Doohickamabob

Nice photos. Is the tiger rug included in the sale? Just an FYI for future posts like this: There is a Magazine selling/trading thread in this area. I wrote a post to "bump" it to Page 1. It's not a big concern in the magazine part of the forum, because there's not much activity here, but in the comics areas they ask you to keep sales-related posts to one thread (best practice is to point people to a larger post in the sales forum). Anyway, looks like a decent set of issues with some potential as upgrades for people who have already completed the run.

Delayed reaction here... You didn't post a photo, waaaaa. Would have liked to have seen these.

Is this the article? It's from issue #19 in 1955. This is similar in concept though my recollection clouded by the years is of a B&W illustration in the vein of MomCo above. I am a great skeptic of memory, I know it to be fallible and open to a great many variations depending on circumstances. Dang, I am striking out. I wanted to think I was the master of all things Mad. But I am 0 for 2 here... Can we rule out these satires appearing in other publications, such as Cracked, Humbug, Stan Lee's Snafu, and Hugh Hefner's Trump, for examples? You mostly stuck to Mad, right? I was looking through some Al Jaffee stuff. He was one of the most prolific writer/artists, with the most classic material and also most adventurous in terms of trying different formats. A few of his inventions eventually became real things:

This isn't what you were looking for, but...

Is this the article? It's from issue #19 in 1955.

Dang, that sounds like something I remember that was drawn by Paul Coker. Might be 1970s. The game is on... Fair chance it's Al Jaffee...

This is a fun exercise in tracking down a specific Mad article. I haven't been able to pin down those two pieces yet, though. I'll keep looking into it, for the challenge. Yesterday I dug out the "Totally MAD" CD-Rom set, a 1999 product from Broderbund software. It has 7 discs full of scans of every Mad issue from #1 through whatever issue in 1999. I'm glad to see it still works on a newer computer. There's a search function for text, and I typed in "pharmacy," "superstore," "drugstore," "brand," "label," "clothes/clothing," and "advertising" (which got too many hits but I skimmed them over). I couldn't find either of the above-referenced predictions, but that doesn't mean they aren't there, of course. They just aren't obvious to find. Maybe for fun I'll start reading through every issue (again -- I've done this a few times over) and see if I can spot those bits. They both do ring a bell, in the deep recesses of my memory. But not enough of one. (I feel like the clothing label bit might have been something drawn by Bob Clarke.) If you have any other details, or can try to estimate the year you would have been most likely to read Mad, then please share what you can. Another option would be for you to go to Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site and look through the issues yourself, reading the Table of Contents listing for each issue. Maybe you'll spot the article in question. In the meantime, I leave you with two screen shots of articles that were thematically close to what you described, if not the actual articles. One article is from 1968, one from 1975. Let me know if these are in the stylistic realm of what you remember, because even that could be helpful:

This is the blurriest listing I've ever seen... Photo taken on a trampoline?

If you create a brand new listing from scratch, and then after listing it you look at it and click "sell similar," does it let you?

You posted this because...? (If you look at the listing, seller has two comics -- one slabbed, one reader. It seems maybe you didn't notice that.)

Those both sound like they must have been from the 1960s or older. Do you remember the decade or approximate year? I'll see what I can dig up.

I looked at a bunch of that seller's recently closed auctions and didn't find any bidding activity by "v***r(4)." What you described sounds shilly though.

I've been looking at some local auction sites in midwestern cities. I've seen 3-bedroom houses sell for as low as $17k.

I know a lot of people here are saying most of this is junk, but if you have the means to move stuff, and if you have storage space, why not buy it all in a lot at a very low price, and sell it off in your spare time? You could slowly research everything, look up sold prices for each item on eBay, etc. Everything that sold for a low price you could donate to a thrift store. Or you could just sell certain things in large lots on eBay here and there, until everything you have left has some value and you could make some decent money. I agree with what people said about the possibility that the collection already got cherry picked. I wonder if they had other dealers look at the lot, or if family members divvied up some items.

Here's some music for Mitch's dramatic return:

I'm guessing Mitch is still recovering from "Batman v. Superman."

Agreed. Plus it's a very handy skill to have. It's fun but the learning process can be expensive.

I don't see a problem with the seller hedging on description by using phrases like this: "To me it looks like a VG+, but since there can be differences of opinions on some aspects of grading, please do your part and look over the photos carefully before placing a bid." It sounds wishy-washy but I think it's fair to ask the buyer to meet you half-way by giving things a look-over. It shouldn't be hard for any seller to list basic flaws like: Rusty staples, staple pull-tears, spine splits, detached center wraps (one or both staples), tape, interior paper quality, bends/creases, strong odor, or anything that smacks of restoration.

A good new printer or scanner is at least $100, though the mid-range nice ones are more like $150, and really good ones will go higher. You're right that an ink refill can be as much as $75, maybe more. Yes, it's a racket -- they suck you in on a decent-price piece of hardware and then gouge you on proprietary ink refills. But it would be very wasteful, not to mention a hassle, to buy a new printer/scanner each time.

More sad news for Mad fans (and this news came at almost the same time as the Carrie Fisher news): "Don “Duck” Edwing, MAD Writer and Artist, RIP 2016 continues to be a sad year for the MAD family as we have learned of the passing of legendary writer and artist, Don “Duck” Edwing at 82. Truly one of MAD’s all-time-greats, Duck wrote many classic Don Martin gags before creating his own outrageous one-page features for the magazine. We will post a full tribute after New Year’s Day when the MAD office reopens. We extend our deepest condolences to Duck’s family and friends."

A lot of people here saying the auction ended really low. Question: Why didn't you outbid the winner?

Sad news (saw this on Mad's Facebook page) -- "Paul Peter Porges, MAD Writer and Artist, RIP We end the year on a sad note, with the passing of longtime MAD writer/artist Paul Peter Porges on December 20. Paul Peter’s first contribution to MAD was the cover idea for issue #106, in 1966. Over the next four decades he contributed over 200 articles to MAD, with his last feature appearing in MAD #500. In addition to his MAD work, “PPP,” as he was known to his family and friends, was a contributor to "The New Yorker" and "The Saturday Evening Post." Born in Vienna in 1927, Paul Peter survived a difficult childhood, on the run at age 13 in Europe as he and his brother fled the Nazis. A warm and gregarious man, Paul Peter was exceptionally devoted to his wife, Lucie, who preceded him in death. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to Paul Peter’s two daughters and his entire family."

Delayed reaction here, but Robot Man, you rock.

This looks....hmmm....

Your indifference is admirable (seriously). The feedback system is eBay's game. None of us is obligated to buy in to that game. We freely choose to at our discretion only. Any outside pressure to play the feedback game is unwarranted. It is an individual choice.