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Old 10-19-2010, 09:29 PM
tfischer tfischer is offline
Craftsman
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 202
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Political ramifications aside, I, too, don't understand the enjoyment of buying a bunch of <whatever 'collectible' item>, holding on to it in hopes it will increase in value, then selling it.

There are far better ways to (generally) make a buck than speculating on the collectables market. Many collectibles actually go DOWN in value (my wife has a small Precious Moments collection, which she collects because she likes them - but lots of folks bought them because they were "rare limited editions" and would surely soar in value -- WRONG! Heck I've bought here several pieces on eBay for maybe 20% of their original price)

I personally have a small collection of John Deere Precision Classics model tractors. Everyone told me to never take them out of the box or they'd "lose value". What the heck? I bought them because I wanted to enjoy them. I wouldn't enjoy them sitting in the box, where you couldn't even see anything but a picture of the item. If I wanted a picture of the item I could print one off the internet for free... So yes, I've 'ruined' the value of my collection. But unless I find myself totally destitute someday, or totally lose interest, I'm never planning on selling it anyway. There for me to enjoy.

Now with a model kit, it totally baffles me why someone would want to collect them and not build them, but hey, everyone's different. Frankly I'd be afraid to build them because I don't think my modeling skills would do it justice, but if I had great skills, I'd build it, then display it, next to the original packaging. I do agree that flying a 50-year-old rocket, only to have it CATO or get lost in a tree, is a shame, so I don't think I'd fly a very old kit...

It's very possible that the seller assumed someone would want to build the kit, and opened it to show that everything was complete. It's also possible they're lying, but I hate to accuse people when I have no grounds to do so.
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