What does it say about me that on my recent fantasy shopping spree to Hakes Americana & Collectibles I only came away with $1639.00 worth of stuff? I had carte blanche with my pretend money to purchase all the coolest, most ridiculously expensive pop culture artifacts I wanted, but wound up buying tschotskes and a couple of cheap buttons. I suck at being rich. If I ever suddenly come into a lot of money because I invent Vapoorize or something, I’ll probably still eat at McDonald’s and drink Arbor Mist.
One of the items I was most excited about was (of course) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-related–this two-pack of 6-inch TMNT buttons:
I ended up snagging the pair, not because these buttons are rare or even all that particularly interesting, but because I had one as a kid. Don’t ask me which Turtle it was, though, because I don’t remember. I just remember it felt important at the time to boldly display my Turtle Power to counteract the scourge of ridiculously over-sized New Kids on the Block buttons that seemed to be everywhere. That was worth getting mocked relentlessly for, right? (In related news, HOLY HELL there’s a lot of cheap NKOTB stuff on Ebay. Which one of you is flooding the market with Cover Girl cassingles?)
A while back I had picked up Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo buttons from Just For Fun Collectibles, a local store that buys and sells old toys, comics, and games, among tons of other cool crap that fills its tiny retail space from floor to ceiling. I was thrilled to find these guys buried in a plastic bin full of Pez dispensers and the shop owner gave me a good deal on all three of them, however I was super-bummed they didn’t have Raphael. Figures it would be the most important one.
But thanks to Hake’s, the cool but crude Turtle has finally joined his brothers and completed the awesome foursome:
If you haven’t checked out Hake’s auction site yet and all the awesome pop culture memorabilia they have for sale, you might want to cut up your credit cards before taking a look! Just sayin’.
