Looking before leaping...

You would think I would know better. I'm coming up on 13 years on eBay. I've bought and I've sold. For the most part the bad experiences I've had were mostly my fault. This is one of them.

I purchased an autographed picture. Now, it was one of those spur of the moment thing. I was searching for one thing and came across it. Not something I collect regularly, but something I'm not unfamiliar with. Relatively speaking it was inexpensive, $9.99. Well, I got it today. When I opened the package, it was horrible. It was ripped and smeared. I couldn't believe it. My first reaction was anger. Then I thought, there was no way a reputable seller would even try to pass this off as normal. Then I realized, I don't ever remember reading the small print (at the bottom of the listing). And I must not have taken a closer look at the photo (a well know movie scene). When I got home I checked the listing. Enlarging the photo, I could see the damage. And when I looked at the description, it was described.

My own fault, though I never even would have listed it. I'm not going to leave negative feedback, because it was my fault. I will contact the seller (he only has a 15 feedback), but I won’t ask for a refund.

Live and Learn. I guess this will happen 5 or 6 years. I’ve gotten so used to good service, I don’t always look to closely.

New TV Show on Syfy

I just got an e-mail notifying me about new TV show about collecting. It is called
"Hollywood Treasure" and the series premiere Wednesday October 27 10/9C. It looks like an "American Pickers" for Tinseltown. Should be interesting!

HORRORS OF WAR - Gum, Inc (1938) 288 cards

Recently I purchase some Non-Sports Cards. The set is called HORRORS OF WAR by Gum, Inc. It was issued in 1938. the tag line was "To know the
HORRORS OF WAR is to want PEACE". there were 288 illustrated cards that
dealt with Second Sino-Japanese War (July 7, 1937 – September 9, 1945),
Spanish Civil War (July 17, 1936 - April 1, 1939), Second
Italo-Ethiopian War(October 1935 - May 1936) and with an additional set
of 48 cards (241-288) showing Germany's build up to WWII. The front of
cards depict an illustrated scene and the back describes it. The is
noted for it's graphic depictions of war. Can you imagine these cards
were sold with gum and aimed a kids. Cards were distributed at schools!
Here are 4 cards:

69 - Gun Shells Daring War Reporters in Spain

78 - River Gate Is Death Trap For Chinese in Rout

81 - Japanese Airmen Bombard Schools in Canton

88 - Human Hands Warn Newspaper Publishers


Special thanks to Jeff Allender's House Of Checklists. The site has great list of Non-Sport Card Set checklists & information.

New eBay Toy Blog

I am going to post stuff from my eBay store.