Six Up-and-Coming Collectibles

By Emily Hsieh
February 11, 2010

Dave Margulius lives by the adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. As the founder of The Collectors Weekly, an online encyclopedia about all things antique, Magulius has created a hub for people around the world with interests as specific and diverse as vintage left-handed guitars, movie memorabilia and old-fashioned telephones—the latter of which served as the impetus for the site.

“I started going to the Alameda Antiques Fair about ten years ago and got into antique telephones. I would see the most amazing things with beautiful stories and beautiful craftsmanship, and when I tried to do research on Google, there wasn’t a single webpage where I could learn more about them,” Margulius recalls. Inspired, the San Francisco native launched a site (which is now an eBay affiliate) featuring in-depth interviews with leading collectors, event listings, and links to top eBay auctions to highlight each category of vintage objects on his site—a list that now totals nearly 800. “Vintage stuff isn’t the stuff you need, but it’s the stuff that makes life richer. It inspires people,” he says. “One of the funnest things about building [and maintaining] the site is getting to work with people who are really excited [about what they collect].”

Though Margulius says a good chunk of his readers aren’t “traditional collectors but are just starting to get interested,” the other contingent of the Collectors Weekly audience is the “hardcore collectors who might have whole rooms filled with Barbies or Matchbox cars.” Pressed for more examples of some of the diehard groups on his site, Margulius fills us in on bottle scavengers: “The people who collect vintage bottles tend to be people who will go out in the middle of the night on bottle digs. They’ll actually track down where bottles got thrown out decades ago, find old city planning maps and start digging in parks or yards as a day or weekend-long project,” he explains. “Years ago, there was a huge bottle dig on a construction site just a few blocks from my house. It was an all-night thing. People came from all over the country with searchlights and ended up finding very rare bottles. One ended up selling for $60,000!”

For novices just starting to ponder what to collect, Margulius offers the following advice: “Start with your passion. Use our site to find a club where you can talk to other collectors and learn more in-person. Collecting is inherently a social activity. If you happen to see something you love and it’s ten bucks, buy it. Why not? But before you get in too deep—and spend too much money—make sure you’ve done your homework.”

Need more collecting inspiration?
Here, Margulius shares six up-and-coming trends in the collecting world right now:

Vintage Psych Records

Window Femme Folk Record (sold for $161.19)

Some of the most popular artists of the 20th century produced psych vinyl records, which is the term used to describe psychedelic music and album covers created by bands that were influenced by psychedelic drugs. Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, and Pink Floyd are just a few of the most common names associated with this late-1960s genre, but collectors of psych records tend to seek out more obscure acts, like 13th Floor Elevators, Golden Dawn, and C.A. Quintet.

Skateboards (and Their Decks)

Tommy Guerrero Skateboard (sold for $495.10)

Tony Hawk would probably wipe out on a vintage skateboard. These styles featured bone-rattling clay or walnut-shell-composite wheels on rigid wooden decks. But collectors love the look of vintage boards made by Genuine Skateboard of Canada, Super Skate, and Makaha, the latter of which hired 1960s surfing star Phil Edwards to pitch its skateboards.

Marbles (Art Glass)

Christensen Agate Marble (starting bid, $9.99)

A good antique marble is like a tiny paperweight, whose swirling and latticino interiors are fascinating despite their diminutive size. Collectors look for vintage American marbles made by Christensen and Akro Agate.

Music Posters

1967 Vintage Avalon Ballroom Poster (sold for $102.50)

Some of the most collectible music posters of the 20th century are those made in the late 1960s for shows by the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom, which were advertised with posters created by Rick Griffin, Wes Wilson, David Singer, and others. Today, fans of bands like Phish and Pearl Jam are often as passionate about the posters created for the live shows they attend as the music itself. Jim Pollock is unquestionably the most collectible of the Phish poster artists, while Pearl Jam has had a long-standing relationship with Ames Bros.

Danish Mid-Century Furniture

1960s Danish Modern Swivel Top Coffee Table (sold for $815.00)

Before Ikea, there was Danish Mid-Century furniture, whose clean, sweeping lines where the work of Arne Jacobsen, Finn Juhl, and Hans Wegner. Wegner’s chairs, in particular, were such icons in the mid-20th century that presidential candidates Richard Nixon and John Kennedy sat in them for their historic, televised debate.

Trifari Costume Jewelry

Vintage Sterling Trifari Penguin Bird Brooch Pin (sold for $107.50)

Everyone from Mamie Eisenhower to Madonna has worn Trifari costume jewels. Known for its eye-catching crowns and fruit pins, Trifari’s designed Jelly Belly pins in the 1940s of seals, poodles, roosters, and other animals that are perhaps its most collectible creations—each animal’s "belly" consists of a solid Lucite "pearl."

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