Dear Lee,

“Are Collectibles the New Real Estate?” asked a headline in the June 23 New York Times. The article quotes a study measuring the return from investments in collectibles. The study concluded that collectibles are riskier and have a lower return than most financial investments. We agree with two comments the Times reporter made: collectibles “have historically been a poor investment but a good hobby” and “the joy that buyers derive from owning and displaying collectibles is why people buy them ….” To prove that people spend a lot of money on collectibles for reasons that are not always clear, notice these blockbuster record prices from summer sales: $92,000 for a Lincoln-head penny, a 1909-S VDB (for designer Victor David Brenner) coin in great condition, one of 484,000 struck; $25,000 for an abstract painting by a talented Chimp named Congo who died in 1964 (yes, that’s right, a painting by an animal); $182,250 for a decorated whale’s tooth (scrimshaw) engraved about 1828 with pictures of whaling scenes; $312,800 for Marlon Brando’s working script for the 1972 movie The Godfather; and $54,000 for a Louis Vuitton hatbox owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Collectors obviously want the joy of ownership all wrapped up in nostalgia, historical interest, and beauty. Perhaps some collectors are also playing a game of one-upmanship, the desire to own the best-maybe one of two known McCoy baseball-shaped cookie jars topped with a pennant cover or a rare 1820s set of gold and ivory false teeth. Collectors we know love their collections. They have fun and we don’t mind when they brag about their great buys-as long as they admit to the “one that got away.”