Another White Whale Harpooned

I joined eBay in 2000 and the first thing I did was start tracking down the Orioles and Baltimore Colts publications I needed. And there were plenty of holes in my collection. I'd chase things in fits and spurts but in the last year I got really serious about the last dozen or so guides/yearbooks I lacked.

I finished off my Orioles checklist earlier this year and knocked off nearly all of my Colts needs. But this '77 Media Guide had eluded me. For a long time. I'd generally been targeting guides from cheapest to most expensive which is why I pulled in some 1950s Colts  guides a few months ago after years of looking for reasonably priced ones.

But for some reason the 1977 Colts guide was super elusive. My eBay saved search email alert has sent me dozens of false positives through the years. The infrequent copies that showed up went for more than I thought they were worth and I never won a bid. So last week when I got another alert I was expecting that it was pointing me to the same tired 'TV Guide preview' of a Colts-Broncos game.'

But it turned out to be the real McCoy and for $15 I jumped on it. It showed up yesterday and took its place on my shelves. I would scan the insides but I don't want to fold the spine that much.

And there is a postmortem to this little episode. I received another email alert last night. I checked it and remembered that I needed to delete the alert. Lo and behold there is ANOTHER 1977 Colts media guide on eBay BIN. For $9. Free shipping. Grrrrrrrr. Years of losing bids and two of these come up within a week. And I buy the more expensive one. What can I say?