By J.C. Vaughn

Mark Young, In the Limelite this week, grew up in the mid-1950s in Sydney, Australia, and moved with his family to Columbus, Ohio in 1967. He recently established himself to the collecting public at large as one of the preeminent names in space toys with the publication of Blast Off!: Rockets, Ray Guns, Robots, and Rarities from the Golden Age of Space Toys (coauthored with Mike Richardson and Steve Duin, Dark Horse Books 2001). Of course the kind of collection represented in that book didn't just happen overnight, but it did happen with some amazing insight.

What's your background?
I grew up in the mid-1950s in Sydney, Australia. My father was a very well known population geneticist and my mother was one of the first women to enter the Australian Air Force. We moved to Columbus, Ohio in 1967 and my father helped start the Department of Genetics at Ohio State University.

From about age 3 my cousin Maurice, who was about 11 at the time, introduced me to toy soldiers. Every Sunday I would visit my cousins and we would spend hours playing together. At that time, kids in Australia played with English plastic soldiers made by companies such as Lone Star, Charbens, Cherilea and Crescent. Maurice had hundreds of soldiers and we spent many hours building huge forts out of hard cardboard matchboxes that we would interlock together. We would stage big battles and knock the soldiers down with matchsticks that were fired from metal cannons.

Maurice was an obsessed collector and probably the best wheeler-dealer I have ever encountered. Somehow he was able to take his meager allowance and parlay it into sizable of collections of soldiers, stamps and records. I think this must be how I learned subconsciously to try to make my hobby pay for itself. I watched how Maurice shrewdly bought, traded and sold to get the next thing that he wanted for his collection. He also bought collections from other kids when they got bored. When Maurice's interests turned to the fairer sex, I inherited a large part of his toy soldier and stamp collection. Maurice still lives in Sydney, and while he has a good job, on weekends you can still find him at the major markets in Sydney buying and selling vintage records and books.

After we moved to Ohio, I began to lose interest in the soldiers, as you couldn't buy English made figures at any of the stores. I did buy some HO scale Airfix figures after reading H.G. Wells book, Little Wars. This book is the primer on how to conduct war games. I built a huge war game table in my basement and conducted war games for about a year. But, by the very late 1960s, I was spending my time with tennis, my primary sport.

It was almost 20 years later in 1987 while we were living in Boulder that toy soldiers reentered my life. My parents had decided to retire and sent me a lot of my childhood things. Included was a shoebox full of the original English toy soldiers that Maurice had given me. My wife, Sarah, had been encouraging me to get a hobby as she thought I was working too much (this is actually odd since she is a professor, too and works harder than I do). As a professor, you carry your work with you all the time. You are constantly thinking about a new research idea, how to interpret the results that you find and how to write up the results. I needed a break.

Because I was so used to working constantly, I couldn't think of anything that really interested me until the day that box arrived. The box only contained about 20 figures and it began clear very quickly that if I was going to collect soldiers again as a hobby that I had better try to find out if there were any sources of figures. After going to a few antique stores in Denver, I recalled why I put the figures away 20 years before - I just couldn't find any English made figures. In one of the stores in Denver I picked up a copy of Richard O'Brien's first edition of Collecting Toy Soldiers. I remember pouring over it night after night trying to decide what types of figures really caught my fancy. The soldiers that really caught my eye were the American Dimestore lead figures from the 1930s through the 1950s. These figures are without a doubt the most whimsical figures in the world of toy soldiers. Many of the poses are in awkward and sometimes bizarre and humorous poses. There is certain campy quality to them. So I did the tour of the Denver antique stores again and to my dismay only found a few broken figures.

At the back of Collecting Toy Soldiers there was a list of leading dealers and collectors. I thought it was worth one last try to call some of these people to see if I could buy things through the mail. The second person I called was Don Pielin. It turns out that I was very lucky as Don was a long-time collector who is credited with coining the term, "Dimestore Soldiers" to characterize the lead soldiers made by Barclay, Manoil, Grey Iron and others. Don also ran the Old Toy Soldier Newsletter (OTSN) show in Chicago every September. This is the granddaddy of all toy soldier shows and the world's biggest dealers frequent this show more than any others. Don is an incredibly knowledgeable and friendly guy and he invited me to come out to the next Chicago show.

Don told me I should get to the hotel at least two days before the show began as Don mentioned that there would be room trading. When I walked into my first hotel room at the Hyatt Regency in Schaumberg, Illinois, I could not believe my eyes. In front of me were two tables with about 300 near mint Dimestore figures. Within about 10 minutes I had spent most of the money that I had brought with me. After I paid the dealer, he asked where I was from. I told him, Boulder, Colorado. I also mentioned that Colorado was probably the worse place in America to try to find Dimestore figures. As I was leaving I asked him where he was from. I remember Jack Rossman, who would later become one of my best buddies in the hobby, saying, "Denver." I couldn't believe it. So, it just goes to show you that you collectibles are available everywhere, you just have to keep looking.

What did your family and friends think of you collecting?
They have been extremely supportive. Sarah even suggested the idea of having a space toy room in our home. I think it is highly unusual to have such a supportive spouse. My son, Nathaniel who is almost seven really loves going in to the room and he is very respectful of the toys. And, of course, my parents clearly see the extension of what I was collecting as a kid and like the idea of things coming full circle.

For a number of years, I did not really advertise to my non-collecting friends how deeply involved in the hobby I was. But now almost all of my close friends have spent some time in the room. I even have it set up so that we can watch the classic sci-fi movies in there and it quite an experience be surrounded by space murals on the walls and ceilings and the toys.

Where did you go to college?
I went to Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Oberlin is regarded as one of the really great Liberal Arts colleges in the United States. It was an incredible experience that I cherish to this day. At Oberlin I studied Economics and Biology but also spent a lot of time getting involved with campus politics. From there I went to Ohio State to do a Master's Degree in Accounting and then I went to the University of Pittsburgh for my Ph.D. in Accounting.

I started teaching right after I got my Ph.D. in 1983 at the University of Arizona in Tucson. From there I went to the University of Colorado at Boulder and in 1992 both Sarah and I recruited to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Right now I hold the KPMG Foundation Professorship in Accounting and am also a Professor of Management and Organization.

Did your career have an impact on your collecting?
Yes, but in an interesting way. As an academic you spend your life trying to solve research questions. As you do research, you develop theories from which you generate testable hypotheses. The next step is to collect, organize and analyze data to provide support for or against the hypotheses.

The irony for me is that I started collecting to get away from work, but as I got deeper into collecting space figures and hard plastic spaceships and vehicles, I realized that I really wanted to know more about who made the toys, what was their inspiration, what the connections were among companies, etc. When I started doing research for Blast Off! I was able to capitalize on all of the research skills that I had acquired in my day job. In fact, I tried to integrate information that I had collected in early catalogs, books and databases. The key was to track down many of the people who actually made the toys to see if I was correct in a lot of the assumptions I had made.

I was very fortunate to find key people such as Gloria Genin Lester, the former wife of Robert Genin, the founder of Archer Plastics and William Lester, the president of Pyro Plastics. Interestingly enough, Gloria and Bill had met each other in a retirement community in Florida but did not know each other during the heyday of 1950s space toy production. We provide a lot of stories like this in Blast Off! and many of the original research that we conducted wouldn't have been nearly as accurate without everyone's help.

It's very clear that under the umbrella of space toys you collect in many different categories ranging from play sets to figures to vehicles. How did you decide on your approach to collecting?
The key was the initial focus on toy soldiers and that led me to space figures. In particular, I was strongly drawn to the Tom Corbett figures by Marx and the Archer first series plastics figures. But once I saw the Pyro Plastics space ships and all of the various kinds of space cars I was hooked on them, too. While I do collect a number of space-related items, plastic toys really make up the core of my collection. Why plastic? I love the colors and shapes of the spaceships and space cars. One can clearly see the influence of the Streamline Modern art movement in these toys. I also believe that collections should be displayed. Like a lot of collectors before I had the space toy room, I had most of my collection in boxes. When you see these highly colorful plastic space toys displayed under good lighting it is really a joy to behold.

When did you first get interested in doing a book about these toys, and how did you hook up with Dark Horse?
As I mentioned earlier, I found the Archer figures fascinating. I had never seen anything like them. I was really determined to build an Archer army. At one of the shows in the early 1990s someone had one of the Archer second series, slothand spacemen. This figure was incredibly well sculpted with a huge Romanesque helmet, oversize shoulder pads and space boots and two oxygen tanks on his bank. But the real clincher was the special space weapon that fit into the figure's slotted hands and the bizarre shoulder bags called Astro Pacs. I was so intrigued by this figure that I tried to gather any information I could on the company. Who were the incredible people who came up with these figures fifty years ago? What was their inspiration? I had to find out.

The bad news was that there was very little information about Archer Plastics in print. Then, about 6 years ago, Frank Scheuttle, a friend in Buffalo sold me his Archer Plastics catalog. The catalog, may be the only one in existence, had all sorts of information in it including the location of the company in Elmhurst, New York. Getting this catalog was the turning point for me and it was then that I thought about writing a book. A lot of people who have read Blast Off! have mentioned to me that they were happy to see a chapter on Archer Plastics since so little was known about the company. I find this particularly gratifying since tracking down Robert Genin, the man who founded Archer involved many hours on the phone with local libraries in New York, long searches in on-line data bases, and days spent in the Los Angeles Public Library going through 15,000 pages of patent drawings to locate the designers of the Archer space cars. All of this finally led to tracking down Gloria Genin Lester in Florida. Gloria contacted all of the Genin family and I was able to piece together the history of the company.

Around 1995 another space toy collector, Judd Lawson, told me that he was interested in doing a book, too. He mentioned that he knew a major publisher, Mike Richardson. Unbeknownst to me, Mike, who was the President of Dark Horse Comics, and a fellow collector, had independently come up with the idea to write a space toy book, too. Judd who was a friend to both of us got Mike and I together. Unfortunately, Judd had to drop out as a coauthor due to other commitments. Mike suggested that we bring in Steve Duin, a well-known journalist and comic book collector to the team. Mike and Steve had just published, Comics Between the Panels (Dark Horse), arguably the definitive history of the comics industry. Mike had a very clear idea of what he wanted in the book. He wanted it to be comprehensive and cut across every major area of space toy collecting. I think that he had great insight in suggesting this as I wanted the book to be more narrowly focused. But Mike's instincts proved correct as the book really has something for everyone who is interested in the Golden Age of space toys.


Were you happy with how the book has done?
Extremely so. Mark Cox, an Englishmen who was the Art Director at Dark Horse, designed the book. Mark had a long interest in characters such as Dan Dare so he had the right sensibilities. Mike also allowed me to participate directly with Mark Cox and Chris Horn, one of the main technical specialists at Dark Horse. I was able to do a first pass on all of the ordering and layout of the images. I also coordinated the gathering of the photos and the paper items that Chris and his grouped scanned.

What has the reaction been from readers?
The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me at shows and congratulated Dark Horse and us for putting out the book. What makes the book different from anything else out there in this hobby is the unique blend of original research, great images, entertaining text and great presentation. I have to thank Chris Warner our editor at Dark Horse because he did a good job in making sure that everything flowed well.

Where has it been reviewed, and how have the reviews been?
The book has been reviewed in Toy Shop, Antique Toy World, Outré, Plastic Figure and Playset Collector, Salon.com, Budplant.com, toyraygun.com, solarguard.com and in numerous of California newspapers. The book was also used as the show catalogue for the first major vintage space toy exhibition at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, California in October, 2001. That show, curated by Ellen Fleurov and ray gun expert Gene Metcalf, was a huge success. The book was also used as one of the accompanying books for Bob Lesser's exhibition of toy robots at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago last Christmas.

What's included in the special edition, and how do people get it?
The Limited Edition is truly unique. First, Mark Cox designed a beautifully illustrated outer box. The box is made to look like one from the 1950s. Inside, there is the original book, now in a slip case, a great graphic that also serves as a numbered signing sheet, a second 32 page soft cover book of many more images, an ORIGINAL 1950s Pyro spaceship and four space trading cards especially designed for this book. I was fortunate to find about 375 ships 7 years ago in a warehouse and we decided to use them for the book. I think this is the only toy book to ever include a real vintage toy. We also include an original advertising sheet that shows the toy. The trading cards are done in the spirit of the Jets, Rockets, and Spacemen series except that every figure on the cards is a toy that has come to life. Dark Horse has only produced 350 of these Limited Sets, so if people want one they should call Rachelle Calloway at Dark Horse 503 652-8815 or go to the website www.darkhorse.com and purchase the set on line. But do hurry as the sets are selling very fast.

What do you see for the next step in your collection?
I started to branch out to other parts of the space hobby such as ray guns, space helmets, robots, games, etc., but nothing intrigues me more than the space figures I started out with. I would guess that I have several thousand figures but the best thing is that something new seems to turn up couple of months. After 15 years you would think that you have seen what is out there, but every country in the world, it seems, produced space figures in the 1950s and some are only now coming out.

Where do you see the hobby going?
In my opinion, collecting space toys will continue to be a very vibrant hobby indefinitely. Why? First, the toys themselves are works of art. A very large number of collectors appreciate how wonderfully creative they are. For instance, tin robot collectors can talk for days on the huge variations among robots, the actions they perform and how cleverly they are constructed. Second, vintage toys still represent the vision and hope that we have had ever since the introduction of Buck Rogers in the late 1920s - space travel to other planets, other life forms such as aliens, fantastic weapons such as ray guns, and mechanical creatures to do one's bidding in the form of robots. Third, the toys really do hold their value. While I do not collect for investment purposes, I do know that I can sell just about any piece in my collection for at least as much and probably a lot more for what I paid. One certainly cannot make that claim about too many other assets these days!

Finally, there is a great deal of cross fertilization from other areas of collecting especially from people who collect science fiction movie posters, props, model kits, etc. These folks collect space toys, too. For all collectors of Golden Age space toys, posters, props etc. we enjoy seeing the interconnections among things and it influences what we purchase. In some cases the toys may have led to an idea for a movie prop or vice versa. I find it amazing how many recent science fiction and animated kid's movies (such as Jimmy Neutron) still have spaceships in them that look like they jumped off the pages of a Buck Rogers strip. And as long as Hollywood keeps making movies like Signs, George Pal's legacy and all of the toys related to the War of the Worlds will continue to be of strong interest.

There are a lot great characters in your book - Space Patrol, Tom Corbett, Captain Video, Buck Rogers, others - who are your favorites, and what's your best piece from each show?
I really like all of these characters, but as a group, I think that the Buck Rogers toys are the best. I really like all of the Buck Rogers ray guns, especially the XZ-31. The boxed set of rocket skates that we feature in the book is just fantastic. I also really like the inspired artwork on The Cut-Out Adventure Book. Working on the Buck Rogers chapter really got Steve Duin enthused. Steve has an extensive collection of comic books and has been collecting for years. I had a feeling that with his sensibilities it wouldn't be long until the space objects grabbed him. I remember the day he called me up and said, "I have got to start collecting Buck. This stuff is unbelievable!" From what I know, Steve has been concentrating primarily on Buck paper items.

My favorite toys from the Space Patrol, Tom Corbett and Captain Video shows are the Marx playsets. These sets are miniature masterpieces. In particular, the sets are very faithful to the Tom Corbett show and if you look carefully at the playset figures and parts essentially you will see exact replicas from props on the show. Rusty Kern at Atomic Home Video produces a terrific line of videos that focus on the details of playsets. His video entitled, The Space Sets #8 shows the comparisons between the props and the toys (it also shows my space room). Dark Horse distributes these and they are available at their website.

The Flash Gordon expert is Mike Richardson. While Mike has a number of collections including comic books, Superman and sports memorabilia, a Flash Gordon may be his all-time favorite. I know that one of his favorite Flash Gordon pieces is a very early chalk ware statue. The figure is about 15 inches tall and is shown on the opening page of the Flash Gordon chapter in the book.

How many space-related cereal boxes are there, and how many do you have in your collection?
I am not an expert in this area but I would estimate that there are about 20 to 30 Golden Age cereal boxes. I have about 15 of them but they are all reproductions done by a friend, Duane DiMock, in San Diego. I use the boxes, comic books, pulps and other space art as background pieces for my toys. Often what I will do is to make a great color copy of an original piece of artwork and use the copy as the background piece. This way the original paper item is not damaged by any UV light.

Do you have all the rare toy rings?
I don't have a single ring! Of course, I really like rings but my approach has been to stay very focused on figures, space ships and space cars of which there seems to be a never ending supply. My approach to collecting is to try to be as complete as possible within these categories (more on this below) and so I collect all of the color and style variations. I do have a lot of other supporting toys such as some ray guns, helmets, puzzles, games, etc., but they are not my main focus.

Is condition important to you or is it more important just to have an item in your collection?
Condition is critical and I am always trying to upgrade pieces that I am dissatisfied with. If a piece is truly rare (and I use the term rare sparingly), but in poor condition, I will probably buy it, until I can get another in better condition. For instance, when I started collecting the Miller Aliens I would grab them just to have examples. Some of these figures were missing heads and arms! This was in the days long before eBAY when you never knew if you would ever see the piece again. Today, however, I would be a little more discerning. But, I can tell you, even with the existence of eBAY, there are many items that are still so rare that I would buy them in just about any condition.

I'm interested in the process of doing the book. Are all the items in Blast Off! in your collection, or did other folks contribute? And if others did contribute, did they have items you wanted to buy?
A lot of the toys are from my collection but many came from the collections of Mike Richardson, Bob Burns, Gene Metcalf, Wayne Jagielski, Bob Lesser, Bill Hanlon, Ray Rohr, Justin Pinchot, Rick Jones, Lester Harrison, Judd Lawson, Martin Hills and Julius Lopes. Are you kidding? If I had unlimited funds, I would try to buy them all out! But, having said that I know that many of these guys simply wouldn't sell their collections no matter what I offered them. Some people think that others will part with beloved items if the price is high enough. I hope I never get that cynical.

Do you think of modern characters like Jimmy Neutron? Do they hold any interest for you as a collector?
My six-year old son and I watch that movie every couple of weeks since we both like it so much. I have seen the toys and really like them. Jimmy's rocket is a real homage to Buck Rogers. I am sure I will end up getting some of them eventually but finding space to display them is the issue. I also have a concern with many of the new space toys, as I don't like displaying them on their cards. What I usually do is to commit the Cardinal Sin of opening the packages and taking the toys out. Actually, I don't really have a problem in doing this since so many of these toys these days are produced in such volume that it seems unrealistic to think that any of them (except for the ones the manufacturers knowingly hold back) will escalate dramatically in value.

Do you have a story of a particularly rewarding hunt for a specific item - or a "one that got away" story?
The best item in my collection is War of the World Diorama. I believe this is the first space toy as Henri Mignot, the renowned French toy soldier maker, made it in 1925. We discuss the piece quite extensively in Blast Off! The story behind this piece is an example of a toy that was hiding in plain sight. I mentioned earlier that I use to read O'Brien's toy soldier book religiously. At the back of the 2^nd Edition is a small photo of the War of the Worlds. The photo is small and the item shown is so big (about the dimensions of a small coffee table) that it is virtually impossible to see anything in the diorama clearly. I would often get out a magnifying glass and try to get a better idea of what the details looked like.

If there was one piece that I really wanted it was this one but I had a sinking feeling that there was absolutely no way. Why? Because in my mind, the War of the Worlds was the Holy Grail of space figure collecting. I remember calling everyone I knew. When I contacted Steve Balkin at Burlington Toys in New York he told me that he had actually handled the piece for several different buyers, but he did not know who currently had it. Since, obtaining the War of the Worlds was a pipe dream anyway I put the matter to rest (at least I thought I did).

A number of years went by and then in 1998 I made my annual trek to the OTSN show in Chicago. During one of the early days of room trading, a dealer that had known for some time started chatting with me. I asked him whether he had any space items for sale and he said, "Well, I think it's time for me to part with my War of the Worlds set." I said, "Oh, you mean you have an Archer War of the Worlds set?" And he said, "No, I mean the Mignot set. I have had it for years." You could have knocked me over with a feather. Here was a guy that I had known for almost a decade and I had no idea that he had been secretly harboring the set. In fact, no one else knew either. After a long series of negotiations I was finally able to obtain the set. I look at this diorama every day. It is truly a masterpiece.

What advice would you give people about building a great collection?
The answer to this question is highly idiosyncratic but here are some ideas to think about.

1. Accumulating Versus Collecting. There are many different types of collectors. At one extreme is the casual accumulator. Casual accumulators tend to purchase objects in several or many categories. Usually, they acquire things that catch their eye at a particular moment. Often they amass items that are at best loosely related and they do not collected in one particular category extensively. Accumulators can vary in intensity but have no specific collecting goals in mind.

At the other end of the spectrum is the obsessed collector. Obsessed collectors feel compelled to own every item made by a specific company and every color or type variation in a line of objects (e.g. every item connected to a specific movie or TV show). They are not satisfied until they have reached specific collecting goals. Once an immediate goal is accomplished the obsessed collector immediately turns to another. Gene Metcalf, the ray gun guru once told me a story about an obsessed collector who spent every dime he had on his collection. He crammed every nook and cranny in his home with objects. Gradually, he sold all of his furniture except for his bed to make more room. A month later when Gene visited him he noticed that the bed was gone. Gene asked where his friend was sleeping. His friend replied, "In the bathtub."

One distinguishing characteristic of obsessed collectors is that they often feel compelled to acquire items that they do not particularly care for just for the sake of completeness. The quest to finish a collection can be all consuming. Once I asked an obsessed collector what the best day in his collecting life would be. He said, "When I acquire the last item on my list." Then I asked him, what would be the worst day. He said, "Same day."

Between the casual accumulator and the obsessed collector there are many types of people who collect. But, why be concerned about this issue? Personally, I think that understanding the kind of collector you are (or want to be) can save you time, money and heartache. Some self-reflection about your collecting style can provide you with key insights and that may lead to greater collecting satisfaction. It's similar to undergoing a personality test for the first time. You may have known some things about yourself but the test often reveals a new level of understanding.

I see several major advantages to moving toward the collecting, rather than accumulating end of the spectrum. First, as one builds a collection, one gains knowledge about manufacturers, people, history and society. This kind of knowledge will ultimately help build a collection especially when one is able to integrate information that has not been pieced together before. For example, over the past two years I have been trying to locate a particular space ship. I contacted every one I knew especially those in England. I was led to believe that England was the country of origin of the toy. No one knew a thing. I knew the company name and through a series of Internet and library searches discovered that the item was made in Australia and not England. I was fortunate to found a great source in Australia who located the ship within 3 months.

Second, as your collection grows you will develop a reputation. The better your reputation, the greater the chances that people will contact you and offer you items.

Third, remember that in many cases, accumulators spend as much money or more on the objects they desire as collectors. But when one decides to sell, a collection is much easier to liquidate than a number of unrelated or loosely related objects.


2. Have a Crown Jewel (or Two) in Your Collection. It is very wise to bite the bullet and purchase at least one truly great piece that everyone else wants. For me it is the Mignot set. Having this piece really gives the collection credibility and a certain celebrity among fellow collectors. It also is a key feature if you are forced to liquidate.

3. Develop a Network of Suppliers. I get most of the items for my collection through my network of friends and dealers. Once is a while I will find something on eBAY but I usually prefer to deal with people with whom I have a long history. Initially, I built my network by meeting people at shows. Writing articles or books on your collection also gets your name out there and people will contact you.

4. Keep the Collection in Good Condition and On Display if Possible. I once asked Bob Lesser, one of the world's most astute collectors what was the favorite item in his collection. He didn't hesitate when he said, "The next one I buy!" Collectors are always on the hunt and as soon as they acquire what they are after, they go on to the next item. What happens to the acquired items? Well, many collectors just put them in boxes and they bring them out as the need arises. One of my very best space collecting friends engages in really strange behavior. When he gets a box in the mail, he determines who it is from and then leaves it unopened somewhere in his house. Once, when I called him he was opening a box to see what was inside. The box had been sent to him 18 months beforehand and he had just let it sit in his bedroom. The item in the box was an incredibly rare and expensive piece. This same collector has bought the identical object three times because he had forgotten that he had purchased it previously.

So, what's the point? The point is that collectors spend a great deal of time acquiring objects but much less time appreciating and taking care of them. Objects can deteriorate very easily and there is nothing worse than opening a box of vintage paper items only to see a rotting mess. So it is critical to keep your collection in good condition. Keeping objects in good condition means dusting them, oiling them, keeping them out of bright UV light, etc., depending on what they are.

Perhaps the biggest issue for all collectors is displaying the collection. Many collectors just don't want to put any money into display cases; they would rather spend the money on the objects of their desire. Ever since I began collecting I wanted to display my collection since it was a source of joy, however, I had only one small cabinet. About 5 years ago I finally commissioned a cabinetmaker to build me several really large cases with superb lighting. I cannot tell you what a joy it is to see the items on display.

5. Build Your Reputation as a Person. I think that eBAY has tried with some success to develop a measure of integrity through their feedback system. While we can argue all day about whether it is a good system, it certainly is data that many of us look at when trying to decide whether to deal with someone. No preaching here, but let's face it: If you are honest and keep your word, who wouldn't want to deal with you?

A few gems from the amazing world of space toys, followed by images from Blast Off! courtesy of Dark Horse Books, include: