Never Rush When Buying Old Toys

 My recent trip to a fab vintage toy shop was a salutary lesson in why you shouldn't rush. 

The Missus and me agreed I'd be in there twenty minutes, whist she mooched elsewhere. In hindsight, it wasn't enough!

I looked and rummaged among the thousands of items in the shop with a view to a couple of investments and maybe something for myself, perhaps even a Redline. 

The shop always carries a few sixties Hot Wheels in a locked cabinet. Once opened I made my choice, a nice Silhouette, not perfect, but one I could touch up a bit. Result! It went in the bag the assistant had open.

Next I chose a small Action Man soldier, which I guessed was a modern version of my beloved Little Big Man. The assistant opened the cabinet and having pointed at the little fella I walked off to look for more goodies.

This came in the form of an Action Force cruiser, a palitoy vehicle I'd not seen before. That went in the bag too.

With the twenty minutes up and a small discount applied by the assistant I went away a happy boy.

Until, that is, I got home! 

Alas, for some reason the assistant had put in a full-size modern Action Man skin diver instead of the little guy! 

 I was gutted as, with a bunch of original items I have (thanks Bill) I'd planned to relive past glories with my little big man!

But that wasn't all.

To some extent it got worse.

When choosing my Hot Wheels Silhouette Id simply assumed it was a redline since it was surrounded by .... Redlines.

Turns out it isn't a Redline at all!

Here's a proper Mattel Silhouette.

Here's what I bought.

It looks similar but .....

It's a Zylmex Bubble! A knockoff! 

Hot Damn!

I just hadn't looked at the wheels and the base, relying entirely on what birdwatchers call the jizz. How it basically looks! 

Well, I needed a beer after all this! Clearly twenty minutes just wasn't long enough in a sweet shop like that!

 But there is a sort of happy ending!

Speaking to my nephew the next day, it turned out that he was driving through Otley later that afternoon.

He offered to visit the shop and see if the little soldier was still there. Good man! 

He was!

 and once demobbed he drove back home to Moonbase!

😂

Have you any old toy shop horror stories readers? 

*

PS. The unbranded miniature man still remains a mystery. Any clues?