Treasure Hunting on a Thursday Morning

You'd be surprised how many people are shopping in St. Vinnie's at ten a.m. on a Thursday. For some, it's a social gathering, sitting along the wall and chatting to one another. For others, it's an opportunity to torture people, like the guy who kept whistling through his teeth and driving me fucking nuts. For most, including myself, it's a way to get the good stuff before some less deserving cretin comes along.

Today was a day of randomness as far as finds go. There were a good amount of things I picked up and put back down, that if I were a richer man might be mine now. However, a budget can be a good thing. It leaves less room for mediocrity. So without further ado, here are some random little finds I came across today.

Wizard of Oz Drinking Glass!

"Sorry Dorothy, but yo' bitch ass is too damn slow."

Everyone loves The Wizard of Oz. You'll love him even more when you take a nice cool drink out of this vintage drinking glass featuring none other than the Oz-man himself! Anytime I see a glass like this with some sort of painted image, I grab it and take a closer look to see who's on it. They made a lot of awesome glass sets back in the day, one of which this glass is no doubt a part.

When I picked the glass up off the shelf, I couldn't tell if it was really scuffed up or just scummy. I picked at a spot with my fingernail and saw that it was flaking off, which was good news (I washed my hands when I got home). I turned the glass over in my hands a few times and saw that there were no chips or cracks, so I thought "what the hell?" When I returned home I gave it a good scrubbing (being mindful of the paint on the outside) and what do you know? A shiny, new Wizard of Oz glass.

There is very little wrong with this glass, which I am quite pleased about. The images and text is close to flawless, and other than a little minor scuffing on the bottom lip, it's quite perfect. So nice, in fact, that I'd hate to actually use it for risk of breaking it or wearing it down. This is the kind of glass best suited for a shelf.

I'm curious about this glass so I checked on ebay to see if I could find out any more about it. I found one immediately here for $10, which the seller calls "rare" and "vintage." I like those words, but they also mention it as being associated with the film, when to me it appears it's more likely associated with the book, as it says "c. Baum" on it. Here's another one that says it's from the 60's. I'm finding a lot more from the series as well, which I will link in case you're interested. There's Dorothy, Glinda, Scarecrow, Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion. Some of these are priced somewhat high, but whether they sell is another story.

From reading one of the ebay listings, apparently these are from something called Swift's Peanut Butter, which supposedly gave "more bounce per ounce." You can interpret that however you like.

Cost of Wizard of Oz Drinking Glass: $1.25

On a less serious note, what else did I find? Oh yeah.

Tamagotchi (Connection)!

 

A key-chain that lives, dies, and takes a crap.

I know some of you remember these things. They were the big thing on the playground for a while, after POGs but before Pokemon Cards. It was something I looked down on for a while, too low-brow for my 4th grade intellectual tastes. That is, until I visited the Toys R' Us in Green Bay and discovered they made a Yoda one, which I promptly bought.

Tamagotchi/Digi-pets/about a million other names and incarnations were basically little "life" simulation games where you raise your pet by feeding it, playing games, and cleaning up after it takes a dump. If you forget to feed it, it will die and forever scar your childhood with an image of a tombstone where your little friend now lies cold and dead. Of course, this led to plenty of kids getting in trouble for trying to feed their pet during class, which bears something of a similarity to today's 4th grade trend: sexting.

What I hold here is no ordinary Tamagotchi. According to the label at the top, this is a Tamagotchi Connection. Where the connection part comes in is an infra-red sensor at the top of the egg shaped casing. According to Wikipedia, the connection had a few capabilities to be used along with a friend's Tamagotchi, enabling you to 1)Play games, 2)Give presents, and 3)Have tamababies. Tamababies? You mean it's possible to get Tamagotchi laid? While the Tamagotchi may be a prisoner trapped in the key-chains of the human race, we don't mind sticking a couple of them together for a quick romp, which truly shows the lengths of human tenderness. I guess that gives a whole new meaning to Tamagotchi "Connection."

What surprises me is the year stamped on the back: 2004, long after Tamagotchi had fallen out of favor, at least on my playground. There's also a sticker on the back, reading, "CAUTION: Battery harmful if swallowed." Really?

What does Tamagotchi mean? Again, as claimed by Wikipedia, "According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the Japanese word tamago, which means "egg", and the English word "watch" (as in timepiece)."

Cost of Tamagotchi Connection: Unmarked, Cheap.

And last, but certainly not least...

Mario Shaped Ball! Or, Ball Shaped Mario!

Pure awesomeness. I uncovered this in a bin with a bunch of other random toys, grabbing it instinctively before my brain had a chance to fully process the greatness of such a find. Nintendo memorabilia is something I'm not sure I'll ever own enough of. It comes down to the simple fact that Mario rules, and if you don't think so, you're probably some sort of asshole.

Like the glass, I cleaned Mario up when I got him home and was much more satisfied with the purchase afterward. I did a little touching up on the black parts and the red M with Sharpies to enhance the spectacle of my Mario ball. He's looking pretty decent.

Apparently this was a Happy Meal toy back in 2006. Where was I and how the hell did I miss this? Oh right, I was a senior in High School. It wasn't cool to embrace my childhood yet.

I guess the most likely purpose of a Mario ball would be to throw at the wall after getting killed by the same damn turtle for hours on end. Just look at his face. He's ready for it.

Cost of Mario ball: Unmarked, >$1

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I suppose that about wraps it up for this week. As always, comments are encouraged and appreciated! Have a good weekend! Myself, I'll be turning 23 tomorrow.