Is It Worth Keeping Old Magazines

Why Do It?

Why is it worth keeping old magazines?

It really varies by individual collector. When I prepare a magazine for sale I always make mention of the cover subject and/or artist and detail the inside contents as best I can. I especially concentrate on fiction writers and historical/pop culture subjects of articles.

Some people buy issues exclusively for the advertising inside. Other customers have been relatives or descendants of the artists, writers, or celebrities of the day who are covered inside. I'd say that when I'm putting together a listing for sale now, my favorite finds would be early fiction or articles from famous writers. You never know what you might find when you start going through an issue.

What do you find motivates certain people to collect certain magazines and not others?

I don't mean this to have a negative connotation because it's how I think of myself, but I kind of think of it as a pack-rat mentality. I love old stuff and it kills me to throw anything away. My eBay ID, things-and-other-stuff, is meant to reflect this.

Well, out of all of my old stuff, magazine back issues have been most interesting to me just because of the varied material each issue can contain. To stick with the Post, you can start out with a Rockwell or J.C. Leyendecker cover, open up to an article on what President Roosevelt is up to over here or what Hitler is doing over there, spend some time with Part 6 of an Agatha Christie mystery, get caught up on what Clark Gable is up to, and then relax with an article about an old World Series game all in a single issue! That's just an example, not actually a specific issue, but how cool is that?

The Missing Links

When you're working on a collection, where do you normally look to find the missing issues?

I'm not so much a collector as I am pretty purely a dealer. I do refer to my stock as a sort of rotating collection though. By moving items in and out, I'm able to acquire pieces I wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. I buy most of my stock online, rarely but sometimes from people who directly contact me, and really not ever from garage sales or that sort of thing.

My business is quite small, so I have to be very careful and very sure about the items I do buy. I set about acquiring titles I am absolutely sure will sell and use any specific knowledge I have about those certain titles to my advantage.

Going Online

What inspired you to start up your websites related to collecting old magazines?

My movie collectibles site came first, but originally that was more of a general collectibles site which was, and is, run under my eBay ID—the site is things-and-other-stuff.com. (My eBay ID is things-and-other-stuff). I really started it just to have a way off eBay to draw people to my eBay auctions.

The magazine site was started separately a couple of years ago largely for the same reason, but at the same time I noticed that most sites about magazines were either sites about journalism or sites selling back issues. What I was looking for was a site that told me about the history of these various magazines but from a seller's perspective. I couldn't find it and I figured others might have been looking too.

Within about a month I'm actually going to be reeling in the magazine site and making it a sub domain on things-and-other-stuff.com. On another part of things-and-other-stuff.com, I'm also about to debut a site which consists only of magazine contents. In other words, the information you'd find on a table of contents page inside an issue, along with any notes I've made about these specific articles as I've sold them over time.

Readers can purchase magazines at old-magazines-for-sale.com, but do you have any other sites people can sift through your collection for just the magazine they're looking for?

The majority of my sales still come from my eBay Store at Collecting-Old-Magazines. I opened old-magazines-for-sale.com about a year ago to offer both titles that I felt were getting a little stale sitting in my eBay store or titles which I didn't think would move on eBay.

I've been slowly moving titles from my eBay store to the off-eBay Store--there is no item which is listed in both stores though, everything is different. I keep about 800-1,000 items in the eBay store and am up to over 1,700 at old-magazines-for-sale.com (this includes magazine back issues as well as movie cards & collectibles).

Also, I'm just about to announce a new part of my main site that I'm calling the magawiki. It's not a site selling magazines, but an information based site that includes contents of magazines I have listed for sale in the past. I'm hoping that it helps out people with their research or in finding that one special title. Feel free to check it out at Things-and-Other-Stuff or go directly to Magawiki.com.

So…How Much Is This Worth?

How does a magazine's worth typically increase over time? What types of factors play into the value?

Condition is always critical. To that end I went back to my baseball card days to create a grading guide--not that it's unique, but everybody has standards set in their mind and I personally try to be as detailed and as conservative as possible in my grading. Of course you could have a back issue that's a hundred years old and pristine but next to worthless because there's nothing inside or on the cover to attract anybody to it.

The most common e-mail I'll receive asks, "I have X magazine, how much is it worth?" I don't want to say that I dodge this question, but my answer might sound that way-- it's only worth as much as one other person is willing to pay. I've had plenty of $50 or $100 magazines sit in stock for months, only to find out they're really $20 magazines--that is if you actually want to sell it!

It's worth nothing if nobody wants it. But if you're looking for something good then look for a title you've heard of, a popular title, and in really nice shape. I don't want to say the older the better, because that's not always true, but at the same time let's say you're interested in Saturday Evening Post. Most issues from the 1960's and more recent than that are pretty much junk. There's a little interest in the 1950's, but that's mainly for Norman Rockwell covers.

The issues from the 30's and 40's will always move, but the ones from the 1920's are like gold--great cover artists, incredible contents from a popularly collected era, condition sensitive because of the age. I don't really ever run across them at a price which I could buy at. They're even better than the earlier issues.

As to your original question though in relation to this Post timeline, if someone wanted to speculate I'd say look for high-grade issues from the 30's and 40's, as they're more available, more affordable and likely have greater room to grow (not that the 1920's issues will be decreasing in value anytime soon though!).

A Final Word on Is It Worth Keeping Old Magazines

So, is it worth keeping old magazines? Most likely. Your best bet is, do your research and don't get too attached. If you're looking to turn a profit, you'll need to be willing to sell!