I used to work for a publisher of price guides. And this meant I had to field phone calls from people wanting to know what their stuff was worth. I also had to go to collectible shows (mainly those featuring toys, comics, and other forms of pop culture memorabilia), and, believe me, those were an experience. Sure, they became the norm to me, but to those who had never been part of the subculture of collecting, they could be a shock.
I DVR'd the first episode of Kevin Smith's AMC show, Comic Book Men. I read one article about it after it aired; the author felt it was too schizophrenic because it was about comics but all that was featured were people coming into the store trying to sell their stuff.
Welcome to the world of collecting... from the viewpoint of the "experts."
While I was working at the hobby publisher we got phone calls from the same types of people featured on Comic Book Men. They wanted info. They wanted to know what their stuff was worth. This is the thing though, while we had experience, knowledge, and some of our editors knew more about their area of expertise than any living human, we were not appraisers. We made books and magazines. Why should we give out free info we were trying to sell in our publications?
Anyway, watching Comic Book Men reminded me of some of the people who called us. There were the ones who felt hat just because their item was old, it was worth a small fortune. There was the guy who always knew more than you. Always. Even if you were dead on with the price or info, he always had one more piece of info than you. Or he just contradicted whatever you said with this phrase, "That's not what I've seen on the market." Really? Then why are you calling me? Other people were clueless. And then there were the ones who would call us to tell us that what we were doing was sending the world straight to hell. Really.
Some classics (these are summaries):
- I have a truck. It's blue. What's it worth.
- I have a Buddy-L truck. It's in mint condition. Well, maybe not mint. Is it marked Buddy-L? No, I'm pretty sure it's a Buddy-L.
- I have Golden Book in mint condition. Well, there is some tape on the most of the pages. And the front cover is gone. Well, it isn't a Golden Book but it looks like one.
You'll see there is a pattern here. Basically, they have something very valuable until you begin to ask questions. Then you find out it is some beat up piece of crap they found on a curb. But it was old. Or at least it looked old. It had to be worth something!
In the end, half the time we ended the conversations with this suggestion: You can get more info by either buying the book or checking their local library for a copy. (As an aside, especially now that I'm a librarian, almost every time I suggested they check with their local public library, the person said, "Oh, I never thought about that.")
Others:
The guy who wanted to know if I got free toys (yes) and if I had them at my desk (yes). What were my favorites? Did I have a favorite action figure manufacturer? Could he send me a picture of his bedroom? (He was a 20-something living with his mom and had a large Masters of the Universe action figure collection.) After I hung up, I looked at my boss and said, "I need to find a new job."
The guy who called us to tell us we were all going to hell because the weekly publication we put out had the KISS action figured on the cover. And somehow this meant the publication was produced by someone who was both "a lesbian and a homosexual." And to tell us there was, and I quote, "A dark side to dolls."
The numerous times I had to deal with different types of nutty GI Joe action figure collectors. One was going to get me fired (I told him to get in line) and the other had been abducted by aliens, multiple times.
The guy who called me from a bookstore asking me if he could order a copy of a book I had worked on. Yes, I told him, he could. I could transfer him to customer service where he could order a copy to be sent to him. Or better yet, since he was in a bookstore, he could order a copy through them. But to get to this point, we had to go through ten minutes me me telling him that he could not order a copy directly from me. No, he could not send me a check, and I could not personally send him a copy. And that maybe he should go to customer service at the bookstore he was standing in at that moment and ask them to order a copy for him.
------------------------------------------------
Of course not everyone in the collecting world was nuts. And not everyone was living with their mom. And they weren't all anti-social geeks. Many of them--most of them actually--were very nice and had a solid grasp on reality. But it was the ones who didn't who made it an interesting job.
2 comments:
Why is it that these types never understand that 1.) appraisal is a very specialized skill that not just anyone can do, and 2.) appraisal is a service that costs money?
We used to to a thing called Whatzit Day. It was open to the public and people would bring in their stuff to be appraised. Most of the time, it was your run of the mill stuff--beat up toys and Franklin Mint plates. But every year there was one thing that would be pretty great. One year someone had a comic book collection that was valued in the five figure area. Another someone had a Big Loo Robot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Loo) that was in great shape.
Anyway... Whatzit Day was usually pretty slow... until PBS's Antique Roadshow became popular. Then we were slammed every year.
We would often get calls for insurance appraisals--usually after whatever natural disaster/fire/theft had created the need for the appraisal. I always felt bad telling them we couldn't help--but we couldn't.
I worked for two different publishers that specialized in hobby publishing. At one, we had a policy of telling people that we were a publisher not an appraiser and that they'd have to contact a licensed appraiser for assistance (although one of our editors was certified appraiser). At the other, many of the editors were THE experts in their fields. and some of them would do appraisals for free or a low fee. It was considered a form of outreach and marketing.
I never got to that point, though. To those not involved in the collecting field, I was an expert. To the hardcore collectors, I was a novice. If I'd stuck around for much longer, I probably could've gotten to that point of expert, but I didn't. I had some real issues with the field and our relationship with some of the larger toy manufacturers, but that is a different blog post.
Post a Comment