The holidays served as my excuse for taking a break. There’s no excuse, besides laziness, for the delay in returning to posting. I even thought, “You can’t have back-to-back Auction Watches.”
Says who? Me? That’s a stupid thought. Let’s just get back to M.U.S.C.L.E. stuff.
There’s no pointing in wrapping up the listings from the last Auction Watch. It was a desperation search that ended in exasperation.
The first listing, M.U.S.C.L.E. Purple Claw #153, caught my attention because my first thought when I saw it was, “It would be funny to start collecting Purple #153.”
Of course, that idea was quickly dismissed as stupid. I guess I had Purple #153 on my mind.
I will be very interested in seeing the final price for a Purple #153 in the current marketplace. The last documented Purple #153 was unsold at $633. But several months before that lack-of-sale, one sold for $666. The next documented Purple #153 was from November of 2018. It sold for $426.67. October of 2018 had a lot of #153’s that went unsold with a $800 BIN. August 2018 had a $500 sale. And before that there was a $511.01 sale.
From that small sample we have an average sale price of $525.92 and an average unsold price of $716.50. Data would suggest the final price will fall between these two prices. Does anyone else have a weird gut feeling about this one?
My gut says it could sell (or not sell because of the Reserve Price) for less than $525 or more than $716. There is no data behind that idea, just a weird feeling. Thankfully my gut doesn’t matter. I know data will win the day.
Last point, it is 2021. How are people still unable to take clear pictures? It absolutely floors me.
The second listing, Vintage 1980’s Mattel M.U.S.C.L.E. MEN Custom Made Blue Necklace ~A MUST SEE~, is easily the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Who is this for?
And before you say it, “Yes, I think this necklace is even worse than when people screw a keychain into a figure.”
Saying I am one of the most passionate M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors in the world seems pretty fair and safe to suggest. You could not pay me to give this to any woman in my life.
This isn’t even a fun gag gift.
The other day I saw a resin copy of a M.U.S.C.L.E. figure. I thought to myself, “Why would anybody buy that piece of shit?” (It wasn’t a very good casting.)
Then I had a pang of guilt. The person that cast it is just doing what they love. It really isn’t much different than me doing this website because I love it.
The pang instantly disappeared. I don’t sell anything. I’m not charging you for this website. I like to think I’ve become a better writer over time, but I shouldn’t charge you for my practice. Those shitty resin castings are essentially someone practicing their craft – but selling it. Once you start selling your practice (or your best effort) then you are very game for criticism.
The necklace is easily the stupidest M.U.S.C.L.E. thing I have ever seen.
The third listing, M.U.S.C.L.E. Battlin Belt Mint NIB 1985 muscles last one I have., was not selected for its price nor anything else about the listing.
I selected this listing because I feel like I’ve seen this exact box listed before. Of course, I may have seen it as I put together an Epilogue. If that’s true, then there will not be any evidence. I’m hoping it was part of an Auction Watch. Let’s see what I found.
First, I found another window-box from Hecks but it wasn’t same one. I still give myself half-a-point for this one. Then I found another one from Hecks. I was worried it was the same one as before, but the extra price tag residue saved me. I found a third Hecks box but still not a match.
Sadly, for me at least, I didn’t find a match. But is anyone else shocked that three other Hecks Window-Box Belts have shown up on this website? That’s kind of amazing to me.
I know there’s no meaning to this discover, but it is still a really fun coincidence for me. I’m trying to think of another store’s price tag (off the top of me head) that has shown up so consistently and can’t do it – especially on a very specific item.
The final listing, M.U.S.C.L.E. (Mattel 1985) BATTLIN’ BELT ORIGINAL EMPTY CARDBOARD CASE!! Rare!!, is a head scratcher.
Obviously, we need to start with the price – $299.99 BIN.
The last plain M.U.S.C.L.E. shipping box sold for $10.50. I won’t repeat my rant about these types of boxes.
Is it greed, stupidity, or both that cause a BIN like $299.99? My vote is pure stupidity.
“If the buyer is happy than who cares?”
Truly the siren song of the stupid.
The buyer’s happiness and talking about sale prices are 100% mutually exclusive events.
M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors will never fully agree on prices. I genuinely believe you would be unable to even come to consensus if a group of 10 random collectors were put together. So it’s ok to acknowledge some variances.
However, the last empty box, like this one, sold for $10.50 and had two bidders. The last cool, attractive, and empty box sold for $140.07. The empty box is priced 114% more than an attractive box you would want to display.
The seller is accepting offers. I don’t think they would like to know the last brown box didn’t even sell for $11. I don’t think they’ll accept that offer. The auction description did state:
***Note: We’ve set our “Buy it Now” at $349.99, but will entertain any best offers over $100.00***
Yeah, I don’t think they would even take a offer at double the previous sale price – a whopping $21.
