Collecting can be a passion that brings joy and fulfillment to many, but there’s also a dark underbelly to the world of collectibles that often goes unnoticed – the objects that collectors and enthusiasts can’t help but be confused by. These are the collectibles that defy logic, reason and even common sense. Whether they’re utterly devoid of value, dangerously impractical, disturbingly grotesque or just plain offensive – these are items that leave us scratching our heads in disbelief.
NFT Collectibles
NFT stands for “non-fungible token”. NFTs are a digital “object” – a virtual item that is technically only owned by one person. These assets are considered unique. At the end of the day NFTs basically are JPEGs that someone can brag about owning, despite them not really being anything more than a virtual image. In 2022, former President Trump made at least 6 figures of income selling one-of-a-kind NFTs to his supporters. People basically buy and trade a receipt to a virtual object that doesn’t physically exist – and then hope to get rich off of it. Good luck with that!
CROC Shoes
Essentially CROCS are ugly deck shoes made of a plastic-like resin that are extremely comfortable. That said, they are really ugly.
Due to their vast popularity, CROC has entered the collector’s market with limited editions, collaborations and collections. In case regular CROCS weren’t ugly enough, they’ve made a limited edition SHREK version pair of CROCS (pictured). Do we need to say anymore?
License Plates
Keeping around one or two old license plates from your first car.. or just ones that look cool or funny, we’re ok with that. Having a garage full of them rusting away slowly.. your significant other won’t be happy.
Franklin Mint Collectibles
The Franklin Mint was founded in the mid 1960’s to produce collectibles – everything from coins, plates, dolls, knives and LP record collections.
Truthfully, they produce some decent quality stuff.
Franklin Mint sells their products as “collectibles” first and foremost. The big problem, all their products are mass-produced items meant for the mainstream market. Finally that class you took in college on Economics pays off – it’s a situation where the supply greatly outweighs the demand. When that happens, the value goes downwards, not up. For a collectible, that means you’d be lucky to get just what you paid for the item originally (if that much).
VHS Movies
For those who grew up in the 80s, these chunky, plastic rectangles were an integral part of our movie-watching experience. Yet, they came with a laundry list of quirks and shortcomings that could drive even the most patient cinephile to frustration. VHS tapes were notorious for their fragility, and it seemed like a weekly ritual for your trusty VCR to chomp on your beloved movie, leaving a tangled mess of tape in its wake. Mold issues, signal loss, shredding, and wear and tear were common foes of these magnetic wonders.
Despite all this, some people really treasure their old DVDs and collect them. Somehow, the fact that they don’t even make VHS players anymore isn’t an issue, no more than it’s a format that has gladly died away.
Banana Stickers
From the “Why would someone collect that?” family – banana stickers. Those small adhesive tags or labels stuck on bananas have a sizable amount of fans that collect them, no one really knows why. Always wanted to collect garbage, here’s your chance!
Before we go!
As collectors, we’re a bit odd. We treasure things that other people would simply look past. Collecting tends to bring us some level of happiness that makes our day to day a little bit easier to deal with.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” pretty much sums it up.
Whatever you do, just make sure it makes you happy.
Even if it’s collecting banana stickers. We won’t judge.