Contrary to popular belief, just because something is old does not make it valuable. A stone or rock in your backyard might be millions of years old, but it has absolutely zero value, unless, of course, it was Native American, Inca, or part of another highly collectible group. And contrary to popular belief, items that are 50 years old are not necessarily old in the world of antiques and collectibles. Actually, that would date them ca. 1969. I was 18 in 1969 and although I dont consider myself young, I dont consider myself old either. Many in my generation have held the mistaken belief that the older something is, the more valuable it is. I cant tell you how many people during the 1980s and 90s invested in select items, assuming that if they held them for just 15 to 25 years, they could then sell them at a nice profit. Guess what. Millions of others were thinking the same thing. And when they went to sell, they found that the market was flooded with similar items. Here are some common examples. Collector Plates The Bradford Exchange, Danbury Mint, Lenox, and other companies sold millions of plates in the 1980s and 90s with images of Shirley Temple, Norman Rockwell, John Wayne, Edna Hibel, The Wizard of Oz, and hundreds of other topics that appealed to my generation. The perception was that because they were Limited Editions and had a Certificate of Authenticity, we could hold them for 15 to 25 years, and then sell at a nice profit. That never happened because our children had no interest in collecting what we collected, and they were actually mass-produced. Once we had clients who had invested $21,000 in various collector plates as part of their retirement portfolio. I had to explain that they would be lucky to get $500 for those plates in todays market. Baseball Cards Many pre-1970s baseball cards can still have considerable value. When I was a kid, Topps was pretty much the only card manufacturer, and my generation ruined our cards using them on bicycles to create a motorcycle sound, or gambling with them playing Topsies, Curbsies, or other games that damaged the cards. But then in the 1980s, a huge number of card manufacturers got into the act, producing hundreds of millions of cards, and millions of dads started collecting and investing in these sports cards with their sons or daughters. They purchased complete and never-opened sets, expecting to sell them in 15 to 25 years for a nice profit. Unfortunately, millions of other dads were thinking the same thing, and today the market is flooded with way too many such cards. Not a good investment. Modern Dolls If youre fortunate enough to have a 1959 first-edition Barbie doll, never-used, in mint and unopened box, you have $5,000-$10,000. But how many girls never played with their Barbies, or saved the original box? Practically none, hence the high price. But while dads were stashing unopened baseball cards away, moms were guilty of stashing new dolls away, such as Barbie the Astronaut, Scuba-Diving Ken, Michael Jackson on Tour, etc. Buy them, never open them, tuck them away in a closet, and then sell them for a nice profit in, again, 15 to 25 years. That sounded good at the time, but these too turned into a poor investment. The list of old-not-becoming-valuable collectibles is huge, such as limited edition prints, Lenox China, Waterford Crystal, Wedgwood, Hummel Figurines, Swarovski glass, Country Store collectibles, Avon, Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Dolls, lunch boxes, railroad insulators, cut flass, Lladro figurines, Limoges, Nippon, the list goes and on and on and on. Whats it worth? What can we say? Most of my generation was guilty of collecting something. My personal passion was Wallace Nutting and other early 20th century hand-colored photographs. I loved it then, and I still do. But the younger generation isnt interested in collecting much of what we loved. Is it possible that our children may turn out to be smarter than we were about collecting? Well see. Of course, it isnt strictly an issue of smarts, its about what you enjoy to live with and how you wish to spend disposable income. Mike Ivankovich is an auctioneer, appraiser, home downsizing expert, and host of the Whats It Worth? Ask Mike the Appraiser radio show. Now in its fifth year, Whats It Worth airs live on Friday mornings from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on WBCB 1490 AM in the greater Philadelphia area. It is available on the internet at www.WBCB1490.com. Listeners can also visit his radio show website at www.AskMikeTheAppraiser.com. To contact Mike Ivankovich, call 215-264-4304.