This auction, 1000+ UNIQUE Color M.U.S.C.L.E. men. kinnikuman muscle, may be the largest lot of Color M.U.S.C.L.E. figures ever posted on eBay with both clear pictures of all the figures and a reputable seller.
The seller happens to be the best M.U.S.C.L.E./Kinnikuman seller in the world, his eBay name is littlerubberguys and he is the proprietor of the LittleRubberGuys message board – which happens to be the best message board in the world for M.U.S.C.L.E. and other little figures.
The reputation of the seller, mixed with the comprehensive and clear pictures, plus the through auction details leave very little to discuss. However, the topic still worth discussing is the pricing of the 1,034 M.U.S.C.L.E. figures.
Economics 100 gives a very basic explanation and rationalization for average M.U.S.C.L.E. figures, plus the various Auction Watch entries have offered some insight into the price of interesting auctions. This auction breaks away from the generally accepted single figure prices with a Buy-It-Now price of $2,500 – which is $2.42 per figure.
As of writing this, the auction has not reached the reserve price to remove the Buy-It-Now nor has any bidder used the Buy-It-Now. The real question will be in the bids the auction receives. The seller knows that an auction like this is either for “the hard core M.U.S.C.L.E.-head looking to start and/or complete his full color set, or the re-seller looking to pick it apart for the harder to find figures and to make some color sets!”
However very large lots have often been purchased by inexperienced collectors or collectors looking for a bargain – this auction needs bids from the “hard core M.U.S.C.L.E.-head”, “the re-seller”, and/or inexperienced collectors to drive up the price. The last large lot of almost 400 M.U.S.C.L.E. figures, highlighted in Auction Watch #15, only sold for $0.23 per figure.
It is incredibly difficult to suggest a final price for this auction. At $0.50 per figure the auction would end at $517 and at $0.75 per figure the auction would end at $775.50 – which does not account for the reserve price, which might be set higher. Based on the price of other large lots of M.U.S.C.L.E. figures, this lot will have a final price of approximately $600.
Auction Screen Shot
Auction Picture
Auction Screen Shot 2
Auction Screen Shot 3
Follow-Up: The impact of littlerubberguys being the seller may have been overestimated. The final bid for this auction was $512 which was less than the predicted $600 but still did not meet the reserve price. This final price – per figure was higher than similar large lots of figures.
Final Auction Screen
The seller, littlerubberguys, was also kind enough to pass on the pictures from the auction:
#1 by jphat79 on November 18, 2009 - 2:42 am
damn i wanted those claws though!!!
#2 by galactiboy on November 18, 2009 - 1:32 pm
Surprised it didn’t get higher… sure the cost per figure drops when you have large lots. But, w/no duplicates you essentially have 2/3rds of the color options all in one auction; which you’d think would appeal to bidders.
#3 by jphat79 on November 19, 2009 - 4:26 pm
pretty sure it was because of the reserve, no clue why but people never give it their all when there is a reserve on an auction.