Kim's Corner
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Buttons have a large collectors base and many are
produced to fill the marketplace.
I’ve bought many items on e-Bay and I regularly trade on the PinPics.com trade engine and the DizPins.com board - and I have gotten some great deals and added some great pieces to my collection - but, for all out fun I go shopping - real Disney-type shopping - at the NFFC’s Strictly Disneyana Show & Sale. On-line shopping is convenient - but - I like to see some items before I buy them. Often my idea of "mint"` and someone else’s can be vastly different. It’s also fun to see the scope and variety of the collectables marketplace - and nothing says excess like 200 tables piled high with every imaginable assortment of Disneyana. Just about everything you could imagine - old stuff - new stuff - cool stuff - stuff that was cool in the past and stuff that might be cool in the future.
More mini-bean-bag plush than you even imagined can be
found at the Show & Sale.
For the collector it’s a shop fest - for the seller it’s an opportunity to make some money - for the student of the Disneyana marketplace it’s a place to gage the health of that marketplace, to see what’s selling, what’s peaked, what’s past it’s collectability, what may be the new "hot" item, what may be a trend in the making or what may be a fad on the way out. It’s fun to track the value of an item from show to show - and from dealer to dealer. You can also determine how much influence edition size or availability - or any other of the hallmarks of collectability - have on an item. It’s also a good place to find a relative value for your own collection - most art dealers know what a piece is worth, as a figurine dealer knows what a particular piece sells for. A show is also a good place to network with others who collect the same things you do.
NFFC buttons can also be found for sale at the NFFC
Show & Sale.
There is a camaraderie amongst collectors and enthusiasts that exists at a show & sale that doesn’t exist on-line - not that it isn’t as much about making money - it’s just not as cut-throat about it. It’s more fun to shop face to face than type away and hope your bid doesn’t get sniped with 15 seconds left in the auction. The fun is in the hunt - in finding your prey - holding it in your hand and then worrying about what it might cost. The fun is in walking into a room and having $1.00 to spend or $10,000 to send and walking out with something to make you happy. I can’t remember what I paid for the first item I bought on e-bay, who I bought item from, or what it was, but the NFFC Show & Sale dealer who sold me my first pin still sells at the show - and we both still remember the pin and the price.
The Disney Company knows a "hot" collectable
when it sees it - and pins are still "hot".
So, on January 20, 2002 - you know where to find me.
Enjoy!
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-- Kim Petersen
Kim's Corner is posted the fourth Monday of each month.
The opinions expressed by our Kim Petersen, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted December 31, 2001
-- All pictures by Kim Petersen