Lead Market Report - August 2011

August was a busy month! Lots of lead changing hands, with some big spenders throwing down the PayPal Benjamins, along with some steals and deals. Since I'm now officially late, let's get down to business.

CITADEL: I will continue to sing the praises of Citadel's AD&D line, and collectors seem to agree. This cuddly little Owlbear took in $45. Or you could have landed this Owlbear for $19.50. A knobby, gnarly Troll for $18, as well as this Shambling Mound. How about this trio of Mind Flayers for $28, $20, and $20? Or these for $21, $22, and $22? No one is ever going to confuse them for, say, Grenadier's version (Why is he doing The Robot??? Don't get me wrong, I love the lil guy, he's just stuck in the 80s for some reason...) These Stirges went for $27. And I really thought this Beholder would go higher than the $26 end price. What do I know? The broken eye stalks on this one for $19.50 pretty much explains the sub-$20 price IMO. On the bargain end, this Rust Monster blister went for only $12. And WTF, this Gorgon for a mere $4? I'd buy that for a dollar! Wait, that doesn't make sense...This trio of Kobolds brought in $9.50, $7.50, and $5.60, respectively. Decent prices for the little fellas.

Giants! C28 Giants! Different bodies, heads, and weapons. I love it. And someone loves this C28 Giant to the tune of $50. This one fancies himself as Hamlet, LOL!

DRAGONTOOTH: I know, I know, the listing says Ral Partha. But if this isn't Polyphemos Cyclops, I guess I don't know jack about minis. Quiet in the peanut gallery, please! $26 is a nice price, IMO.

FASA: These Star Trek II sets seem to be somewhat uncommon, but not exceptionally rare. So $21 for set 3001 (Enterprise) seems fair, as does $25 for set 3002 (Reliant). Now $50 for the USS Baker seems like the seller did well on this lot. I don't even know which movie/episode the Baker was on (if any)!

GHQ: Huh? What? GHQ - don't they make those teeny, tiny tanks and ships? Why yes, yes they do. And someone paid a whopping $2,172.99 for a veritable flotilla of 1/2400 WWII naval goodness. I suppose that's a pretty good deal, since the seller originally wanted $4,500/OBO. Congrats, buyer, you are the LMR's Big Spender of the Month!

GRENADIER: The Big Spender of the Month (Honorable Mention) award goes to the buyer of this massive lot of Gamma World minis for $1,484! That is some serious coin, my friends. On a side note, the collection came from a fellow Acaeum member, so I know it is the real deal.

Grenadier collectors seem to have pretty good luck with some of the more low-profile sets, such as this Encounter at The Ogre's Lair for the low, low price of $6.50 and this three-pack of Lost Lands sets that went for a paltry $23.50 - not bad at all for one NIB, one complete, and one mostly complete set. And this Fellowship of The Ring set sold for $27, a respectable amount for a complete set from this line. $8.88 for the big Wyvern? Check. Undead War Chariot for under $16? Done.

This Cloud Giant sold for $4, which is a price I would pay for sure. One buyer snapped up a NIB set of CoC Adventures (shouldn't that be Adventurers?) for $40, whilst another buyer picked up the same NIB set for $24. It doesn't look like you get the box with this Dragon's Lair for $14, but that's just fine if all your going to do is paint it up and use it or display it.

HERITAGE: Dammit, Jim, I'm a leadhead, not a doctor! This lot of 14 Star Trek blisters sold for $188, or something like $13.40 per blister when you do the math. Most logical, wouldn't you say?

Now for you fantasy types, this bad boy is pretty damn cool: The Great Dragon, still sealed in his lair, for $114. In better economic times, I have to imagine this one would have brought in a bit more.

What, you Dungeon Dwellers types not feeling the love? OK, how about these four boxed sets, still mint in shrink: Demons & Devils for $152! Level 6 & 7 Monsters for $126! Level 3 Monsters for $105! And Level 2 Monsters for $78! Why am I yelling?!? The contents of this $119 Caverns of Doom set look nice and minty, while the box looks a bit rough around the edges. Or you could have owned this NIB Storm Giant for $30.

LEADING EDGE GAMES: Get away from her, you bitch! This Power Loader boxed set (still minty and sealed) went for $55.

MARAUDER: I normally lump Marauder in with Citadel/GW, but they get their own entry this month, mostly on the strength of this $71 Giant listing. That's a LOT of metal to cram into a blister, no?

MINIFIGS: Sometimes, these demons go for a small mint. And sometimes you get them for pennies on the dollar, like this Type II for $2.50 and this Marilith for $3.25. I suppose the missing hand/weapon hurts a little, but three and a quarter? And perhaps the Type II looks too much like Kermit? (Image not used with author's permission.)

RAL PARTHA: I really like some of the older RP boxed sets, like The Bear Chariot of the Icelands. This example sold for $51, quite a bit higher than I usually see it go for. It doesn't represent any particular character or NPC, it's just a nicely sculpted set that would look great painted up and based on a snowscape. Same goes for this War Eagle boxed set, NIB for $31.

On the low end of pricing, this NIB Huma's Silver Dragon went for a mere $33.50. I have no idea why, considering they usually sell for around $50. If you needed Bugbears, they would have set you back $23 for a NIB set. Or you could have added the seated version of the Displacer Beast for $31 to your collection.

Another Molydeus came and went, this one for $89. Nice condition, unbuilt and unpainted. Takhisis usually commands $100+, so to see one go for $92 gives me hope I'll eventually get one. Eventually. Another dragon that hovers in the $100 range is the Imperial Dragon, like this one for $91. Nice to see the old school lead commanding strong prices. Speaking of old lead, how about this twofer: the Bronze Dragon of Pern AND the Black Prince's Chariot of Fear for a total of $77.

BattleTech remains strong, especially minis that are MIB/MOC. In particular, a selection of most-wanted Mechs such as the Marauder for $57, the Shadow Hawk for $51, the Warhammer for $31, and the Rifleman for $25.

Now this next auction isn't Ral Partha, but it is BattleTech, and it is a plastic model kit, so that's good enough for me: Rifleman & Warhammer plastic models for $24. As someone who enjoys metal miniatures AND plastic model kits, this is a really neat item IMO. Gonna have to keep my eyes peeled for these, see if I can get one for myself!

REAPER: $15.50 is one of the lower prices I've seen just about any of the DOOM minis move for, in particular the Baron of Hell. Really? Well, just check out the same Baron of Hell for almost $29. I'm just sayin'...because Mancubus sold for $26, while this Revenant cashed out at $102!!!

WEST END GAMES: I saw these two (Storm Skimmer and Speeder Bikes with BINs for $8 each, and I was very tempted to grab them for myself. I'm still debating if I should go after this line or not. Hmmm...

OK, that's a wrap for August. Thanks to my procrastinating ways, I need to turn right around and bang out the September LMR. Stay tuned for that one in the next week or two. Thanks for reading!