There's treasure everywhere...

I have fallen in love with a particular auction house in Germany. It mainly deals in toy trains and military toys and memorabilia but it does manage to impress me with some curious finds then and again. Tha last auction was held last march, and as usual I tried my luck with some of the lots. One lot was for a box full of 21 TV and film related toys and memorabilia. The picture showed just a few on the items in the box, mainly a 1976 Jim Beam King Kong decanter and a few Pez dispensers. I decided to give it a try at 12 euro since I figured that the decanter alone would fetch that price if i decided to sell it again on ebay.

I won the auction, paid the buyer's premium and the delivery flat rate and I waited impatiently for my mystery box of goodies. Usually it takes around four days for their package to get here but this time it took two weeks, courtesy of Maltapost... Finally a very red faced courier man knocked on my door carrying a 4ft by 2ft box...wow... I rushed upstairs and looked for my hobby knife to cut through the layers upon layers of tape. At the first glance at the contents inside I gasped... An Aurora Robin Kit, Brand new in a very good box... The kit was complete and undone, the decals unapplied, the instruction leaflet crisp and looking new... nice start.

Then something hairy caught my eye, I reached inside the layers of bubble wrap and pulled out a gorgeous Donny Post Wicket mask from Starwars, paper label still attached and gloriously brand new. The rest of the stuff wasn't quite so encouraging but still, it was a great bargain... I found an ultra padded Darth Vader back bag brand new as well, an asterix hold all bag, the King Kong decanter, the Pez dispenser and 8 packs of Playmobil cards. Ah and an old Lassie tin lunchbox from Thermos... Quite good for a massive total of 35 euro....

A collectible a day keeps Paul happy....

I have often wondered how many objects are stored in my two little rooms, most of them things with no value at all, others with speculative value, others with proven value. I must admit I'm not rich enough to buy all the things I crave and probably will never be. I also lack foresight, many potential collectables I buy never seem to pick up value, they just stall or end up on bargain shelves.
Nonetheless I love my objects, the more my room seems crowded the happier i feel. I think some people are born to collect, others just use the object and throw it away when its not fashionable anymore. I have collected right about everything in these last 34 years, toys, comics, swatch, disneyana, books etc etc. And most of them are still here with me keeping me company and seeing me age. One of my favorite poems is 'Grow old with me' by Robert and Elizabeth Browning. Being single and mostly unloved I see these objects as my life companions, each has a story to tell, a secret to unfold. They are my source of happiness and they hardly ever betray me, maybe the only betrayal is when they fail to get their marked price on ebay. But then again I am no speculator. Its just sweet madness, or maybe just sweet love...