The Cost of Having Fun - Buying Collectibles

At the end of the 1990s, collectibles, including limited-edition plates and figurines, accounted for $5.5 billion of the $20.9 billion giftware market. This category was growing at an annual rate of more than 10% and represented 26% of total giftware sales. Industry observers credited the "cocooning trend," with its emphasis on the importance of the home as a place of leisure and entertainment, as a prime driver of increasing sales of collectibles. They also cited the investment value of collectibles and the concept of "family collecting" for helping fuel sales growth as baby boomers found collecting a satisfying way to spend time with their children.

In the early twenty-first century, however, sales of collectibles declined. Unity Marketing, in its Collectibles Industry Report, 2002, noted that traditional collectibles industry revenues fell 9% in 2001 to $6.5 billion, from $7.1 billion in 2000. The figurine and sculpture category, which was the industry's largest, saw sales drop by 20% during 2001, to $1.9 billion at the retail level. Industry observers attributed the decline to the economic downturn heightened by the events of September 11, 2001.

In addition to those who collected figurines and plates, other Americans were acquiring "blue-chip" items such as stamps, coins, antiques, and artwork, while others were caught up in fads that rode a wave of massive popularity, and then, when the market became oversaturated, began to fill the clearance shelves of stores or the dollar bins at flea markets. Examples of the latter included items that started out as toys and ended up collected feverishly by adults when they appeared to have potential as "investments," Beanie Babies by Ty Inc. being a prime example.