Rinker on Collectibles

Endangered Species

Endangered Species: A plant or animal species existing in such small numbers that it is in danger of becoming extinct, especially such a species placed in jeopardy as a result of human activity. One of the principal factors in the endangerment or extinction of a species is the destruction or pollution of its native habitat. Other factors include overhunting, international extermination, and the accidental or intentional introduction of an alien species that outcompetes the native species for environmental resources.--
The American Heritage Science Dictionary. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2005

This is not a column I want to write. This is not a subject I want to face. Yet, I have been thinking about it for over a year.

Are there antiques and collectibles collecting categories that are in damage of becoming extinct? Is the issue collecting categories or collectors? If a collecting category becomes extinct, what happens to the objects that comprised the category? Wouldn’t life be more pleasant if I and everyone else just ignored these questions?

The antiques and collectibles field is experiencing the greatest change in its history. Change is occurring at every level from operating principles to how and what is being collected. Anyone who disputes this is in denial.

Nothing lasts forever is an old saying, but applicable. There is a universal belief throughout the trade that once a collecting category is established, it will remain a collecting category forever. It is time to consider abandoning that concept.

Heresy, I have just committed heresy. There always will be at least one collector for everything. There always has been. There always will be. Maybe not!

If collectors fail, a museum or historical society somewhere will preserve an example(s) from every collecting category. No, it will not. Museums and historical societies are overcrowded. Most have run out of room. The last decades have witnessed a significant decline in the founding of new museums and historical societies. Some museums, especially private museums, are closing, their contents sold at auction. Museums and historical societies no longer function as guaranteed safe havens for our treasured past.

Historically collectors filled the gaps in museum and historical society collections. They continue to play a major role today. But, for how much long will they answer this call? The gaps within collectors’ collections may exceed those in museum and historical society collections.

In many collecting categories, the torch is not being passed from one generation to the next. New collectors are not replacing older collectors who die, at least not in sufficient numbers to guarantee the long-term future of the collecting category. The number of collectors in many collecting categories has dwindled to fewer than one hundred, in some cases fewer than fifty. As the average age of the collector base rises, the number of collectors decreases.

The antiques and collectibles field was incorrect in assuming that collecting taste would never change. The reality of the 21st century has replaced the complacency of the mid-20th century. Change is afoot and will continue for decades. It is impossible at this point to predict when the change will abate. Perhaps never!

It is time to introduce the endangered collecting category concept, a category where the number of collectors has grown so small that the possibility of extinction exists.

[AUTHOR’S ASIDE: I plan to provide examples, knowing full well that I am going to alienate a number of collectors and others in the trade. The threat of extinction is not a guarantee of extinction. Consider the number of animals and plants that are no longer on the endangered species list. Endangerment is a call to action. Answering it opens the door to the possibility that the situation can be reversed. Failing to answer it ensures the inevitable.]

When I assumed the editorship of Warman’s Antiques and Their Prices in 1981, it had individual category listings for several English ceramic categories among which were Bows, Chelsea, Leeds, and Salopian Ware. By the early 1990s, they were combined into a single “English Ceramics” collecting category. Today their absence in any general antiques and collectibles price guide would be largely neither noticed nor protested.

A TEST: Before you research these ceramic categories, try picturing examples of Bows, Chelsea, Leeds, and Salopian Ware. How successful were you compared to the illustrations you found? Actually, I am assuming you will have no interest whatsoever in wasting your time searching for images, and rightly so.

It is far too easy to prove my premise that endangered collecting categories exist by focusing on fading eighteenth- through early twentieth-century antiques collecting categories. It is just as easy using twentieth-century collectibles.

Personality collectibles are the easiest. Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart memorabilia is now included in aviation collectibles. There is not a large enough collecting base to sustain these as individual collecting categories. Producer and Director Mira Nair is in the final process of editing a major motion picture about Amelia Earhart. Will it trigger a renewed interest in Amelia Earhart memorabilia? While the answer is most likely yes, the craze will end as soon as the movie leaves the theaters. Even the collecting surge following the most recent Titanic movie was over within a year.

Lindbergh and Earhart may not be the best examples. Neither are Fred Astaire, Eddie Cantor, Doris Day, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Ginger Rogers, or Ed Wynn. They never had their own collecting categories. What about the Dionne Quintuplets or Shirley Temple? They had their own collecting categories, and these collecting categories definitely are endangered. The frightening “Who cares?” question is less than two decades ahead for both of them.

Previously I approached this subject by talking about the graying of a collecting category, i.e., looking at the average age of the collectors within a category. An average age of fifty plus is a danger sign. When the average age exceeds sixty, disaster is imminent.

Today I am more concerned about the number of collectors supporting a collecting category. When that number is fewer than one hundred, danger lurks. When that number falls below fifty, the collecting category is endangered.

Is it possible to determine the exact number of collectors for any given collecting category? The answer is no. Any number is qualitative not quantitative, based on instinct and intuition and not hard data.

Some aids are available. If the collecting category has a collectors club, its membership count provides a clue. A strong club comprises less than twenty percent of those who collect that category—a complete guesstimate on my part. Hence, multiply the club membership by five to seven to get a viable collector count.

The sell-through rate on eBay is another research source. When the sell-through rate is less than twenty percent, it is safe to assume the number of collector buyers is minimal. Likewise, a steady decline in prices in auction catalog sales is a good indication that sellers outnumber buyers in that particular collecting category.

A general collecting category, e.g., pattern glass, begins the endangering process through the collapse of its component parts. The secondary resale market for pattern glass clarets, goblets, and tumblers is rapidly disappearing. Its collector base is less than ten percent of what it was twenty years ago. While larger pattern glass pieces, especially hollowware, still have a limited following, this number is declining as well. It is possible to count the number of collectors for some forms and patterns on two hands. In a growing number of cases, there are no collectors for the more obscure patterns.

What do you think? Is it time to talk about endangered collecting categories? If your answer is yes, what collecting categories do you feel qualify? If your answer is no, what is your counterargument? E-mail your comments to: harrylrinker@aol.com. Thanks.

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.

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