I have an extremely niche interest in ceramics with a certain type of finish, made in my country between 1940 and 1970. Certain art studios are more collectable than others, but anything really spectacular gets attention. I can get pieces anywhere between $10 and $80 generally from several specific studios I'm interested in, but over the past couple of years predators have started moving in. My favourite studio, pieces have gone from an average of $40 to being listed for anything up to $120 for very common moulds. These high price auctions never sell and are never relisted after they time out. There are actually two separate sellers I'd like to meet in a dark alley, as they are sitting on uncommon moulds that they want a ridiculous amount of money for; one wants $200 for a particular piece, another wants $250. Both of these pieces have been on eBay for over a year now. The sellers aren't budging on the price and strangely, the pieces have not sold. The usual cost for pieces that size should be $80 at maximum.
I've been collecting for fifteen years now, and it's becoming very difficult to afford a lot of these pieces. It feels great going to an op shop and finding a eighty year old vase for $10 but that's becoming rarer and rarer. All this shit is being diverted to eBay. It gets even more frustrating in that the people who are collecting these things are generally a lot older than I am, so at some point the market is going to break and be flooded with all of Nan's collection being broken up and sold after her passing, like what happened with the Depression Glass market. I had a relative get really into Depression Glass in the early 2000s, the market was savage. Then it broke fifteen years ago. Only the really spectacular pieces are still selling for good money, but the problem is that the market was flooded with fakes and while you can generally tell a fake if you're handling it (they're always far too light; Depression Glass is very heavy) it's hard to tell when it's listed on eBay and you can't pick it up.
