Sealed SteelBooks a safe posterity investment?

[Heche1981]

I've viewed a lot of collector's collections here on HDN, and one trend I've noticed is that the majority of collectors have at least one sealed SteelBook, if not more. Many also have multiples of the same titles, some of which are kept sealed

I was just wondering whether members here view sealed SteelBooks as a safe posterity investment?


I will admit to being a sealed collector. Not so much for the monetry investment, but more because I enjoy the thrill of the chase. I enjoy collecting SteelBooks, and want them in a certain condition, and also want to keep them pristine. If I want to watch a film, I'll either buy an Amaray release, or wait until it's aired on TV. I'm in no hurry to watch new releases, and due to work commitments I haven't much time to watch films anyway

Like with many forms of collecting, posterity investment can be a bit hit and miss, as well as having risks involved. I would also say that it's a much safer form of investment than stocks and shares though. The demand for certain items will always be there, and certain items will increase in value over time - especially those kept in mint condition

That said, it's still nice to know that my collection retains some (or all) of the value that I have initially invested. I can enjoy owning them and having them to display, as well as knowing that certain pieces are increasing in demand and value. However, as technology progresses, the demand for some older items may dwindle, as can be observed with some Dvd SteelBook releases that have since had a Blu-Ray SteelBook release. I still believe that there is a demand for these older releases, although not so much as there once was

Old sealed video games quite often fetch ridiculous amounts of money on eBay, despite some having been re-released again and again on different platforms - Such examples could be the early Mario or Zelda games


I'm interested to know how you guys feel about collecting sealed SteelBooks, and what motivates you to keep yours sealed? Do you see your SteelBook collection as an investment, or just a money pit?

 

[frankfish44]

I would say collect for your enjoyment. Don't throw money into a bottomless pit NY investing in steelbooks. For every 1 that does well, there are many that quite honestly will never meet the hype. Also re releases will take their toll over time.

 

[wyatt03]

I keep most of mine sealed, it started as an investment with rarer steels and now its a compusion to keep them sealed!


Sent from my Galaxy S4

 

[hiratafabio]

I keep some of mine sealed, I see them as a potential good sale in the future. Unless the ones I want to keep, of course

 

[Steve-O]

I have just 26 unsealed Steelbooks (from the old days) and the other 331 are sealed with all the stickers and so. It's not just because I see them as an investment but I have to admit that it's one of the reasons. If I want or have to sell them one day, they should bring me some money back. Bit I like the Steelbooks more when they are sealed because I like special slips (like from Asia), stickers (like FNAC) and such stuff. A FNAC Steelbook or something like that has no value for me personally when it's not sealed - everybody is different in this stuff.

 

[stevien]

One thing that always puzzles me is that you say (in op) that you keep them sealed to keep them in pristine condition but there is no way for you to know it's pristine as you cannot see behind the J or slip for example. Just as a pointer, I recently purchased JFK from Amazon.uk, I opened the steel and there was a large paint chip behind the slip, I returned it and the second one was the same, if I had kept it sealed, it would not have been mint and if I had sold it in the future, the buyer (if they opened it) would have wanted their money back and I would end up with a defected steel.
I prefer to open mine, check them and then store them in a quality protector, then I genuinely know that I have a mint steelbook in my collection.
As for investment, as Frank says, for every one that becomes highly sought after, there are another 50 that lose money!

 

[SimonLDT]

Sealed steelbooks are not a safe investment at all, unless you are an ''old school'' collector that started early and owns sealed ''grails''. Even those will be worthless if/when blu-ray is super seeded by another format.

 

[jcm]

They are a okay short term investment, horrible long term investment. I collect for my own enjoyment and only keep them sealed if I have a spare copy for trade.

 

[sunnyx]

At this current climate, I would say just buy for a bit of fun, I wouldn't go crazy buying loads and keeping them sealed hoping they be worth something. Those investment days are gone now.

 

[Heche1981]

As a sealed SteelBook collector, I would say yes, but only for the short term, and only if you carefully cherry-pick titles which are popular and will be sought after in the future - Such as cult favourites (most sci-fi titles) and releases wth outstanding atwork (Ie, Arrow films). There are many releases which are barely worth their RRP upon release, let alone as an investment!

However, their value is truly dependent on the medium. Having progressed from collecting Dvd SteelBooks to Blu-Ray SteelBooks, I have noticed a significant decline in the value of many older Dvd titles. This could be attributed to either the decline in popularity of Dvd's as a mudium in general, or because a specific film title gets an upgraded Blu-Ray SteelBook release - Iron Man and Cloverfield are two such examples, where both once commanded a decent price, but bombed once the Blu-Ray SteelBook versions were released. In most cases it's the latter, but there are still a lot of sought after / rare Dvd titles which are yet to be given the Blu-Ray SteelBook treatment (Eragon, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer etc)


That said, I am a firm believer that the more you have, the more they complement each other. I have a near-as-damn it complete set of sealed UK Blu-Ray SteelBook releases, so as a whole I believe that these would be a worthwhile investment if sold as a whole collection to a private collector or sold at an auction house. Individually though, I understand that I would probably struggle to make my money back on at least 50% of the titles, but as a whole entity the rarer and more sought after titles increase the value of the less desirable titles, So I would most likely still be able to make a significant profit if sold as a complete collection (that is, if I ever decided to sell)

 

[bigrob]

These are just my opinions based on experience

I collected over the years before the HD boom tonnes and tonnes of limited edition DVD sets from all over the work and especially Japan ( I was a moderator at The Import Forums if you remember that)

Considering the money i 'invested' in these releases, when pushed came to shove, i practically can't give them away. The most some have sold for now are about a 10th of what i paid

If you want to seriously invest, i suggest stocks and shares. Not steelbooks.

 

[mike21a]

some people look at it as an investment and some as a hobby. If you look on ebay, most people are selling steelbooks for at least 3 times the profit. some people end up purchasing the entire stock of the title forcing the rest to pay a premium price.

I enjoy purchasing the titles brand new, still in shrink wrap with the stores original price tags. Therefore I am a collector.

 

[Travis Bickle]

I haven't been collecting long but I think it's easy to get sucked in to the keeping them sealed approach. I think it's personal preference some of mine are still sealed because I simply haven't got round to watching them. I admit I have Metropolis, Jack reacher, & Korean Dark Knight which I may keep sealed but my intention is always buy to watch & keep & not to sell on. As someone said to me recently it's just a tin.
I'm not putting any collector down or saying its wrong but they are only worth what someone is prepared to pay. It can be the thrill of the chase as much as actually owning the item.

 

[stevo]

I wish a had a dime for every post I read that states that the next format will kill off the collectibility of bluray steelbooks. You can usually tell who got suckered into buying "limited" edition DVD's lol, because they're the ones saying it. I've asked this question many times, and not one person has provided a satisfactory answer. If its an absolute certainty that the next format will kill off the collectibility of bluray steels, then by that exact logic, the XBox 360 and PS3 games should have killed off the value of the old NES or Atari carts, correct? Yes or no? It's a simple question. The price of the regular run of the mill steel has definitely decreased. But I look at my collection, and the grails seems to still be doing OK. The old Disney Steels and IP's are still doing OK. Why can't people understand that if there is more product in the market, the price goes down, because of more competition? It's actually a very very simple concept.

 

[Troll2Fan]

I primarily buy/collect steels for the fun of it, and have opened the majority of my purchases. Although, I do tend to leave my HMV, ES, Kimchi and some FS sealed.

 

[ben6212]

i open all my steels,don't see the point in not opening them. each to there own i guess

 

[bigwednesday0]

All mine are open. I dont particularly have steels that are highly sought after or "Grails" but all are mint

As people have said previously, if its not open how can you fully know if its mint?
Just my personal choice


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[Travis Bickle]

Does anyone think that collecting can be stressful such as worrying about items arriving damaged. Or missing out on a title you really want ?

 

[bigwednesday0]

Does anyone think that collecting can be stressful such as worrying about items arriving damaged. Or missing out on a title you really want ?

Last year i was gutted at missing Battle Royale, it sold out before I could pre order.
But as everyone knows, it wasn't that sought after as first thought!
I got it cheaper on ebay earlier this year!


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[Travis Bickle]

Last year i was gutted at missing Battle Royale, it sold out before I could pre order.
But as everyone knows, it wasn't that sought after as first thought!
I got it cheaper on ebay earlier this year!


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I remember being in HMV & picking up the original Thor Steelbook in perfect mint condition then deciding not to buy & put it back. Now I see how much people are paying on ebay etc.