Last year I posted the story of my good friend Ben Johnson on the valub blog.  Ben was a lifelong collector, avid baseball fan, and for years, bought and sold collectibles on his eBay store the Second Chance Stadium. Unfortunately last year Ben passed away unexpectedly. I have been helping Ben’s family sell a lot […]

Sure, there are moneymakers in the Christmas collection realm, blow molds and Shiny Brites, for example, but Christmas albums are an easy way to build a holiday collection and might make that ugly sweater purposeful.

Bearbrick Collecting: valubl info Bearbricks are among the world’s most collectible objects yet there are still a lot of collectors that do not know much about them. Let’s explore what the Bearbrick fenom is all about.  Bearbrick is a collectible toy designed and produced by the Japanese company MediCom Toy. The first figure was released […]

Thanksgiving is a time rich with tradition. Families welcome loved ones to expertly choreographed meals, the good plates are carefully unpacked, linens are ironed, and the meat thermometer mysteriously disappears again. Then came 2020, who declared with a mask-muffled puff of wet air, “Pffft. Yeah, right.” I’m typically the cook and host for most holiday […]

I saw a quote someplace that read, “Good friends are like stars, you don’t always see them, but you know they are there.” I guess I have believed that for most of my life. It’s funny how certain people come in and out of your world, play important roles in different ways, create moments of […]

My journey into the world of the occult began when I was growing up in San Francisco. My mother was an Irish Catholic born and raised in Mission’s Potrero Hill district – one of ten iron-fisted kids who scrapped their way through poverty and violence, some of the siblings thriving better than others. She knew […]