To you. But maybe not to someone else. It's still sentimentality driving the purchase. How much they spend or don't spend is a variable based on their means and willingness to spend it, but the reason behind the spending can be the same. Not everyone has your experiences tastes and biases, so why should they spend their money on collectibles the way you would? I balk at spending $30 on a ReMego (the new release prices for the FTC stuff) for a franchise I really like Jonny Quest) but that's because of my budget and my current situation. Fifteen years a go when my situation was different I had no qualms dropping $50 for a back issue I already had reprinted in a couple of different formats or for an Archive or Masterworks of books I already had. The means I had available affected the thought process behind purchases, but the drive behind wanting to make the purchase is the same.
When I was in 8th/9th grade, I desperately wanted that reprint of Tec 27 from Oreo but my parents wouldn't let me buy the cookies or send away for it. When I saw it at a con for $15 (not slabbed) many years later, I snagged it even though I already had another reprint of that book, because I had a sentimental want for that reprint because I couldn't get it when it was offered. At the same show I passed on a number of original Megos loose for $40-$50 each because I had owned them once and didn't have that drive to get something I had missed out on as a kid fueling the purchase. Today, I wouldn't spend $150 on a slabbed copy of that book and probably wouldn't spend $15 on a loose copy, but I might buy those Megos now because I am more sentimental for what I once had than I was back then.
Was I doing it wrong then? Am I doing it wrong now? Nope in either case, I was doing what I felt was right for me, and I didn't give a flying fig what any other collector thought about it. If someone wanted it and was willing to spend that much on it, and could afford it, good on them for getting something they wanted. Who am I to say if they should or shouldn't have. I don't know their experiences, their budget/means, or why they are looking for it.
-M
When I was in 8th/9th grade, I desperately wanted that reprint of Tec 27 from Oreo but my parents wouldn't let me buy the cookies or send away for it. When I saw it at a con for $15 (not slabbed) many years later, I snagged it even though I already had another reprint of that book, because I had a sentimental want for that reprint because I couldn't get it when it was offered. At the same show I passed on a number of original Megos loose for $40-$50 each because I had owned them once and didn't have that drive to get something I had missed out on as a kid fueling the purchase. Today, I wouldn't spend $150 on a slabbed copy of that book and probably wouldn't spend $15 on a loose copy, but I might buy those Megos now because I am more sentimental for what I once had than I was back then.
Was I doing it wrong then? Am I doing it wrong now? Nope in either case, I was doing what I felt was right for me, and I didn't give a flying fig what any other collector thought about it. If someone wanted it and was willing to spend that much on it, and could afford it, good on them for getting something they wanted. Who am I to say if they should or shouldn't have. I don't know their experiences, their budget/means, or why they are looking for it.
-M
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