I think the $45 opening bid price is too high for this lot, but it does have a great assortment of figures. I love the mix of Kinnikuman and MUSCLEMANIA. It’s like the perfect Anthropology auction.
I am curious what people would consider a fair price for this auction. Perhaps more importantly, what do you think the seller believes is a fair offer?
My guess is he wouldn’t take a penny under $37. (My best offer would be $24.)
The second auction, Mattel M.U.S.C.L.E Men Lot of 17 Figures Purple, Red, Green, Magenta, Light Blue, is a perfectly fine lot of 17 figures. It even has a very fair opening bid of $1.99 with low shipping. It is a fair auction and I can’t say a bad thing about it.
The reason I highlighted this question was because of the Garbage Pail Kids: Cheap Toys figure.
I am almost completely ignorant about GPK figures – but that’s what I was curious about. When a figure you are unfamiliar with is prominent in an auction, how do you react?
Do you try to look it up? Do you ignore it? Do you just price it like another M.U.S.C.L.E. figure?
I have always ignored the outlier figure. There was only one instance where it failed me. And that’s why this second auction stood out to me. There was a lot with rare GPK figures and Class A M.U.S.C.L.E. figures. If I remember correctly the crazy GPK collectors trumped the crazy M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors.
The third auction, Mattel M.U.S.C.L.E. Trash Can Lot, also raises some questions. It is the theme this week (in case you haven’t picked up on that yet.).
This lot of opened 10-packs has a starting bid of $139.99.
$139.99 for 11 empty cans and 110 figures is another way to say it. Is $139.99 a fair opening bid for this lot? I don’t even know that it is a fair sale price.
When I sold two empty cans for $1.25 I thought it was slightly low. I would have thought $1 per empty can was fair. Assuming a very average $0.63 per figure, then $70 for the figures plus $11 for the cans seems like a pretty fair sale price.
I always suggest a $0.99 opening bid, but what do you think would be a reasonable sale price?
The fourth auction, Rare Muscle Men Figure #236 Satan Cross Flesh Salmon Color, provides the final questions.
Are people still believing the Satan Cross legend?
The price of Satan Cross has been a hotly debated topic for years. It is the original M.U.S.C.L.E. community controversy. But do collectors believe it is anything more than a Flesh figure that was not on the M.U.S.C.L.E. poster?
Given the original study plus the sampling of appearances in Auction Watches (and the unknown number of appearances in the Epilogues) I cannot imagine someone thinking the figure is “rare.”
The Satan Cross figure will always have a certain mystique. But how much longer will people overpay for a Flesh figure?
#1 by Steven on October 14, 2015 - 3:24 pm
These auction watches you do are awesome, I enjoy them. I always know about the auction’s before you make these but it’s always interesting to see what you have to say about it.
Now Satan Cross, I gotta admit, he’s probably just my absolute favorite. To me he’s more then just a flesh, he’s thee flesh. When you want to own a 236 set, he’s the center piece to that set. With that and his history of mystery behind him, and the fact that’s he’s just cool as shit looking, I love it! I mean if someone’s gonna pay $15-$20 for an every day normal ole Flesh Claw that you can pick up in practically every lot you find on Ebay, then I’d hope to god someone would dig a little deeper in their pockets for Satan Cross, but maybe that’s just because I’m so infatuated with him, who knows. I see that SC auction going for about $60-$65.
#2 by Chad Perry on October 16, 2015 - 8:46 am
Yeah, I’ve never shot for being the first to point out any auctions. For me, it would be an impossible goal for many reasons. But, thanks for the kind words.
As for SC, I can’t disagree with your thoughts. If people are going to pay $20 for one $0.50 figure, then why not pay $50 for another Flesh figures. That’s why I am done buying M.U.S.C.L.E. figures. It is broken.