Hacker News Reader

Comment by someonehere | Hacker News Reader

I’ve been clearing out my closet selling childhood items.

One thing to note. I found some of my original series GPK cards in mint or near mint condition. I don’t have 1a (Nasty Nick), but a graded mint 1A sold on eBay for $12,900 with 30+ bids. Others from series 1 go from a few hundred per card to several thousand.

Going with this article, yes there seems to be a nostalgia bump on eBay for things from 70s - 2000s. Hot Wheels, GPK, YugiOh, Pokémon, all seem to have some value recently.

View on HN

I feel like it’s just that those of us who had our formative years in the 1980-2000 range are finally old enough and have enough disposable income to collect the things we could never afford back then and/or the things we loved and wish we hadn’t gotten rid of.

Across all my hobbies, from cars to retro tech to various small toy/comic/whatever collections, everything from that generation is sky rocketing in prices now.

Got into writing Gameboy emulation recently and went looking to buy one to compare output. there's definitely a u-shaped curve in prices for old consoles with the bottom currently at the ps2/xbox/wii. Its not a entirely quantity related thing, the ps1 and game boy color had plenty of owners but are climbing up the "retro" side of the price curve. But on the other hand the GameCube is a bit more pricy locally, largely because no one owned it at the time, but the Wii/Switch has brought levels of Nintendo interest that wasn't here for non-handhelds in the 90s/early 00s.

Makes me wonder if it's worth buying up things like that now (with the expendable income) and leave it in storage / attic for twenty odd years. I don't know, I don't really see something super popular doing the rounds right now, and I doubt there would be interest in Fortnite cards or merchandise in 20-30 years.

But I could be very wrong.

People who want to make money on nostalgia would do well to only buy things that were a part of the rich kids lives.

2005 Camry prices are going to be insane in 2030. 2005 Cavalier prices are going to be about what they are now.

In 2020 every yuppie wants to drive a "classic" Toyota or Volvo like the 90s one they crashed when they were 16 and prices reflect that. Nobody is driving up the prices on Jeep Grand Cherokees or Dodge Caravans from the same time. The people who grew up being carted around in the latter in the early 2010s and now are in their mid 20s with real jobs and disposable money are much less likely to have nostalgia for those times.

Oh damn. You saying 90's-era Grand Cherokees are cheap? My grandmother had one that my sister totalled and I always wanted one just like it...

A few years ago, I sold my 1996 V8 ZJ with a rebuilt engine for $300 as a favor to a friend of mine for his dad. That was maybe 33-50% of the fair market value, but yeah, they're super-cheap.

If you want reliable, the L6 4.0 engine is way more reliable than the B8 5.2/5.9 engine from that era.

We just bought a 2018 Corolla (first car in over 10 years that wasn't the city bus...) but I am going to keep that in mind because at some point we'll need a second, and something like that is just perfect for moving some gear around.

Unless they franchise it I sort of see your thinking. Games like that are commoditized more it these days it seems.

Games like Pokemon that were popular in the 90s might have vanished from popular thought had they not created a franchise out of it... it's as popular as ever if I'm seeing things straight.

Sometimes it's worth picking up limited edition or collectible items. For example, I bought the Tesla S3XY short-shorts immediately when I saw Elon Musk tweeting about them because I expect them to quickly grow in value over the next 20 years, especially if he continues being successful.

Wouldnt it be easy to bootleg?

Sure, but that holds true for lots of other collectibles too. For example, the Pokemon cards currently being discussed.

For every story about Pokemon cards there's 20 stories about Beanie Babies collecting dust in the attic...

Exactly, it's a high risk & potentially high reward long term investment.

That's not investment, it's a gamble/speculation.

So you're saying the 1990 shitbox Passat I drove for a while is worth more than when I drove it? Damn. Though, to be honest I miss that car...

Might be time to pay my parents' basement a visit...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com