Loyal readers will recall the summer of 2021, when we delved into the seedy world of video game speculation. For newcomers, what was alleged to have happened was unscrupulous grading services were colluding with auction houses to drive up prices on vintage video games. So you had carts with millions of copies in circulation going for millions of dollars. The resulting price bubble distorted the video game collectors’ market beyond all reason.
Now, speculators are once again preying on the same Gen Y nostalgia that drove the vidya bubble.
And this time, the questionable collectibles whose prices are being inflated to the moon are vintage VHS tapes.
One auction site was asking over $7,000 for a copy of John Carpenter’s The Thing. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws commanded more than $10,000, and a copy of Back to the Future sold for $75,000.
Keep in mind that these are factory-sealed, professionally graded tapes encased in plexiglass. So no one is going to watch and enjoy them. They’re sought as conspicuous display items at best, and more often as gambling chips.
And the speculators’ hype machine wouldn’t work if not for Gen Y’s crisis of meaning driving irrational waves of nostalgia.
The guys over at Red Letter Media put out a video that gives an overview of the VHS speculation phenomenon. They even ran their own experiments by getting tapes from their massive VHS collection graded.
It’s worth a watch.
In case you were wondering, the bidding on RLM’s copy of Nukie now stands at over $80,000.
Now, this auction itself feeds on nostalgia. So normally I wouldn’t play into the hype. But to RLM’s credit, they’re donating the proceeds to charity.
Maybe those of you who’ve asked me why you can’t talk your Pop Cult friends out of consooming the latest Hollywood slop understand a little better now. Like ancient heathens willing to sacrifice their prize bulls to the gods, Pop Cultists will offer up 80 grand to their new pantheon of Michael Myers, Darth Vader, and Thor.
So the more things change …
Anyway, understanding how they met their pitiable fate helps you avoid it.
For more help, read my #1 best seller:
