Back from the dead, VHS tapes trigger a new collecting frenzy

'I think a lot of it is nostalgia and the compulsion to collect. One of the special things about VHS over the other formats is it was the first accessible way to watch a movie in your own home,' says Philip Baker, who runs a video collector website. Photo: AFP

Long relegated to an obscure corner of the collectibles market, VHS tapes have been fetching eye-popping prices at auctions in recent months, thanks to nostalgia and an appetite for new investment opportunities.

At a sale by Heritage Auctions in June, a Back To The Future videocassette went for US$75,000 (RM332,000), while The Goonies and Jaws copies were sold for US$50,000 (RM221,000) and US$32,500 (RM144,000) respectively.