Way-Back Wednesday, 1980's: "Garbage Pail Kids", Worth Their Weight In Gold
I am unconventional, and don't typically go with the flow...
I am sure you have heard of "throwback-Thursday"? Well, I am making my own thing. This is the first installment of a series I will call, "Way-back Wednesday".
Now, today, I am bringing up an oldie, but a goody. Hell, I say old, but then that would also be directed at me, because I loved these things as a kid. So, if you grew up as an 80's kid, you will probably remember a set of off-colored, collectible stickers by the name of "Garbage Pail Kids".
First introduced in 1985 by the Topps Company to parody a popular toy of the time, "Cabbage Patch Kids". Each sticker had a character with something comical happening to them, or the characters, being the center of attention, had impending doom approaching, which might get a chuckle out of a kid, or adult alike.
When I was a child, I would frequently stay with my grandparents during the summers. My grandmother would send me down to the corner store, which was about half a mile down the road, to fetch her the daily newspaper. Don't ask me why she did it this way versus paying for a monthly service, but hey, she was from a different generation.
She would hand me two quarters. One for the paper, and one for my troubles. Now, stores back then had what we used to call, "penny candy". There was a large assortment of candy you could purchase, and starting at a nickle, you could manage to rack up quite the treasure trove of your favorite treats for $.25. Something that is unheard of today, and that was only 30 years ago.
Or, you could purchase some of these and trade with your friends. Quite the decision for an 8 year old. I chose these more times than not, and managed to build up quite the collection over time. Now, if I only managed to keep what I had from back then, as with all trendy fashions, there is collectibility to nostalgic items that become rare as time goes by and people throw them out, the population of them decreases, making them more valuable. This is all assuming that there is a population who desires replacing the items from their childhood at a later date.
A quick search brought me to some crazy conclusions. First, why is someone asking for $5,250 for an unopened box of series 1 of this product, and is that reasonable? Wow, my mind is blown!
Who would have thought that something at $12 a box retail could demand a premium of a little over $5k just 30 years later? The time is now to check your attics and your basements to see if you are holding pay dirt. Seriously, I am not kidding.
Well, this concludes this edition of "Way-back Wednesday". Hope this brought back some memories for you, and got you thinking of what you might have done with those potential golden nuggets of fun... Till next time.
~Deep1111