The Rise and Fall of Matchbox's Toy-Car Empire

Years ago, with the help of eBay, I built a "dream" small collection of Matchbox cars that I would've liked in childhood, and that would've practically been impossible to find amongst brick&mortar stores then.

Sorry, I'll admit I unboxed the ones still boxed, since I think toys are meant to be out and played with, not pumped collectible investments.

(I no longer have them, though. I was selling my Concept 2 erg, in preparation for moving house, and the buyer noticed my Matchbox dream collection in a tray on the table, and remarked that her nephew/grandson would love those. She'd just given me several hundred dollars for the rowing machine, and I was moving, so I threw in the Matchbox cars.)

That’s a cute anecdote, thanks for sharing :)

A theme in the Toy Story movies was collectors vs. kids, and the toys always seemed to prefer being with the kids.

I think you made the right decision.

Love that you threw them in. I’ve found this funny as an adult in my life— you may spend time collecting xyz, but suddenly letting it go can be easy in certain situations.

I have various things that I don’t really want but I’d hate to just toss in the trash. Would love to find someone who would value them for at least a while. I’m going to give moving a couple of them a shot in November.

How odd, I have a collection of Hot Wheels though for my entire life I've preferred the feel of Matchbox, and I have an erg at which I suffer for hours a week.

I don't intend to sell my erg but I'm currently in the process of selling my Hot Wheels collection...I wonder if the buyer will notice my erg and remark how much they too love torturing themselves and would I perhaps sell it to them.

If they're practically ship-able, eBay excels at this.

Or, some niche items can be sold on Web forums (e.g., for particular retrocomputing platforms).

I also give away stuff locally, on CraigsList and a nearby university list, and on the curb.

(But I never put an item in the "free stuff" category of CraigsList. Always list in the topical category, and don't label it as free in the metadata, even if it is. Too many aggressive flippers and mentally ill people monitoring specifically for anything free, and IME it'll tend to be a big time-waste and a questionable new home.)

I sold the last of my vector arcade games to a friend when I was moving (Tempest and Space Duel). I threw in a PCB from Major Havoc too just to give it a good home. A few days later I decided to price check that board and some collector had recently paid $1200 for one. I was happy it went to a decent home instead of sitting on my shelf.

>> A theme in the Toy Story movies was collectors vs. kids, and the toys always seemed to prefer being with the kids.

I suspect my Barbies would have preferred to be with a collector and keep all their limbs and eyes and hair. #Barbicide

Counterpoint: the kid probably won't appreciate it and will be back on fortnite within hours

I would give a limb to own a real Tempest arcade console. I cannot fathom how many quarters of mine the local box ate when I was a kid. To me, it was the best gameplay and graphics of the era.

The vibrancy of the color vector graphics made Space Invaders and Defender look lame by comparison.

Nice try, that's what a boxed collector would tell everyone to increase the unopened collection's value.

Good for you!

"erg"?

That is an obsolete unit of energy to me:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erg

Erg in this case refers to a kind of rowing machine used for exercise.

Good heavens. How were we meant to know that?

I googled it. I got the unit, European Research Group, Employee Resource Groups, and the Eastern Research Group Inc... whoever they are.

[Update]

I kept digging. Second entry under here:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/erg

Never knew that and never heard of them before.

I'm not surprised when someone doesn't know about them, but I'm also not surprised when they do. It's a staple of CrossFit and the like. There's also the bike erg and the ski erg.

> Good heavens. How were we meant to know that?

It’s literally referenced in the comment that poster is replying to. It would have been less work to just pay attention.

Isn’t barbicide the blue liquid that I look at while getting my haircut?

“Thank you for bringing me joy”

Thanks for the info!

It is, yes. But it sounds like "Barbiecide" :P