The market for second-hand video cassettes is experiencing unprecedented growth, attracting nostalgic people and new investors.
VHS was the first popular way to own a movie at home. In the age of video on demand and streaming, video cassettes are regaining a certain brilliance, despite the shutdown of video recorder production since 2016.
Originally, the circle of collectors was small and sales remained relatively low, with prices rarely exceeding 5 dollars. The trend started with a few rare films, hard to find online or elsewhere, sold on tape for a few hundred dollars.
A growing enthusiasm
The multinational auction house Heritage Auction enabled the sale of a VHS of Back to the future dating from 1986 to a New York collector for the price of 75,000 dollars. It belonged to Tom Wilson, the actor who played the awful Biff Tannen. A note written by the actor, accompanying the tape, specified: “This is a video tape sent to me by the studio at the time. As I thought VHS support would last forever, I saved it for later. Now I can’t find a VCR anymore!”
Read alsoVHS tapes from Back to the future go up for auction at $75,000
On the same day, an edition of Sea teeth was sold for 32,500 dollars and one of Rambo for 22,500. Today, blockbusters are popular, with particular attention to the 1980s. The power of a nostalgia that has also affected the vinyl sector. “The trend is still weak», nuance Jörg Müller, researcher at Crédoc on societal trends, technologies and generational issues. “There is certainly an attraction for vintage, nourished by the interest of forties who miss an era and are reassured by these objects. But too many parameters such as purchasing power come into play to know if the return of VHS will take..
“ The general perception that people can order any movie from home is totally wrong,” notes Matthew Booth, owner of the Videodrome in Atlanta, for the New York Times. The latter sees VHS selling more and more. If the public is convinced neither by the rental nor by the streaming offer, it turns either to DVD or to VHS.
Read alsoAmerican woman finds she has been sued for 20 years for not returning videotape
The enthusiasm is also evident on social networks. On Facebook, more and more groups appear, dedicated to exchange and purchase/sale, such as “La Caverne aux VHS”. On Instagram, the hashtag #vhsforsale has over 67,000 posts. On Twitter, Internet users share their latest acquisitions. The ecosystem around this collection is developing rapidly, with the proliferation of services that assess the authenticity of a tape and the sustained activity of auction houses.
Obviously, the interest lies in the finds of first editions or “premium” editions, new in their original packaging. The rarity of the object prevails. A reference among others: the first edition of Star Wars, dating from 1977, the year in which VHS began to be marketed. The price of the tape is around 10,000 dollars. For copies of some movies that come from the first US VHS delivery, their value could jump up to 7 figures.
The ode to the 1980s is not over. The Duffer Brothers, creators of the hit series Stranger Things which takes place at that time, wish to adapt the program in VHS and give it the grain of the time.