Collecting Fyi

Those of you who have read my blogs know that I am a seller of antiques and collectibles and one of my favorite places to do so is the flea market! Hubby and I set up at a small, local ‘flea’ this past weekend. It was our first time selling at this one, but had been there numerous times to buy, and with some success. There were probably 50 vendors. I am reluctant to call them ‘antique dealers’ since many were very new to it and had items that were more contemporary and probably plucked from boxes in their basements.

The lady next to us introduced herself as Mabel and told me it was her 2^nd time there.  She was quite old, perhaps in her late 70s, and came with a friend who had shared the rental costs with her. Her items were few and far between – I don’t think she had more than 15 items on her table.  And they were most likely from the low-end or discounted stores, for example, a ceramic lighthouse, 2 green bowls that were not from the Depression Era, and a cow figurine that had a chip. Mabel was a nice lady and I enjoyed chatting with her, but she was a little down because she had only sold one $5 item and it was nearly time to close up shop.  I gently suggested that next time she should bring more items, giving better offerings to the shoppers.  She smiled and said she had numerous collections and had her late husband’s things to go through, but hated to drag more than a boxful to the sale. I said I could understand that. And I did, at least until I saw her grandson come in to pack her up. He was about 6 foot 3 inches tall, a solid young man, and could readily have carried in as many boxes as she wanted.  Before she left, I asked her how she did and it turns out it was only the $5 she had mentioned earlier.  She told me she had sold $15 worth the last year and hoped she would top that.  I smiled and said “maybe next year” and she agreed.  I wonder if she’ll catch on and bring a nice assortment next year!

I shopped at a booth with a young man who shared with me that he had sold on an Internet site for over 3 years.  He told me that everything he brought had been tested on the site and not sold.  Gee, why would you tell that to buyers who may have intended to sell them that way. Now they know these were ‘rejects.’ While I was in the booth, he told me of a lady who just  bought a rather nice glass vase from him. They evidently haggled a bit and she walked out with the prize for $35 instead of the $50 he had originally wanted. He relayed the story and then he exclaimed to me (and anyone else in the area) that he had found it in a dumpster so it was ALL profit! Now, we all know that the intention of sellers it to make some money on their sales, but we did not need to know that it was free and the buyer was a “sucker” in his mind!

Among the many people through the booths was a former co-worker and his wife.  Through the years she has asked me to save any “sewing items” for her. Items such as darners, needle cases, unique buttons, etc.  Well, I had found the coolest item – a combination egg darner, needle case (the handle turned off), and it even had advertising on the ‘egg’ part! I held it for a few sales, waiting for her to show up and she did!  I proudly displayed the piece and expected her to be happy and ready to buy the treasure.  I offered it to her for a little over what I paid for it. She picked it up, turned it around, and said “Uhhh, I’m just not sure.” I said that it was OK, I’d put it in the display case and see if someone else liked it.  As luck would have it, the next person through was so thrilled with it they did not even quibble over the price (quite a bit more than I had quoted the friend.)  About 10 minutes later the friend returned, and said she’d take it. I had to tell her it had just sold and she pouted.  (You snooze, you lose is a famous motto in antique buying and boy, was this appropriate.)

You may recall my nemesis “NEWMAN” from earlier blogs.  This is a red-headed lady who has tortured me in searches for my treasures.  Some of our run-ins have been written about. Well, here she was at our booth.  She was, as usual, all smiles and trying to be a charmer (it does not work.) She asked how we were doing and we embellished a bit on our profits, and smiled back sweetly. She picked up a figurine and asked what our “best price” was.  We gave her a discount but she wanted more.  We came down a tad and she bought it.  She then proceeded to tell the story of a super vase she “stole” from a young man at the sale. She knew it was an expensive vase and she was able to get him to lower the price to $35! She was so proud.  I smiled even more sweetly after that and said it sounded like a great deal.  I was glad that the lad had shared the story with me.  I knew that he had gotten one up on my Newman and that made my day.

Any stories of the road you’d like to share or collections you are proud of?  CQ would love to hear about them.

As an avid member of the living, it took me a while to really get into the whole zombie thing. At this point, I’m a total convert. From video games to action figures, I’m sold – and with a few friends who are even more dedicated to the zombie genre than myself, it’s almost a kind of social obligation to be able to talk about zombie movies at length (as well as orchestrate survival techniques for the inevitable onslaught).

I recently had the opportunity to see Dead Snow, which one particular friend regards as the best zombie movie ever made, and turned into something of a nightly viewing for a while. After seeing it myself, I think she’s on to something.

Dead Snow combines a few interesting premises into one eerie, scary, funny, nauseating experience. You have an isolated, snowy landscape, you have zombies, and you have Nazis. Despite being a zombie movie, it rarely dips into the realm of the hokey or too obvious. All of this is amplified by the fact that I live in New York and was just hit by the worst, most destructive blizzard that I have ever witnessed and sat in the dark for two days without any power as creepy noises broke the night outside. Needless to say, I’m pretty primed for some crazy snow terror.

While the DVD has been out for a while, IFC has only recently released the 2-disc edition, complete with a whole extra disc full of fan-friendly awesomeness. Spoiler alert : it’s all made worthwhile by behind-the-scenes zombie Nazi dancing.

Every good horror DVD includes a whole lot of details about how the special effects were done, and these are included her as well. Production troubles, the experience of Sundance, trailers, some fight outtakes, and you have just about everything you could possibly want to see about the guts of this movie. It definitely places as a film that I’d want to share with friends, if only for the sheer ridiculousness and the fact that despite this, it is actually chilling. Sure, we never find out why these Nazis became zombies as we might in more pseudo-science oriented zombie flicks, but there are so many body parts flying around that you barely notice.

The cover bills this film as one of the best 25 zombie films of all time, but I’d have to elevate that to the top ten, at the very least – if only to leave some room to be even more deeply creeped out.

[DVD graciously provided by IFC Films]

It’s not as if Stadium Events is an especially great game.

Anyone who has played World Class Track Meet knows the futility of awkwardly pounding the accompanying floor mat with your feet, and then giving up and punching it rapidly with your hands, and then having your mom yell at you for making so much noise. It’s a game that asks you to perform a bizarre, Herculean feat that doesn’t match what the human body can actually do, much less when it is eight years old, and you can play it once or twice before the novelty completely wears off.

And still, that game sold for over $40,000 last week.

While “Stadium Events” was later re-named and re-released as World Class Track Meet (accompanying the NES Power Pad accessory), the original US release by Bandai is one of the rarest retail Nintendo games out there.

Popular legend has it that 2000 copies were produced by Bandai in 1986 and sent to a limited number of retail chains, designed to work with Bandai’s FFF (Family Fun Fitness) accessory – a large mat that could be manipulated with the hands and feet in lieu of a controller. Almost immediately after this release, Nintendo decided that they liked this accessory so much that they were going to buy the exclusive rights to it and rename it the Power Pad.

This created a recall of every available copy of the game so that it could be rebranded with Nintendo’s seal. These same popular legends maintain that only 200 copies of the game were already sold and un-recallable, and furthermore, only two still remain in their shrinkwrap. Of course, these numbers are completely unofficial, as no surveyor has really delved into every dusty nerd basement across America just yet, but people like to throw them around.

Divide 200 copies of a game among millions of Nintendo collectors, and you have a hot item. While one sealed copy sold for just over $13,000 a few months back, this most recent discovery sold for almost $41,000 – but collectors be warned! More than one version of this game exists, and one isn’t that rare at all.

Because Nintendo released games across the world, they had to adjust their programming to accommodate TVs that used both NTSC and PAL technology. NTSC tech dominated America, and PAL was used in the UK.

The rare edition of Stadium Events is the NTSC, or American, version. This is differentiated by a circular ‘Nintendo Seal’ on the cover of the game cart and box in gold and grey. The more common PAL version features a Nintendo seal which is oval shaped, and uses grey and white. This Pal version of the cart itself also includes a small photo of a few people enjoying the FFF Pad in front of the TV (which is featured on both boxes). Of course, the more manuals, boxes and ephemera included, the better off you are. Those who do not understand this difference and are eager to hop into the current Stadium Events frenzy have dropped almost $10,000 per cartridge on one that simply isn’t nearly as rare.

I still regret the day I tossed out all of my old Nintendo stuff in an effort to become more mature, only to realize later that maturity was actually embracing who you were enthusiastically. Just pop in World Class Track Meet if you’re not a purist who strives to play every NES game – you’ll save yourself $40,000.

Years and years ago I was rummaging with my granddaughter, Allie. She was about 5 years old and even then was a very good sport. She knew the rules about not-touching, always remembering to ask to see things, and even the one about not blurting out a question such as as whether I was going to keep it or sell it! In many ways she was a good luck charm because I have numerous fond memories of her asking me if I’d like this or that…and often it was a real nifty find!

One day we were in a garage and hanging on a rusty nail was a picture of a farmer with his ‘herd’ of pigs.  They were near a little shed and were facing away from him.  Allie laughed at the picture and asked me “how many pig butts are there?”  I chuckled too and said I did not know but we’d count them. Eleven! That’s how many there were.  Well, after that I just HAD to have that picture and was surprised that it was only $4.00. I’d have paid a lot more for it. After all, it had such character and was a lot of fun.

We went back to my house and proudly displayed it in a back hallway, right where you’d see it when entering. When we moved to our current home, it had a special place as well.  Since then, I have added a few more pig items. My daughter got me a print block with a cute pig. Amazingly enough, she even found me a bar of soap with a pig butt! That has got to be a hard item to find!

I have increased my lot to become a full collection (anything more than three, per hubby.) At one of my favorite shopping venues, the Elkhorn Antique Market, held at the Walworth County Fairgrounds, I came across a cast iron piggie.

He has wording on his side that reads “A Birmingham Pig” on one side and “Compliment Birmingham Realtors.” I just thought it was so cool, and definitely desirable to advertising collectors. Originally costing more than 6 times the cost of my charming pig picture, I persisted and took him home for a more reasonable price. I also found a teeny-tiny pink metal pig that was from hubby’s train set years back.

My most current find was at an antique store. It is a pottery planter featuring three pigs. The neatest part is that the back has a lot of detailing. And you guessed, it they all have curly little tails! I use this to hold some ice picks and shavers that rested on our old ice box in the back hall.

So, while my collection is quite small, I feel the items are pretty darn unique and definitely conversation pieces.  I’d appreciate if other collectors don’t make “pigs” of themselves and leave some more for me to find!

Toy collectors are very aware that Mattel’s DC license is probably one of the best things that has happened to toys in years. They’re solid, accurate, and well-articulated.

Sure, they complain vociferously about how hard some of these toys are to find, but that takes nothing away from the excellent quality that Mattel has presented to a generation or two of disillusioned collecting geeks. I usually just avoid the more difficult and disappointing aspects of hunting through my local stores by ordering sets of figures online, but to each their own. I recommend Alter Ego Comics and Corner Store Comics.

I’m always happy to see a set of figures power through twelve waves – especially with the rising costs of plastic and an economy hesitant to spend money on luxury items. Many excellent figure lines have folded in recent years for these reasons, so when we can last long enough to get weird figures like Copperhead and the Metal Men, I can’t help but be excited that my little part of the economy is holding up.

After one hundred or so figures, Mattel continues to listen to the adult collectors and delivers a perfect mix of obscure and popular characters alike – even if this particular set leans more towards the ‘who the heck is that?’ end of the scale. If you collect all seven figures, you can assemble an eighth figure for free. There are also two variants to collect, which is standard for each mass retail set. Every fifth set or so has been a ‘retailer exclusive’, which means that you’ll have to leave the house and drag your feet through the dregs of either Wal-Mart or Target to find the newest figures – or wait for inflated prices on eBay. If you saw my local Wal-Mart, you’d wait for eBay too. I don’t think they’ve named all of the disorders that you see crawling through there.

I’ve written about aspects of these before, but I return today to relay a complete surprise that arrived with these figures in the mail : each figure includes a pin. As a pin collector (with an unconscious focus on DC Comics), this fulfills more than one collection at once – and it’s neat.

See if you recognize any of these DC Universe characters :

- Eclipso (1963). In true Mattel style, we’re given Eclipso’s most classic look – not any of the updated, renovated costumes or characters that he became. This is classic Eclipso.

- The Spectre (1940). Also a classic version of the character, who is one of the ultimate powers in the DC Universe. This figure comes in a common white version, as well as a less common glow-in-the-dark version to reflect his spectral powers. I really love glowing toys. The previous set included a rare glowing Deadman which I hunted down.

- Copperhead (1968). I admit it – I had no idea who this was. Not to be confused with the similarly attired Kobra. There were a lot of snake-themed bad guys.

- Dr. Mid-Nite (1941). Possibly one of the more well-known within this group, as he’s a long-running member of the Justice Society (which is where a bunch of Golden Age comic characters continue to fight crime). Plus, he comes with his owl – Hooty. He was not known for his creativity.

- Desaad (1971). I’m a fan of Desaad just because I love anything that Jack Kirby created – most of which involved huge eyebrows, cumbersome robo-hats or monsters strapped to Aztec-lookin’ machines – though I do question the mid-coitus look on Desaad’s face here.

- Mary Batson (1942) – or as you may know her, Mary Marvel. Because of the possible confusion between the DC Marvel family and the various Marvel Comics characters that have the ‘Marvel’ name, all branding of the Marvel family requires use of their real names, or ‘Shazam!’ Mary comes in two equally common forms – the original red costume, and the later white costume. There was a black costume even later on, but let’s not talk about that one. She matches the already released Shazam! figure.

- Iron (1962). This is probably the figure that I’m most excited about, as it marks the start of the Metal Men, a group of heroic robot-creatures based on the elements. I’m a sucker for teams, and with four more main members inevitably on the way, I’m looking forward to them all. He also includes die-cast parts, which is just fancy.

- Darkseid (1971). All seven figures come together to for a colossal Darkseid figure, complete with scary death-glove. As Desaad is his lackey, they go together perfectly. Also a Jack Kirby creation. While there was a Darkseid figure in Mattel’s early DC Superheroes line, this one is larger and more complex than the original.

So, that’s DC Universe Classics 12 – a weird selection of characters, but one that hardcore collectors and comic fans are sure to be pleased with. Until next time, check out everything that Mattel has released under this banner!