The Ribbon Forever got 53 bids and finished at $131.75 but did not sell because it did not reach the reserve.

I would not be happy if I was the last bidder. That kind of action and price should have been enough to win it.

Now it will linger there until the seller comes up with a different strategy.

People don't like bidding on items with reserve.

I never use a reserve. My approach is to trust the market and if I can't trust it then I use Buy It Now or pull out all together.

Just my experience and opinion.

I know the seller on the Sutekina not the Against Gravity. The high bidder is on the Sutekina. Not sure who the bidder is on the Against Gravity, but I would guess that it is you. I think the Against Gravity will go for a reasonable amount. The Sutekina too as long as there is not another person who wants it as much as the bidder who is on it now.

There was a Mr. Rabbit in a really nice box (with the diecut rabbit in the front) on the big auction site back in Sept. I bid 200, later realizing it was in pounds not dollars. I left the bid because I thought it would never get that high. Well the same bidder that is on the Sutekina bid 195£ and the trick cost me more than $325, basically for the box. A week or two later a second Mr. Rabbit came up, nice but thankfully not as nice, and he won it for $50 (not even 50£). I was the second bidder on the $392 English Astro Coin that he won in August, but unfortunately there was not a second one.

So knowing who you are bidding against can be helpful if you can figure it out. I knew the coded names for most of the bidders when things were jumping and I was selling and buying a lot, but now there are a lot of new bidders and the people who carried the auctions 9 months back are now not as active including me. So it truly is a great time to buy. Most of our fellow Café members here are very pleasant gentlemen and will not bid on an item unless they need it which is good for people trying to make a collection.

Good guess, John!

I have a Japanese "Astro Coin" that I paid $5 for last year. You'd be amazed at the stuff you can find if you're out and about. Of course, like so many of the Tenyo items from the late 1960s and early 1970s, it's just a copy of an already extant trick ("Well, I Never!" which I bought from Tannen's as a kid--damn fine trick, by the way).

Richard,

I have had some really great finds in the past year but nothing as dramatic as a $5 Astro Coin.

I know you will do really well rebuilding your collection.

There is plenty of supply for just about every trick (except the really hard ones most of us don't have) and not as many active buyers.

For the really hard ones you can use your connections you have made over the years here and abroad to get most of them.

The hard ones are not the ones to get off of the auction site because it is not fun to pay hundred dollars for a trick that you will most likely never perform.

Imagine telling your friends that you will now perform a rare trick that you paid hundreds of dollars for and then pulling out a Coin Case. They will surely think you are crazy.

SOME OF THE HARD ONES (number I have known of being available for sale in the past year or so):
T-54 Melting Loop (4)
T-47 Astro Coin (3) [two were Japanese box]
T-42 Astro Tube (2)
T-43 Invisible Man (1)
T-48 Coin Case (0)
T-79 Super Vase a la India (0)
T-45 Break Away Fan (0)
T-44 Magic Coaster (0)

Notice that other than Super Vase a la India, the T-Numbers are all from that same mystery span.

John

I search an Ultra Tube, with or without instructions and package...
If someone want to sell/trade one, I'll be happy!

POOF! Ultra tube:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tenyo-Ultra-Tube......701c4a1a

He doesn't ship to Canada... too bad...

Has a slight chip in the secret part anyway so not the perfect collectable. Watch these morons will bid it higher than the 242.00 he was asking for in the last buy it now round.

He doesn't ship to France... too bad...

Gzero I've sent you a PM

With much thanks to a very old friend, and a generous one, my want list has shrunk to this:

Wild Wallet LEATHER T-192

CLYDE T-174

FLORAL FANTASY T-168

THE DIE-ABOLICAL BOX TC-2

CROSSROAD T-107

MELTING LOOP T-54

COIN CASE T-48

BREAK-AWAY FAN T-45

COIN COASTER T-44

INVISIBLE MAN T-43

COIN AND GLASS T-33

MATCH AND FLOWER T-19

MYSTIC RUBY T-16

SILK FROM HANKY T-10

FUNNY DOG T-9

AN-GRA T-7

THIMBLE T-1

Also am about to pick up a coin box set!

All very important for research, of course.

Wow Richard you are rebuilding the collection at wrap or as we know it "Mazza speed"... Congrats.

John

Where does this renewed interest Richard?
You want to sell your entire collection not long ago. Why this shift?

I sold the valuable sealed and rare items in my collection so that I had funds to purchase important items necessary for my Theodore DeLand collection and the book I am now finishing up on that subject. But I kept all the open items (hence my two copies of "Mirage" and "Card Changer," for example).

Sometimes I regret selling things (I have built up and then sold quite a few collections over the years), but often not.

In the case of Tenyo, I have many private connections from my collecting days and some of them are still active. I will get back to the same point I was last time -- needing the same four T numbers as everything else. The difference this time is that I don't really care about sealed packaging, and my interest now is in creating an overall Tenyo picture--the big picture--the map about everything.

In order to write about each trick, I have to be able to have one to play with and perform and examine. I have always written this way, from the most difficult sleight of hand to the simplest effect. Need one in my hands in order to write.

Wow Richard,
Quite the prolific overacheiver

http://geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Richard_Kaufman

Yes, an overachiever.

Thanks to a remarkable transaction with a good friend, my want list has shrunk to the following:

CLYDE T-174

THE DIE-ABOLICAL BOX TC-2

CROSSROAD T-107

MELTING LOOP T-54

COIN CASE T-48

BREAK-AWAY FAN T-45

COIN COASTER T-44

INVISIBLE MAN T-43

MATCH AND FLOWER T-19

SILK FROM HANKY T-10

Coin Box Set (American Money: red box)

My lucky day!

Your progress is amazing. You are finding the really hard ones at light speed pace.

I started last January and by July I had all but 9 T-Numbers.

In the past six months I have not gotten a single T-number that I need.

Now in a mater of weeks you have come up with four on my list, Vase a la India, Mystic Ruby, Coin and Glass, AstroCoin.

Plus you added the Paddle and Close Up Collections.

Did you find a Funny Dog in the original English box?

I only know one collector who has that in English package.

Do you have all 17 (soon 18) Tenyo Special Trick Richard ?
They are part of the main collection and it is unthinkable not to put them in your book. They are real gems that far exceed any RS I have received till now. In fact, it is only now I could compare that I realized how Tenyo did an incredible job with these free Tricks every years.

What John Mazza said ... . I was and am still baffled about how fast you guys are able to build up an almost complete collection. I suppose living in the USA does help because making contact is easier (because of having one language for example). It took me 8 years to get me where I am now!

It seems I am one of the only people who has a Die-Abolical box and a mint Coin Case (the second one is not that scarse I believe). Funny as it seems, my most rare tricks (including Die-AbolicalB, Match & Flower, Coin And Glass, …) were all found 'by accident' and they didn't cost me a lot of money!

It does take a lot of time and effort ... mail a lot of people, mail a lot of shops, VISIT (!) a lot of shops (they often mail they don't have any Tenyo while they still do without knowing it) ... .

In other words, when someone really puts some effort in Tenyo collecting a lot of rare items will be available for reasonable prices, but again,you do have to put effort into it and it will take time ... .

As I mentioned earlier, some of my earlier Tenyo contacts are still active, but it also helps to be the editor of Genii and know a lot of people.

Killertweety: Tell me the difference between the two Coin Cases.

Stereo: I currently only have a few of the Tenyo specials. At one time I had them all. I will be able to scan all of them from Tenyo's archive for the book. As far as my personal collection, they will probably be difficult to find!

John: I do have a Funny Dog in the English box. All of my acquisitions (except Astro Coin) have been the English-language editions, except "This is Your Card," which I don't think ever had an English box, but has English instructions and a T number.