This market, like all collectibles markets, will correct; it's simply the way things work. I spent many, many years collecting WWII uniforms and saw prices trend upwards over time and then spike when Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers came out. I kind of equate that with what American Pickers has done for petroliana. A few years after the militaria market spiked, it corrected. This has also happened to Model Ts, muscle cars, steamship collectibles, Star Wars items, etc., and will also happen to petroliana.
The best thinking I've heard on this dynamic is that the collectibles market trends along with the demographic that has disposable income. In other words, people grow up seeing and hearing things in their youth and it becomes part of them. Later in life, they have some extra money and a bit of nostalgia and would like to have some of those things around them. This creates a collectibles market. Ultimately, these people lose interest, die, whatever, and the market corrects as a lot of items are on the market with many fewer buyers with the same level of interest. It's happened over and over; it will happen again.
My observation is, if you are looking to preserve your money and to have some kind of "investment", is to buy the best quality items you can as quality always sells the quickest and at the highest price. The other great piece of advice I've seen play out is to look around and see what the teenagers of today are interested in as these will be the collectibles 30-40 years from now that are spiking in price in the market. True story!
Anyhow, hope maybe someone found this of interest...
Regards,
Drew
