RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1196 Copyright © Rinker Enterprises, Inc. 2010

2010 – Its Impact on the Antiques and Collectibles Trade

A recent e-mail asked me to provide the secondary market value for a Cabbage Patch Kids, Raggedy Ann and Andy, and a Dapper Dan doll from the mid-1980s.  The mid-1980s!  Wasn’t that yesterday?

The mid-1980s were not yesterday.  They were 25 years ago—relatively recent if you are in your late 60s and in the distant future if you were born in the 1990s, as are the majority of the students in the English composition course I teach at Norwalk (CT) Community college.  Age is relative.  Alas, it grows more relevant the older one becomes.

When the millennium occurred (it makes no difference whether it happened on January 1, 2000 or 2001), there was a great deal of celebration and little else.  Life proceeded forward after the turn of the century much as it did prior to the change in centuries.

From a collecting perspective, a new century dawns when there is a major change in lifestyle.  Events prior to the change are in sharp contrast to those that follow.  The 20^th century began in 1920.  World War I served as the instrument of change.  Life in 1925 was vastly different from life in 1915.  1900 to 1919 was a continuation of the 19^th century.

Wars were the catalyst for change in the 20^th century.  World War II and the Vietnam War are key watersheds dividing distinct collecting generations from each other.

Wars such as those in Iran and Afghanistan have not had the same impact in the first decade of the 21^st century.  The Aughts between 2000 and 2008 are best viewed as a continuation of the 20^th century.  No cataclysmal event occurred to separate one month or year from another.

Still unanswered is whether the 2008-2009 Great Recession will produce a recognizable divide.  At the moment, the safe assumption is that it will not.  While the divide between the rich and poor continues to grow and the attack on the middle class intensifies, the end result will not prove catastrophic.  The lifestyle shifts between 1915-1925, 1938-1948, and 1963-1973 affected everyone.  No social or economic class was exempt.  The impact of the 2008-2009 Great Recession is spotty.  Some individuals and regions are harder hit than others.  While the Wall Street bankers and brokers received reduced bonuses in 2008, their 2009 bonuses are bigger than ever.  Life continues to be one continuous party for the rich and famous, Bernie Matoff and company not withstanding.

Rinker’s 30 Years Rule—for the first 30 years of anything’s life, all its value is speculative—was designed to provide a chronological time period when a trustworthy, stable secondary market develops for collectibles from the preceding generation.  Applying this rule, objects from the early 1980s are now a legitimate part of the collectibles marketplace.  Although loath to acknowledge this—I would prefer to remain in denial—1980s objects are becoming collectible.

The 1980s are old.  If you are skeptical, listen to Oldies radio.  The amount of 1980s music played on Oldies radio increases daily.  I recognize the names of some of the bands, but I am hard pressed to identify any of the songs from their lyrics.  I was in my 40s in the 1980s and into antiques and collectibles, not new things.  Alas, all new things eventually become old.

Several years ago, I raised concern that young collectors are shortening the time required for things to become old.  Rather than expand the time span in Rinker’s 30 Years Rule, I considered shortening it.  Thirty years ago is ancient history in the eyes of the generation who grew up in the first decade of the 21^st century.

When older collectors referred to the Teens, everyone knew they mean the period from 1910 to 1919.  If an object was manufactured between 1810 and 1819, it was made in the first quarter of the 19^th century or simply the 19^th century.  The older an object is the great the chronological time span assigned to it.  Antiques and collectibles were easy to define, at least until 2009.

2010 complicates matters.  2010 begins the second decade of the 21^st century, the century’s Teens.  Those who argue that individuals will refer to the period as the 20-10s are full of themselves.  2010 to 2019 is going to be referred to as the Teens, if not immediately certainly by mid-decade.

If Teens now means 2010 to 2019, what happens to 1910 to 1919?  The answer is that the decade becomes part of the first quarter of the 20^th century.  Like it or not, the 20^th century is about to receive the same treatment as the 19^th century—divided into quarters and halves but not decades.  At best, dates will be banded in 15- to 20-year time spans based on the starting date, for example 1945 to 1960.

When the 20^th century receives the same nomenclature status as the 19^th century, the 20^th century will not only seem old, it will be old.  By 2015, the 1990s will have aged faster than those decades preceding it.  Presidents such as Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush will find themselves relegated to the same historical status as Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland.  Fiesta ware will join Bow, Chelsea, and Lowestoft as forgotten collecting categories.

Throughout the 20^th century, advanced age was an asset, a condition that created an element of respect and honor.  The antiques and collectibles trade talked reverentially about “treasures from the past.”  An “attic treasure” was a valuable find.  The concept died a slow death during the last quarter of the 20^th century.

New homes no longer have easily accessible attics.  At best, a home has a crawl space or two.  Basements are finished rather than used for storage.  Today’s storage shed and rental storage unit mentality has eliminated the “attic treasure” concept.  It is possible that the Teens will see the last of the famed “hidden treasures” that fuel the Antiques Roadshow.

The attack on age as value began in the 1960s.  “Don’t trust anyone over the age of 30,” Jerry Rubin ranted.  It became a rallying cry of the Beatnik and Hippie generations.  In less than a decade, this rebellious rabble eclipsed this landmark designation.  Today the Beatniks and Hippies are in their 50s and 60s and enjoy no more respect from their grandchildren than they gave to their parents.  Rubin died in 1994 at the age of 56, thus escaping the long-term consequences created by the generation gap he was instrumental in creating.

Differences have always existed between children and their parents.  Until the 1960s, the divide was bridged by the concept of “respect your elders.”  This respect transcended individuals.  It also applied to institutions, societal norms, objects, and other things associated with a culture’s past.  The size of the Baby Boomer generation coupled with its radical taste in culture, fashion, music, politics, and social direction placed a heavy strain on the bridge between generations.  When the blatant disregard for the past was added, the bridge collapsed.

The Beatniks and Hippies turned to social engineering to achieve their goals.  Their opponents countered with their own social engineering concepts.  In 2010, the world is being social engineered to death.

I have tried to remain non-judgmental about how the generations behind me approach the antiques and collectibles that I love.  It has not been easy.  It is hard to watch the things I love being neglected and relegated to the collecting graveyard.  I worked hard to prevent this from happening.  I am afraid that I have lost more battles than I have won.

As 2010 dawns, I am approaching the end of my 60s.  While my mental age may be open to debate, my physical age is not.  My biggest fear is that I am becoming too set in my ways, too enamored with the past to let go.  Until this happens, however, I will relish change.  I cannot wait to see what the decade of the Teens will mean to the antiques and collectibles trade.

Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet.  Check out www.harryrinker.com.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time.  If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.gcnlive.com.

SELL, KEEP OR TOSS?  HOW TO DOWNSIZE A HOME, SETTLE AN ESTATE, AND APPRAISE PERSONAL PROPERTY (House of Collectibles, an imprint of the Random House Information Group, $16.95), Harry’s latest book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via www.harryrinker.com.