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From: Walt Vogdes
Remote Name: 68.116.104.205
Date: 11/16/2003
Time: 07:04:56 PM
Collectors of all steins are welcome here, and I hope they feel they receive a friendly greeting.
Regarding the requests for value of a contemporary stein, I believe that most of these questioners are not collectors, but have acquired a stein either at a garage sale, from a family member or some other means, and that their primary interest in the stein is in its market value, not its artistic, historic or cultural merits. They want to know what is it worth now, not what it might be worth some years in the future.
As to quoting "modest value" for most unidentified steins which were produced for the tourist, gift or decorative industry, this is a very fair judgment. Moreover, unless there is some "hook" to make them desirable to collectors (like the Budweiser branding) or they have some distinctive aspect (like the Gerz Limität series) that sets them apart from thousands of others just like them, they will not appreciate in value from the time they first leave the gift shop, because there is an unending supply of brand new ones which are just like them.
Someone who acquires items because they hope that they will increase in value is an investor. Real collectors collect what they like and can afford. And wouldn't it be a shame if we all liked the same thing?