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Michael Rorrer made headlines earlier this year when he stumbled upon $3.5 million worth of vintage comicbooks in his great uncle's closet.
Too bad Rorrer's in the minority of most collectors.
Brainwashed by savvy marketing into scooping up "one-of-a-kind" pieces in hopes they'll make a fortune in the resellers market, consumers often find that most of the junk piling up in their garage or basement is simply that—junk.
"You have to be really aware of 'phenomenons," said Rudy Franchi, a well-known appraiser who has often appeared on PBS' hit show Antiques Roadhouse. "People get swept up in a mass craze to collect something ... until it creates a giant bubble that bursts."
Along with Franchi, we've asked a handful of appraisers to call out some of the greatest collectible shams of the last century.
Andy Warhol Cookie Jars
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After pop culture icon Andy Warhol died in the late 80s, friends and family discovered one of his greatest obsessions – a massive collection of antique cookie jars.
The jars turned into hot-sellers at his estate sale, with some fetching as much as $250,000, Franchi said.
But what collectors didn't realize was that their value expired not long after their owner.
"I tell people at the roadshow that (the jars) are worth today what they were always worth – about $200," Franchi said.
80s movie posters
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Some vintage movie posters from the early 20th century have been sold for upwards of half a million dollars.
The same can't be said for more modern flicks, thanks to a couple of factors: For one thing, it's easy to recreate posters online, and secondly, theater employees hoarded posters so much in the 80s and 90s that supplies began to outweigh demand.
"There's a difference between rarity and scarcity," Franchi said. "Now there's an absolute flood of movie posters from that period. It'll be a long time before they find homes."
Modern Baseball Cards
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Forget the housing bubble. The 80s and 90s saw a massive baseball card balloon that made many modern ball cards (post 1970s) basically worthless.
"Manufacturers were coy about how many cards they were printing," explained Zac Bissonnette, consignment director for Heritage Auctions. "Once you had eBay–a searchable database of everything everyone wants to sell–it became obvious that stuff that was thought to be rare wasn't rare at all."
Don Mattingly rookie cards used to sell for $50 a pop. Now you can find them for pennies online.
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Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
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