A few weeks ago I met up with a friend as we went on the hunt for retro treasure at one of our local antique malls. I enjoy going to these kinds of stores, because you'll never know what you're going to find. Most of the time the cool stuff that I like is way over priced, but it's cool to know it's out there if I really want it. There were a ton of booths to go through. Some of them did have some great stuff, but nothing that I really collected. Below are some of the items we found this time around.
Ms. Pac-Man Coleco Tabletop Arcade Game: $175
I love these tabletop games! When I was younger I always admired the collection that my cousin had. He would rarely let us play them, but when he did, it was an amazing experience. My favorite of the tabletop games that he had was Mario's Cement Factory. I'm still on the lookout for one of those machines for an affordable price. Speaking of price $175 for this Ms. Pac-Man with the box and paperwork is actually a fair deal. I've seen these go for twice that price in worse condition. If I were a richer man, this would have come home with me!
Dave Stevens Autographed Art: $75
Dave Stevens is most well known as the creator of The Rocketeer. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 52 after a battle with leukemia. He had such a distinct style that is immediately recognizable. At $75, this autographed piece of comic art titled "Hot Cargo" is a steal! I should go back and grab it before someone else comes to their senses and adds it to their collection!
Nestle Crunch/Upper Deck Slam Dunk Bar: $5
I was an avid collector of basketball cards in my youth, but I don't ever recall seeing these sold in stores. If I had, I know I would have bought them in bulk. Each pack contains a special "Slam Dunk" Nestle Crunch Bar and 4 Upper Deck basketball cards. The cards highlight some of the best dunkers of the era like Michael Jordan, Shawn Kemp and Isaiah Rider. This is an item that I did pick up and I'll show you what was inside in a future post.
Vintage Lunchboxes: $15 - $50
I love old lunchboxes and these ones especially. I had those Real Ghostbusters and Super Mario Bros. lunchboxes when I was in grade school and they were well used and well loved. I may still have them somewhere at my Mom's house, but they are nowhere near as clean as these ones are and I'm pretty sure the Thermos are long gone! For $30, I will go back and pick these up to add to my Ghostbusters and Nintendo collections. The She-Ra and Golden Girl boxes were a nice surprise to see in the display case.
X-Men #25 (Blue Hologram Error): $2
This X-Men issue was released in 1993 during the peak of X-Men mania! The cartoon was on FOX, the comics were selling like crazy and Wolverine was the hottest comic book character around. Of course I collected the X-Men books around this time and I do have the regular green/yellow hologram version of this book, but when I saw this for $2 at the antique mall, I couldn't pass it up. Allegedly, these blue holograms were a printing error and are fairly rare. I just think it's a cool looking book from an era of X-Men that had me hooked!
My Pal 2: $30
My Pal 2 was released by Toybiz in the early 90's. I never owned one, but I vividly remember the commercials for this little robot companion. He could talk, his nose glowed, he played games like Simon says & ring toss, he could throw and he had a basketball hoop on his chest for impromptu games of HORSE on a rainy day! This example of My Pal 2 is missing his sweet hat and hoop, but man did this bring back some memories. I've attached the commercial from 1993 below. Take 30 seconds to watch it and bask in all that My Pal 2 could do. If that's not your thing, at least give it a watch to see one of the kids truly magnificent mullets!
