Well, it certainly appears that last year’s price escalation on prior-year shoe calendars was not a fluke.
Originally priced at $13.99, just one year later, copies of Michel Tcherevkoff’s Shoe Fleur calendar are now showing asking prices at $2700-$3230…And two of those are ‘Used’ copies.
$3K ??!!?!
Dollar sign. Three. Zero. Zero. Zero.
Pardon me while I put my rapidly beating heart back into my chest.
I think this may have caused me to have an itty-bitty, teensy-weensy, little, apoplectic fit.
Apparently, due to their limited print period and tendency to, ahem, get used (ie. writting is *shocker* encouraged within their pages), some calendars are now (due to some form of retail optimism/insanity?) becoming commodified as rare books.
It must be that whole wacky Econ 101 supply-and-demand thing rearing it’s head again:
The power of supply and demand was understood to some extent by several early Muslim economists, such as Ibn Taymiyyah who illustrates “If desire for goods increases while its availability decreases, its price rises. On the other hand, if availability of the good increases and the desire for it decreases, the price comes down. ” (quote & graph via Wikipedia)
Go figure.
Now, am I about to start speculating on calendars to fund my kid’s college years? Not likely; speculation on collectibles is terribly risky and the buying public is very fickle and unpredictable in their habits. You really have to know the market & sell before the value drops; something that sells for $3000 from an independent bookseller may be available simultaneously on a site such as ebay for a significantly lower price. But, this situation might make me think twice and check the prices at the end of the year on my ‘art only’/decor calendars before I pass them onto my kids for scrapbooking purposes. Just saying…
But really, calendars as rare books? When did this become common?
And who, if any, is buying an out-of-date calendar at this incredibly inflated price point?
Personally, at that price, I’d rather have the actual Bally’s or D&G’s I just wrote about.
Hell, at this price, I could get a pair from both of them.
source: http://www.shoeblog.com
