Where's the old man?

I’m still here!
It’s June 13^th as I’m typing this and haven’t been working the shop since we were allowed to be partially open. Following the COVID-19 guidelines, my advanced age and having hyper-tension places me in the “high risk” group. Therefore, it might be a while before you see me behind the counter.

So, what am I doing during this time? Well, “grandpa” and “Mom Mom” have two little grand-daughters (who have LOADS of energy) at the house during the week while their parents are working. That usually means that weekends are when I cut 4 lawns. When I summon the energy, I work on debagging, sorting, re-bagging, taping and pricing a large collection that Joe picked up just prior to the pandemic surfacing. It’s been a slow process as my hands would go numb from the repetition, but I’m almost done!

Big news: Joe has been in a buying back issue mood recently and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He bought ALL of the comics I had in the shop at that time! That’s right, EVERY green-tagged item in the store no longer belongs to me. That does NOT mean that I am no longer interested in buying back issues, but should it come through the doors, I will be buying for the shop first. Should Joe decide that he wasn’t really interested in the purchase, THEN it becomes mine.

Items I had taken home to list on eBay prior to the sale are still mine and available. If interested, check out the 500 plus items I have under the seller ID of “coastalcandc”. To compete online, they are priced at less than I had them in the shop, more like what a member would receive with discount. I can deliver and will listen to offers to buy it all!

I have not been successful in buying anything of note during these last two months. Auctions listing comics have all gone “online only” and without being able to inspect personally, I have been cautious. What I have observed is that even though the unemployment rate has gone up dramatically during this time, the prices realized at auctions for comics has been over guide anyway. I DID win one lot last week – a copy of Jackie Robinson #6. It was the only comic listed among a single owner collection of baseball cards offered by an auction in Glen Rock, PA. Normally, I wouldn’t have bothered with it considering the distance to travel to pick it up, if I won, or the cost of shipping, but the previous owner was obviously a Nolan Ryan fan as there were loads of “odd-ball” Ryan items in the mix. With my one son also being a Ryan fan, I, we, kept and eye on the items. The lots were to start closing on a Saturday afternoon with a slow close, so there couldn’t be any snipers. This probably wasn’t a good time to do this – a Saturday afternoon that happened to be gorgeous weather! My son won several dozen lots and I won the comic.

We had to get an appointment to pick up the loot and left at 7:00 AM to make our 9:00 AM slot. We made it with 7 minutes to spare, but the scenery was great as we avoided the interstate. Waiting for us was one of those flat carts like you see at Home Depot filled with my son’s winnings. As we checked off the items on our list and put them in the back of his pick-up, my comic was uncovered. And… as the little sign in the picture said, it was a Jackie Robinson comic book cover only. Yes, the cover ONLY! It looked really nice on the site and it certainly was, but is was only the cover. Anyone out there with a coverless copy? I got a beautiful one to complete it!

Still on the hunt and Stay Safe out there – hope to see you soon.
Paul