Duck-o-nomics 101

So, why does your copy of the DVD set Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald Volume 3 (1947-1950) have more in common with a barrel of crude oil, than with that SIMPSONS or FAMILY GUY set it may share a DVD shelf with?

(For the details my discovery of the sudden, unusually high selling prices on Amazon.com for this item that’s been around for just over TEN MONTHS, please click HERE!)

The forces and the manipulation of “The Collectors Market” move in mysterious ways. And, to save John McCain the trouble of appointing a “9/11 Commission” style panel to root out the cause of this surprise spike in the price of DVD Ducks, I’ll take a shot at analyzing it right here.

(…Though, to give Mr. McCain his due, the “Fundamentals” of this DVD set – meaning the Donald Duck cartoons contained therein – ARE “strong”!)

Let’s begin by examining the data found on the “Certificates of Authenticity”, found within each set of the series.

The Chronological Donald Volume 1 (1934-1941) had a run of 165,000 copies.

The Chronological Donald Volume 2 (1942-1946) had a run of 125,000 copies – 40,000 fewer than Volume 1.

The Chronological Donald Volume 3 (1947-1950) had a run of 50,000 copies – 75,000 fewer than Volume 2, and a whopping 115,000 fewer than Volume 1.

With a diminishing press run comes an (intentionally or otherwise) manufactured “secondary market” to satisfy any remaining demand, resulting in prices for this 32.99 List Price set going for 89.98 to 159.99 on Amazon.com – at least on September 16, 2008.

For comparison purposes, I checked on Volumes One and Two, and found the following as of 7:30 AM on September 17 (Gosh, is this what it’s like to be a futures trader?):

Volume 2 was still available “In-Stock” (48 copies “Used and New” for a slight discount off of list price).

Volume 1 was no longer “In-Stock” and was listed as “Available from These Sellers” with 55 copies “Used and New” – ranging from 11.00 for “Used – Not in Original Packaging” to 148.88 for “Collectable – Like New”! Though, overall, prices skew far more reasonable on this set than on Volume 3.

The final question is how much of a press run will The Chronological Donald Volume 4 (1951-1961) have? Will it be less than even Volume 3’s 50,000 copies? The trends seem to indicate this.

So, if you have any interest in The Chronological Donald Volume 4 (1951-1961) – and comic book fans could possibly have such an interest, you might want to pick it up on or around its release date of November 11, 2008, while you can get it for a discount off list, rather than pay a premium at a later date.

Oh, I lied… that wasn’t the “final question”, this is:

If there was any similar manipulation of the already rare Donald Duck comic book pictured above, instead of “Duck-o-nomics”, would George H.W. Bush (“Bush 41”) have called it “Voodoo Economics”?

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