Someone once said ‘out with the old and in with the new’, but for those of us that have plenty of printed items at home – from books and magazines to concert tickets and movie posters – we could find ourselves sitting on a fortune in the future.
Whether you’re millennial, middle-aged or a mere few years off receiving Her Majesty’s 100th birthday letter, you’re alive at a momentous time: you’re part of the ongoing transition from print to digital. Maybe you still prefer the smell of a brand-new paperback, or perhaps you get more pleasure from a portable library? Do you love the tangibility of a physical ticket, or do you prefer to put your e-ticket in a wallet app on your phone? Either way, from vintage clothes to vinyls and old video games, what goes down in popularity tends to go up in price…
Could our printed items really be worth a bucket load of cash? We spoke to BBC One’s Antiques Roadshow’s Wayne Colquhoun about which modern-day items may bring the bucks in 50 years’ time. He offered his expert advice on how to profit from print – including what to chuck, what to wrap up safe in paper packaging, and how to find that pot of gold.
When stamps were the main form of collecting 50 years ago, nobody would have expected that the world of ephemera would burgeon into the multi-billion market it is today. Wayne sees this continuing to build in popularity, and particularly when it comes to print in the digital age: “It will continue to rise – you can feel it, you can see it and you can count it.”
So what is it that makes these ten items so mighty in their monetary value? With exactly half of this list being books – and Wayne’s prediction that The Lord of the Rings Trilogy will be worth a whopping £100,000 – it’s evident that the written word is a winner.
“The printed word for me will never go away”, says Wayne. “There is an intrinsic craft to the science that creates the beauty that lies within the production of a book. And as traditional skills decline, real craftmanship will prevail and rise in value.”
I think books will be with us forever and remain a sturdy and strong investment. In the case of the best of the best and the rarest of the rare, they will be the best way to see your money grow in the most pleasurable of ways.
Wayne is careful to clarify that ‘value’ means different things for different people: “One person’s junk is another’s treasure is as true today as it’s ever been.” Sometimes an item worth its weight in gold could be worth mere pennies to another. But if you must clear out your attic specifically for cash, here’s how to look for the big bucks:
“Dig a little deeper for signed copies, early versions of anything, prototypes or the unpublished. Rarity and quality combined is the combination for cash.” Indeed all the books featured in the top ten list depended on signatures to make them desirable: “Signatures are always so important. They signal that an actual person signed the item. It’s always worth checking the signature is genuine and not a fake.”
What else can cause a collector’s item to soar? From David Bowie to Harper Lee, Wayne tells us that, “Sadly, death is always a point of recognition for an artist or an author. It seems to be a point of recollection of a series of achievements. An author’s signed copy of their book tends to rise in value overnight once they have passed.”
A recent auction saw The Beatles ‘Yesterday and Today’ prototype album make £180,000. This was first state and signed by the Fab Four, as well as being owned by John Lennon. The Beatles name is always a strong safe bet but other musicians are becoming highly collectable.
Wayne is careful to clarify that ‘value’ means different things for different people: “One person’s junk is another’s treasure is as true today as it’s ever been.” Sometimes an item worth its weight in gold could be worth mere pennies to another. But if you must clear out your attic specifically for cash, here’s how to look for the big bucks:
“Dig a little deeper for signed copies, early versions of anything, prototypes or the unpublished. Rarity and quality combined is the combination for cash.” Indeed all the books featured in the top ten list depended on signatures to make them desirable: “Signatures are always so important. They signal that an actual person signed the item. It’s always worth checking the signature is genuine and not a fake.”
What else can cause a collector’s item to soar? From David Bowie to Harper Lee, Wayne tells us that, “Sadly, death is always a point of recognition for an artist or an author. It seems to be a point of recollection of a series of achievements. An author’s signed copy of their book tends to rise in value overnight once they have passed.”
A recent auction saw The Beatles ‘Yesterday and Today’ prototype album make £180,000. This was first state and signed by the Fab Four, as well as being owned by John Lennon. The Beatles name is always a strong safe bet but other musicians are becoming highly collectable.
From magazines to movie posters, comic books and everything in between: “Fashion is fickle, inflation can be cruel, predictions can be hard – because collecting can be personal, and trends come and go.”
But for those looking to the future for which trends could be lucrative: “Photography is often overlooked. I am always on the lookout for good quality photographs by famous photographers. The art of photography has yet to be grabbed by the general public, and is in the hands of those few that are in the know.”
As well as this, Wayne states, “Film posters have trended upwards in price steadily over the last few decades. These posters once used in picture palaces on the corner of every street could be found for buttons at antique markets as the age of cinema declined into the 70’s and 80’s, only to resurge upwards again with the new generation of younger people who visit the reinvented cinema.”
A German three sheet used to promote this silent film by Fritz Lang now hailed as a masterpiece from 1927 sold for $257,000 (approx. £202,200) in 2000. An international version designed by Heinz Schulz-Neudamm minus the German writing sold for $690,000 (approx. £542,700) in 2005. It was rumoured to have been bought by Leonardo DiCaprio.
We asked Wayne what type of mentality it takes to make a great collector: “Sentimentality creates something that is valuable to one person and almost meaningless to another. I would therefore recommend that people do not clear their own collections if they have a sense of sentimentality – it could cloud their judgement.”
It’s all a balancing act between collecting what you love and being aware of what will make you money, but what, if any, wins? “Emotions are an important part of collecting but cool calculating reality is needed to really differentiate the wheat from the chaff when clearing out any collection – and this has to be done from time to time.”
Wayne goes on to tell us that, “You could stamp your own personality on a collection for the future and enjoy doing the collecting along the way.” It seems the key then, as Wayne so astutely puts it, is simply to: “collect wisely and have fun.”
We all dream about finding that one thing that changes all.
We asked Wayne what type of mentality it takes to make a great collector: “Sentimentality creates something that is valuable to one person and almost meaningless to another. I would therefore recommend that people do not clear their own collections if they have a sense of sentimentality – it could cloud their judgement.”
It’s all a balancing act between collecting what you love and being aware of what will make you money, but what, if any, wins? “Emotions are an important part of collecting but cool calculating reality is needed to really differentiate the wheat from the chaff when clearing out any collection – and this has to be done from time to time.”
Wayne goes on to tell us that, “You could stamp your own personality on a collection for the future and enjoy doing the collecting along the way.” It seems the key then, as Wayne so astutely puts it, is simply to: “collect wisely and have fun.”
We all dream about finding that one thing that changes all.
All of these items mean little without love and care on their side: “Condition is the most important thing to bear in mind when collecting anything that is printed except in the rarest of examples. It is a very important investment to keep your cherished items in good condition, even if it’s just so future generations can own it – we are all custodians of our treasures.”
If you want to protect your profitable possessions, Rajapack’s paper packagingpaper packaging can help you keep them in the best possible condition – making your chances of success when it comes to cashing in on those collectables all the more likely.
Wayne's earliest find, at the age of six, was a Wedgewood black basalt vase that he found amongst the rubble whilst playing with friends in the bombed out houses left over from the war in his hometown of Liverpool.
This fuelled his lifetime passion for arts and antiques and, after leaving school, Wayne went on to become a specialist in the restoration of historic and listed buildings.
Wayne has been running an Art Gallery for over two decades and is an Independent Consultant whose many clients include national museums.
Though Wayne specialises in Art Deco, Art Nouveau and the Applied Arts, he loves many other periods and has over 30 years’ experience in the field.
