Boys and the price of their toys...on Ebay.

Anyone who has seen Antiques Roadshow or has been to a comic con knows that for a collectible toy to be truly valuable it must be in good, if not mint condition, show little or no signs of wear, and above all it MUST be in the original box with any accompanying paperwork.

It seems unrealistic, but it happens. That original Raggedy Ann doll with its hair still red and clothes so neat they look ironed. Or the set of Lincoln Logs with the pieces intact.

When you see these near perfect examples of vintage toy. If you're anything like me, you wonder what kind of children owned these toys?  Perhaps it was never a favorite toy and someone picked it up for a steal at an estate sale.  That seems to be a more feasible scenario than a one owner toy showing up in mint condition.  Personally, I cannot recall a single toy from my youth that wasn't well-used (beat up,) well-loved (taken to bed and snuggled within an inch of its life,) or missing parts. Who can keep up with accessories? Not this lad) 

Additionally, there were toys that I inherited; hand-me-downs from my older siblings.  Games, usually, since they were as hard on their favorites as I was.  

Looking back, I managed to snag a few choice items in my youth that today might fetch some coin: 

• The Evel Kneivel action figure and motorcycle which, much like the real thing, took off in a big hurry then swerved just before crashing. 

• GI Joe action figures (never dolls, but action figures!) back when they were about 11 inches tall, most of which I inherited from my older brother.  They were all stored in a wooden foot locker with rope handles. One had telescopic sight and another came with a Helicopter attachment. (it must have been some kind of bionic arm thing:  He carried two blades that snapped together and once they were firmly in his patented kung fu grip, his arm was held over his head and you spun the dial on his forearm to turn both the hand and blades. Yes, it did seem rather odd to have this sort of appendage, but once you accepted The 6-million dollar man's bionic parts, what's so weird about having a spinning hand?

•  The Six Million Dollar Man:  Since Steve Austin was put back together as a cyborg after a nasty accident, his enhancements seemed more acceptable than those of the GI Joe Squad.  He also had telescopic sight, and one could peel back his rubber skin to reveal his bionic components. Resplendent in his red jogging suit, Steve appeared to be a man of leisure, perhaps more likely to be seen on a tennis court than in the jungle environs of GI Joe. Still, he bunked together in the foot locker with all the Joes.

• The grand prize in my toy box was the bridge of the starship Enterprise. Yes, I was a trekkie at an early age; I began my collection with a utility belt complete with a communicator, a tricorder and a phaser. (I still have the phaser) One Christmas I wished for the Starship Enterprise bridge play-set. The Bridge didn't come in a box; it WAS a box. It would fold out into a beautiful thing: the center part being the bridge with different rooms on either side, one of which was a transporter. It only transported the "action figure" to the outside of the box, but once there, Kirk or Spock would fight a Gorn.  Or GI Joe.  Or Steve Austin.  

Who knows what makes a toy a collectible?  In some cases it's the popularity of the toy or the movie or TV show it's based off of.  It's hard for me to imagine my kid's toys becoming valuable.  They're too new to me.  Plus, it seems that there are so many new toys out there.  All plastic.  Somehow, it seems more natural to see an older toy fetch a high bid.  Toys with hand painted details, made of cloth and wood... things you just don't see anymore.  

I wonder sometimes what these jewels might fetch, either on Ebay or at a real auction.  But even if I knew where any of these toys were right now, I don't think I'd be able to sell them.  I'd be that little nebbish of a man on Antiques Roadshow who carts all his childhood treasures out to be valued and displayed, then smiles and tells the appraiser he couldn't bear to part with them.  I guess I'm more of a collector than a seller. 

The advent of Ebay made me an accidental collector of typewriters.   Once I discovered that site, I began using it to hunt for guitar gear on the cheap, but since they were usually popular items, I was usually outbid, even though I did score some really cool stuff.   

Once I began to get into old typewriters, I started bidding on those.   At that time, the typewriter revolution hadn't started in earnest, and people were ditching them in favor of brand new word-processors, thus there was no real bidding competition.  Not knowing that, I bid on three at the same time just for fun and wound up with an instant collection.   In case you're interested, I won a 40's Smith Corona Sterling, a Royal 10, and some kind of Woodstock typewriter that arrived in such bad shape I just got a refund from the seller and put it on the curb.  Looking back, I hope someone rescued that old machine.   

So what's the difference between a hoarder and a collector?  I guess the real difference is the level of cool stuff one chooses to accumulate.  Guitars, Toys, books, comic books, even typewriters will always be cooler than shopping bags full of old magazines and newspapers.  Even if the personality traits of the collector are just too similar to that of the hoarder, it's what you collect.  Or maybe it's the amount of dust and disuse heaped upon each item.  

That's my story and I'm sticking to it... while surrounded by electric guitars, basses, and old typewriters.