Re: The Dumbing Down of Astronomers

offaxis2@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Collectable economics 101 for the fool who thinks he knows it all.

In 1980 the average comic book on the news stand was 60 cents in the US
with specail editions and large books topping out at $1.50. The average
price of golden age comic (literraly printed in the million copy range)
on the used market $50-150 per issue in top condition with the most
expensive books topping no more than $10,000.

Mainly because most of them were thrown away or badly worn. The handful that remain in good condition have a value to collectors worth far more than the original cover price. Willing seller willing buyer - you are not forced to buy these things. The same would be true of a historical ephemera like a Roman shopping list from Caesar's occupation of Britain.

Fast foraward to 2.5 decades of caterring to "collectors" by the
publishers with 99% worthless throw away collectors editions

You can't blame the publishers for exploiting a willing market. They are mostly adults that buy "collector editions" and a fool and their money are soon parted. Similar gift shops and endless TV shopping channels of "collectors editions" of worthless tat also exist to exploit consumers.

Same golden age back issues that command those paltry sums now command
$500-2000 a copy average and the top books are valued at $500,000.

This for nothing more than THROW AWAY READING MATERIAL!

And they are now valuable because most of them were thrown away. The handful or originals in good condition that survive have rarity value - at least to some the few collectors who want a perfect set of every copy. Same is true of old and rare books, fine wines etc. A product is only worth what someone will pay for it - and a handful will pay insane premiums.

You don't have to watch Ebay for long to see some idiot bid for something secondhand at above the street price for brand new boxed product! That really is dumbing down of the consumer!!!

You want the lowdown on camera equpiment Leica and Zeiss for example?
Closer to what we are dealing with here. That is where people still buy
brand new Leica's sealed in plastic for $4000-5000 and NEVER EVER OPEN
them. I have personally sold SEALED leica M4's that were made 30+ years
ago why ? becasue it is sealed no one but the staff touched. Premium ?
5 times over its original cost, for a camera that no one even know if
it works! Hell they don't know if its even in the BOX!

That is fairly perverse collectors behaviour, but if they are buying an asset that they believe will appreciate why is it any different to them buying fine art, stocks and shares or just leaving their money in the bank to accrue interest. It happens to OO railway engines, Dinky toys and Meccano too, but the vast majority of what is bought gets used.

It is a shame when good kit is left unused but once someone has bought it they can do what they like. Someone bought a piece of modern art with the stated intention of destroying it amid much publicity.

You want to see what happens to your telescope prices if that kind of
thing starts happening?

Very little. The Leica and Zeiss speculative investment effect only affects a handful of purchases of high end cameras - the vast majority of cameras are still very reasonably priced (although you could argue that a lot of them are also never used). Cheapest 3Mpixel ones down to £29 in my local supermarket after Xmas - I had one at that price to dissect.

I find it odd that you are bleating about this in an era when the advent of webcams and cunning software now allows amateurs to take images of the planets with very cheap hardware that rival those of the ground based professionals only a couple of decades ago. Finding innovative ways to do astronomy on the cheap is still a very active pursuit.

Your gripe seems to be with the group of speculators who trade goods by knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing.

Regards,
Martin Brown
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: New Book - Binaca Geetmala Ka Sureela Safar
    ... than a Jnanapith award winner. ... Price was never an indicator of quality! ... The facts of real life are that Ms. De's books ... Ms. Shobha De's writings do not appeal all that much ...
    (rec.music.indian.misc)
  • Aviation Content Books for Sale
    ... The books are all in very good condition with only minor dinging of corners and/or dust jackets. ... Price = $10 ... MOSQUITO by Bill Sweetman/Illustrations by Rikyu Watanabe, c 1981, hardback, 52 pages. ... Large coffee table format and highly illustrated with color pictures and detailed technical information. ...
    (rec.aviation.military)
  • Re: Consequences.
    ... combined with a much lower print run than is usual with books. ... as much to the price tag as the "Because we can" factor. ... that the textbook is chosen by the professor not by the students who pay ... I'll have to ask my wife how she picks her textbooks. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.fandom)
  • Re: Eaton Press, et al
    ... >Some Franklins can be had for half the original price. ... >suspect that those who buy them also buy tooled books by the yard. ... But I was pretty amused that he'd been collecting books by ...
    (rec.collecting.books)
  • Re: Is Micro Focus doomed?
    ... So bean-counters plus management have arrived at a formula that gives them a 'safe' income by DEMANDING that you purchase those coupon books up front before you have even written a line of code. ... Now it could well be that the Sales Force is 'tied into a mantra', or as promoters/marketers for the products, just aren't doing their jobs properly. ... Certainly if radio/TV use music there are royalties - whether there is a package price paid up front, or from an audit the broadcasters pay after the event, I don't now. ... Next week it is Libbys that has a sales promotion, so in quick order Marketing dreams up another promotion. ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)