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« BACK Collectors fueled the junk market in the 1960s and 1970s, before a flood of speculators and wheeler-dealers turned junking into a livelihood. Collectors would buy, sell, and trade an endless array of items, from Pez candy dispensers and metal lunchboxes to barbed wire, action figures, baseball cards, photographs, bottle caps, records, comic books, tin soldiers, and transistor radios. Most people were unaware of the growing thirst for junk and collectibles and the amount of money that the items could one day generate.
Serious collectors traveled to major cities, ran classified ads in the newspaper, set up tables in motel rooms, and waited for people to bring them treasures. As interest in junk grew, collectors began hosting shows and swap meets. An object was worth whatever someone was willing to pay or trade, and that varied greatly according to how badly somebody wanted something, or how big a sucker they were. Someone who paid top dollar without haggling or happily sold an item for much less than it was worth was considered a dupe, sap, easy mark, and sucker.
The line between nerdy collector and steel-eyed shark gradually blurred. Collectors became dealers, understanding that Baby Boom nostalgia meant big-time money. Dealers relied on being able to buy treasures for chump change, and chumps were everywhere. Elderly folks were notorious for giving away items at yard sales, but people of any age were potential suckers.
“How much for these G.I. Joes?” junkers asked bored housewives at yard sales.
“Oh, I don’t know; how about fifty cents each?” came the inevitable reply. Wise junkers knew collectors paid $20 or more for early G.I. Joes. Few stocks or mutual funds could match the returns people realized on junk.
Treasures were everywhere, some free for the taking. A drive through almost any neighborhood on trash day could yield a carload of cool junk, much of which could be sold at flea markets. Video stores threw away movie posters, liquor stores tossed out promotional items, record stores got rid of displays. Middle-class folks became Dumpster divers, digging through trash bins behind strip malls, swallowing their pride by realizing the money that collectors would pay. And the stuff didn’t have to be vintage. People paid for brand-new junk, as long as it said “Budweiser” or “Titanic” or whatever they collected. Few dealers buy items and let them sit in a storage warehouse for years while interest and value increase. Junk dealers buy and sell, the sooner the better.
Some used their junking expertise to develop and publish price guides, which became common in the 1980s and helped quantify the value of collectibles. Newspapers ran columns on antiques and collectibles. Radio stations hosted talk shows. More collectors meant more people vying for items, which meant higher prices. Mainstream acceptance and participation in junking grew.
Still, few people could have anticipated that, by the mid-1990s, a 1963 Jetsons lunch box would bring $1,000 or that a Mickey Mantle 1952 rookie card would sell for $25,000. NEXT »

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