Michael Thomasson auctions the 11,000 games of his collection!

[DreamTR]

I talked to Michael a couple of weeks ago at CORGScon, he has to sell the collection for medical bills for a family member.

 

I'm glad this thread is positive. The threads on Digital Press, Nintendoage, and Reddit about this auction are cesspools :/

 

Well the problem is when he opened the floodgates for coverage on the collection, he opened himself to a world of people who are going to nitpick every little detail about it. If it was just kept under the radar like Richard Lecce (rareusgold) had done before, then there would not be anywhere close to this backlash.

 

The fact of the matter is that rolenta even noted that Michael's plan all along was to go for the record and then sell the stuff as he hinted in one of his articles awhile back. I sympathize with the family member thing but this was technically "planned" (whether it was changed or not it was still the end all) and the way he has conducted himself with this just is not looking good for him. Heck, even the "description" on Game Gavel was him stating he has done this before (sold his whole collection) and he'll still be teaching, writing books, doing all this stuff, etc, it's REALLY arrogant in text and when this article was put basically everywhere, he can't expect nothing less than backlash because as nice as he is, it makes no difference. The online persona has been unleashed.

 

Of course, this is the day and age of the "internets" but if Michael was not a valued member here this whole thing would be blasted on here just like any other website.

 

I am not going over any more misrepresentation of "facts" and what people are paying for, etc, but as many people on Atari Age like to put out there when someone has a "lot" of games for sale and price nitpick, anyone who is in the know understands the only thing he is "selling" is the Guinness record. The games are far from worth it and that's even a stretch saying that. It's mostly common stuff, and with the amount of Good Deal Games stuff he has in duplicates he probably already has an instant "secondary" collection of 8,000+ games so if he sells this it's not that big of a deal except for the name. If this was anyone else he'd be thrown to the wolves.

 

I am not trying to stir up negativity and I am sure by reading this people think that is my point, but this is not about lollipops and candy, it's $750K of games that is not worth even remotely close to that and it's being advertised everywhere as the "world's largest collection verified by Guinness" but it's a bait and switch when you realize that there isn't anything really of value there for what he claims it is worth! He's missing practically everything post 1985 and doesn't have any standout rare stuff at all, so yes, the collection is about the "Guinness" moniker and by virtue of that regardless of what the money is being used for, etc...

[PacManPlus]

I spoke to him yesterday (via e-mail) and it's looking like the high bidder can't be found now. It sucks because it's now two family members with medical issues. I only wish I could help him.

[Bill Loguidice]

I spoke to him yesterday (via e-mail) and it's looking like the high bidder can't be found now. It sucks because it's now two family members with medical issues. I only wish I could help him.

 

That was always the concern. For purely non-personal reasons, those of us with similarly large collections who would also sell if we could get even a significant percentage of what it (on paper) sold for were watching closely to see if that was indeed real. It sucks if it turns out not to be real, but certainly not surprising as it's incredibly difficult to sell large collections in one shot like that.

[Shawn]

I spoke to him yesterday (via e-mail) and it's looking like the high bidder can't be found now. It sucks because it's now two family members with medical issues. I only wish I could help him.

 

So it looks like $90k was the real highest bid in the end and I highly doubt that person would take it as a second chance now cause who knows how many other bids that

got it that high in the first place were also fake bids.

[Greg2600]

About the only hope Michael had for BIG money was if some ridiculously rich person (millionaire or more) was bored and decided to buy. However, the shear number of games would scare them off, what would they do with all of them? Also, if he doesn't have some of the big hitter games like Stadium Events, then the collection is worth less.

 

Bill makes a great point that many people in the community have massive collections, in which probably 3/4 are individual items which are not worth all that much. Buyers are not going to want the commons, they want the rarer stuff, and will liquidate the commons. That takes a ton of effort though, unless you have a fast-moving business like Trade N Games or Digital Press that can sell the stuff fairly quickly.

 

It's a case of when less is actually more. We always see these posts about, "what happens to your collection when you're gone?" Well this is a good experiment on that subject, just how difficult it is to sell a large collection.

[Shawn]

 

It's a case of when less is actually more. We always see these posts about, "what happens to your collection when you're gone?" Well this is a good experiment on that subject, just how difficult it is to sell a large collection.

 

 

When my day comes to take a dirt nap I don't care what my stuff gets sold for. It's for me and my enjoyment so when I'm dead

my next can keep or sell whatever. Not like I'm gonna care cause I'm dead...lol..

[NIAD]

Any updates on what eventually happened?

[Shawn]

Any updates on what eventually happened?

 

+1

[+save2600]

 

+1

-$750,000

[Shawn]

-$750,000

 

That was kinda cruel though.