Depending on the time of year, I average anywhere from two to five trips to the flea market each month... and I've certainly had my fair share of cool finds over the years. But I assure you that the Bay Area isn't exactly the flea market mecca of the world.
For every Flea Market Find post published, there are at least one or two trips where I leave empty-handed or walk away with only non-collectible related items.
Sunday was one of those days. I walked around the Capitol Flea Market twice and came home with only one item...
Purchase #1: Def Leppard High 'n' Dry CD $1
Def Leppard was one of my favorite groups back in the 80's. I still remember writing their name all over my Pee-Chee folders. Pyromania is hands down their greatest album, but for the past thirty years I've wanted to add High 'n' Dry to my CD collection too. And Sunday I finally found a copy for a reasonable price.
Unfortunately... that was the only deal worth purchasing and to prove to everyone that my local flea markets aren't loaded with '52 Mantles, here are a few Flea Market Flops I found...
Flea Market Flop #1: 1990 Donruss Wax Box $10
Fuji's Fair Market Value: $2 to $6
Is this the worst deal ever? No. But I honestly wouldn't have bought it for five dollars. I'm not a huge fan of this design and this might be one of the most overproduced products of all-time. And to make matters worse... Donruss completely dropped the ball and left The Big Hurt off their checklist.
Flea Market Flop #2: Matt Millen Display $150
Fuji's Fair Market Value: $20 to $40
I'm sure this custom display wasn't cheap to build. It features an autographed photo and football of 4x Super Bowl Champion and would be a nice addition to any Matt Millen fan's collection. However this is the flea market, not a memorabilia store... and $150 seems a little steep for any 49er not named Montana or Rice.
Flea Market Flop #3: 1989 Topps Factory Set $10
Fuji's Fair Market Value: $1 to $2
On eBay, these factory sets seem to sell in the $10 to $20 range. Unfortunately this particular set was missing about a third of its cards and the box was torn up. And due to the fact that it's 1989 Topps, I didn't even bother to sift through the remains.
Flea Market Flop #4: Binder Full of Pogs $25
Fuji's Fair Market Value: $1 to $3
Believe it or not... I actually wanted to buy this binder. It was filled with at least 200 pogs and 50 slammers, plus some of them were pretty cool looking. However... who in their right mind would spend $25 on pogs?
Well that's it for now. This weekend I'll be heading to the De Anza Flea Market... where I hope to find more treasures than flops. Until then...
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
5 comments:
If I could have talked the price down, I would of bought those pogs for $10.
If you were trolling, you could have bought that Matt Millen item for a Detroit Lions fan to remind them how great the Matt Millen-as-GM era was. Joey Harrington For The Win...or, maybe for the loss...
Those are the type of prices you find at a card shop in a mall (are there any card shops in malls anymore?).
I too loved Def Leppard back in the day. They're at least partially responsible for the "def" in my "defgav" nickname. Personally I'm more of a Hysteria guy, though.
Jon - I probably could have gotten him down to $20... maybe $15. I personally would have gone $3. I'm actually glad he priced it out of my range, because I'm not sure what I'd actually do with a binder full of pogs.
Tony - My friend's husband is a huge Lion's fan, but I like the guy too much to do that too him.
The Chop Keeper - Listening to it right now in my car. Still like Pyromania better, but this one is growing on me.
Corky - Lol. Totally agree. No more card shops in the malls around me :(
defgav - Hmm... what does the "gav" represent? I like Hysteria too.
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