a new look of "things"

I missed writing my blog last week because I was busy with our brand new web site! I'm sure you've already noticed the new look with more room for lots of cool Things on the home page. But I want to tell you about a few of the features we've added that you might not have seen yet.

Want to know if a Thing is in stock? Now you will—instantly. If we're temporarily out of it, we'll tell you when it will be back in stock. Sometimes we have to discontinue Things that we can't get right away, but that doesn't mean they're gone forever. Now when you see a discontinued Thing on our web site, just enter your email address and we'll let you know when we have it again.

We have a lot of Things that come in different colors or styles. For example, our college watch. With our new web site, we can post pictures for every team. Just mouse over the small pictures to bring up a larger one. And we've added the stock and pricing information to each style, too. That comes in handy for Things with different prices for different sizes, like T-shirts.

I always read customer reviews when I buy something on the web. I want to know if other people like the Thing I'm thinking about buying. Now you can review all of our Things, too. Loved the fart machine? Tell us about it! Tell us how you used a prank or practical joke and how it worked – or if it backfired! And our new wish list makes it easy to keep track of the Things you find interesting and might want to buy later on. Just add the Thing to your wish list and we'll save it for your next visit.

I'm always dying to know when a Thing I've bought will arrive. I'll check on my package progress at least once and sometimes twice or three times a day, especially if it's a gift that I've waited until the very last minute to order. (Who? Me?) Now you can track your package right from our web site, too. Just look up your order and follow the link to see where it is.

We think our new site makes shopping for Things a lot more fun and a lot easier, too. We hope you like it!

movie mania

If you follow this blog, you know I love movies and movie memorabilia. Not just collectibles like film cels, but toys, posters, stamps, action figures and just about anything that reminds me of my favorite movies. Our buyers are always looking for cool Things to collect from the movies—and there are a lot of them this year.

The Harry Potter series is one of my favorites. I've read all the books and seen every movie so I had to have this framed set of Harry Potter Film Cels from the original prints of all five movies. I also bought one for my cousin, even though his birthday is several months away. You never know when we're going to sell out of these Things.

The Lord of the Rings is arguably the greatest fantasy film series of all time. These are movies that you don't see just once, but twice or even three times. (Who? Me?) I got The Lord of The Rings Trilogy Cels to display on my bookcase between my worn out old copies of the books.

I honestly can't see why, but my sister is totally crazy for Johnny Depp. She was the very first to buy the Pirates of the Caribbean Film Cels from us. True, I was second, but because I think the series is one of the best Disney has ever released, not because I want to make googly eyes at Jack Sparrow's picture. Sheesh. Maybe I don't always understand her, but my sister can be kind of cool sometimes. For example, she knows that Star Wars is one of my favorite science fiction movie series. She bought the History of Star Wars Film Cels collection for me before I even knew we had it. It was just hanging in my office when I came to work one morning.

Toys from the movies are fun, too. Especially if you actually play with them like I do. I got this Star Trek Phaser for just that reason. It has sound and light effects and a break-away design that lets you remove the “type one” phaser from the pistol grip. I keep it on my desk, right next to my Alien Vs Predator action figures. If you ask me, memorabilia you use is the best kind.

That's why I always end up buying Things like this Scarface Gun Lamp and Indiana Jones Hat. I use the lamp in my home office and, yes, I do wear the hat—not just for Halloween, either. It's a cool hat and it's well made.

Sometimes useful Things are purposely transformed into collectibles. This Harry Potter Stamp Set is a perfect example. Issued by Britain's postal service on July 17, 2007, the stamps are canceled with the official "First Day of Issue" Quidditch postmark, so even if you lived in Great Britain, you couldn't use them. Because they're a piece of British memorabilia celebrating the Harry Potter phenomenon, of course I had to have them.

Now that I have my collectibles in order, I'm going to head out to the warehouse and see what kind of new gadgets we have to play with. I love my job.

coins, coins, coins

We're collectors. Nearly everyone who works here collects something. My grandpa collects coins. Since his birthday is coming up, I went looking through our stock of coins for something unique and interesting to add to his collection.

America's First Silver Dollar was the first Thing that caught my eye. It's not a replica—it's a .903 silver coin minted when Mexico was still a Spanish colony. Based on Mexico's eight Reales silver coins, these silver dollars were legal tender in the U.S. from 1794 to 1857. He also collects the state quarters, so he might like these 51st State Quarters even though they're outside the official collection. They were privately minted after a the Senate bill that would have extended the program with quarters for Washington DC and the four US territories was anonymously blocked.

Gramps also likes to search bulk coins. When I was a kid, I used to help him go through bags and bags of unsearched coins looking for that one rare find that would make his day. This bag of Buffalo Nickels, minted between 1913 and 1938, might help him round out his nickel collection.

Our Genuine Mercury Dimes collection contains ten of these increasingly rare coins. The dimes are mounted for display with one .900 silver dime from each of the last ten years of issue (1936-1945.) And this set of Double-Dated Coins is also ready for display. It contains coins of the same denomination that shared a common production year but had different designs. For example, in 1916, the Barber dime was ending its 24-year run and the Mercury dime was beginning.

Lincoln pennies are really popular with collectors and this is the best Lincoln Penny Collection I've ever seen. 98 pennies, one from each year of issue (including the increasingly rare 1943 steel cent) are displayed in a museum-quality portfolio. It's great for both new collectors and lifetime collectors like my grandfather.

Collectors also like counterfeit coins—as long as there's a good story behind them. The Racketeer Nickel is a perfect example. Called “the most brazen coin fraud in American history,” a deaf-mute named Josh Tatum gold-plated Liberty Head Nickels and passed them off as five dollar coins. And because of a legal technicality, he was never punished for it! To reproduce Tatum's crime, we've plated these Liberty Head Nickels in 24-karat gold and mounted them for display.

Finally, no collector can resist recovered treasure. Our Sunken Treasure Coin is part of a collection of coins lost in 1809 when a British trading ship bound for India sunk in a sudden storm. The ship and its cargo were recovered in 1985. The “10 Cash” coins were packed in wooden casks and trapped in the thick mud so they are still in mint condition.

Since I can't buy every Thing I found in our collection of coins, the hardest thing now will be to decide which of these collectible coins and/or coin collections to give to Gramps for his birthday...