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Selling My X-com / Microprose Collection On Ebay


acheson

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Hello everyone. I am posting a notice about an EBay auction I am currently running that represents about 10% of my X-Com / Microprose collection.

 

I have been collecting X-Com and Microprose related games and collectible items for two years. Most of my collection was procured directly from Microprose employees when the company shut down - so I have some insanely rare stuff - including game manual signed by all of the developers, coffee mugs, shirts, pins, posters, etc. For monetary reasons, I've decided to pare down my collection by selling some of the stuff that I have doubles of.

 

If you are interested, just do an EBay search on X-Com and my collection is the first to pop up. Or follow this link:

 

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...p;rd=1&rd=1

 

I'd prefer that my X-Com related stuff gets into the hands of someone that is a serious collector who will take care of it. Please pass this info along if you aren't interested but know of anyone else who might be.

 

My email address is acheson@sacoriver.net, if anyone has any questions or just wants to chat X-Com.

 

Matthew

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I'd be extremely interested but I live in England. Well that sucks :)

 

Folks in the UK and Europe would have been more likely to bid higher as well due to the US dollar not doing so well against the pound or the euro at the minute.

 

Oh well! :)

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I might just bid on this myself. But at 200+bucks, it'll take a real whack at my pocketbook. True, I have most of the stuff already, but the rare items I don't. Those may be worth the price alone. We'll see though. :)

 

Any of this include a certificate of authenticity (COA)? :)

 

- Zombie

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I might just bid on this myself. But at 200+bucks, it'll take a real whack at my pocketbook. True, I have most of the stuff already, but the rare items I don't. Those may be worth the price alone. We'll see though.

 

I almost put one of my signed game manuals in there - which were signed by all of the developers. But I only have two of those and I decided I would be silly to sell one of them at any price. It was tempting but I know I would have kicked myself later.

 

Any of this include a certificate of authenticity (COA)?

 

If you won, and you seriously wanted one then I could ask my ex-Microprose friend to write a letter and send it to you. He hooked me up with most of this stuff when they went out of business. Although, if you're that skeptical then I don't see how a letter from him would convince you either.

 

Matthew

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If you won, and you seriously wanted one then I could ask my ex-Microprose friend to write a letter and send it to you. He hooked me up with most of this stuff when they went out of business. Although, if you're that skeptical then I don't see how a letter from him would convince you either.

Just kidding there, acheson. I trust you that the signed copies are authentic. :)

 

Now Pete can bid! Just don't bid against me. :)

 

- Zombie

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Seriously though, such a letter would increase the value.

 

That may be true but wouldn't it be easier for someone to forge a letter than to create fake coffee mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, posters, professionally manufactured pins, etc?

 

 

Do a web-search on X-Com poster, or mug, or pin and you won't find anything. You won't find anything because there are only a handful of them out there and most are still in the hands of the ex-Microprosers. If they were forged items then you would see them everywhere.

 

 

I was VERY, VERY fortunate when I picked up my collection. It was a true case of being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people. Whoever wins this auction will share a piece of this good fortune. I'd like for the winner to be a fellow X-Com addict / collector that will treasure them as I have, which is why I posted this information here in the first place.

 

As far as believing or not believing in the authenticity of my Microprose artifacts, I guess the only thing I can say is some people will believe and some people won't. But not believing won't change the fact that you will probably never see these items for sale again for the rest of your life. They are that rare.

 

 

If anyone has any serious doubts then please feel free to peruse the photographs I posted on the xcomufo forum: https://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?sh...t=0#entry168920

 

I guess the only question I would have for those people who are skeptical about my auction is, if I didn't clean out Microprose when they closed down, then where did I get a 4 foot high stack of mint shrink-wrapped games, a stack of novels, a novel signed to me personally, signed game manuals, a Sid Meier's Civilization glass etched paperweight, an original Sid Meier's Pirates flag, 4 different models of coffee mugs, T-shirts of various designs, Microprose stationary and folders, dozens of posters, etc?

 

 

Personally I think it's rather silly to doubt that these are the genuine article. If they are all forged then I have been one busy guy.

Matthew

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I don't think any of us doubt these are genuine.

 

It's just that with on-line auctions, you have to be wary at all times as there are dishonest scammers out there who just up and vanish once they've got the money.

 

On my local on-line auction site, I watched and almost became a victim of a very suspicious chap (brand new, 0 feedback) take the pains to make the auction (lots of too-good-to-be-true highly sought after collections of vintage Transformers) look authentic and take the pains to answer as many questions as possible, and there were a heap of very probing questions from the bidders (who were competing with each other quite furiously). Of course, this chap's in custody now. Alls well that ends well, I guess. Not implying that this is the case with your lot here, mind you!

 

But good luck on your auction though. I have yet to find an easy means of trading overseas, otherwise I'd join in the fun too.

 

- NKF

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Heheheh... Don't take it the wrong way, acheson, the whole thing is just a quip about how unlikely it is that a scammer would choose X-Com as his product. We can all see your eBay rating. :)

 

But seriously though, wouldn't such a letter make the things worth more? I mean, if it's hard to prove now that mugs were officially made, then how hard would it be in, say, a hundred years time? :)

 

However I'm not much of a collector... As mentioned, the only thing I'd be interested in having is that source code. :)

 

Anyways! I decided a link to the P-p-p-p-powerbook scam was in order, but you've probably all read that one anyway. This one was news to me though. :)

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  • 1 month later...

I E-mailed the man personally about that X-COM pin.

 

According to him, he was becoming highly reluctant to sell any of his merchandise, he seemed to be expecting a price ranging in the thousands, not hundreds, and only resorted to selling it because he needed those thousands pretty badly.

 

It's probable that he did not sell for the listed amount. I wouldn't doubt it if that merchandise still remained in his possession.

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Man...if only I had money...that'd be a collection I'd treasure for life. *sigh*

 

Still...he must have set one heck of a reserve price if the items didn't sell.

 

Edit: Hey, this had got me thinking...how much does it cost to get a badge made? It might not be official, but perhaps we can get someone to make some X-Com badges? =)

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  • 2 weeks later...

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