Erich,
How about you get some shills in the crowd to send bogus emails to you, offering 2x-3x what you paid for items in your collection??
Nah, I would say just show her some VCP prices to show what you could get for some of your items if you wanted to sell. It's hard to market to a non-collector how this could be better than a mutual fund portfolio for your investment dollar, but hopefully as your wife she'll be supportive of you!