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  #1  
Old 04-09-2011, 01:14 AM
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Earl Earl is offline
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Default Estes Gemini Titan on Ebay....over $300?

Admittedly, I'm not as avid an Estes kit collector as I am Centuri, but I find myself scratching my head when I see this kit come up on ebay and draw this level of attention.

This kit was from the mid-to-latter 80s originally, right? I have one I got as a freebie from Estes in the late 80's....I opened it at the time and did not find anything super-interesting in the kit itself. Not bad of course, just not sure what the draw is on this kit to bring in this kind of bidding.

Can someone enlighten those of us who may be somewhat insensitive to the exact collector's draw on this kit? Here's the current link on this one...it's a bit over $300 right now with something like 33 bidders:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Estes-1978-Gemi...=item1c1ab2504f


Thanks,

Earl
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Old 04-09-2011, 08:28 PM
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Still sitting at just over $300.

Again, anyone able to offer suggestions as to why such popularity/value of this particular kit?

As mentioned in my original post, I'm a bit in the dark as to why this kit seems to garner such bids, especially the range this one is bringing in.


Thanks,

Earl
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  #3  
Old 04-10-2011, 07:13 AM
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That price is definitely on the high side of the range........................

23/03/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $183.50
25/04/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $124.50
17/05/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $81.50
10/06/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $122.50
20/07/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $302.00
24/07/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $230.00
29/07/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $107.50
23/08/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $89.52
02/09/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $108.00
12/09/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $87.00
30/10/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $95.00
12/12/2004 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $84.50
13/03/2005 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $131.00
06/04/2005 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $123.49
15/04/2005 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $59.99
29/05/2005 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $112.87
12/06/2005 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $63.57
26/10/2005 Estes #1978 Gemini-Titan $67.55

Personally, I think $60 (the lowest selling price in the range) is plenty to pay for the kit. Doubtless a couple of newbies smashing heads together. It's possible that one or more of the bidders has this confused with the much scarcer K-21 kit.

Joe
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Old 04-10-2011, 08:19 AM
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Yeah, it just seems a bit strange this kit even has the price history there you listed.

I mean, to each his own....I've paid some high prices sometimes for some rather generic kits just because they were a personal favorite or something, but there are really no attributes to this kit that I can see that would put it into the $100+ range on a routine basis. Some of these prices are running into 1/45th Little Joe II range, and this kit certainly isn't in that range of quality.

So....I'm still trying to figure out the exact 'draw' to is kit. Thanks for the auction history.....that's interesting.


Earl
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Old 04-10-2011, 09:22 AM
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CCBW - Collector Craziness Bidding War. A little too much testosterone in the mix.
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Old 04-10-2011, 12:05 PM
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I can barely see the original K21 from the 60's/early 70's going for this let alone that kit which was a piece of junk compared to the K21 and not that scarce
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Old 04-10-2011, 04:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghrocketman
I can barely see the original K21 from the 60's/early 70's going for this let alone that kit which was a piece of junk compared to the K21 and not that scarce


Well, that's my point. I'm not gonna 'bash' anyone for their kit preferences....that's not my quest here. I'm just trying to understand why a somewhat lackluster kit as this seems to garner such interest when it comes up for bids.


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Old 04-10-2011, 06:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl
Well, that's my point. I'm not gonna 'bash' anyone for their kit preferences....that's not my quest here. I'm just trying to understand why a somewhat lackluster kit as this seems to garner such interest when it comes up for bids.


Earl


Not the kit. It is the bidders. As in most auctions there comes a point when the bidders lose sight of the value of the item and instead focus on their personal value in winning.

BTW - it went for $356.99. Gonna skew the averages a little bit. Also the bidder at$250.00 tried to snipe it.
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Old 04-10-2011, 06:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jharding58
Not the kit. It is the bidders. As in most auctions there comes a point when the bidders lose sight of the value of the item and instead focus on their personal value in winning.

BTW - it went for $356.99. Gonna skew the averages a little bit. Also the bidder at$250.00 tried to snipe it.

In the good old days when you could see the bidders, you could email the losing bidder and offer him one of your own kits at a few dollars less than his losing bid and still make a killing.
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Old 04-10-2011, 07:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jharding58
Not the kit. It is the bidders. As in most auctions there comes a point when the bidders lose sight of the value of the item and instead focus on their personal value in winning.

BTW - it went for $356.99. Gonna skew the averages a little bit. Also the bidder at$250.00 tried to snipe it.


I understand the 'just want to win it' angle.....but that does not explain the values this kit seems to pull in nearly EVERY time it comes up. It's really strange.

One typically doesn't see too many latter-era Estes kits go for the numbers this one seems to bring in over and over. "The Hunger of The Fight" might explain an occasional high selling price, but this one seems to hit high numbers almost every time one is listed. There's gotta be some kind of 'extra' something about this kit, but danged if I know what it is. Maybe there's like a VERY small group of 2-3 "Latter Era Estes Gemini-Titan Kit Collectors" that are trying (for some strange reason) to out-do each other in the quanity of these kits they can collect.

Whatever it is, it's kinda weird.
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