Cautionary Tale from a New Collector

[Big Al]

Hello Big Al, kwakers here. I believe there is still a huge Toy Show coming up in York Pennsylvania that I have heard about for years. A search on the net should give you details, or perhaps a note to DTE, (Diecast Toy Exchange) on E Bay who are located there in a store front.
You have in fact missed the Hershey Matchbox Show that was in late September, the Macungie Toy Show that is always the first Saturday in August, and the Carlisle Spring and Fall Shows where some Lesneys can be found every year. If you are further West in Penn., there is a Toy Show in Rochester N.Y. in November that I should be attending. Those are only the shows I am familiar with, I am sure Toy vendors in your area can give you leads on local shows that occur through the year as well as Train Shows that usually precede the Christmas Holiday. Small Toy shows are sometimes disappointing in numbers of dealers, but they may have the best Mom and Pop dealers/ collectors that are selling spares at realistic prices. I really enjoyed your story as well as the laughs and comments from Ghosthunter and others. We really are a varied group that Nick has drawn together here. Remember, you are not a new collector, you are just 'playing' through a second childhood with some very cool old Toys..........kwakers

Thanks, kwakers. I think I asked you about these shows in another thread, but I'm starting to lose track of all of them! Thanks for the specifics on names and locations; that should help my searches. I had only been typing in "Hershey Toy Show" or similar, with limited success.

I am in the dead center of Pennsylvania, in the aptly named Centre County. (Have to love the olde English spelling of our county, but I have no idea why. The hillbillies around here can barely speak English, let alone understand the history of our language. But I digress.) We're N.E. of Harrisburg/Hershey/York by about 1 1/2 or 2 hours, so they're "doable." Rochester is due north about 3 1/2 hours... it would be quicker, but there's no feasible straight line to drive there. It's kind of a unique area here in the middle of nowhere, and almost its only purpose for existing is the huge Penn State University. Go a few miles in most directions, especially north, and there's... nothing. There are definitely no "toy vendors" in this area, unless you count the ones that sell iPhones to the college kids.

Well, I'll finish my autobiography later... Going to get on the 'net and try some new searches. Really appreciate your help, and I'll let you know if I run into any goodies.

Alan

[Big Al]

Nice story and wise words Big Al. I think all of us go through that initial phase of excitement and getting carried away. Sadly, many get burnt and end up leaving the hobby. Play the "long game" I always say - if you are in it for the enjoyment, then the odd mistake hurts less. I've always felt too that for everything I've ever paid too much for, I've found at least two bargains.

Cheers,
Gavin

Thanks, Gavin!

Fortunately I'm pretty sure I've avoided getting "burnt," at least big-time. Some stupid mistakes for sure; one that really irritates me from early on was not understanding "combined shipping," and reasonable shipping rates. I won 2 separate models from the same guy, costing maybe $1.99 each. They had domestic shipping of around $9 each, and I didn't know enough to ask for combined shipping, and the guy didn't let me know or offer to do it, either. What a jerk; and talk about stupid, right? I just thought that was the way thing were done.

Poverty, and being "cheap," prevented me from spending too much on any one item, and thus from losing a lot. Ultimately I have spent more on individual items, but I think my max has been $30, and that was only after I found Nick's site and knew enough to tell the difference in variations and condition, etc. I have spent more on large collections and a roadway or two which contained some MIBs.

Christian gave me some good advice early on: "Never spend a lot on any one item; the deals will always be there." Then there is minimal risk.

Thanks for your advice too, Gavin, and I'll see you down the road!

Alan

[Big Al]

Great words, both from Al and those who have commented. Al - it looks as if you are discovering the same as me - that this forum is a great place to be. I am one of the members who is at the very start of a very steep learning curve (that's part of the fun) and I am eternally grateful that members with more knowledge and experience share it, and in such a friendly way. I am well aware that I must have posted queries on here that have glaringly obvious answers but nobody has ever taken that tone in their replies. I was born in 1973 so am a 'Superfast' era guy, I just happened to 'discover' the RW models by accident and this has a cautionary tale of it's own.

Ewan,

Yes, everyone here is very friendly, except that one guy called "tinman." He can be rather gruff. (Kidding, tinman! I like your honesty and the "edge" in your comments. Not to mention all the great contributions to the site.)

I'm a bus nut. Books, photos, tickets, fleetlists, you name it and I've collected it, including models. I was for 5 years a bus operator. My interests cover a pretty small geographical area and this is not well catered for by EFE and OOC so finding models that interested me was not easy. You can buy said models and customise them but it's pricey. You can buy kits in white metal or resin, but they're pricey. One day I hit on the notion of searching eBay's diecast buses category starting with the cheapest stuff first and a whole new world opened up. The 74 Fleetline, the 70 Thames, the 21 coach and the Husky Duple Vista - all really good bus models, relatively cheap and of personal interest. To fund this new collecting hobby I bought joblots from ebay, kept the buses and sold the remaining items back on ebay. Goodness knows what may or may not have passed through my hands before I discovered Nick's site and the forum.

I'm loving your story so far! One interesting thing is, though... I never considered the 70 Thames a "bus." It's probably a language-barrier thing , but we here would call it a "van." Did you (or your grandfather) operate buses in a public transportation function? And if so, was this type of van used? I think I see my answer below, as you call it a "minibus" and apparently your grandfather "ran" buses.

And when you mentioned your geographical area, I had to look it up! I had never heard of the Isle of Benbecula, and I consider myself fairly well-rounded. Very interesting place. It got me wondering whether there's much sea kayaking over there (one of my favorite things to do), as the layout of the coast and inlets looks favorable.

Fortunately for me, no items have yet "passed through my hands," as I've never sold a Matchbox in my life. I really don't think I have anything super valuable or rare, but you never know; and at least I have great resources like this site to make sure I don't blow it.

Back to the cautionary tale - as mentioned above one of the models I was hunting out was the 70 Thames. My grandfather ran buses and he had a Thames minibus just like it. I've got 3 in total, all of which were 'playworn' and all of which were dumped in brake fluid to strip the paint. It is only a few days ago that Nick mentioned in a post on here that he'd been looking for a crimped axle Thames for years. I genuinely thought that one of mine had crimped axles..... Following a rush up the step ladder into the attic I found that none of them do, and for that I'm very grateful, because I wouldn't have known the significance at the time of buying and it would have ended up paintless. Now, if I ever come across one, there is only one place it's going, and it's in Nick's direction - not into a jar of brake fluid, and I hope that demonstrates the value of this forum and the site - if they didn't exist then people like me would be trashing models that some people spend years looking for.

I'll have to check my stock for that crimped axle version. Unlikely I have one, I assume. And I read the thread where you talked with Nick about dipping cars into brake fluid. Whew... glad you didn't do that to one of them! Being a painting contractor, one time on an acquaintance's advice I tried to clean some anodized aluminum rain gutters with the stuff. I just wanted to clean them, not remove the paint. I did a little test patch and boom!... the factory applied coating bubbled off in like two seconds! So I know what that stuff can do.

The dealing side of it is a necessity for me, I'm a carer for my son and in all probability will never be able to work again so it's the only way to fund my hobby. When I started splitting joblots I would only keep the buses and the real beaters with broken bits or bad repaints. Things are improving now, and I can be a bit fussier about what I keep and what I sell which is enabling my collection to slowly grow. I've also got around 100 odd beaters to sort through! One piece of advice - if your collection is in an attic accessible only by step ladder, buy a step ladder which is a bit too short. That way your wife will not/can not haul herself up there and the size of your collection will remain your secret

It's a touching story, and a noble one. Not everyone would devote their lives to caring for another. I hope your business continues to support you, and most importantly that your son is OK. I'll certainly have a look at your sales.

And hey, do you know my wife?! How did you know she couldn't "haul herself up there" if I use your attic trick? You are right, though.

Thanks again, Ewan.

Alan

[Tinman]

I well remember the first fake I bought. I was so angry. I wrote to the seller and told them I wanted to return the item for a refund, after a series of defensive comments, he said OK and I mailed the model back. That made me even more angry, now he had the item and my money and was ignoring all my emails. I was able to get his phone number, he was caught off guard when I called. The outcome of the call was that I was told the check was in the mail. After that, he screened his calls and I got tired of leaving messages.

This incident took me down the path (more of a war path) and I got serious about chasing down cheaters and fraudsters. I also developed a pretty good system of checks and methods to prevent these guys from taking advantage of me on all future purchases.

[Ewan]

Thanks Al for the kind words. I've posted on the 'Full sized Matchbox Toys' thread and attempted to clarify the definitions in my own unique rambling way

Judging by the number of them I see on car roofs every summer I'd say there's a bit of sea kayaking here although the whole outdoor sports area is very undeveloped - mostly people doing their own thing. The east side of the islands is pretty sheltered with lots of inlets but the west side is the Atlantic so even when it looks calm there are some pretty big currents. When a storm leaves the US we are generally the next thing it hits!

[RVREVO]

Mine is a tragic state of affairs in trials and tribulations.
I was always into cars... mostly for total destruction... and I was very good at it too.
For years I thought it was Dad that gave me cars when I was little. It was Mum all the way.
If I was a good boy I would get a reward of a toycar.
However, they were destroyed fairly quickly as I really liked taking them apart.
The first traumatic event happened when all my favorite wrecks were biffed away into a bin by Dad.
For some reason he thought 'my treasures' were not worth keeping.
I was four years old at the time and apart from three have replaced most of them.
The second tragedy struck when I was eight. We were to emigrate to New Zealand (from Holland) and again my father in his poor wisdom decided to sift out my car collection.
One of my favorite trucks was a Berliet Airport Fire Pumper Truck made by Solido. I got that for my fifth birthday. From the cars that Dad biffed into the bin this truck has remained with me for forty years (found a mint one aswell a decade ago).
On my Birthday in New Zealand I got a Matchbox Super Kings K23 with lowloader and a buldozer. However, my parents chucked the boxes. And because I had an annoying little brother he got the car transporter K10.
I had a lot of majorette cars, small amount of Matchbox and Corgi, Solido and a few plastic kitsets. All in all around 50 cars which I had to share with my brother.
Third tragedy struck. My cars were disappearing. Turned out one of my brother's friends was a kleptomaniac and stole my cars amongst other things. A belt buckle with a Ford Taunus had completely vanished. Lets just say I was very annoyed in the extreme sense.
Once I no longer needed to share the bedroom I could look after my collection better.
I had a Corgi Range Rover (scale 1/43), and decided to give it better wheels from my Matchbox Super Kings Scammell truck.
One of the first and most stupid of restoration attempts.
My collection officially began when I was thirteen. A friend died and I got his cars. Later on in my teenage years I added many toycar collections from friends and family. In my twenties I took over my brother's toycar collection. As i was looking after the Peterbilt Wrecker anyway for a good fifteen years it became officially mine.
By the time I was 28yo I had a little over 1500 toy cars and trucks. By the time I was 40yo i had 16000 approx. Five years on it has been drastically reduced but still have way too many.
In the past couple of years I collected four big scale models. Two need to be restored, and rebuild. The other two need to be build. One is very easy. The other - a Pocher K75 Rolls-Royce is a mega challenge. Once I have build this monster (scale 1/8) that will have been worth the journey.

[Big Al]

I well remember the first fake I bought. I was so angry. I wrote to the seller and told them I wanted to return the item for a refund, after a series of defensive comments, he said OK and I mailed the model back. That made me even more angry, now he had the item and my money and was ignoring all my emails. I was able to get his phone number, he was caught off guard when I called. The outcome of the call was that I was told the check was in the mail. After that, he screened his calls and I got tired of leaving messages.

This incident took me down the path (more of a war path) and I got serious about chasing down cheaters and fraudsters. I also developed a pretty good system of checks and methods to prevent these guys from taking advantage of me on all future purchases.

I've always kept tabs on your posts here, tinman; and I think it's great that you don't take any crap lying down. The thieves and jerks need to be exposed, or at least fought against. Keep up the good work!

[Big Al]

Thanks Al for the kind words. I've posted on the 'Full sized Matchbox Toys' thread and attempted to clarify the definitions in my own unique rambling way

Judging by the number of them I see on car roofs every summer I'd say there's a bit of sea kayaking here although the whole outdoor sports area is very undeveloped - mostly people doing their own thing. The east side of the islands is pretty sheltered with lots of inlets but the west side is the Atlantic so even when it looks calm there are some pretty big currents. When a storm leaves the US we are generally the next thing it hits!

Ewan,

Re the kayaking and your terrain, that's what I gathered regarding the east coast and the inlets.

One of my best kayak trips was on the west coast of Vancouver Island, though. Nothing between there and Japan, basically, except the vast Pacific. Awesome. Also the San Juan Islands of Washington State... the currents can get amazing, with the incoming tides (well, to get technical, the ebb and flow both) compressed into small "passes." One definitely needs charts and tide tables, but that's what makes it all fun!

I'll see you in a little while in your "Full Sized Matchbox Toys" thread for the rest.

Alan