There are all types of things that people collect. Bert from Sesame Street collected bottle caps. I believe “Figgy Fizz” was his favorite one. In general, used bottle caps don’t have much value. There may be too many of them for rarity to be a factor. There may be no demand for a particular bottle cap, and that will make the value infinitesimal. While silver value has been relatively constant throughout American history, there are several things that people once collected, valued, prized and expected to appreciate in value, but these items eventually became very common or nearly valueless.

Silver Coins and Bars For Sale

Bert And His Bottle Cap Collection, Along With His Friend Ernie.

Since silver value tends to be more constant than the value of the dollar, perhaps you should consider saving a part of your wealth in silver bars and silver coins, or perhaps you would rather invest in some old collectibles and hope their prices rebound.

Silver Value Or Collector Value? Coca-Cola Items.

Coca-Cola has become very expensive. Much more expensive than gasoline, even. However, all of that Coca-Cola kitsch that decorated so many homes has become passe, and as passe goes passe is pretty cheap these days. Sixty to Seventy years ago and before Coca-Cola signs and items were well-made advertising pieces that were expensive to produce and only vendors that sold the product had them or even had access to them. These pieces were rare and hard to come by, so as demand increased their values climbed.

Old Coke Machines Like This Are Still Worth Some Money.

Eventually, however, too much of a good thing was not so much of a good thing. Coca-Cola licensed out their logo and less desirable and lower quality Coca-Cola merchandise became available directly to the consumer. Coca-Cola had to see this as an advertising windfall since people were willing to pay for just the Coca-Cola name and skip purchasing the soda completely, but those invested in massive collections of cheap Coca-Cola gear lost out.

With the exception of old Coca-Cola soda machines and original antique signage, most Coca-Cola memorabilia today is either garage sale or dime store fodder. A combination of over-production, declining quality, and dropping consumer interest has been the cause of declining Coca-Cola memorabilia prices.

Silver Value Or Collector Value? Americana.

The United States used to be a nation of prideful individuals. Today Americans still have pride, but not as many have pride in America. Our country has become more diverse, and immigrants are not nearly as quick to assimilate to the American way of life as they once were. Perhaps for this reason “Uncle Sam” dinnerware and red, white and blue pool tools are rare today, even on the 4th of July.

An Uncle Sam Dinner Plate Made Out Of Melamine.

America has changed. Though there are still those that collect old road signs and other American historic pieces, many of today’s Americans don’t know what a Woolco or an Enco is, therefore the memorabilia becomes worth less to more people, and this is the wrong trend if a collectible is to increase in value.

Silver value, on the other hand, is a type of Americana that has increased in value, or at least held its value. Take for instance a Kennedy half dollar. A 90% silver Kennedy half dollar minted in 1964 in average condition is worth about $8.00 as of this writing. (5/25/16). A rising silver value from $0.50 to $8.00 is not bad at all, especially considering that a fifty-cent piece takes up a lot less room than an old Americana gasoline pump.

Silver Value Or Collector Value? Roseville Pottery.

Personally, I am not a collector of pottery, but I have watched Antique Roadshow a few times, and I am aware that pottery and crockery can have significant values. Crockery and pottery are often collected in groups. That is, one may need several plates, bowls, saucers, and serving pieces in order to have a complete set. Oftentimes, pieces were broken and needed to be replaced. Finding just one piece was tricky, and if you did find a needed piece, the price may have been a small factor.

A Roseville Pottery Cookie Jar.

Then came the internet. Instead of driving to shops and calling department stores and wandering estate sales, all one had to do was log onto Ebay. All of the sudden pieces were not nearly as rare and inaccessible as they were before. The World Wide Web seemed to shed a lot of light on just how many pieces of Roseville Pottery were really out there, and prices quickly fell in line with reality. No longer did one have to spend a day searching for a particular piece and driving to pick it up, now with just a couple of clicks you could compare pricing and condition of dozens of similar items. The magic was over and so were the big price gains, at least as far as Roseville was concerned.

By the way, Roseville Pottery went out of business in 1954. Perhaps because the pottery became popular after the demise of the company, buyers thought that the pieces were much rarer than they actually were, hence the rising prices. I don’t know that today’s new young wife is looking to fill her China cabinet with Roseville Pottery or any pottery for that matter. For this reason, I might continue to expect Roseville Pottery to continue to lose value over the next few generations.

Silver Value Or Collector Value? Time To Buy Silver.

Somewhere I still have my first BB gun. I have some High School yearbooks somewhere too. Really I have never been much of a collector. However, collecting gold and silver coins and bars is very different than collecting other things that you may hope eventually  increase in value. My BB gun is practically worthless to anyone but me. The same can be said for my yearbooks. The silver coins I began collecting in my youth, however, I’m sure have increased in dollar value several fold.

Buy Junk Silver Coins 90% Silver

A 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar Among Other Silver Coins.

Collect whatever you like to collect, even if it is imaginary bottle caps, but if you want to begin collecting inexpensive, beautiful pieces of art and history that will hold their value, or better yet, gain in value over time, consider collecting silver pieces.

ITM Trading has quite a selection of rare American silver coins, silver bullion products, and striking international silver pieces. ITM also offers large format silver pieces, like 1-kilo silver bars. Open your silver account with ITM Trading today.