"Discussion about value of painted miniatures" Topic

I found an interesting discussion about the value of painted miniatures. The link is on my blog wargamesgazette.com

There is an audience for painted miniatures otherwise painting services would not exist.

Direct link to Lead Adventure Forum

link

ok, interesting. I would offer an additional observation, the value is added also when you don't have the time to paint your own figures…….how valuable is it to have someone else do a job with the the same. marginally better or much better than you.

Totally agreed with Dave – far more than for most "products" the value of the paintjob is a function of the buyer. If I'm out of work and love painting, even a decent quality paint job may be worthless to me, while if I'm well paid and short of time, I may be willing to pay what many would consider to be over the odds. You're buying time as much as product, so perceptions of value depend on what your time is worth.

Economics 101.
The value of a thing is what someone is willing to pay for it.

Isn't this 100% dependent on the individual? Dom said it really well. Additionally, if you value the game more than the painting, it will have more value.

Recently I've had some 28mm World War II figs painted up, as I needed a lot of figs done quickly. I didn't have time to do the basic painting, so I had someone assemble and paint them- but then I took those figs and did washes and weathering on them. I still felt like I had done work on the figs to get them to the look I like, but I was able to game with them much more quickly than if I had tried to do them completely myself. To me that was really worth it, even though I didn't do them from scratch and even though I can do pretty good paint jobs myself. Had I not had this done, I would not have been able to game with them over the holidays, and possibly not for years.

Probably true about being individualized. Certainly some poor paint jobs actually reduce the value of the miniature below the cost of the raw lead (IMHO).

You can see this on ebay. Some listings have been up there for 6 months and they never sell.

I have plenty of miniatures to paint already so I only buy if it's a good value in some way. So I bid up to half new retail for unpainted and only up to new retail for painted. (Seller can always refuse.)

Paint adds value to me if I can use the models but I also prefer them to be in my own style. So I'll buy block painted unshaded minis because I know I can make them my own with brown washes, highlights, or whatever.

If it's too nice a paint job it probably doesn't match my style and the seller wants more than I am willing to pay, so I don't bid.

For primed, I assume it will be furry or too thick and I need to strip it. If not, it is still probably chipped and needs some touchup.

I've bought some painted figures on EBay, but I've generally been less than happy with my purchases, apart from British and Russian SYW armies that I bought a few years ago. I've looked long and hard at a few lots recently, but I've been put off by the fact that I'll never be able to match the paint colours and painting style with units that I paint myself.

I also find it weird to see unpainted figures advertised on TMP and EBay at prices that are dearer than the manufacturers' prices.

It is also amusing to see figures listed a higher prices as 'Out of Production,' when there are two or three manufacturers that picked up the original line and are selling them cheaper.

ok, interesting. I would offer an additional observation, the value is added also when you don't have the time to paint your own figures…….how valuable is it to have someone else do a job with the the same. marginally better or much better than you.

Absolutely. Imagine a guy, in his forties, two kids, a wife and a good job, commutes a couple of hours a day for work and just wants to play with nice looking toy soldiers on the weekend when he is done mowing the lawn taking his son to hockey and after dinner at the in-laws.