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The collectibles arena covers a wide breadth of consumers and dealers, and an equally broad selection of merchandise. A quick search on the Google Directory reveals 51 categories of collectibles, including, for example, arrowheads, autographs, coins, fossils, postcards, toys and writing instruments.
Estimating the size of such a diverse market is particularly difficult. “The market includes dealers, serious collectors and discrete buyers, that is, someone who buys one vintage car that reminds him of his teenage years, or someone who is buying period furniture for only one room of her home,” says Kevin Isaacson, group publisher at F&W Publications, a publishing company that covers several collectibles markets.
But to give some idea of the size of this market, we turn to the Web site Collectors.org, a leading organization in its field. The site serves about 2,400 collectors clubs that, in turn, serve an estimated 6 million serious collectors.
Pinning Down the Demographics
Typically, collectibles buyers are 50 years old and older, and because they tend to have significant disposable incomes, it implies a well-educated market, says Isaacson. One look at the subscriber file for Antique Trader Weekly magazine bolsters his point. Subscribers’ average age is 59 and the average annual
household income is $82,000.
Another example: Linn’s Stamp News, a weekly periodical for stamp collectors published by Amos Hobby Publishing. Subscribers’ median age is 66; average household income is $91,000; 79 percent attended college; and their average net worth is $833,000.
It’s important to caution that not all collectors fall into this juicy demographic. Sports card collectors, for example, tend to have relatively low levels of discretionary income, says Isaacson. Moreover, they tend to be younger than collectors of other types of merchandise.
At the other end of the income spectrum are the investors who are moving into certain collectibles markets, most especially antique cars and numismatics. “Sales of vintage muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s are seeing a tremendous boom,” says Isaacson. Subscriptions to the antique car periodicals are following suit, he adds. And the number of subscribers to F&W’s numismatics titles has doubled in the past 36 months. “With the softness in the stock market, investors are buying items they expect to appreciate in value.” Thus, keep in mind that some of the names on collectibles-buyer files may be purchasers with less of a passion for the hobby than for the investment it represents.
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