The Ebay Files...

[JustinHolt]

So I finally got home from a monthlong trip and everything that I had ordered from Ebay over the past month was waiting for me. Most of it I'd forgotten about, and I had my own little mini-Christmas opening everything up. But the thing I was looking foward to the most--my holy grail buy--was the 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle. I'd plowed through the Yogi Berra and Warren Spahun of the same year, and through everything else, but no Mickey Mantle. I started to worry. Then I start sifting through the pile of bills, bank statements, and more bills, and I come across a random envelope. I open it up. Staring back at me is my Mickey Mantle. Dude didn't take any special care packaging the card. He put it in a plastic holder and threw it in an envelope. Damn...

[JustinHolt]

Originally Posted by JasonKane

When (if) I buy a house, I will start stockpiling awesome game machines.

I was revisiting this thread when I found this gem that now applies.

When I was staying in Cranberry last week for work I was driving back from Pittsburgh, taking Route 19 when I came to this weird ass intersection (if you've ever traveled on Interstate 90, think of that almost ninety-degree turn in the heart of downtown Cleveland, where it goes from 65 to 30 pretty much without warning) and at the peak of this intersection was a Pinball Store. I didn't stop to explore--it was a late Saturday afternoon, I figured they'd be closed--but I did notice the windows full of machines. Whenever the time comes that you might explore getting some game machines this place might be worth checking out. I don't remember the exact town name where it was, but if you take 19 South (from where you are) long enough you can't miss that damn turn.

[JustinHolt]

So I had a little Ebay binge today. First off, after mulling it over for a full day, I made my first grab of something from an infomerical--Foreman Grill aside, every mother bought their sons and daugthers one when they went off to college and I was no different. The purchase: Time Warner's Malt Shop Memories 18 CD collection. This fooker has 270 of the best songs from the 50's/60's, and for the longest time, usually whilst not being able to sleep in whatever hotel room I'm in, I drooled over that set everytime I saw the informerical. Factory sealed. Almost ninety bucks less than what they sell it for on t.v. AND...I don't have to talk to one of those jerk-offs at the 1-800 number you'd have to call to order it. I know who they are, because, well, for about two months one summer I was one of them.

My other purchase: an Easton Press Signed Collector's Edition of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City. Outside of the books of writers that I've met through workshops at Edinboro, and musicians I've met or interviewed I'm not really huge on collecting memorabilia of any sort. But I figure everyone should own a first edition of their favorite book, right? I've seen this bastard go for well over $100 before. Tonight, I lucked out. I didn't even pay half that.

These two gems made it a helluva lot easier to deal with the fact that I am a web design dolt.

[JasonKane]

That's an awesome purchase, the signed Bright Lights-- I'd love to start collecting stuff like that.

[Caleb]

Originally Posted by JasonKane

That's an awesome purchase, the signed Bright Lights-- I'd love to start collecting stuff like that.

I have quite the collection of signed books, myself. I like collecting signed books because for the most part no one other that writers and hardcore fans even care about signed books. This lets you get them really cheap (abebooks.com is my favorite, they actually have a filter for signed editions). The only drawback is that it is near impossible to tell whether or not the signature is authentic, but then again, the costs are usually pretty much the same as a brand new, unsigned book, so who cares if it is not authentic.

Congrats, by the way Justin.

[JustinHolt]

The book arrived today. It really does look fantastic. It's one of those deep red leather editions, with the gold trimmed pages. Really sturdy. And in the case of Bright Lights, Big City, since it never did have a "true" hardback edition--the first edition of the book was this crappy softcover one--I think an edition like this is nice.

Originally Posted by caleb

I have quite the collection of signed books, myself. I like collecting signed books because for the most part no one other that writers and hardcore fans even care about signed books. This lets you get them really cheap (abebooks.com is my favorite, they actually have a filter for signed editions). The only drawback is that it is near impossible to tell whether or not the signature is authentic, but then again, the costs are usually pretty much the same as a brand new, unsigned book, so who cares if it is not authentic.

Though I always felt weird approaching people, as a kid I was into collecting autographs. Mostly baseball players. My parents brought me to a lot of card shows where superstars of the past and present would roll through--from my favorite at the time, Dave Winfield, to Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Joe Dimaggio, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey Jr., and so on--and I'd go to a lot of Rochester Red Wing games where I'd get the up and coming prospects--Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina, A-Rod, etc. Somewhere along the way I grew away from that, but really without me knowing, after my years at Edinboro I had sort of amassed a collection of stuff from the writers and singers who passed through. I still don't feel comfortable asking people for them, almost to the point where I won't, but it is sort of cool to have them. And I've always been a fan of other people's handwriting...

Caleb, that's a great place to look for stuff. Do you have any specific method to your collecting--favorite writers, favorite books, etc.--or just a whim bargain hunting sort of thing?

[JustinHolt]

So today, I ended up at a Goodwill. And while looking over the books I came across an entire shelf of Stephen King books. As I got to looking at one, and then another, I came to realize that pretty much all of them were 1st edition hard covers. They were for sale for $2.99 each. I ended up buying 19 of them. Not a bad deal, I think. But it made me think, unless this was a post-death dump of someone, why in the hell would anyone get rid of all of those 1st/1st edition books. Granted, after he blew up, many of King's 1st prints were in the millions, but still. My other thought was that a dude pissed off his girlfriend and to get back at him she gave away his prized possessions. You can tell whomever had these before took good care of them. The majority of them look like they haven't even been read. Strange.