What's your biggest, "What the... it's worth that much?" moment.

[20ohm20]

I have many new wave/punk vinyl singles that I paid $5 (or less) for in the late 80's/early 90's that now command upwards of $75 or more. When everyone was ditching their records for CD's, it was hard to find anything but the most obscure pressings in the used racks for more than $3-$5. Except the record stores on Haight in San Fran - their prices have always sucked.

 

annnnd what are they?

 

Punk: obscure (and not so obscure) UK punk 7" (Eater, The Adicts, Sex Pistols on EMI, The Damned promos, lots of indie pressings w/foldouts, etc.) - Southern CA "pre-O.C. hardcore" from the late 70's e.g. 45 Grave, The Germs, etc. some very early Slash promos, some early SST stuff that hasn't been re-issued countless times (but not the first pressing of the first Black Flag EP), etc. Some early-to-mid-80's stuff I don't know the origin of (likely given away/sold at shows w/blank sleeves). I also have some L.A. and San Fran punk gig flyers that were acquired by my (much) older stepbrother circa 1980-1983 (these are priceless).

 

New Wave: I have 1500+ 7"/12" singles and about 600 LP's from nearly every country on Earth that has ever had a record pressing plant. Japanese radio promos, South American white label test pressings, UK one-sided promos, tons of colored vinyl, etc. I obsessively collected everything from Japan, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode on vinyl from that time I was 14 in 1985 until about 2006-2007. I had a pen pal in Japan from 1983 until about 1986 whose father worked for Yusen Broadcasting and I received a fair amount of items from him that would have been otherwise unobtainable at the time (in exchange for "popular" U.S. 45's).

 

I had a spreadsheet of my collection up until about 2002, but it was lost, and I've never made another. I currently keep everything in alphabetized/chronological order w/plastic dividers so I can find things.

[Mendon]

I'm always amazed by eBay pricing.... but even Amazon sellers go wild.

 

I recently shook my head in amazement that there were so many listings for the $99 "Hardened Edition" of Modern Warfare 3 being sold by Amazon sellers for $250+

 

And the Special Edition of Skyward Sword (w/Gold Wii-mote) is being offered for between $150 and $350 by Amazon sellers.

 

 

One of the best bargains I've had is when Electronic Boutique was clearing out all its Saturn games and I picked up two new copies of Radiant Silvergun (yep, the store I frequented sold imports for a bit) for $9.99 apiece. Needless to say, that game greatly appreciated in value.

 

 

Mendon

[Animan]

I bought Mega Man for the Game Gear at a thrift store for $5, unaware it was one of the rarest games for the Game Gear. It's worth about $50.

[Brian O]

A coworker recently gave me two PS2 games, since he knows I own a PS2. One of the games was some crazy game called Frequency, but the other was a train simulator called Densha De Go! It's also the Japanese import version.

 

 

One is currently going on eBay for ~ $66.00. I told him that it has some value, but he told me to keep it anyway. How could I say no to that?

 

-B

[ApolloBoy]

I picked up Faussete Amour for the PC Engine CD at CGE last year for $10. When I got back home and looked it up, I realized it was actually worth $80-100. It's a good game, so needless to say I'll be keeping it around.

[SRGilbert]

I was just messing around with the Video Game Trader price guide app for the Iphone yesterday, looking through the vectrex section. Was really surprised to see that the copy of Polar Rescue that had been sitting on my desk was worth as much as it apparently is! Digital Press has it listed as an 8 rarity, the app says it's worth $172, which I don't really believe. But since I got it in a lot of 15 loose Vec games for only $35, I'd say I done good!

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

I few years ago I was looking at some boxed C64 games at my local Goodwill. They had them in the case under the counter so I had to get the cashier to dig them out for me. I didn't see anything that I really knew anything about, but ended up picking one out for $2 since I had made her dig it out. I flipped it a couple months later for $50.

[Desfeek]

$172 for a CIB Polar Rescue is about right...loose would bring ~$40.

 

It was the last (and least distributed) Vectrex game released. It's also one of the worst games for the system...go figure.

[+FujiSkunk]

A coworker recently gave me two PS2 games, since he knows I own a PS2. One of the games was some crazy game called Frequency...

 

I've been looking for that one. That was the very first console game released by Harmonix, who went on to do Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Dance Central.

[Brian O]

A coworker recently gave me two PS2 games, since he knows I own a PS2. One of the games was some crazy game called Frequency...

 

I've been looking for that one. That was the very first console game released by Harmonix, who went on to do Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Dance Central.

 

Hey FujiSkunk,

 

PM me your address and I'll ship Frequency out to you when I get time. I'll never play it, and it'll most likely just sit on my shelf collecting dust until it gets broken or tossed. Just give me $$ for shipping.

 

-B

[toiletunes]

About five years ago (before I started really collecting) I went to this pawnshop, they had a stack of 2600 titles, $3 each or 2/$5. Most were common, but I did find some titles I didn't recognize. My wife complained about the price, but I bought a few anyway. When I finally got around to checking them out, there was nothing special in terms of gameplay. I put them away and forgot about them for several months. Eventually we moved and I came across the box on a shelf. I decided to check the online rarity guide. Nothing was more than R3, except for Malagai.

 

Sold, for $305.00 (the money was invested in more games).

 

When I went back to the pawnshop, the games were gone. Someone bought the remaining lot cheap. The owner refuses to take Atari anymore because it takes up space, doesn't sell, and isn't worth anything.

[STICH666]

When I just started collecting I snagged a Sega Nomad for $7 at a garage sale. Looked it up on ebay and at the time they were going for $100+.

[Asaki]

I got an Earthbound box and manuals NOT THE GAME for $5 at some garage sale I've seen just the box over a hundred

 

I've got the whole package (from when I bought it brand new), but the strategy guide isn't in very good shape anymore. I'm not sure where my scratch and sniff cards went to, though (along with the s-&-s pullout that came in Nintendo Power).

 

No way would I ever sell it, though.

[DemonoidTentacle]

I recently found out I've got a Monster in My Pocket figure stuffed away that's worth around $100.

 

Which one?

[Rex Dart]

I recently found out I've got a Monster in My Pocket figure stuffed away that's worth around $100.

 

Which one?

 

This pink bastard, came with the NES game (fun game btw):

[Shephda]

Got a CIB near mint Castlevania for the PC on 5.25" disk.

Sold it on eBay for $512.00.

 

That's my WTF moment.

[Reaperman]

I found a complete rental virtual boy in the wild, and the thrift shop was asking $50. I carried that around the store for a good hour struggling with the decision before I reluctantly caved in and bought it. I had bought my previous vb for $15 used shortly after 'the great clearancing,' so price was a big concern. When I got home, I saw that they were going for $350 in similar cases. They're not that high anymore, but they're still up there. I think there were more rental locations than there are VB collectors, so the price will continue to decline.

 

Outside of the gaming world, I picked up a bag full of 1960's era train stuff. Most of it was boxed HO stuff of varying brands which I expected to go for quite a bit (I kept the n-scale stuff), but what really surprised me was this little balsa building that seemed complete but totally unassembeled--(naturally I warned ebayers that it might not be all there and took tons of pics). That little box of pre-cut balsa panels and instructions went for (IIRC) over $60 shipped by itself.