Hobbies that pay off
Some people invest in stocks and bonds. Others are earning more than their wage with variegated plants and rare 90s trading cards, which could help fund a house deposit, writes Mikaela Wilkes.
What is a rare collectible these days? Everyone and their mum who attempted to complete the most recent New World freebie range will tell you it was that Smeg knife block.
Antiques like Crown Lynn and Mid-Century furniture are still fetching good coin in the second-hand market.
But the millennials and zillennials are adults now, and they’re pushing up the value of objects that have value to them.
And that means houseplants and out-of-print Pokemon trading cards from the 1990s.
Chris Chen, 29, estimates his life’s collection of about 150,000 Pokemon cards could be worth a seven figure sum. He has never stopped collecting since he started at the age of 9.
Chen rents at the moment, but plans to sell off about $100,000 worth of cards in a year or two to add to a house deposit.
‘‘The reason I’m not selling them off now is because I believe their value is yet to peak,’’ he said. ‘‘But for me, collecting is a passion first, and became an investment by accident. I won’t be too fussed if they lose monetary value.’’
In the past seven days alone, more than 21,000 searches were made for Pokemon cards on Trade Me. It was the 28th most popular search last month, and the price of trading cards was up by 149 per cent on the same month last year.
‘‘Thanks to the lockdowns and New Zealanders spending a lot more time at home than they perhaps wanted to last year, we have seen new hobbies flourish and others re-emerge,’’ said Trade Me head of marketplace, Ivan Fuyala.
Chen says he is making about $1000 a week in trades, in addition to his day job as a physiotherapist.
How much a card is worth depends on its origin, print run, rarity, type and condition, Chen
explains. A card goes up in value if it is graded, sealed, or an outof-print original.
‘‘Pokemon was a core part of the childhood of millennial men. I remember coming home after school and watching it daily. It makes sense that as adults, we are investing in things that are
familiar to us, and that hold sentimental value,’’ he said.
Influencers like YouTuber Logan Paul have had a heavy hand, too. Paul famously posted an unboxing video of first edition boxes he spent US$2m (NZ$2.85m) on last month, and his mate Logic the rapper dropped US$220,000 on a single card, a first edition Charizard.
Sam Phillips, 24, has around 50,000 cards. His mum threw his childhood collection away, so he had to start from scratch in 2015.
From his rental in New Plymouth, Phillips buys and sells on behalf of other local collectors. ‘‘People hit me up when they want to sell their stuff.’’
Phillips works security for onland oil rigs, but says his card sales are netting him more than his wages.
‘‘My mates around here are into cars and drinking, not cards. They don’t really get how that is possible.’’
He describes collecting as an addictive form of nostalgia fulfilment. ‘‘There is an element of, what if I spend $8 on a pack and find a $500 card?’’
Another collecting trend is houseplants.
In March 2016, the average sale price of an indoor plant on Trade Me was $21.75. Fuyala said that average price is now $77, but despite the 350 per cent price hike, more people are buying plants than ever.
Carlee November, 20, has more than 500 houseplants. She moved to Waiheke Island, Auckland, from Christchurch recently and ‘‘filled my dad’s entire work van with plants’’.
She then spent $1000 on a variegated monstera, and $5000 on established plants to fill her new bedroom.
‘‘I particularly love aroids [the Araceae family, which includes pothos, philodendrons and monsteras] and climbers and I try to buy my plants big,’’ she said.
She’s also acquired increasingly more unusual treasures. ‘‘My Hoya Krimson Princess is half variegated. A couple of the leaves are pure white and that does put a big smile on my face.’’
She gifts plants to friends, but doesn’t have any interest in sales.
‘‘You can make an incredible amount of money on these plants. But I find it sad because types that used to be $20 now retail in the thousands. I have been priced out of my favourite garden centres.’’
Michelle Vaughan’s relationship with plant shopping started out small. The 38-year-old Aucklander bought a fern when she learned she was pregnant,
‘‘The reason I’m not selling them off now is because I believe their value is yet to peak.’’
Chris Chen
because she wanted to practice caring for something. ‘‘It kind of escalated from there.’’
Ten years on, her collection also numbers 500 and includes an eye-watering number of variegated monstera and banana palms (one of those recently sold on Trade Me for $7000).
Prices have skyrocketed. Vaughan grew her variegated Hoya Kerrii from a single leaf cutting she bought for $120. She sold a small plant propagated from that one for about $1000.
But popularity has wiped out supply. Some vendors at the Auckland Plant Market, which Vaughan runs, would previously participate twice a year. Now they don’t have enough stock.
Vaughan prefers to trade baby plants to local high-school students for babysitting.
When she first started, she couldn’t afford rare plants, but people were happy to trade and gift cuttings knowing that they were starting the excitement for somebody else – that’s the spirit she wants to pay forward.
The good thing about collecting plants is that you’re always able to grow more to share around.