With that damn Black Sabbath poster, I violated all the rules. I bid $400 and ended up with a $3,500 poster of Ozzy Osbourne staring me in the face. It doesn't have an intrinsic value, but it does have a price.Īnd when you have two bidders who suddenly, for whatever reason, decide they are price-insensitive, watch out. What's this poster worth? It's worth whatever anyone is willing to pay for it at that moment. Same story with gold, and with Bitcoin as well. It doesn't pay a dividend, or provide a future cash flow you can try to discount into the present. This is known as "fundamental analysis" and it is the basis for most long-term stock investing.īut there's none of that when it comes to posters, or any other kind of collectible.Ī rock poster doesn't do anything. With stocks, at least you have the appearance of trying to figure out what the "intrinsic value" of the stock might be, based on what kind of dividend it pays, and the present value of a future stream of cash flow that might turn into earnings. How did I know that? I had several decades of experience bidding on rock posters, and based on what I had seen I thought that was a reasonable price.īut it was all a guess, as it is with all collectibles. What did I think that poster was worth? $400-$500. I have walked away from most auctions a loser, because I wasn't willing to pay more than I thought a poster (or a comic book, another obsession from decades ago) was worth. You cannot be carried away by the emotion of an auction. You must know what you are willing to pay for something, and not go over that price. You're the idiot who bought it."Ĭollectors will tell you that to be a successful long-term collector of anything, you must be disciplined. The dealer said, "I can tell you who the idiot was, Bob. Who the hell was willing to spend $3,500 for a goddamn Black Sabbath poster? Who is this idiot, I demanded to know? Who was this person? Was I bidding against Ozzy Osbourne himself? It's not common to ask who the competing bidders are at auctions, but the auction was over and I had to know. I called the person who ran the auction, a very respected dealer who specialized in rock posters. The next day, I did something I almost never do. I want to make them eat this goddamn poster.Ī few minutes later, I won the poster, at $3,499, plus a 10 percent buyer's fee. I want to find out who this person is, get a meeting, roll up the poster and force it down his or her throat. Now I don't care what the hell the price is. I don't want this goddamn poster.Ī minute or so later, we are at $2,500, then $3,000.
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