When does a Hobby become an investment strategy?

[Ed Gordon]

I saw this today, and it raised the question, at what point does collecting begin to price you out of collecting?

[Osi Osgood]

When you're immediately thinking, "Does this have good resale value? ", or, " Can I buy this and make up the money by selling something else,", or, " Do I really need this?" Really, when it comes down to money, it is an investment.

[David Baker]

I guess it depends on WHAT makes you happiest - Money OR Hobby .
I'm into this hobby for the FILM , NOT the money .

[Larry Arpin]

Unfortunately, prices have gone thru the roof and most films I want are too expensive for my budget. I only have a few that I would make a sacrifice for.

[Clive Casey]

I am an ex projectionist and love film, I started in the 1970s with a standard 8 Eumig bought from Dixons on finance with a 200 foot Abbot and Costello black and white short, it was magic. I progressed to hiring 8mm films from Derann, which was the ultimate. I started work in a cinema in the late 70s which was heaven. Since I retired life was not the same without reel film. I have a digital projector, which is amazing, no scratches, no focus issues, beautiful sound, amazing colour and as yet no fade, and you can get the latest releases and the classics for a few quid.
But life isn’t the same without film. So I went back into super 8, and spent a lot of money on projectors. I have 2 Elmo GS1200s, neither of them work, plus a Eumig which is ok, a Beaulie which is good and an Elmo ST 1200 which is good. Over the last 5 years I have probably spent close to £3000 on projectors, and am I completely happy, probably not.
I have a couple of 16mm projectors, which I guess are closer to the reel thing, but they can be a bit hit and miss, and the cost of a good film is starting to go silly.
I guess the question is, am I happy spending lots of ££££ on super 8 films. I’m afraid the answer is NO. On eBay recently a copy of Speed went for over £1000, which in my eyes is crazy. I’m sure you can get it on Blu-ray for less than £10. I know it’s not film, but I’m afraid my pockets aren’t that deep. You have to draw the line somewhere and I’m afraid I’m close to drawing that line.
I will still follow film and attend the film fairs that I can, but as to spending mega ££££s on film, then I’m afraid it’s a NO from me.

[Osi Osgood]

Some purchases are a must for me, without much of a care for cost. For instance, the new releases of JAWS and Jurrasic Park. Yes, expensive, but, just seeing brand new digests,and with a truly incredible image quality, no where near what we could achieve at an earlier time, made them well worth the getting. Those I do not consider an investment, they are sure pleasure.

[Graham Ritchie]

Never ever thought of it as an investment, but something myself and others enjoy. In saying that there is no way I can justify buying films new or used these days, especially at the prices folk ask. My wife watches a lot CSI and how to get rid of people, so its not a healthy idea to buy films anymore.

[Melvin England]

"When does a hobby become an investment strategy ?"


I think it needs two steps before the change takes place.

1) One realizes they have quite an abundance of films in their collection and decide to sell a few....perhaps on Ebay, after establishing the buoyancy of the market, first.

2) The films sell at quite unexpectedly high price levels.

At this point, the chance to make some serious money starts to exceed the need to have a mega film collection. ( Do I really need that copy of Star Wars in cinemascope and stereo.... or £1m ? - exaggeration I know... at the moment..... but you know what I mean). Thus the chance to reap serious rewards from the hobby become, pardon the pun, paramount.

Maybe our serious film sellers on the forum could comment.

[Mike Newell]

I’m afraid the financially incontinent have always been with us.

In the collecting world we all know the “impulse buyers” who can’t live without a certain film only for it to turn up in a “fire sale” a few months later when financial necessity requires them.

Then, there are the “barrow boys” the next potential big dealers who buy cheap sell high. Usually, they end up burnt too when they can’t unload their magic beans 🫘

Sure prices never go down or crash do they? I think they said that about the stock market 1929 as well!!

Remember that when you are jobless and homeless and eating out of the eternal “collector” favourite a cold tin of beans. Least you get a bit of heat from a projector if you can afford the electric.

Let’s not forget old “Shaky Leg” who frequented the Blackpool conventions for years usually in the company of one of his sons who was there to report or restrict his expenditure.

He actually won the Littlewood football pools (remember them before the Lotto arrived) Million plus pounds (remember this was 1980s ) and in the space of a 10-15 years with family assistance he actually managed to piss his way through the whole lot.

Least he kept Derann and others in business and he had a regular camp follower who recommended purchases to him him then picked them up at bargain rates when Shaky tired of them after a couple of screenings.

Anyway, the moral of the story buy want to REALLY want at a price you can afford.

Pay over the odds and you have 💩💩for brains 🤤

[Brian Fretwell]

For me part of the excitement of collecting is finding something you want at a really good price.

[Osi Osgood]

The other great pleasure is searching for that cherished print, perhaps for years, and finding it at a good price! Good replies on this topic. Any of us would be honest enough to say that we often pay more than we would ever get for these prints if we absolutely had to move them on. The film collecting hobby has never really been based on logic, however. Passion ... but not logic, and I am perfectly happy with that.

[Mike Newell]

In the old days there was some logic to film collecting. There was no viable alternative to cine. You could justify paying £250 for a feature. Seems like a bargain now. Whereas now you would have a hard job justifying the cost to your nearest and dearest let alone an interested outsider.

Hobby for old rich men (women have more sense) and collectors of memorabilia who think they have found the new film posters or a Van Gogh as an investment.Wonder do they realise how much cine there is out there?

Osi, I do remember the thrill of the chase and acquisition. It was a small universe then that has just got an awful lot bigger.

[Osi Osgood]

"There was no visible alternative", good point. Back then, either you had a digest, and that was even if a digest existed, or you waited impatiently for it to show up on one of the three networks.

[Kilian Henin]

It's definitely a passion/compulsion for me. If a film comes along that I really want, I'll spend way more than I should to get it. The consolation is that it probably won't lose its value--In my mind I can always think that I could sell it (not that I ever would, mind you). But yes, I'm close to being priced out of this hobby.

[Osi Osgood]

Well, as long as it retains it's color.