A Truly Awesome (And Valuable) Thrift Store Find

I do love thrift stores. If you hit them just right you can find some great deals. And it is really just luck that you are there at the right time to find the better deals.

In High School I found a complete Optimus Prime in the box for four dollars. The box was beat up and the Styrofoam was in backwards so all you could make out was his trailer. I took the chance and everything was there except roller, which was not hard to get a hold of. The stickers had not even been put on yet. He is still in my collection, although right now he is not on display.

Even now days I from time to time find actual vintage Star Wars items. Last year one store had a early figures case from the late 70s for only a coupe bucks. While it is not a highly sought after piece, it was still cool and the price was good.

I rarely pick up something that I plan to sell though. Most of the time I buy stuff to add to my collection. When I do pick up something that I plan to resale, it is never wroth that much. I let my wife do the selling and we make a few bucks off it, generally five to twenty I think has been our range so far.

Today however I found what will hopefully be a good investment of $3.

I have been into Magic the Gathering since shortly after it came out. Early on they released a special set called the Collector's Edition. I picked one up and have had it since then. A couple years ago when I was selling off some of my valuable Magic cards because we needed the money and Magic cards were one collectable I picked-up that kept its value, one buyer asked about the Collector's Edition. I didn't think it was worth much and I wanted to keep it, so I said it was not for sale.

So today I saw one at the thrift store for $3. It felt complete to me, so I figured it was worth a chance. Even if it was not complete I figured I could get more than $3 for it.

Got home and checked on eBay to learn that complete sets of the Collector's Edition are going for over $1000... Yeah, and some of the individual cards were going for over $50 each. So even if it was not complete, it seemed I could make some money on this.

Well, it was a complete set and it was in better shape than the set I've had for over twenty years now.

I did not waste any time in putting a Craigslist ad up for it. I am hoping someone is interested before the weekend, so we have some money to spend at Anomalycon. It is always nice to have a little extra money as it is.

For the time being I am keeping my personal set, although knowing how much it is worth does make it so I might sell it in the future if I need to. For now this nice thrift store find should help that not be needed.

Now to see just how much I can get for it.

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