[raulus]

When it comes to cheap stuff, absolutely.

The trouble is that the features in our little corner of the world that seem anathema to Jingram are inseparable with our collections once the dollar amounts get to a certain size. If I understand Jingram’s situation correctly, you are a veteran, in addition to being a collector. Allow me to genuinely thank you for your service, as I have a deep and abiding appreciation for all those who serve, as many of my relatives have done, including my own father for two tours in Vietnam. I’m guessing this also means that you probably have a military pension, which impacts your financial calculus in ways that are different than the rest of us. And without that kind of financial security, issues like value are difficult to entirely ignore, at least once values reach a certain threshold. For better or worse, values are incredibly high across the board for most everything in the vintage part of the hobby.

To give a couple of obvious personal examples of these principles in play, for my junk wax and modern collections, because that is the era when I grew up collecting, they are absolutely just for fun and largely raw. Values don’t matter, because they’re largely worthless. I probably couldn’t give most of them away.

But when it comes to my extensive collection of high grade Mays items, that’s just not a realistic option. Way too much value at stake to just ignore it altogether.

So I get the nostalgia for simpler times. I just don’t think it is realistic given most of today’s elevated values.