What now??

Where is our corkscrew collecting hobby heading?  I am sure everyone is aware of the changes effecting the present market place for corkscrews, prices seem to be going down quickly.  Things are no longer easy to sell and most established collections have drastically reduced in value.  However, all is not lost, if someone wanted to start collecting corkscrews today, many bargains could be purchased.  Likewise, established collectors could, if brave and patient, increase their collections for little outlay.

For me the new market place is an interesting and exciting one, to be honest I had all but lost interest in collecting but now it seems things have gone back to "the good old days" where we no longer know what a piece is worth or what to pay for it. Collecting should be exciting and maybe it will become exciting for us all once more? How much fun must it have been to have been collecting in the days before all the great corkscrew publications were written, we have in my opinion returned to those days, where we must all take a gamble when we buy a piece to re sell or for our collection.

All the past Christies sale catalogues have now become obsolete, the ICCA auction data base showing how much past pieces sold for, in my opinion has become irrelevant. We must all build new knowledge of values and prices for pieces we wish to own. 

Things are changing at the antique fairs too, the days of going to a fair and returning with a bag full of corkscrews, to list on ebay, swap or resell, making a profit are long gone.  To be honest if you consider travelling costs, fair entry and the loss of a days wages, it would be near impossible to break even going to these fairs, unless you stumble on a mega find, which happens once in a lifetime.

Lund Levers, Heeley A1's, Wulfruna's etc, are of such little value they are being left on sellers tables.  Even if they have a price tag of £40, there would be no profit left after considering ebay or auction fees.

I must also report that in the last four months or so I have bought only three corkscrews and I am aware of many other collectors backing off buying too, will ICCA auctions notice a drop in the number of pieces offered for sale in the next sale? Again exciting times ahead. Fortune favours the brave, those willing to plunge into the corkscrew collecting pond may well  emerge sucessful, only time will tell.

Let me open this blog article up for honest and open discussion, you can post comments below.