CollectibleDealers

09/25/2021

If you have crypto in your investment portfolio, have you tried to spend it?

Follow along as I recount my real world experience with the crypto economy.

Since NFTs exploded onto the market, I've just kind of sat back and followed it's maturity and growth. Finally I decide that it's time to dip my toe into this new collecting world. I setup an account on OpenSea and move about $30 in ETH to my crypto wallet. This is when I got my first taste of how this world works. The fee to move my crypto from my Coinbase account to my Coinbase wallet was about 20%, so $6 to move it to my wallet. Despite the high fee, I go ahead and move it to my wallet. Oh, I noticed they use Polygon for their crypto token and I happen to have it in my portfolio, so I move it to my wallet.

Now I connect my wallet to OpenSea and I'm still not able buy the NFT. Why? Well, first of all MATIC doesn't show up on my OpenSea account, but I do see my ETH. According to OpenSea, I have to bridge my ETH to Polygon. Easy enough, but wait, a popup message tells me the mining fee to bridge $30 of ETH to Polygon (MATIC) is going to be over $60. My Coinbase app says that I might want to wait until the fees are lower. I try, for over 24 hours, I try, but the fee is never lower than $15. And I don't get why OpenSea's native token doesn't show up on my account, even though it's in my wallet.

So unless I'm willing to pay exorbitant mining fees to get it, I can't buy this NFT. Because of barriers like this, this poor NFT artist doesn't realize he lost a sale because of the overhead needed to just simply buy his NFT.

To see if the fee varies, I try higher and lower transfer amounts and find that fee is essentially the same. To be cost effective, I would need to transfer closer to $1000 of ETH to justify, at very the least, the off peak mining fees.

I have to say that I'm hesitant to buy $1000 of ETH, so I can simply purchase a $25 NFT. Not to mention that there would be fees to purchase the ETH and fees to bridge it to Polygon.

It's then that I realize this market is meant not for people of average means, at least at this stage of the technology. It's not even suitable as a point-of-sale method.

If the advocates of crypto want wider acceptance, the fees have to be on par with Visa, PayPal, or other online payment channels. People aren't going to use it to pay for pizza or groceries if the fees are double the purchase price.

As of now, I'll stay on the sidelines. Even though I see NFTs that are well worth buying, I can't get past the fees to justify the purchase. I also don't want to convert that much ETH to their crypto token to make it worth the fees. This is still a maturing technology and as with all new technology, the early adopters are usually people who have the means to deal with the costs.

Beyond the technological hurdles, which can be daunting for non-technical people, the price of entry is still too high for the average investor or collector, particularly if you hope to realize any gain from the purchase from some future sale. It's unfortunate, because this is a new, wide open genre of collecting, but like coin collecting was in the not so distant past, collecting NFTs will be mostly for those who afford it.

11/15/2018

How find those full bell line Franklins!

Learn Grading: NGC uses the Full Bell Lines (FBL) designation for certain Franklin Half Dollars. Here's how coins qualify: NGCcoin.com/news/article/6865 ...

11/14/2018

09/08/2018

Pro Tip:
If you can't handle an angry customer when the issue is clearly your fault, you shouldn't be in business.

11/26/2017

A site I like to use when describing the condition of a poster or print.

some minor storage defect, minor tear, one pinhole in each corner or some other very minor flaw on an otherwise unused poster.One tiny pinhole in each corner from being displayed is allowable in this grade.

08/27/2017

These are the responses the NYT got from their article about inherited heirlooms. Some thoughts on this.

You should not expect your children to love your stuff as much as you do. They have their own lives and interests. You wouldn't know what to do with your great grandmother's spinning wheel. The same is true for your children when it come to your Hummels and other knickknacks.

This generation is more aware their carbon footprint. They value experiences over accumulating stuff. They generally have more debt. Many live in smaller places than their parents. It's just the change of lifestyle of how we lived in the 20th century versus how we will live in the 21st century.

That's why every parent, as they approach the retirement years, should have a conversation with their children about what to do with their stuff. Identify the heirlooms and items that are to be kept. Make sure it is identified in the will. Have a plan ready for when time comes to downsize. The plan should be clear as to what should be sold or donated.

In my case, we have no children, but we do have nieces and nephews. Because I buy and sell collectibles, I have accumulated a number of different collections. I have written instructions as to how and where to liquidate specialized parts of my collections. I have cataloged all of the pieces so they won't have to guess and can easily find the current value.

None of us should have any expectation that our children or other relatives will have any interest in our stuff. We place more sentimental attachment to our heirlooms because we are closer to the its source, As the next generation comes along, they will place sentimental value on other things. And their children will one day have to figure out how to deal it too.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/your-money/what-to-do-with-inherited-heirlooms.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Times readers debated the process of deciding which heirlooms parents should pass down to their children, and what to do when the children say no thanks.

07/02/2017

The moral of this story is that you should know your material and not simply rely on the expertise of a 3rd party authentication service.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/autograph-fakery-two-firms-monopolize-a-lucrative-business-6395264

There aren't many places more sublime than Augusta National Golf Club on an early April morning. Dew sparkles on the greens, delicately raked sand traps beckon, and the best golfers on Earth stroll around the fairways, imagining the strokes they hope will lead to the Masters' green jacket. April 9,....

06/30/2017

If you haven't gotten Stan Lee yet, this is your last chance. I understand this is his last year on the comic convention circuit. Just had this hand draw daily from 1997 signed at AwesomeCon.

04/08/2017

This story is called "I really want this to be real". A person in a group of which I am a member, posts the photo below, on the left, of Reagan and his wife walking hand in hand wearing red sweaters.

The member says it came out of a group of other signed items and based on where it came from, he thinks it might be real and is considering authentication, which will run about $75.

A number of experienced collectors told him that this a typical photo sent out supporters and not to send it for authentication. So I decided to let it be and not comment. That was until someone came along to say that no one could tell its real from just photos and that it has to be examined in person.

Challenge accepted! I'm going prove he's abjectly wrong.

I generally assume items like this are not real and it has to prove that it is. This is important. No matter how real I want it to be, I have start out with the assumption that it is not. Here's an excellent primer on this subject:

https://www.raabcollection.com/learning/authenticating-autographs

The first thing I do is look at the autopen and secretarial exemplars I have to see if there's a match.

I wasn't able to find any examples, so I begin searching through Google images looking at dozens of photos signed by both of them. Then finally, I find a photo of them more formally dressed, photo on the right. I examine the signature and lo and behold it is an exact match. Vindication!

There are two things to take away from this story.

1. Don't let your emotions take over. You may have something special, but chances are it isn't and you have to prove it is. You can't just assume it. You have to be able to clearly explain why you think it's real and show your work.

2. Experts are always happy to render an opinion. And yes, many of them can tell whether it is real or not by looking at the photos.

04/08/2017

03/09/2017

I always find the line "It sold for $250 at Z auctions back in 2008, but I'm willing to let it go for $25 to be a huge red flag. Why? Because each and every time I've seen that line, I find the value of the item has actually fallen below the asking price.

This why I tell people that if the value someone has placed on an item is based on sales more than 2 years old, you should look for more recent sales to get a better sense of value and demand.

Collectibles tend to be a cyclical market. What's hot this year, isn't next year.

02/25/2017

If the starting bid at your auction is standard retail, you aren't really having an auction.