Collectors are serious business – AI can realise the opportunity

Britain has a strange relationship with collecting and, more pertinently, collectors. The sector is significant, growing and served by an intensely dedicated community. And yet, it’s entirely underserved by professional services and too often viewed with suspicion and, sadly, sometimes derision. All this makes it a potential goldmine for any business willing to take it seriously.

In countries like Japan, collecting is mainstream. Meet a friend at an izakaya and soon conversation turns to the latest toy added to a collection, something I experienced first-hand on a recent trip organised by the Welsh Government. These collections are partly kept for fun, but they’re also seen as a serious investment and asset – something to one day be passed down.

In the UK, this would still be seen as unusual. Yet things are starting to change. Just a few weeks ago, Michael McIntyre’s Big Show featured a section on collecting. Amongst young people, their culture increasingly weighted towards Asia, collecting Pokemon cards, football trading cards and Labubus is now normal. In America, this is even more the case – look at the popularity of Netflix’s King of Collectibles.

Indeed, expand the definition of collecting to include sports memorabilia, whisky and watches, and even the most skeptical person tends to come around. Globally, the collectibles market is projected to be worth £386bn by 2028.

Odd, then, that collectors so overlooked by professional services.

Start a collection and you’ll soon encounter every collector’s first hurdle: insurance. Many collectors’ collections total thousands of pounds across scores of items, yet they are impossible to insure. Insurers are unable to value collectibles and understand their appreciation, meaning some people’s most valuable and valued possessions are left entirely unprotected. It is, sadly, too common to hear about collections literally going up in smoke.

Legacy planning is another nightmare. Collections hold a lot of value, but to bereaved loved ones they are too often bewildering, sprawling and an inconvenience. Just last week, I saw on Facebook a widow trying to make sense of what she had – asking community groups to make her a fair offer. All too often, collections are dumped in tips or, at best, handed off to charity shops. Probate lawyers rarely understand how to handle these items – and yet, they can be some of the valuable items left in a will.

Lastly, there is an unrealised investment opportunity. Investing in collectibles is often tax efficient. Items that are not expected to last beyond fifty years are not subject to capital gains tax, meaning most toys and cards are exempt. The market also holds a lot of opportunity for those willing to put the work in. However, most portfolio managers struggle to understand how something so unconventional sits alongside other assets.

All these oversights are caused by one thing: a knowledge gap. Collectibles demand understanding, but that understanding takes study and passion. So, collectors, like myself, are left underserved.

We deserve better – and AI can provide a solution. Perhaps one of AI’s greatest assets is how it can give anybody a basic understanding of anything, quickly. It closes knowledge gaps – and so it can serve collectors. At Valart, we use AI to both identify and value collectors’ items, closing the knowledge gap.

We know it’s not the full solution. There also needs to be a shift in attitudes for collectors to be taken seriously. Collecting needs to stop being seen as a niche, odd concern – and taken seriously, as it is elsewhere in the world. This change is happening and, as it does, the businesses that realise the opportunity soonest will be the ones to profit most.

Those that continue to view collectors as odd? Well, that’s their loss – not ours.

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