In October of 2006, Granville Ohio went into major sell mode. The Chamber of Commerce sponsored their annual Antiques Show, the Presbyterian Church held a rummage sale, Kendal of Granville , the retirement community had a garage sale, and numerous residents had porch sales.
From all accounts, thousands of items changed hands.
It seems that the only items that didn’t find buyers were the cartons of collector plates in their original boxes complete with certificates. At the Kendal sale, out of the two dozen or so on offer, the only ones that sold were a Mickey Mouse Bicentennial plate, and a Longaberger Dresden plate, each of which brought about $3, highly disappointing to the original owners. These were supposed to be investment quality collectibles, produced by manufacturers like Bradford Exchange, Schmid, Bing & Grondahl, and Franklin Mint.
Last April, when I was researching a story about Mother’s Day collectibles, I noticed that with Avon Mother’s Day plates in particular, the 2008 issues were selling for around $40, but older ones went unsold, or sold for pennies. So, while people still seem to be buying them for their mommies, it seems pretty clear that they are not proving to be successful collectibles from an investment point of view.
As it turns out, like so many objects that were manufactured in mass quantities for the collectibles market, hopeful investors who bought these plates for any reason other than sheer love of the object are disappointed.
But don’t take my word for it. Harry Rinker has written on this exact topic, and his wisdom can be found at www.harryrinker.com/col-947.html . On the other hand, lovers of collectible plates also have a website www.worldcollectorsnet.com/plates/plateboard.html . These two seem to be in complete disagreement on the subject. On their site, collector plates are actively bought and sold. Once again, the mantra for successful collecting-buy what you love.