Today I Learned...

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Yesterday I learned that coin proof sets and anything 50 state quarter is completely worthless. Spent hours yesterday breaking plastic cases. Now to the coin counter.

Well, not completely worthless, the state quarters are worth $0.25, which of course isn't the same as when you acquired them.

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Well, not completely worthless, the state quarters are worth $0.25, which of course isn't the same as when you acquired them.

My "father-in-law" was a complete idiot. He thought you could buy 2 quarters on a post card, or 91 cents in a plastic case for $30 each and some day it would be worth a fortune. I've had these boxes full of the junk in my garage for years. Now I have about $150 or so in change. The 50 state quarter spoons just went in the trash. Too much work to get the quarters off.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

My "father-in-law" was a complete idiot. He thought you could buy 2 quarters on a post card, or 91 cents in a plastic case for $30 each and some day it would be worth a fortune. I've had these boxes full of the junk in my garage for years. Now I have about $150 or so in change. The 50 state quarter spoons just went in the trash. Too much work to get the quarters off.

Old coins are worth a pile because they are rare. These "collector" sets were (and still are I guess) a massive scam. ONE TIME ONLY LIMITED RUN OF ONLY 15,000!

Had the same thing when my wife was trying to sell all the collector figures and plates my mother in law bought over the last 10 years or so. Wife would look at the certificates and invoices and say "OH this one is worth $450". I would pull it up online and find the same thing on Ebay for $3.

Other items that once were expensive because people collected them but now usually aren't worth shit because nobody really cares anymore or they saturated the market.
Silverware/tea/platters other than for the silver content
HotWheels made after about 1980
Trading cards with a few exceptions
Comic books made after 1985
China dishes
Stamp collections

[JD001]

Originally Posted by 2020BRZtS

TIL EZPass cameras take excellent pictures

I experienced a similar thing when lockdown had relaxed.. Popped into London, parked in my usual place.. shopping and back home. Several weeks later a letter from the Mayor of London with a fine for taking my car into a restricted zone.. The twat had only extended the non drive zone to cover weekends!

No idea why.. as it has certainly stopped me going into London!!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by JD001

I experienced a similar thing when lockdown had relaxed.. Popped into London, parked in my usual place.. shopping and back home. Several weeks later a letter from the Mayor of London with a fine for taking my car into a restricted zone.. The twat had only extended the non drive zone to cover weekends!

No idea why.. as it has certainly stopped me going into London!!

You were in London and didn't stop by to say hi?

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

You were in London and didn't stop by to say hi?

Next time for sure! I'm still trying to plan a trip to see your crashed fighter diorama..

[2020BRZtS]

Originally Posted by JD001

I experienced a similar thing when lockdown had relaxed.. Popped into London, parked in my usual place.. shopping and back home. Several weeks later a letter from the Mayor of London with a fine for taking my car into a restricted zone.. The twat had only extended the non drive zone to cover weekends!

No idea why.. as it has certainly stopped me going into London!!

This picture and invoice arrived 23 months after it happened. When I went to pay it the website had a big banner that read COVID PAYMENT HOLIDAY IS OVER! I think it was more like "We finally rebooted the document server!"

At any rate I have only been on that road once in the BRZ on an aimless drive and I do not remember crossing that bridge. I think I turned onto the road at the base exit.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

My "father-in-law" was a complete idiot. He thought you could buy 2 quarters on a post card, or 91 cents in a plastic case for $30 each and some day it would be worth a fortune. I've had these boxes full of the junk in my garage for years. Now I have about $150 or so in change. The 50 state quarter spoons just went in the trash. Too much work to get the quarters off.

that was my grandfather.

every christmas, he'd get all his kids and grandkids the proof sets. done it for at over 50 years now.

he finally stopped getting them for the grandkids, and mostly just his 3 kids now. i think it was starting to cost too much with so many grandkids.

i looked into that 50 state quarter thing a while back. took forever to get them all, figured it had to be worth more than $12.50. was worth about $20. for 5 years worth of effort, and nagging cashiers for quarters.

the proof sets are almost worse than pyramid schemes, stealing money from old retired people.


i don't remember how it transpired, but when i was really young, i got a "babe ruth, limited edition signature baseball". around the same time i also got a "limited edition nascar truck" hot wheels vehicle. for whatever reason, childish me determined that these 2 collectibles were worth saving and would be worth trillions in the future.

so i held onto the ball in it's original packaging, and never opened up the truck to play with in the sandbox. after almost 25 years, came across them while moving, and figured it was finally time to cash in and pay off the mortgage with it.

the baseball? $6.
the hot wheels? $3.

i don't care to collect things for financial reasons anymore.

[2020BRZtS]

Originally Posted by soundman98

that was my grandfather.

every christmas, he'd get all his kids and grandkids the proof sets. done it for at over 50 years now.

he finally stopped getting them for the grandkids, and mostly just his 3 kids now. i think it was starting to cost too much with so many grandkids.

i looked into that 50 state quarter thing a while back. took forever to get them all, figured it had to be worth more than $12.50. was worth about $20. for 5 years worth of effort, and nagging cashiers for quarters.

the proof sets are almost worse than pyramid schemes, stealing money from old retired people.


i don't remember how it transpired, but when i was really young, i got a "babe ruth, limited edition signature baseball". around the same time i also got a "limited edition nascar truck" hot wheels vehicle. for whatever reason, childish me determined that these 2 collectibles were worth saving and would be worth trillions in the future.

so i held onto the ball in it's original packaging, and never opened up the truck to play with in the sandbox. after almost 25 years, came across them while moving, and figured it was finally time to cash in and pay off the mortgage with it.

the baseball? $6.
the hot wheels? $3.

i don't care to collect things for financial reasons anymore.

Right with you. In 1982/3 I received a handwritten postcard from Neil Peart. I tucked it away for 35+ years thinking it might be worth something someday. My curiosity got the best of me over the pandemic so I googled neil peart postcard and the result was very unexpected. Turns out tens of thousands of other people in the Hemispheres did the same thing.

[Dadhawk]

When I was a wee little lad (between about 8 and 12) I did a little coin collecting, nothing serious just things I liked, pre-1964 dimes, wheat pennies, that type of thing. One day at a flea market with my Grandfather I bought a buffalo nickel for $0.10.

Until he passed away 30 years later, one of the first things he would say to me every time we got to gather was "Hey, it's the guy who paid a dime for a nickel. Gotten any smarter yet?"

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by soundman98

that was my grandfather.

every christmas, he'd get all his kids and grandkids the proof sets. done it for at over 50 years now.

he finally stopped getting them for the grandkids, and mostly just his 3 kids now. i think it was starting to cost too much with so many grandkids.

i looked into that 50 state quarter thing a while back. took forever to get them all, figured it had to be worth more than $12.50. was worth about $20. for 5 years worth of effort, and nagging cashiers for quarters.

the proof sets are almost worse than pyramid schemes, stealing money from old retired people.


i don't remember how it transpired, but when i was really young, i got a "babe ruth, limited edition signature baseball". around the same time i also got a "limited edition nascar truck" hot wheels vehicle. for whatever reason, childish me determined that these 2 collectibles were worth saving and would be worth trillions in the future.

so i held onto the ball in it's original packaging, and never opened up the truck to play with in the sandbox. after almost 25 years, came across them while moving, and figured it was finally time to cash in and pay off the mortgage with it.

the baseball? $6.
the hot wheels? $3.

i don't care to collect things for financial reasons anymore.

Yep most things marked "Collectable" or "Limited" never really are because so many people hang onto them.
It is also crazy how some things will swing up and down in value depending on how many surface.
I have two cases of Matchbox cars which back in the early 90s had a "value" of around $6,000. Some of them (like a 64 1/2 Mustang first release) were worth hundreds. Last year I went through and priced them all and the total value of the cars was around $400. Turn out that when they were rare and expensive so people started seriously collecting them and started digging them out of old toy boxes and closets the market eventually flooded and knocked the prices way down. The cases on the other hand were worth nothing in the 90s but are now worth a bloody fortune because they just didn't stand up and most disintegrated over time.

The funny thing is that I have model kits that bought for $20 or so 5 or 10 years ago that are now worth hundreds because they were one offs that have not been redone. Of course if they get redone then they are worth nothing. Much like Ho's Snoopy plane model went from around $500 a little over a year ago to $30 now since it was rereleased last year.

[JD001]

Today I learned that it's fun ordering bits for the upcoming service.. My BRZ'ed is heading to a local workshop for its annual service, nervous first steps outside of the comforting arms of Subaru's dealer network..

What I want to learn, what's the big deal behind the TRD oil filter. I've ordered the standard Subaru black squat thing but saw a bright pink TRD filter and nifty blue HKS thing.. but not sure what they offer that exceeds the standard unit..

Oh, I also ordered a pair of Bosch Aerotwin retrofit wipers.. Do I also order oil of my choice or stick with the local workshop's Q8 stuff?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by JD001

Today I learned that it's fun ordering bits for the upcoming service.. My BRZ'ed is heading to a local workshop for its annual service, nervous first steps outside of the comforting arms of Subaru's dealer network..

What I want to learn, what's the big deal behind the TRD oil filter. I've ordered the standard Subaru black squat thing but saw a bright pink TRD filter and nifty blue HKS thing.. but not sure what they offer that exceeds the standard unit..

Oh, I also ordered a pair of Bosch Aerotwin retrofit wipers.. Do I also order oil of my choice or stick with the local workshop's Q8 stuff?

Odds are they offer a cool colour and street cred for having racing parts.

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by JD001

Do I also order oil of my choice or stick with the local workshop's Q8 stuff?

My vote is for taking your own. You don't know what the workshop is using and oils is a very personal preference. Does it matter? Probably not but I like to use what I like to use.