Subject:
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Re: The MISB sets on eBay from Italy!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Mon, 23 Apr 2001 21:24:57 GMT
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Viewed:
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860 times
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One of the main reasons I have a good supply of rare parts is that I did this same
thing in Germany in 1979, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 89, 92, 93. I hit every mom&pop
toy store I could find between the Iron Curtain (Coburg) and Garmisch-Patenkirchen
(Austrian border). Rarest items were two 712 Wooden box gift sets (1963), which I
have yet to find for sale in any auction/sale. Fortunately the Iron Curtain is
gone with the reunification of Germany. The reason the items sit in toy stores
for 20 or 30 years is that the owners NEVER have clearance sales (thank God!). I
purchased about 300 sets this way. Also, being able to speak fluent German, I was
able to ask owners if they had any real old LEGO. And also knew to ask if they
had any ERSATZTEILE (spare parts), usually from an old wooden dealer box. Got a
few rare 2x2 black train windows, about 150 2x2 white round bricks and lots of
spoked wheels that way.
Gary Istok
Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> In lugnet.general, Brendan Coughlin writes:
> > Hi Everyone!
> >
> > This whole thing has just fascinated me. There are all of those guys
> > selling MISB sets from Italy! What is the deal with this? Do these people
> > just have insane collections and they are selling it off? Are they finding
> > them in shops?
>
> Finding them in shops.
>
> When I was on a Swiss assignment, I was privileged to go to northern Italy
> and fest with a few folks who turned me on to stuff. Italy is a treasure
> trove of shops (individual and small chains) with poor inventory management
> and poor retailing skills (when compared to the sophisticated software and
> techniques employed by large US chains to drive inventory turns by
> preventing overstocks and "stale" merchandise). Bad for the shops but good
> for people who are willing to visit every one and see what they actually have.
>
> We hit something lik 4 shops in one afternoon, these being ones that had
> been previously mined out already by my contacts, and Horst and I came away
> with 2000 USD worth of goodies that excited ME but weren't rare enough to be
> bothered with by them.
>
> > They all have so many great sets and are making a huge
> > profit from them.
>
> And why shouldn't they? Finding these sets takes a LOT of work if you stop
> and think about it. (and gas/petrol, which ain't cheap in europe) These
> sellers are performing a very valuable service and have earned their
> profits. And then some
>
> FUT market.theory
>
> > So what do people know about these? I suppose I could
> > try and contact the sellers themselves but I don't want them to think I'm
> > going to try and get in on it. Can anyone shed some light on this? Just
> > curious. Thanks a lot! :-)
> >
> > Brendan
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