LOS ANGELES, Calif. –While traditional investments like the stock market and real estate have lost tremendous ground in the past year, other less common investments like high-end movie props and memorabilia, autographs and rare books are still setting record-breaking prices at auction – although many buyers see themselves as collectors rather than investors.
Purchases of homes dropped 10 percent in January to the lowest level since data started being collected in 1963, and the median price of a home dropped 13.5 percent, the most in nearly four decades. At the same time, a book signed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sold for $27,870 while a Cy Young signed baseball brought in $15,732 and Mickey Mantle’s 1959 Major League baseball contract sold for $14,302 during an auction this month at Nate D. Sanders, Inc..
Autograph, rare book and Hollywood memorabilia expert Nate D. Sanders believes that, in spite of the overall economy, those who know the collectables market are still making – and spending – money on authentic and rare items.
“Most of the items I deal with are one-of-a-kind,”
For the past 30 years, Sanders has been one of the industry’s most respected experts and dealers. A collector since the late 1970s, Sanders was already widely known in collectors’ circles when he opened his auction business in Los Angeles in 1990. Today, he conducts six major auctions every year drawing bidders, collectors and investors from around the world.
Although online auction company eBay Inc. recently reported its fourth quarter earnings fell 31 percent, the total amount of money that passed through the auction service was still $11.5 billion.
“Much of what gets sold today as a collectible is actually mass-produced merchandise,”
“We never had speculators in this market and we never had a bubble. We’ve just had a growing number of buyers and sellers and a steady increase in prices realized at auction.”
One reason Sanders says his Brentwood-based business has grown rapidly, is the fact that his auction house charges “zero percent” consignment rates while most auction companies charge 10 to 20 percent rates for consigned items.
To learn more about Nate Sanders, Inc. and to see a complete listing of items from his upcoming auction, go to www.NateDSanders.com.
