To Box or Not To Box?

This seems to be the biggest question of any collector world wide: "Do I keep it in the box, or do I take it out?"


After decades of this great depate ever since toy collecting has begun, I decided to think about this conundrum. What are the factors that make us decide on this question? After being a toy collector for over 10 years, Ive broken it down into two catagories: hobbyist collectors & commodity collectors. Many people that collect, not only toys, are worried about the economic value something is worth...so therefore they try their best to keep the item in prestige condition for later resale. These people are what I call commodity collectors. "Commodity" is defined as a good for which there is demand in the market, but the value rises when supply is limited. Basically an item which has value in itself. In other words, collectors collect items that they know have extreme value in itself, even if they're not worth much at the moment. Commodity collectors obtain these items knowing that they can resale the item for a higher amount when the item is no longer in production or in the market.

A hobbyist collector on the other hand, is a collector that collects for pure love of the items they are collecting. They could be fans of the themes for which the items are made from, or the items may hold sentimental value to them. Whatever the reason, the items are for their possession only and they have no intent to resale. So hobbyist collectors take their items out of the packaging and usually set them out for display for all to see.

Now niether type of collector is better than the other, its just an opinion. Its like the arguement over boxers or briefs, over or under, etc. Everyone has their opinion, or what they're comfortable with. Some are for the hobby, others are for the commodity, and some even do it for both reasons. Whatever you do, its still collecting, and you still keep the market going and ensure great collectibles for us to get our hands on in the future. Either way...happy collecting!