We should have been there too with a Chain of Command WW2 game, but a last-minute unforeseen situation forced Bart to stay at home, and since he was the one who had all the gaming stuff, we had to cancel our game.
I spend a few hours at the con, mostly chatting with friends and old acquaintances, and browsing the trading stalls. It was a nice and relaxed experience exactly what a con should be.
One thing that still confuses met at cons though, are the traders that are selling what I would call "assorted junk". These are not the established rules or miniatures or scenery manufacturers, but rather the traders who sell a mix of all sorts of wares (could be a shop). We need them, of course.
But what I am confused about, is that they haul the same boxes of old junk from con to con, sometimes year after year: large boxes full of old rulebooks, old blisters from long-forgotten gaming systems, repackaged miniatures in plastic bags that have been jumbled around so much they stopped being transparant, a weird assortment of half-painted miniatures, etc. I guess they show up at every con.
Now, this is still all good and well, except for the prices they are asking (this is what confuses me)! I simply cannot understand why someone would ask "new" prices for old junk, especially if you have seen that same junk for several years, con after con. What's the motivation here? The vague (and vain) hope that the right collector will show up? I always try to haggle for a lower price, but usually get a negative reply. But seriously, I am not going to pay 5 euros per figure, for a bag of unidentified old figures. And I'm not going to pay 20 euros for an old stapled-together rulebook from the 80s. Old does not always mean vintage does not always mean collectible does not always mean high prices! I simply do not understand. So rather than selling non-movable stock at a lower price, they prefer to haul that stuff around for years?
But anyway, enough ranting, here are some pictures (don't ask me about games or clubs, I didn't make notes):
It is what I call 'The Antique Disease.' Somehow, as you say, people decide that simply because something is old (a filthy softdrink bottle, a stained 5" wide necktie from the early 70s, a formica kitchen table, and book of football statistics from 1963 for example), and no one has as yet had the gumption to consign it to the local dump or landfill, that it somehow qualifies as "ANTIQUE." I see the same thing when I occasionally venture into used furniture shops where the asking prices are jaw-dropping. And we aren't talking about genuine Chippendale or Queen Anne pieces either, but rather smelly old, overstuffed things that one would not want in their garage. . . much less in the house. I blame television programs like The Antique Roadshow that have given people the idea that every dented, rusty, smelly old thing in their possession must be worth thousands and that the rest of us are actully stupid enough to pay that. It boggles the mind.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
At Colours, the organisers tell anyone wanting to sell stuff on the Bring & Buy that old GW figures, rules etc are extremely unlikely to sell. Yet each year this stuff still appears! At my local show in Bristol, you do see the same old tat seemingly year after year.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue is pricing as you say. Some people seem to forget that punters will be checking e-bay prices on their smart 'phones, so why price it higher? I just don't get it.
Thanks for the pics of the games, some of which did look interesting.
Yeah, television shows, and inflated eBay prices are what are making those prices rise and rise... I guess they always check what is "for sale" and never the prices of "previously sold" on the evilbay
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