all the antique appraisals this week, this one was by far the lowest valued item on the show but I thought it was one of the most touching.

The next item on the show I thought I should talk about was a 1943 Ernie Lombardi “Giants” practice jersey. It isn’t very often that I see sports memorabilia from this era, so of course it is exciting. This item had another sweet story to go along with it. The owner had received the jersey as a child in Meeker, Oklahoma. The town’s doctor had asked professional baseball player, Carl Hubbell, to donate some jersey’s for the town’s baseball team to use. Since Meeker was Hubbell’s hometown, he happily sent Giant’s practice jerseys to the team. The lucky owner received a jersey formerly owned by Ernie Lombardi, a hall-of-famer. Simeon Lipman, the appraiser valued this item at up to $15,000, but I can’t imagine the owner would ever sell it, from the look on his face as he told the story.

This week’s show was sentimental and touching as could be, I got a warm fuzzy feeling watching all the people tell the stories of their prized possessions. Whether it’s antique furniture, or antique bottles, these items mean so much to the people who collect them.I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching this show!

By Jamie.

If you want to find the world’s most valuable coin, an antique price guide isn’t the place to look. You don’t even need to go on Antiques Roadshow, I’ve got the info for you right here. The 1933 Double Eagle is an extremely rare gold coin, and it holds the distinction of being the World’s most valuable coin. Few antique collectibles can hold a candle to its interesting past.

Over 400,000 of the coins were minted but none made it into circulation. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102 in 1933 to end the 1930s general bank crisis by making it illegal to use gold coins as legal tender.

It was originally thought that only three of the coins survived, but apparently 20 coins were stolen and circulated among collectors, including ten coins that were discovered in 2005. Two of the original three went to museums, the third was stolen and later ended up in a private collection. It was sold at auction in New York in 2002 for 7.59 million dollars.

Regardless of the number of coins in existence today, chances are slim you or I will ever end up with one. Except for the coin sold at auction, it is illegal to own the Double Eagle as they all belong to the United States Government. If you buy one, make sure it is a reproduction and if it isn’t you’ll want to keep it under your hat or the Secret Service will be along to collect it.

Coin values are often determined by rarity, but I’d be more interested in collecting coins that are legal to own and not so much trouble to come by.

By Jamie.

If you are asking yourself “;how do I value comics?” Diamond Comics Distributors may be able to help. They recently released their list of sales estimates for Feb 2008. The list only covers Diamond’s direct market, news stands and overseas markets are not included.

The information they have complied could be really useful in helping you track the worth of comics, it includes comics prices, top comics by company, top comics by title and even the top traded comics companies. Last month, Marvel Comics barely beat out DC Comics in the Top Comics Breakdown. While DC beat out Marvel in the Top Trades Breakdown. Marvel and DC are really battling right now to be the top of the trade. It will be exciting to see who comes out ahead in the charts for March, but don’t forget to watch for the other two big publishers Dark Horse and Image Comics. Who knows when they might start to climb.

Marvel cleaned up on the Top Comics list, they had nine of the top ten spots, including “X Force” in the number one slot. DC had only one comic in the top ten with “All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder” in the number six slot. Other notable changes included “Hulk” and “Fantastic Four.” “Hulk” was in the number two slot in January, and fell to the number seven slot in February, dropping 32%. “Fantastic Four” was in the number thirty-eight slot in January and managed to climb all the way up to the number eight slot in February nearly doubling in sales.

I’m sure that comics appraisers use information like this to help them value comics, but these lists are available to every comic fan. If you are interested in the market fluctuations or need some insight to finding the worth of your comics just check out the information here.

By Jamie.