?Put it on the wall: ?Put it on the wall
Collector plates enjoy a long history, but in the 1970s interest notched way up as marketing firms promoted plates as collectibles.
You couldn’t
open a Sunday paper or magazine without stumbling across advertisements for
luscious creations marking holidays, current events, movies and art themes.
Norman Rockwell never had it so good.
The history of
commemorative plates dates back to the 1700s when factories started producing
plates, bowls and mugs marking royal events in Europe and political events in
America.
These have
always enjoyed support from a small group of collectors. Prices are stable for
these genuinely historic items.
In 1895 Danish
porcelain manufacturer Bing & Grøndahl produced the first series
collectible plate, a dated Christmas commemorative. Royal Copenhagen joined the
club in 1908. While the companies have since merged, the Bing and Royal plates
are still produced each year.
The two series
enjoy a collector base that has largely supported prices over the years –
except for plates issued during the boom years of the 1970s and early 1980s. Supply
for these dates far exceeds demand, with the most common pieces cataloging for
as little as $15 and often selling for less.
Royal
Copenhagen and Bing have priced this year’s plates at $120 each.
Beyond these
narrow areas, the market for collector plates pretty much went bust in the
early 1980s. There was no secondary market to create price appreciation. Nobody
really wanted a 1976 Mother’s Day plate in 1987.
In early August
eBay had 163,544 listings for collector plates. Most had no bids. Among
completed auctions, a Princes Diana collector plate went for 99 cents and a
1994 numbered, “limited-edition” Danbury Mint Betty Boop plate fetched $1.29.
As the
original purchasers of collectible plates in the 1970s retire, die and downsize,
more and more material is coming on the market. EBay listings are full of
complete collections of various series of plates – often 20 and more – complete
with boxes and certificates of authenticity that attract no bids.
Next: One that paid off