What is Collectible?

By Lee Bernstein

An easier question might be: What isn't a collectible?

People collect everything from aardvark figurines to zipper pulls. There are collectors of barbed wire. There are collectors of swim caps. There are collectors of swizzle sticks, jelly jars, and tennis ball cans. You name it, someone collects it.

A collection can be as sophisticated as fine art or as simple as sugar packets; as cool as jazz, or as hot as Marilyn Monroe. Want spicy? Try mustard jars. Funny? Bubble gum cartoons. Fast? Slot cars. Serious? War propaganda. Anything people find fascinating falls under the category of collectible... just ask a three-year old who has a pocket filled with rocks!

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Question: What's the difference between an "antique" and a "collectible"?

Answer: Time.

Most antiques are collectible (some more than others, of course), but not all collectibles are antiques.

Beginning in the last half of the 19th century, a common definition for an antique was anything older than 1820 – that year being the time when the mass produced items of the Industrial Revolution began to replace handmade objects. The United States Customs Office defines an antique as any object that's 100 years old or older. However, most collectors and dealers are a little more liberal with their definition of an antique.

Some use World War I as a turning point, while others – particularly dealers or owners of antique malls and shops – allow items as young as 1959 (or younger) to be called "antique." Some simply regard anything that looks or feels old to them as being an antique.

On eBay, if you look under Antiques, you'll see a category for Antiques: Post-1900, so it's obvious that many consider items less than 100 years old "antique." If you look in Collectibles, however, you'll see items from any time period, old and new. Since items of all ages appear here, it helps to have a little more definition.

In general, here's how to categorize all collectibles, antique and otherwise. Don't worry if your definition differs slightly from the ones below. These are general rules, not a law.

A secondary market item is an item traded or sold after its initial distribution and/or sale. In other words, someone already bought it and/or used it, and now they want to trade or sell it to someone else.

Below are some definitions that might be useful to the Collectibles enthusiast.

Antiquities: Artifacts or items from the ancient world, commonly extending to the fall of the Roman Empire or the Middle Ages.

Antiques: As stated above, there are many ways collectors and dealers define antiques. On eBay collectibles, it's most acceptable to consider an item that's 100 years old or older as being an antique. If your item is less than 100 years old, however, you could also call it a vintage collectible (see below).

Collectibles: Anything a collector feels is worth collecting, regardless of age. Twentieth century collectibles are items representative of 20th century history, culture, and/or mass production.

Vintage Collectibles: Vintage simply means "of a past year," but in collecting, a past decade seems more appropriate. Using this definition, a vintage collectible could be any collectible from 1989 or earlier. Most vintage collectibles are also secondary market items.

Contemporary Collectibles: Items from the 1990s, even if the item is a secondary market item or has been discontinued or retired.

Once the year 2000 is here, these definitions may need to be redefined, but for now, these definitions work well.

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Question: How do I know if I should list my collectible under Antiques, Collectibles, or elsewhere on eBay?

Answer: Look through the major Collectibles categories. If you don't see a separate category for your item under Antiques, but you do see one in Collectibles, look or list it here first. If you don't see a category in either place, check eBay's other selling areas (listed at the bottom of this page).

For further information, see Finding and Buying and Listing and Selling.

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Question: I've been told that one man's trash is another man's treasure, but I'm not so sure about my item. How can I tell if it's an item that's collectible?

Answer: Ask yourself the following questions. If you answer yes to one or more, your item is collectible:

1. Is there a category for the item in Collectibles?
   
2. Does the item create a feeling of nostalgia (even if it's not very old)?
   
3. Do people already collect similar items?
   
4. Is the item a memento or souvenir?
   
5. Might I find the item for sale at one or more of the following:
   
   • collectibles store
     
   • hobby shop
     
   • gift shop
     
   • greeting card shop
     
   • entertainment store (Disney, Universal, Viacom, Warner Brothers, and so on)
     
   • art gallery
     
   • antique store
     
   • flea market (if yes to a flea market, it should also be an item you would find in any of the options above)
     
6. Is the item something many people want but have a difficult time finding or affording? Has the item been discontinued, retired, or is it a collectible that's easier to find in one geographic area than another?
   
7. Is the item something used as a tool by collectors or something that would sell primarily to collectors, such as a display case, a reference guide, or collector information videos?
   
8. Is the item manufactured with collectors as target buyers? Is it a limited edition?
   
9. Are there similar items featured on collectibles-related television shows?
   
10. Is or was the item a fad?
    
11. Did I (or people older than me) own or wish for one as a child?
    
12. If I do a search on eBay's Search page, are similar items being sold as collectibles? (For how to search, see Tips on Finding and Buying.)
    

Remember: Since so many people collect so many different things, collectibles appear EVERYWHERE on eBay. If you don't find a category for your item in Antiques or in Collectibles, check eBay's other categories, too.

Books, Movies, Music
Coins & Stamps
Computers
Dolls, Figures
Jewelry, Gemstones
Photo & Electronics
Pottery & Glass
Sports Memorabilia
Toys

You may also want to go to the eBay Categories page on the Site Map to see all the eBay categories. You can use your browser’s "Find on page" capability to type in specific words and see if the item has a category of its own.

The preceding material was written by Lee Bernstein. These are the opinions of the author, not the opinions of eBay, and therefore eBay does not validate the accuracy of or endorse these opinions.