Current Looney Tunes Newsletter 28JUL99

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Hi Everyone,
This week begins our series of articles on collecting. What better way to kick it off than an article on how to grade items. All articles can be found in the Collectors Corner section in the newsletters and also under the Help on our site. We hope to expand these into basic help on collecting and particular companies and collecting themes.

Have fun collecting!

Thanks!

Richard & Gwen

EMail: Daffyduck@www1.utech.net
The Looney Tunes Collector: http://geocities.datacellar.net/televisioncity/set/8681

Kmarts has lots of Looney stuff on sale. Backpacks for $12.99 including Gossamer, Tweety & Sylvester and Taz. Watches at $17.39, a CD wallet at $8.99 and the new Tweety videos at $12.99 each. Also lots of kids clothes.
WB has a Looney Tunes Monopoly game out finally. It is a limited edition and has pewter figures of Bugs, Taz, Tweety, Sylvester, Marvin, Wile E. Coyote, Roadrunner and Daffy. Everything in the game has been redone into an LT theme. It is $29.00 and is a limited edition. The Catalog # is F9353. I wouldn't put off ordering one-once the catalog comes out it will probably sell out fast. Phone: 1-800-223-6524. It will also be in Studio Stores but only in limited quantities.
KMarts also has a bathtub toy organizer in the toy department. It is a net that attaches to the wall with Tweety and Sylvester suction cups. $3
KMarts has kids clothes hampers too. Large plush characters hold the net basket on the back of the door. Tweety and Taz at $20 each.
Walmarts has handmade quilt items in. 2 different patterns in twin and full sizes. Quilts ($35), shams and pillow cases. The Tweety pattern is nice looking.

There is a new beanie coming out that is for WB Store employees only. It is Bugs dressed up as an employee. The only way to get one is from an employee or on ebay. The prices on ebay are outrageous though! I'd say get friendly with an employee instead.
A new store called Factory To You opened near us. If you have one near you check it out. They had about 10 or so mid 90's items, including the Applause ceramic figural mugs at $2 each.
ACT II popcorn is having another comic book promotion. Buy 2 cartons and mail in the coupon on the back for one. You can find ACT II in Kmarts and Walmarts.
The Winfield Collection catalog has new scrollsaw patterns in for Halloween. Daffy Vampire, Bugs Frankenstein, Tweety Devil and Taz candy holder. Also lots of others for your yard. Phone: 1-800-WINFIELD
The WB Stores are having a 40% off sale on mechanical plushes. Which ones are one sale are up to the individual stores. Our closest store didn't have any but the next one down from us had everything on sale. Make sure they still work before you buy-almost all the Bugs Swami's were broken.
ENZA Apples & Pears is having a beanie promotion. You have to collect the stickers on their fruit and trade 10 for a Taz or 20 for Taz & Bugs along with $2.50 for each one. They are limited edition beanies. You can download the order form on their site. URL: http://www.enzafruit.com/promotio.htm

Grading An Item

One of the things that influence the price of an object the most is the condition of the item. Unfortunately it is also one of the areas where peoples opinions differ the most. If you have a buyer and seller appraise the same item they will probably come up with two different conditions and prices. This is due in part to the highly subjective standards that are out there and in part to greed. A seller wants to rate the item as high as possible to get a higher price while the buyer wants to rate it lower to get a bargain. The best way to avoid this is to try to be honest when you see a new object and avoid rushing to buy. A lot of collectors regret buying that special item later because of the condition. When you are standing over that teapot you have been looking for for a long time it is hard to be objective about a few "minor" flaws! The thing to remember is that almost all items are mass produced so there are literally tens of thousands of them out there-it can just be a challenge finding one.

Currently there are two grading systems in use. Both are fairly close to the same standards and for most purposes can be combined into one. A good way to learn the system is to sit down with some of your own collectibles and rate them. It is easy to give the item a high rating-we all want our stuff to be the best. However the truth is that almost all items are going to be less than mint. Also be aware of some dealers tendency to rate antiques higher because of their age. Age may add value to the item but it should have nothing to do with the condition. So when you see a sign saying "Mint for its' time!" or something similar beware. For the most part dealers only grade on the even numbers, C10, C8 and C6 or Mint, Excellent and Good.

Grading Terms:

MIMB/C10: Mint In Mint Box. This means that the item is new and the original box is undamaged too. This is rare in most cases due to shelf wear and handling.
MIB/C10: Mint In Box. This means the item is brand new in the original box. Usually it will only have been removed to take a picture to sell it. The box is not neccessarily new though.
MIP/C10: Mint In Package. This means the item is brand new in the original package. Usually it will only have been removed to take a picture to sell it. The package is not neccessarily new though.
MWMT/C10: Mint with Mint Tags: This is basically a Beanie collectors term but it has started spreading into all tagged items. The item and tags are brand new.
Mint/C10: The item is new but with no package. If there is anything at all wrong with the item it cannot be mint.
Near Mint/NM/C9: Item shows extremely minor wear but is not perfect. The wear should be unseen when on display.
Excellent/EX/C8: Item that is complete but that has minor wear from play. Must be clean. Any chips or dings should be unseen when on display.
Very Good/VG/C7: Obvious signs of wear and play. Some minor paint chipping, minor rust or minor missing parts.
Good/GD/C6: Signs of heavy play, dents, dings, chips and rust.
Anything in worse condition than this is generally considered uncollectable unless it is a very rare item.

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