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Ever fallen for a collectible that turned out to be less of an investment and more of a money pit? Join us as we explore some of the most baffling and disappointing collectible products and schemes that promised value but delivered little more than regret. From mass-produced "limited editions" to outright scams, prepare to marvel at how much people have paid for seemingly worthless items. This list will make you think twice before jumping on the next big collecting craze!
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00:00With crypto crashing, if you own a non-fungible token or NFT, you are so funged.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the worst collectibles to have ever invested in.
00:13$1,700 for a trash bag. Is it reusable? Or are you just like, I took the trash out before
00:18I came on the show?
00:20Number 10, Norman Rockwell Plates.
00:23Norman Rockwell was a celebrated American painter who made thousands of beloved pieces of art.
00:29During the 70s and 90s, tons of plates were produced, displaying his talented paintings.
00:35Each hand-numbered plate bears the Edwin M. Knowles China Company and the Rockwell Society Seals and comes with their
00:41certificate of authenticity.
00:43They were sold as limited edition collector's items, but a major problem was that they were far from limited.
00:49So many were produced that now they have basically zero value.
00:53They have them like mounted, like, I don't know what these are, I guess to protect them,
00:57or maybe they were hanging them up somewhere or they were in a cabinet, but a lot of the plates
01:01had this.
01:02And I just want to show you the price, you guys. $4.99 is what they're selling all these plates
01:07for now.
01:07For collector's items to retain their value, the market mustn't be flooded with them.
01:12If you happen to be sitting on a few plates, the best way to offload them would be to simply
01:17sell them out of your garden.
01:18At least their art looks lovely, even if they are basically worthless.
01:23Dreaming in the Attic is a true Rockwell classic. It features a rim of 14-karat gold on fine china.
01:30Number 9. Hummel Figurines
01:32Maria Innocentia Hummel was another 20th century artist, this time from Germany.
01:37Her sketches attracted the attention of the porcelain maker Franz Goebel, who began creating figures inspired by her drawings.
01:45Working from an original sketch, a sculptor first models the figure in highly plastic clay material.
01:52He must not only have technical expertise, but also artistic empathy for the creations of Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel's imagination.
02:00They became wildly popular after World War II, and they've been in continuous production ever since.
02:06As you could expect, the immense supply means most are worth barely anything now.
02:11These Hummel figurines on display here at the Goebel Porcelain Factory are among the most famous in the world.
02:18In the United States alone, a nationwide club of collectors has more than 200,000 members.
02:25There are still a few rare finds that can fetch a fortune, those mainly being older models.
02:30Overall, most would have little monetary value these days.
02:34Still, if you like their design, they don't have to be worthless to you.
02:38Now we're just packing up the hummels.
02:39Two to go.
02:40Marshall, watch it!
02:42Boy with toothache is mom's favorite.
02:44Sorry.
02:45Number 8.
02:46The Franklin Mint
02:47The imported silver ghost is available only from Franklin Mint Precision Models, with die-cast metal craftsmanship of models costing
02:54thousands of dollars.
02:55Now only $430 payments.
02:57This company launched in 1964, and since then, they've been constantly producing collectible items.
03:04A great deal of them were made in such huge quantities that they have zero value now.
03:09One of their worst products was their coins.
03:11...and crafted and offered exclusively by the company that's been minting memories for nearly 50 years, the Franklin Mint.
03:17Now, they're only worth as much as the silver inside them, meaning they're only good for being melted down.
03:24If they're still in the packaging, you'd get a way better deal.
03:27Once again, the silver lining is that a lot of people admire their aesthetics.
03:31If that's not you, then the silver lining is literally just the silver lining.
03:36No offense, kid, but your mom's a dingbat.
03:39There's no silver lining here.
03:41Number 7.
03:42Pokemon Prototype Cards
03:44Collectible Pokemon cards have always fetched a high price.
03:48Now, the earliest cards are some of the most valuable, even though they're not at all playable.
03:53These are Pokemon playtest cards.
03:55You may have seen mainly the ones with the yellow border in the white middle.
03:58These are the more, I guess, rare ones, technically.
04:02But, taking it out of the sleeve, it's a legit Pokemon card.
04:08Prototypes were designed before the official release, which can potentially sell for millions.
04:13In 2024, an ex-creator for the TCG, Tagumi Akabane, sold a bunch of these from his personal collection.
04:21Someone online did forensics analyses on a few, which revealed many were fakes printed in 2024.
04:27From user created a program that decodes the dots and displays the metadata, and when PFM put his dot pattern
04:33into the program, it came back with a print date of June 29th of 2024.
04:38This was a problem, as the card was supposed to have been printed in 96.
04:43It's unclear if Akabane knew if they were fakes or if someone else took advantage of him.
04:48Either way, it goes to show the risks of high-end TCG collection.
04:53I even had the opportunity to find one about a year ago, but it ended up being fake.
04:57So I jokingly punched through a window and spent the night...
04:59Number 6.
05:00Commemorative Coins
05:01The Royal Mint produces the entirety of Great Britain's coins.
05:06When there's a major event, they'll release these fancy commemorative coins to celebrate.
05:10There's two aspects of our processes that allow us to produce unique objects with new, unique features.
05:17So we've produced this really exciting, innovative, one-of-a-kind piece.
05:22A lot of people assume they're legal tender, but the Royal Mint insists banks refuse them.
05:28This means most are only as valuable as the metal they're made of.
05:31If you're interested in buying gold coin just for the value of the gold, then we'd recommend you go for
05:36the bullion.
05:37If you want something that's of a higher quality, but available really to more people, they're brilliant and uncirculated.
05:43In the 2010s, one person concocted a scheme to make thousands off them.
05:48He bulk-bought commemorative coins at face value with credit cards.
05:52Then he hoped to take them to a bank to get his money back and more.
05:55He was devastated when the bank refused to let him cash in 29,000 worth of 100-pound coins.
06:03No!
06:06Number 5. Fake Celebrity Autographs
06:08It's easy to see the appeal of having a cherished figure of yours sign a personal possession.
06:14It's most exciting when your idol signs something in front of you.
06:17All right, turn around.
06:19It's pretty cool, huh?
06:21Now, next time I score a goal, it won't just be for me.
06:28It'll be for you too.
06:29If the opportunity never arises, people may instead buy signed goods from third parties.
06:35Sadly, there have been a ton of scams related to these products.
06:39Was it a woman that ended up getting me signed?
06:41Yeah, my great aunt.
06:42It would be impossible for us to list every fake autograph scam, but it's safe to say they've taken millions
06:48of dollars in total.
06:49While many come with certificates of authenticity, such documents are simple to fake.
06:54The moral of the story is, you can never be certain of a signature's authenticity unless you have hard proof
07:00of it being signed.
07:01These items of sports memorabilia were signed by the athletes while the fans watched, which is the only 100%
07:09guarantee that what you've got is authentic.
07:12Number 4. Luxury Brand Collectibles
07:14It's easy to see the appeal of luxury branded clothes, but sometimes these brands go way too far, selling collectible
07:22products at extortionate prices.
07:24Unlike clothes, the vast majority of them aren't functional.
07:28Look, Tiffany's caters to the well-heeled, and what I will say is if you buy a $1,000 tin
07:32cup and a $350 accompanying silver straw, then guess what?
07:36You're actually the heel.
07:38The most infamous was the Supreme Brick, which now sells for hundreds despite it being literally a brick.
07:44There was also the Louis Vuitton skateboards, which rarely sell for less than four figures.
07:50The grand total with tax is $59,268 with 76 cents.
07:57You can't forget that, baby.
07:59Is it over the top?
08:00Yes.
08:00So is my whole entire life.
08:01While they look cool, skateboards are designed to be beaten, meaning almost no one who buys one will actually ride
08:07it, unless they're happy with destroying something they spent thousands on.
08:11There's also the hilarious Balenciaga trash pouch, which is literally a luxury brand garbage bag.
08:18It sounds ridiculous, but they can sell for $1,790.
08:23It's a fashion troll.
08:25It's seeing if someone will just go, yeah, I want it because it's got that fancy name on it.
08:30I don't really have a lot for you on this one, Reese.
08:34This one broke my brain a little bit.
08:35Number 3. Canned Air
08:37Have you ever gone on holiday, then returned and wished you'd brought back a can of air?
08:42We can safely assume your answer was no, but for some reason, it's completely possible.
08:48Is this London?
08:50Of course it is.
08:51Can't you smell that lovely sort of air?
08:53Marvellous, ain't it?
08:54Tourist destinations across the globe sell these souvenirs.
08:58According to one canned air peddler, part of the appeal comes from the fact that the container can be reused.
09:04It's pretty perplexing, especially since they can sell for roughly 10 euros on average.
09:09Plus, most people would rather buy a reusable container that has something inside.
09:14Good thing that it actually has the air in there, so we didn't just buy an empty can for $10
09:18off the internet.
09:20They're all $10?
09:21Yeah.
09:22Not a bad deal. I mean, if you're homesickness.
09:24As absurd as they sound, they've existed since the 40s.
09:27We wish they hadn't caught on, but they're still around decades later, so surely someone must be buying them.
09:33The cans also promise to relieve stress, cure homesickness, and fight nostalgia.
09:38Is there also a cure for publicity stunts?
09:40Number 2. Alliance Authentic Vinyl
09:43Vinyl is easily the most popular way to collect physical music these days.
09:48Many can fetch a high price, like first editions of Beatles albums and such.
10:00One website named Alliance Authentic was recently launched, which aims to exploit vinyl collectors.
10:06All they do is take repressed vinyl albums, put them in a slab with a pretty meaningless grating, then sell
10:13them for $600 each.
10:14$600.
10:16Do you still want it?
10:17Of course.
10:19From any other retailer, they'd be about $25 new, except they're missing the slabs, so the original album can be
10:27exceedingly common.
10:28But these versions are far rarer, all because Alliance Authentic only makes a few.
10:33The venture understandably outraged the vinyl collecting community, who were perplexed at the need to slab vinyls plus the ludicrous
10:42price tags.
10:42Yeah, I just said, no. There's no way I'm putting a record into a case where I can't listen to
10:47it. Sorry, hard pass.
10:55Before we continue, check out this single from Sound Mojo's Audio, Songs from Iran, reimagining Persian melodies as modern rock,
11:04metal, and pop songs.
11:05Check out the full track and album below.
11:07Where are you, my love zone here? Say the word and I'll appear. I wrote this song just for you,
11:14to tell you what I always knew.
11:21Number one, NFTs.
11:24Taking our top spot as potentially the most infamous collectible scam of the century so far.
11:30Right, loot boxes are a thing of the past. NFTs are the future, Sue.
11:34NFT, huh? Hey, I got an NFT for you.
11:36No, thanks.
11:38Non-fungible tokens were all the rage in the early 2020s.
11:42Since then, they've been described as a Pondy scheme and have almost no value.
11:47They had initial coin offerings, but the SEC cracked down on those.
11:50And then, you know, lending products and SAFs, SAFTs, the SEC cracked down on those.
11:56So it's just an end run around that with more nonsense, more crypto nonsense.
12:01An NFT is basically a digital file that you own.
12:04This often included videos and images, but as you might expect, anyone can save an image online.
12:11In 2021, the NFT market was valued at approximately $17 billion.
12:17By 2023, it was reported that 95% of NFTs had lost all their value, meaning anyone who invested heavily
12:25in them made a massive mistake.
12:27Evidently, celebrity-endorsed NFTs are leaving investors financially crippled.
12:31Even worse, the NFTs that do still have value just caught monkeypox.
12:36Have you ever invested in collectibles?
12:38And if so, did it pay off or did interest die down?
12:41Let us know in the comments below.
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