Discounting, Dumping, whatever you want to call it has, does and always will effect the long-term value of any collectible. I watched my brother suffer through this with David Winter Cottages. Like us, he had an extensive collection and paid good money for each piece because the value trend showed them to be a good investment. Then guess what? Dealers started dumping at greatly discounted rates. eBay was flooded with them and it seemed like a buyers paradise! Sure, the curios got filled, money was saved, but at whose expense. We watched a blooming collectible quickly turn into nothing more than a pretty piece of giftware. The value completely dropped and you were lucky to get 1 bid at auction. I watched my brother struggle to get $10 for a piece that he had paid $90 for a year earlier. The giftware buyers flourished, the collectible value died! I don't know what has happened since but I learned a lesson on what discounting can do to effect the long term value of a collectible.

I enjoy a bargain as much as anyone but I don't go looking for them. I saw what happened to my brother and I don't want that to happen to me!! I have said in the past that I collect HL because I like them. That's true, but I'd be lying if I said I don't care about the investment value as well. I have learned VAST amounts of information on the hobby from John and Paul and I will always stand behind them and their opinions 100%!!!!!! They as well as many others on this forum are some of the most knowledgeable collectors I have ever met. If they say it's so, then I believe them.

True collectors are like flies and week old road kill. It may look bad and smell bad but the longer it's there, the more it attracts.