Rocky Mountaineer posted:Mike, that's a great question. I'm not a big fan of the "collectors market" in general -- largely because I lived through the 1980's and 1990's when many enthusiasts were basically sold a bill of goods as far as what was hot and collectable. And now those things aren't worth a dime. Same can even be said for Lionel postwar. None of that stuff is worth the "1980 highs" that sellers were trying to get for supposedly rare items like certain postwar FM locomotives and such.
Why? Because all of that stuff has been a victim of the continued production of an entirely different breed of toy/model trains that we have today. Those "former" trains were worth premium prices at a moment-in-time (a few decades ago), because folks back then had just experienced a shortage of train production (by the Lionel Corporation) before production started ramping up again with Lionel MPC and then Lionel LTI.
Most of today's model train enthusiasts have NEVER experienced a shortage of any kind relative to model train production. And those of us that have, still remember the collectors nonsense that went on during the 1980's. So for those reasons, I'm not sure ANYTHING is being "collected" today -- at least not in the formal sense of yesteryear collections. I'm sure others will take issue with this statement, but that's my story... and I'm sticking to it.
As for 6464 boxcars... What made the postwar 6464's collectible was the fact that Lionel only made 30 or so. And it was a realistic goal to "collect them all".
Today, it's a different animal. Lionel started with the postwar re-issues in 10 sets of 3-packs over a period of several years. But unfortunately, they didn't stop there. Then they pushed their luck with archive series of 6464's and then overstamped series of 6464's, and I'm sure a few other 6464's as well (i.e., only available in sets or through one of the collectors clubs, etc...). In short, they ruined a good thing... and made it nearly impossible to "collect them all". So folks lost interest. I know I did... and I sold my Volume I through Volume X traditional-sized 6464 three-packs here on the forum 6 or 7 years ago... and I've never looked back.
If it's any indication of "collectibility" today... Lionel briefly tried dabbling the 6464 boxcars as scale-sized PS-1 boxcars. But it was a feeble attempt with just two offerings of 2-packs. And dealers are STILL trying to blow-out the second of those 2-packs. So even the operator-culture looking for the scale-like realism of PS-1 boxcars didn't bite at the idea of owning scale-sized 6464 boxcars in postwar paint schemes. Ironically, had Lionel continued with that series, I would have gone for it, 'cause I still have a sentimental tug every now-and-then back to Lionel postwar of the early 1960's when I was a youngster. But after two offerings, the pickings have been slim... and after several catalog iterations without any new Postwar 6464 PS-1 entries, I'm not holding my breath that we'll be seeing anymore anytime soon.
Look... I'm not against collecting per se. But folks should do it because they LIKE a certain series of trains as defined by their OWN preferences -- not because they've been told something is gonna be collectable by the importers, their dealer network, or even so-called-experts of the field. If somebody wants to document that a certain road-name boxcar was mostly made with a black door, but 6 were made with a red door... I suppose that's fine. But today's breed of "operators" doesn't really care about that stuff -- largely because their eyes are always on the look-out for the next newest trains coming off the Chinese production lines. Perhaps if we experience an end to the glut of model trains in the market today, more folks might enjoy what they CURRENTLY own long enough for certain items to become truly popular enough to actually BE collectable (again). What a novel idea!
David
Hello Rocky.
You said it all "correct" so TRUE..........!!!!!!!!! I have quit collecting and don't really care for the latest and greatest either !!
Tiffany
