Collectibles Archives

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 of ben’s extensive collection of sports collectibles over the past year and during a recent collectible sale had the pleasure of meeting Harry Franco and hear about a truly inspirational thing that Harry’s been doing for the past 10 years.

Harry Franco started working as an usher for the San Francisco Giants in 2007. Harry told me about the close group of usher friends that would carpool to the games over the years, about the amazing playoff and world series games he has witnessed in the past decade, and other great stories of his time helping fans in the section behind the Giant’s dugout. Harry asked if I had any baseball cards for sale and explained to me how since 2010 he has bought packs of baseball cards at local card shops and put them together in small packs so he can hand them out to the boys and girls in his section during the game. Harry told me great stories of how excited the kids would get receiving the cards and how their parents would looks through the cards and reminisce about some of the older players they used to watch and be fans of. The conversations between the kids and parents were great, the kids were so excited to get the cards, and Harry hoped that this would help spur the love of baseball for the next generation. I thought to myself what a great story and great things to do and told Harry I would get him some of the cards from Ben’s collection.

Ben’s mother, sister, and daughter heard Harry’s story and were inspired like I was and decided to donate 11,000 cards to Harry to help him continue his amazing tradition and help inspire the next generation of baseball fans and hopefully a passion for collecting as well.

So if you are ever at a SF Giants game stop by and say hello to Harry. We at valubl are so inspired by what Harry is doing we will be looking for ways to follow his example and help get kids interested in collecting… we are thinking of ways we can do the same thing with basketball, hockey, and football cards. Any ideas let us know.

Here are some great pictures of Ben, Harry, and some of tomorrow’s baseball fans and collectors.

valubl is a collectible inventory system and a social network for collectors to share their stories, meet other collectors, and stay informed on collectible news and events. While the system is currently in beta version, you can sign up for free now and create your valubl profile.

Let’s all agree, this is a crazy year for Christmas celebrations. Entire cities are on lockdown, and the Feast of the Seven Fishes is on pause indefinitely. But you know what endures? Christmas albums, your Grandma’s silver bird ornaments, nutcrackers, and the things that remind you of childhood. There is a familiar joy in collecting holiday records. You decorate the tree to the sounds of Bing Crosby, and then you rearrange the ornaments at midnight, because that’s who we are as collectors. We are, at heart, sentimental and maybe a little hyper-focused. It’s okay. I’m right there with you. My entire tree is decorated with white birds. Will they appreciate in value? Nope, but they make me happy. So let’s explore collecting holiday records more.

What Christmas albums are worth collecting?

Christmas albums, in particular, are a cost-effective way to bring some holiday vibes into your home. There are, of course, specific genres that are a little harder to find or may cost more (Bad Religion’s “White Christmas” or the Cocteau Twins rendition of “Frosty the Snowman”), but the hunt is worth it. And those who love vinyl understand the beauty of a needle being the conduit to nostalgia. 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.

Where can I find collectible Christmas records?

So, let’s talk sourcing. Thrift stores are an obvious choice. Most Christmas albums are played minimally, right? So, while the album jacket might not have been cared for, the vinyl itself should be pretty clean. Look for Nat King Cole, Percy Faith, and Andy Williams.

There’s also the various artist albums as opposed to LPs from one artist from a label. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, you could get a compilation album at places like hardware stores and banks. Goodyear was great for this, offering new albums from 1961 to 1977. Plus, Firestone was their competitor – a little Hatfields and the McCoys happening. But here is the Holy Grail for collectors: “A Christmas Gift for You From Philles Records.”

Keep your holiday records clean to enjoy every year.

While 2020 is unlike any other year, dust off that vinyl, make your martini as dirty as it can be, and put the needle on the record. Then, clean them with a record cleaning brush on a slow spin, store them back in their jackets, house them upright, and understand that stacking vinyl or cleaning them with t-shirts is a fast-track to the naughty list.

Happy Holidays, valubl readers!

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 on May 27, 2001, as a free gift to visitors of the World Character Convention 12 in Tokyo. The idea of the first release was twofold. To expand on Medicom’s popularity of their Kubrick toy brand and also celebrate the anniversary of the teddy bear which is why the bear has become so iconic.

Bearbrick Sizes

When I was researching for this post I was amazed at the various sizes and designs there were for Bearbricks. Bearbricks have been released in several different sizes using a variety of materials, including wood, felt, and glow-in-the-dark plastic. Most collectors know the bear as a plastic figurine. Medicom says the bear at 100% is 2.75 inches tall but can go as low as 2 inches or as high as 27 inches (the 1000% figures).

Medicom was also one of the first manufacturers to use the “blind box” and they continue the use the concept today as they are in their 40th series release.

Since their release, Bearbrick has grown and developed into a formidable collectible across all market segments. Some are even museum pieces and one recently sold at auction for $157K. Now that is what I call a valuable collectible.

Designer Toys with Style

The appeal is that the designers have a knack for being able to cross the bear with a variety of pop and cultural icons that drive the interest. The collaborations are too many to count but you can check out the 10 most expensive Bearbicks here.

Typically these collaborations are limited releases and that just adds to the mystic. Significant price jumps for these limited releases are normal so collectors need to be careful and really understand the current market.

Bearbrick Fun Fact

The largest collection of Bearbrick bears consists of 1,008 bears was achieved by Gao Ke (China) in Beijing, China, as of December 20, 2020.

Here are some great additional resources for those new to collecting Bearbicks

Beginners Guide to Bearbricks

Guide to Bearbricks (Blog from Japan)

Official store from Rakuten

Add Your Bearbick Collection to the valubl Inventory System Today!

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 celebrations, and Thanksgiving is no exception. So, it isn’t unusual – even in 2020 – for me to call my butcher to pre-order a fresh turkey in the 20-pound range. Not willing to be caught birdless, I made the call and secured a 15-pound turkey, what I thought to be a relatively sensible selection. And then the next wave of the epidemic hit, which is why I find myself with a beast of a bird, one other adult, two picky teens, and a two-year-old who would just as soon have a bowl of Panera mac and cheese than eat meat.

But as one with control issues (or so I’m told) and a love of vintage serving ware, I’m doing the damn thing anyway; the full-tilt boogie. Midnight turkey sandwiches? No problem. Day-after turkey and rice soup to last the rest of the year? Got it. There is no more debate whether fresh or canned cranberry sauce is best – I do what I want this year.

I think most families have collectibles for Thanksgiving, recipes that have been passed down, or at least memories from childhood, like your grandma’s hand towels that were strictly off-limits and the pilgrim candles that were never lit. Most of my holiday favorites are sentimental items. There are the linen napkins I put out every year that, before she passed, my mom would iron for me the night before the big feast. My sister has her stuffing recipe framed, her looping cursive blotted with buttered fingerprints, which always conjures the ghost of her bent over a hot stove early in the morning.

There’s my mother-in-law’s vintage relish dish crafted from the milk glass I favor and the thick green glass bowls with scalloped edges she used exclusively for olives. There are Grandma Virginia’s pie server and my mom’s chocolate pudding pie, which should be eaten in the morning and washed down with a strong cup of coffee.

While my collection is built from the love I have for these women who never bothered with measurements and never met a kitchen fumble they couldn’t recover from, there are plenty of collectibles that are worth searching out for their rareness, value, or popularity:

Turkey platters by English maker Johnson Brothers, notably the “Barnyard King” and “His Majesty” patterns. Items from the 70s are also worth the hunt. Think honeycomb decorations by the Beistle brand and amber-colored glass candleholders from a variety of makers. And as a lover of all things glass, I continue to keep my eyes open for pedestal cake stands from Adams & Co., whose dessert stands can be worth up to $300. Their style is also known as early American Pattern Glass (EAPG) and collectors should look for seams in the piece to confirm the liquid glass was pressed into a glass mold.

Happy Thanksgiving and happy hunting!

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 happiness and pain through laughter and tears, play together, collect together, work together, experience life together.

In 1985, I was a high school sophomore, slumped in a chair in the back of second-period English when I found myself sitting next to this tall guy wearing a 49er Starter jacket and sunglasses; that’s when I first met Ben Johnson. Ben and I quickly became best friends – a close relationship that would carry us through high school, college, and well into our 20s. Both sports fanatics, we watched too many games to count, easily played more than 1,000 rounds of one-on-one basketball, competed non-stop on every video game you can imagine, and were partners in crime in our dedication to collecting, mostly sports cards.

We were together the first time I got drunk, for my first car accident, and the night we spent trash-talking Jason Kidd at our favorite bar in San Francisco, Johnny Love’s. To this day, Ben and I are two of only three people I’ve ever known to get thrown out of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in Reno, Nevada. Good times and good memories indeed.

Like most high school and college buddies in the 80s and 90s, we had a ton of inside jokes, had epic road trips, and shared some crazy times we could never speak of to anyone. Ben was my best man when I got married and as we started our adult lives with significant others, jobs, and eventually children, unfortunately, we drifted apart without even realizing it; no fight or disagreement. No one moved out of the area or suddenly started being a fan of the L.A. Dodgers (more on that later).

I consider myself a loyal friend, someone who always picks up the call. I tend to forgive and forget easily. So, the fact that Ben and I lost touch and never reconnected was, and still is, very strange to me. I would send an occasional email when my March Madness Pool would roll around, but he never participated or replied. Like the quote suggests, “Good friends are like stars, you don’t always see them, but you know they are there.” I always thought – no, I knew that we would reconnect at some point, perhaps when life slowed down. That firm belief would go unfulfilled. In June of this year, I got word that Ben had passed away from an unexpected heart attack. He was only 49.

After reconnecting with Ben’s family, I offered them assistance with anything they needed, which found me at Ben’s home helping them pack up some things to prepare the house for sale. Being in his home without him, seeing his family who I felt like I grew up with, and finding out that Ben had a beautiful young daughter was one of the more surreal moments of my life. You don’t expect to be asked to sift through the remains of a friend’s life, but at some point, we will all be called to the charge.

Ben and I started collecting over 30 years ago. To say that he had an unbelievable collection is an understatement; it was vast (and that is coming from me, a serious collector). Over the years, Ben sourced everything from pennants to sports cards, sports memorabilia of all kinds, Lego®, video games, helmets, programs, and the list goes on and on. His collection was massive – nearly overwhelming – and not cataloged. The task was daunting, but I knew that helping sort through the items he treasured would be the last gift I’d be able to give to my buddy Ben.

Over the past few months, I have worked with Ben’s family to sort his collection, determine values, and try and sell a good portion of it towards Ben’s daughter’s future. The process has been challenging and interesting, to say the least, and one I’m willing to share.

I encourage you to visit this blog where I will document my collector journey, including researching and selling parts of Ben’s collection. It will include details on all types of collectibles, explore specific markets, offer tips and resources for how you can buy and sell collectibles, and even provide tips on shipping an extensive collection.

While this blog and future posts will be more collectible focused, it will always include a human element. Collectors often have sentimental reasons for doing what they do – dig deep enough, and there’s always a story behind why a person searches for a Chewbacca film-ready head, vintage ceramic Christmas trees, or Funko Pop! figurines; that’s why I felt it was important to share the story of Ben, our friendship and our shared interests for cool collectibles.

I will leave you this: learn to appreciate what you have before time makes you appreciate what you had. Don’t wait . . . call a friend today. And catalog your collection!

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 the weight of sin and was taught to lean on the shoulders of her God, to light candles for the lost, and always mount a cross on the wall closest to where you rest your head at night.

How she ended up marrying my father – a sinner of Olympic proportions, a man who would eventually claim to speak in tongues and would often sleep in trees with the homeless in Golden Gate Park – still mystifies those looking into our family dynamic. That said, my dad was a storyteller, and it was easy for him to confide his unworldly beliefs to his children and those he thought of as enlightened beings. I was six years old, and apparently, my internal light was bright; he recognized me as worthy.

First, let’s start with a quick lesson in etymology. The word occult originates from the Latin, occultus, which refers to a secret or something hidden and concealed. Today’s definition has expanded to include things related to magic, alchemy, and the practical arts whose practitioners seek closer communion with the Divine; however, the knee-jerk reaction to the word often conjures something dark or negative.

The occult and the people who collect the tools, books, and symbols associated with this agency of mysticism are often unfairly connected with dystopian spell casting, cults, animal sacrifices, and mumbled prayers for disease and injury. My two teens, Maximus and Harlowe, both have begun occult collections – my daughter’s interests spilling over into heavy-handed Egyptian eyes, shredded clothing, and weekends spent giving Tarot readings to friends. Every inch of her walls is draped in tapestries, her shelves thick with melted wax. And I remember: I was the same way.

But, back to my dad. His stories really took flight when The Unification Church moved into the abandoned building across from our local 7-11; the Moonies, they were called. My dad created imagery of mass weddings and children being kidnapped, violently extracted from their families to sell flowers at the airport. He talked of Jim Jones and the mass-murder suicide in Guyana. He pointed to the apartment where Charles Manson had lived and recruited his Family. And he connected all of this to my home, San Francisco.

Now, let’s get spooky.

One day, my dad put me on the back of his Harley to go for an afternoon ride. We ended up in the Richmond district – 6114 California Street, to be exact – “The Black House.” Here, he said, was where Anton LeVey lived and worked his dark arts. LeVey, he explained, had founded the Church of Satan. He warned me not to come to the house at night, certainly to never go alone. He talked about the importance of scrubbing salt onto the scalp, about building a relationship with the self and the cosmos, about deciding which side of prayer work I would gravitate towards. It was hedonism that captured his attention, self-indulgence. But what The Black House did for me was much more profound. I wanted to pull back the heavy curtains and explore the ritualism, and, like Catholicism, I could not understand the absolute faith of its followers. But I wanted to, deeply.

So, down the rabbit hole I went. As I grew older, I had my aura read and photographed, I burned sage and an obnoxious amount of Nag Champa, fell in love with Edgar Allan Poe, and had my name and birthdate reduced and analyzed according to numerology (Life Path #4, Expression #9, in case you were wondering). I drew nude women with their bellies distended by fire, developed a love of wax seals, and sought to manifest control of my adolescent life through lunar symbols and a belief that there was a happening beyond death or suffering; this seems to be a common theme in occult enthusiasts. When I asked my 17-year old what intrigued him about the items he collects and some of the pagan dynamics still held in those objects, his response was honest and straightforward. “Guidance,” he said, “I’m looking for guidance that is safe and specific to me.” Fair enough.

For those looking to start or build on their occult collection, it can be challenging to find items that hold genuine value and aren’t trinkets or pewter pendants found at a Renaissance Faire. Beyond aesthetic acquisition, rare and high-dollar items are generally sourced from book collectors. While crystals and fossils can put a serious dent in your pocketbook, some first edition books can fetch several thousand dollars. For example, the first edition of the Secret Book of Black Arts (1873) retails for over $14k, but you can pick up H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon for under $60.

Oddity shops are also an essential resource for collectors. A reputable shop owner will source items for serious collectors; this includes items from natural science, artwork, medical instruments, taxidermy, and handwritten correspondence from recognized occultists.

In researching this article, a family friend introduced me to her cousin, who collects vintage cameras (looking to sell in bulk if interested!), antique medical supplies, and preserved animals, both taxidermy and wet specimens. Her collection of skulls and such began when she was gifted a mummified pig fetus – because nothing says I appreciate you like swine pathology.

Today, she finds additions to her collection through Etsy and a friend who preserves animals; this personal connection seems to be the standard when looking to add to unusual collections. Today, she is the proud owner of a two-headed baby duck, a mummified kitten, ram skulls, taxidermy bats, a small alligator skull, various butterflies, a pajama squid specimen, a fetal opossum, and more. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for me, I would lovee nothing more than to tiptoe through her bell jars and specimen boxes. To each his or her own, as they say.

Today, I no longer search for faith in either organized religion or occult practices. Still, its ghostly fingerprints linger not only in my children but in my continued affinity for animal skulls, oddities, and an appreciation for the mysteries of nature. Okay, I still listen to Bauhaus and Christian Death. Some skins are not so easily shed.

Collector Resources:

eBay and Etsy, suggested search terms include occult, macabre, taxidermy, transgressive art, Wicca, oddities, curiosities, wet specimens, entomology, palmistry

Nevada Taxidermy, 1455 Deming Way, Sparks, NV

Oddities for Sale (private residence) For appointments, email contact@odditiesforsale.com

Paxton Gate, 824 Valencia St., SF, CA