Treasure in the Attic (or How Much Is a Fantasy Worth?)

Yesterday, Jeff and I spent some time sorting and cleaning in the attic. We hadn’t went through the boxes and stuff up there in over 10 years and since we are planning a big yard sale later this spring, it was time. Also, when they put our central heat and air in, the ductwork had to be put in the attic and everything had gotten jumbled up and pushed around. So with visions of Clean Sweep and Mission Organization in my head, we decided to go at it. The unfortunate thing about my sentimental nature is that I get so distracted by all the memories associated with the clutter that I spend way too much time reminiscing. We opened time capsule after time capsule from the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s - all the toys from when our kids were little, along with boxes of stuff from previous jobs, baby clothes, and old magazines. I was in artifact heaven! How could I throw out such huge chunks of our past? To give myself incentive as I went through old memorabilia, I allowed myself to pick out a few things that I thought I could use in scrapbooking before pitching the rest. Some things I lay aside to send to Sarah or give to Nathan or the grandkids. It was a struggle, however, I did manage to eliminate 6 bags and 4 huge boxes of junk. But we are only about one-third of the way done!
One of the things I did permit myself to bring downstairs was a box of old comic books that had been Jeff’s when he was a boy. Jamie is really into fantasy and comic books lately, reading them and even writing and illustrating his own stories and making power point presentations about super heroes. The grandkids were coming over that night for supper, so I stacked them in my keep box and brought them downstairs. I knew Jamie would love reading them because there were a lot of titles that weren’t around any more. I thought he would get a kick out of seeing the 12 cent to 25 cent price tags. Sure enough, as soon as we had finished eating, Jamie pulled the box out and started diving into the comics. Soon he found a slip of paper in one of them with some handwritten prices next to the names of some of the comics. He called Jeff in to ask him about it. Jeff remembered that many years ago he had attempted to price the comics for sale. Jamie was excited by some of the amounts he saw, $5.00, $10.00, $15.00, etc. Now, Jeff was even getting interested. He suggested to Jamie that they go online to see what some of them might be selling for on E-bay. I was playing with Zacharie in another room and I kept hearing their animated voices and suddenly Jamie yelled out, “Jackpot!” Audrie and I ran in to see what was going on. Jamie held up one of the comic books and shouted, “$125.00!!!” The funny thing was it was one of the comics that neither him nor Jeff had heard of – something called Homer, the Happy Ghost. Audrie had to join in the search and she was the designated tracker, adding up all the prices. They went through most of the books and Audrie didn’t even record the lesser priced ones and there were many that were worth $10 to $20. But the eleven highest priced copies were worth over $450.

Visions of Playstation 3's danced in Jamie's head and Audrie began dreaming about a Disney vacation. Practical Nana had to chime in with the thought that if they were worth that much now, how much would they be worth when Jamie and Audrie were older? It was so much fun to watch the grandkid’s excitement. They spent the rest of the time until they went home just going over the list again. After they left, I said to Jeff, “You know, whether or not we ever actually sell the books or not, I have gotten a priceless amount of enjoyment just watching the kids tonight.” And it might be worthwhile to take a harder look at some of the other things in the attic before I pitch them out!