The Thrill of the Hunt--Is It Gone?

It's a question asked in every collecting community over the past fifteen odd years. Is the thrill of the hunt gone?

Sure, it's been a lot easier in the past two decades to hunt down items once lauded as "holy grails." A collector doesn't even have to leave the house in order to build an enviable hoard in this day and age. Of course, it'll cost a pretty penny.

The most recent controversy in the wrestling action figure world has been Mattel's decision to release future figures in the WWE Legends series exclusively through their Matty Collector website. While the process has proven to be easier than ordering figures from other licenses with exclusive items sold through the site, many collectors are still unhappy.

For one thing, the figures are about double the price that they would've retailed for in stores when including the shipping costs. Releases are also limited to one new character per every couple of months. While these are viable qualms, some collectors feel that simply clicking a few buttons, entering a credit card number, and playing the waiting game just doesn't have the same "feel" as finding new shipments of the figures in stores.

On the flip side, ordering collectibles online saves the time of searching, gas money, and the disappointment of coming away from a store empty handed. We live in a world where instant gratification is key. Building a collection without all that trouble may coincide with that fact. Maybe "the hunt" for collectors has gone the way of the telegram or the pager.

eBay, with its many flaws and injustices, has become the absolute only way to gauge the value of an item and subsequently is the only place to get the most money when selling. Bringing your collectible to a collectors show or convention? Great. 500 people may see your item. If you're lucky, one of those people just may be willing to pay $10 for it. On eBay, anyone in the world who is looking for that particular collectible can easily find it, provided that you've listed and described it properly. Perhaps only two people want your item. If they want it bad enough, they may bid it up to ten times what you would've gotten at that convention. The eBay fees suddenly seem like a small price to pay for such massive exposure.

But is the hunt still there? Many sellers either don't know what they have or don't want to mess with eBay. That's where the thrill of the hunt still lives on. People often ask me how I've amassed such a collection. I don't hide the truth. Instead, I pass it on hoping that others will follow suit. I let items "fall into my lap." Sure, that magazine might be gaining prices upwards of $50 on eBay, but why pay that? If someone has the resources to do so, more power to them. I would rather wait knowing that with a proper search, patience, and maybe a bit of luck, that item will most likely find its way to me eventually, provided that it isn't a one-of-a-kind piece. A good example recently happened to me with the infamous November 1970 issue of The Wrestler. The issue features one of the goriest and best selling covers in wrestling magazine history. Bobby Heenan's face, enveloped in a "crimson mask" of blood, takes up the entire cover with the headline, "My God, Bobby! What Happened To Your Face?" While I have wanted to own the issue for quite a few years, it was not until a few months ago that I found the magazine for sale at the very reasonable price of only two dollars at a show. A much more wallet-pleasing rate than it has been selling for online in recent years.

And how about garage sales, flea markets, and rummage sales? It wasn't that many years ago that LJN WWF figures were popping up right and left at venues like these. One flea market in my area had two elderly women on opposite sides of the sales floor with large displays of wrestling figures for sale each and every weekend. You haven't lived until you've heard a smokers voice that would make Lucille Ball sound like Justin Bieber barking out names like "Jimmy Hart" and "Hercules." They were hard bargaining, middle-aged, business women who wouldn't give up their secrets as to where they obtained their rubber treasures. For $5 each, those treasures could easily become your own. That's the thrill of the hunt.

Certainly kids should still be able to feel it as well. After all, that's who these toys are really made for. We're just butting in on their territory. I can fondly remember a day in the fall of 1993 when, upon entering Toys "R" Us, a near riot seemed to be occuring in front of the Hasbro WWF figure display. The yellow carded series had hit retail! HBK, Razor Ramon, Kamala, Owen Hart, Crush, and Nailz were suddenly available to enter Hasbro rings nationwide! As I made my way through the sea of children and plucked a figure of "The Ugandan Giant" from the peg hook, I knew that feeling. The feeling of having a plastic representation of another of my heroes to play with and collect. The feeling of being able to recreate the jungle cry of Kamala's theme as he lumbered down the "aisle" of my bedroom floor. The feeling...of the hunt. It was a great feeling, and I hope that kids still feel it as they lay their hands on that brand new figure of Brodus Clay or Madison Rayne. It's why I love collecting and why many of you do as well.

I'm starting to think that the hunt isn't really gone at all. It's a frame of mind. It's about enjoying what you're collecting and what you've already collected. It's about coveting the awesome and fun items that have come from the great sport of the squared circle that we all love so much.

Damn. I love wrestling.

Wrestling MarketWatch: Odds & Ends aka What Treasures Do YOU Have?

In the second of my series of MarketWatch entries, I shall pose the question, "What treasures do YOU have?"

There's the old adage used mostly by folks who've never sold a thing on eBay. You know the one.

"People will buy anything on eBay."

Anyone who's had any bit of experience selling on eBay knows that to be 100% false. That said, any collector with some product knowledge, research, and decent writing skills can come fairly close to living up to that nasty old fairy tale.

For collectors looking to build and build their collections for posteriety, an unknowledgeable seller is a dream come true. A mislisted auction can mean the difference between tens and hundreds of dollars. The point of this entry isn't to highlight the "deals" though, but rather to show what properly described and listed items ARE selling for. The prices that collectors are willing to pay, and thus, what the items are truly worth. As I've said in past entries, the price that a correctly listed eBay auction sells for *IS* the current market price of an item. There is no bigger salesfloor in the entire world than eBay, and almost anyone in the word who wants a particular item can go there and pay as much as they want for it.

Today's highlights are a mishmash of classic wrestling collectibles that have recently sold on eBay. Since price guides are obsolete in the year 2010, I will continue to bring you the results of closed auctions I've had my eye on to give you an idea of what your items could be worth. Maybe you have some of these items tucked away totally forgotten about...

*Starting off with a topic near and dear to my heart, autographs, a signature of the late "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich recently sold for $43. As I've said before, autographs are a hard sell. I felt this was a decent price for the autograph, which any knowledgeable collector could verify was authentic. The autograph was on a plain sheet of paper, which may have hurt the end price just a bit. It was also personalized. When it comes to autographs of the deceased, you simply can't be picky when it comes to personalizations. Kerry had a very nice "sweeping" autograph (a trait passed down to his daughter, Lacey) and he included "Texas" followed by a scribbled funnel cloud, which dates the autograph between 1990 and his death in 1993.

*A figural shampoo bottle of Hulk Hogan dating to 1986 sold for $8.50. I've seen these go for anywhere from a little bit lower than this to around $20. Several different ones were made in the "Hogan era," with the Bret Hart bottle seeming to be more popular in recent years.

*Two of the rarer WrestleMania programs, 11 & 2000, were recently sold for $52 and $42, respectively. A problem has seemingly arisen here with sellers who have the more common earlier WrestleMania programs. While most of the earlier ones can be acquired frequently for $20 or under, many sellers looking to make a quick and large buck have taken to listing these earlier publications for far more than what they are worth. While it doesn't hurt collectors, it's annoying to see these overpriced programs constantly relisted on eBay, sometimes for as much as $100.

These two programs seem to have gone for about the going rate. Infact, the WrestleMania 2000 program has gone down a bit. I myself sold one of these a little over a year ago with a starting bid of $9.99...and an ending bid of nearly $250!

*A favorite of many collectors, and for some time now a great money grabber, are the original Bret Hart shades sold directly from the WWF in the '80s and '90s. Recently, a pair that was in an auction lot along with one of the old foam WWF title belts sold for a whopping $73.

*An October 1967 issue of The Wrestler magazine featuring Buddy Rogers on the cover sold for for $19.50. Wrestling magazines, especially from that era, are some of my favorite wrestling collectibles. They're time capsules, especially from the eras when very little of the filmed footage survived. I plan to do many entries on the various titles from over the years. Luckily for collectors, very few prices have been established for the magazines and histories of many of the titles and their offshoots are foggy at best. I'm committed to changing this in the future and I'll need your help. Stay tuned!


*Finally, in another item near and dear to my heart (since it was my auction), the Legion of Doom WWF promo photo (P-055) recently sold for $21.25. It's really only been a few years since authentic promotional photos (or promos for short) have taken a high place in wrestling collectibles. This is another topic I plan to expand upon in the future.

So there you have it. But do you have these items? That's the question.

Let the spring cleaning commence!

Wrestling MarketWatch: Autographs

Whew, can't believe I started this thing almost a year ago. I hope you guys are enjoying it and getting some info out of it. It's fun to do, and although I haven't gotten to update nearly as much as I'd like, I still hope to change that.

This entry is the first in a series I hope to revisit every so often, with a title I'm stealing from CBS...MarketWatch. Except, unlike the other MarketWatch, my version will give overviews on the market of...what else...pro wrestling collectibles.

Before I get into this entry's particular MarketWatch topic, let me explain how I'll base the information I present. Years ago, most collectors and dealers in ANY hobby lived and died by one thing: the price guide. Aside from ones with large numbers of pictures included, price guides are all but antiquated. Items are only worth what people are willing to pay at any given time. That's why one very well-known website pretty much destroyed price guides. That website? eBay.

As I tell anyone who asks my opinion on collectibles and resale of any kind, say what you want about their fees and practices, the latter of which grow more frustrating for the honest dealer each day, but the only way you're going to get EXACTLY what your item is worth at resale is by PROPERLY listing it on eBay.

Properly, you ask?

Here I am, giving my secrets away, but that's what this blog is for. The key to getting a GREAT deal on eBay is finding an item that is improperly listed. If the item isn't listed, in the title, as EXACTLY what it is, chances are that it's not going to sell for what it's worth. Who's going to find it? The keen-eyed collector that KNOWS to look for mistakes.

On the other hand, a properly listed item is going to sell for EXACTLY what it's worth on eBay. Unlike at a show or any other venue where your customer base is limited, on eBay the entire WORLD is watching...'88 WWF pun only partially intended. At a show, you stumble upon an item, and generally don't have other collectors vying for the same item at the same moment. At an auction, more importantly a properly listed online auction, your potential buyers can be ANYWHERE, therefore driving the price to it's exact value aka *WHAT THE COLLECTORS ARE WILLING TO PAY!*

Whew, now that we have that out of the way, let's move onto the rasslin'. The first focus is on something near and dear to my heart...autographs. They aren't every one's cup of tea. Some collectors hate them and feel they ruin items. To me, it makes (most) items all the more special.

The autograph world, in general, is an odd one. The wrestling autograph world...even odder. Collectors shell out hundreds to thousands of dollars a year to travel and obtain wrestling autographs personally. I should know, I'm one of the sickos. Why? All for personal pleasure. The resale value? Next to nothing.

There are exceptions. Soon after a star's passing, as with all autographs, the value of their particular items will shortly go up. Others who have passed before the "modern era" of collecting can also reach decent heights, but nowhere near the heights of a deceased person in another genre.

The general feeling is that most wrestling autograph collectors simply like to obtain their items in person. While it's very easy for even a rookie collector to spot a fake, the fact is, due to their low value, there are very few fake wrestling autographs out there.

That isn't to say the market is faux-free. A signed Yokozuna WWE Classic Superstars figure and signed Eddy Guerrero autobiography (both items produced after their deaths) are just some of the forgeries I've seen out there.

Still, I feel one day, especially during the next wrestling "boom" period, the market for wrestling autographs, as well as most other wrestling collectibles, will sky-rocket once again.

I've had my eye on a few recent auctions. To get an idea of what properly listed and advertised, authentic, and no longer obtainable autograph or autograph collections have gone for, here are a few examples:

*Just this weekend, a vintage autograph book of nearly 100 signatures sold for $295. I watched this one with great interest, as not only was the auction nicely presented, but it was advertised on at least one Internet forum where fans of classic wrestling would be able to learn about it. The book contained downright impossible signatures to find, the crown jewel in my eyes being the father of Japanese wrestling, Rikidozan. Rikidozan was murdered in the early '60s. That, coupled with the fact that he was largely an international star, made that item probably one of the few opportunities collectors will EVER have to add his autograph to their collection. More recently deceased names such as Freddie Blassie, Ernie Ladd, and Mr. Moto (Tor Kamata) were among other big stars in the book. The seller included the story of how and when the autographs were obtained and who the original owner was. The story added up. I have a feeling the value would've been a lot more, had a lot of the autographs not been cut from their original pieces of paper and taped into the book, and the book being in less than stellar shape, with stains, etc.

*A few weeks ago, a seller listed, individually, a set of promo photos from the first WCW Slamboree event. The photos featured four stars on each, all of which were at an autograph signing at the pay-per-view dubbed "A Legends Reunion." Nearly all of these 8x10s had AT LEAST one deceased star on each, and iconic names at that. Wahoo McDaniel, The Crusher, The Fabulous Moolah, Dick Murdoch, Johnny Valentine, and Lou Thesz were just some of those names. The photos topped out at around $30 to $70 each, with the highest one featuring Wahoo and Crusher along with living stars Dusty Rhodes and The Assassin. These were a great opportunity for even the most skeptic autograph collector to get some very rare autographs. There probably aren't that many sets of these particular photos UNAUTOGRAPHED, as the photos were exclusive to the event. Add that to the fact that the signatures were nice, big, and clear, and that there's extensive documentation from photos to video proving that these stars were at this event (I've even seen photos of the autograph session), I'm actually surprised that these items didn't go even higher.

*And sometimes...it's all about the item. Sadly and obviously, there will be no more NEW items signed by The Fabulous Moolah. That said, Moolah did a lot of signings in her day. There are a lot of signed Moolah photos out there. One item, that was released the year she died, was her one and only action figure. It was part of the highly-collected WWE Classic Superstars line, and she did do several signings after these were available. One recently sold on eBay for $100, while autographed photos of her can be obtained for around $10. Obviously she signed fewer figures, therefore bringing up the value, added to the fact that many collectors try to get as many figures signed from the Classic Superstars line as they can get their hands on.

That's it for the first "MarketWatch" entry. I hope it was fun and a bit enlightening. Feel free to comment either on here or if you're a member of our fan page on Facebook and let me know what you'd like to see.

Coming soon...a very special WrestleMania entry focusing on a set of items from "The Greatest Sports Entertainment Spectacular of All-Time" that have rarely been seen, a possible rant about a recent issue I personally encountered with a certain wrestling company's online store, and maybe that showing of the branch of my collection focusing on "The Dream," that I've been promising for awhile now.

Thanks and stay tuned!