Worthless Today, Valuable Tomorrow

Auction houses and museums possess what many consider the cultural heritage of societies across the world. In truth, though, they’re just dealing with really old stuff.

 

This is not to debase, however, the work of curators, historians, restoration specialists and auction house directors. In fact, thanks to them, the world has an idea of where these old things came from and where they should be sent.

 

Nevertheless, it’s interesting to realize that the antiques and relics in museums and auction houses hold were normal, everyday things for people in the past. Try thinking about the things you use or see today. Which ones do you think will be the standard fare for future museums and auction houses? Read through this top ten list of things that could possibly become valuable antiques in the future. See if anything is missing!

10. Button Watches

True, timepieces have always been part of the array of goods sold in auction houses, but recently, everyday button watches have began to take on pretty significant bids.

Hold on to your Seikos, your Casios or even the Mila Minis you can buy at Target. Who knows what prices these things will muster in 20 years or so?

9. Lunch Boxes, Tumblers and Thermoses

Take note of how today, some lunch boxes equipped with tumblers or thermoses made in the 50s and 60s reach prices of around $400.

This makes you think about what the freebies given out in stores or the plastic tumblers you can get from Starbucks would cost in the far future. They may have no immediate value today, but you never know what the future holds.

8. Any iPod-related gadget or implement

Apple really hit it big when they released the iPod. The sheer volume of demand speaks of this success. It’s no surprise, then, that Apple continues to churn out variant after variant of its iPod. The iPod will probably still be ubiquitous in the future. This does not mean that these players will be antiques of the future.

What could be particularly valuable, however, are the various holders and docks specifically designed to work in tandem with the iPods. A future hot item could be the iPod Nano Tunebuckle, which nestles the Nano in a fashionable belt buckle.

 

(Tips on making your Ipod extraordinary, creative and unusual.)

7. Furby or Aibo (Artificial Intelligence Robot)

Alongside works of art and highly valued pieces of furniture, toys have also reached the halls of museums and auction houses. There’s no reason, then, that the toys of today wouldn’t be sought out as antiques tomorrow.

The first few Furbys and Aibos would probably be in the line of valuables up for grabs. When these toys were first released, people bought into the craze. However, museums and auction houses wouldn’t have these toys in their collections because of their popularity.

What makes these robots special and, therefore, possible antiques of the future, is that they were the first toys equipped with artificial intelligence. After all, the release of Furbys and Aibos would probably be seen as one of the initial steps in mainstreaming so-called “thinking” robots.

6. Harry Potter Memorabilia

Since its success has spanned the world over, the Harry Potter series can be considered one of the future’s literary classics. After all, many observers have pointed out how the books got children back to reading.

For sure, first-edition copies will come at a high price in the near future, but so shall the many lunch boxes, toys, costumes, posters, activity books, and school supplies. Just take note of how Star Wars memorabilia remain hot collector’s items today. Give it a few more years and all the things emblazoned with Harry Potter will be just as valuable.

Harry Potter books

 

(And these Top Ten Fantasy Novels could come in handy too…)

5. Kitchen Appliances

In the same manner vintage eggbeaters, refrigerators and cast-iron stoves are auctioned out today, the array of modern-day appliances will fetch significant amounts in the future. You might find it funny that all the food processors, juicers, magic slicers, and hand-held mixers people get from TV shopping channels could actually be of some value in the future.

Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise to find a magic juicer or two in the museums of the future, as these appliances are used all over the world. After all, in the same way curators put old mortar and pestles of past civilizations behind glass, so too will future museum and auction house directors put these appliances out for viewing.

 

(If you want a list of the things you may be taking for granted, check out the Top Ten Home TV Shopping Products before your TV becomes an artifact!)

4. Table Top Games

An array of consoles is available for gamers. From the Playstation 3 to the Nintendo Wii, kids and adults alike can have their share of computer gaming fun. In fact, the computer game industry is booming. In 2004, video game sales amounted to around $7.3 billion.

With every winner, though, comes a set of losers. Makers of other games are fast losing their market shares. The most hit are probably the manufacturers of such table top games as pinball and air hockey. Big in the 70s and 80s, these games brought thousands of people to arcades and entertainment centers. Now that they’re beginning to be replaced by computer games, these tables are becoming highly sought-for items.

Though these games are still manufactured, another 20 years or so could spell their eventual demise. Once this happens, pinball and air hockey will be rarely played, but the prices of these playing surfaces would skyrocket, making them possible collectors’ items in the future.

3. Movie Posters

The advent of digital technology has made it easier for a lot of people to make movies. People can just take out any digital camera and create their own homemade movies. Likewise, computers have been added to the usual tools filmmakers use. In fact, some movies today are generated entirely by the processors of computers.

Going digital, however, has also posed some significant challenges to the movie industry. File-sharing software and high-speed Internet connections have made it both easier for people to watch movies and harder for big studios to recoup their expenses.

The trajectory set by the advent of digital technology will eventually affect the way people watch movies. Cinemas are bound to transform. This is why the movie posters of today are sure to be valuable in the long run. With more people watching movies online, the less demand there is for printed movie advertisements.

As a result, it’s a good idea to stock up on these posters. There may come a time when the movie industry will no longer use movie posters at all.

 

(And be sure you have the collection of the Top Ten Blockbuster Movies Of All Time.)

2. Plastic Furniture

Pieces of furniture have always been in the roster of auction houses and museum exhibits. Likewise, the widely-held notion of “antiques” is really any old yet preserved piece of furniture. Plastic furniture was included in the list because current pressures to preserve the environment may actually push furniture makers to shun the material altogether. This assumes though, that the work of people like Al Gore will actually bear fruit. True, many manufacturers today are trying to find ways of making plastic furniture a lot friendlier to the environment. Yet, if manufacturers innovate slowly, plastic furniture may actually be a rarity in the future.

1. Various Ephemera

Ephemera are all written or printed material that was created for single-use. Included here are candy wrappers, cereal boxes, postcards, leaflets, flyers, posters, bookmarks, and many different kinds of cards. Many think of these things as garbage dump fodder. After all, it’s just one use and then off these things go to the garbage can.

Some ephemera, however, retain significant value, if only because they are ubiquitous in the lives of people. Just think of how old advertisements and posters are preserved in museums today. This does not mean, however, that every little piece of paper is worth preserving. Regardless, these things can become the standard fare of the museums and auction houses of the future.

Definitely, they’re of little value today, but after 50 years, these candy wrappers and leaflets become records of the ways people lived in the past. This is when they become valuable.

There Is Value in the Mundane

All antiques started off as the normal, everyday things people used in the past. You could say that there is value to the mundane, commonplace objects you use and see today.