Self Made Craft

Collecting today's retail gift cards is a relatively new and exiting hobby with a huge potential for profit. In fact, history was recently made as one collector has paid more than $10,000 for an expired Starbucks plastic.

The reason they are valuable today is that there aren't many around, because very, very few people thought to hold on to their empty Starbucks card, especially when the coffee chain wasn't widely known. That's why I suggest, when your Wal-Mart or other retailer coupon is used up, that you set them aside and collect them. Your grand kids might one days sell--for big dollars in the future--vintage Best Buy plastic for big dollars.

I suggest keeping exhausted or expired plastic after they've served their purpose. In other words: put them aside for safe keeping; don't toss them in the trash. Target, like other retailers, offer a large number of graphically appealing cards, which, over time, I believe will have significant collectible value. Here's why: it's already a proven fact that vintage credit cards, such as an expired American Express 1959 Purple Card (currently worth more than $2,500), are highly prized by collectors. I believe today's retail gift cards will carry the same nostalgic value as vintage credit cards do now, perhaps even more so!

Check out cards from other retailers to give you a better sense of the broad range of vivid, appealing graphics inherent in supposedly disposable items. I believe retail plastic will have long-lasting appeal as a future collectible. The key is to begin your collection now while they are virtually free, readily available, and easy to collect. All you need to do to start a great collection is to save any cards you are given or purchase and ask your friends and family to give you their used gift cards instead of throwing them away when the money runs out. Once you have a few cards, you can trade them just like kids used to do with baseball cards. I envision that popular retailers that provide cards with interesting or unusual graphics will have more "relative" value than bland or boring cards. Plus, as retailers merge or go out of business and the name becomes "nostalgic" the value of the card will necessarily increase.

It sounds like a lot of fun. And, later, it could result in an interesting and very valuable collection. There seems like no end to the trend and the potential for really unique graphics is unlimited.

Marty Weil is the editor and publisher of http://www.ephemera.typepad.com/ a blog that explores the world of old paper. Visit http://www.ephemera.typepad.com/ to learn more about becoming a world-class collector.