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The one that got away

What's the item that you never managed to get, regardless how hard your tried? I was trying to get the signed book by Michael J Fox to give as a Xmas present last year, must have checked the Waterstones page and Google results hundreds of times, never managed to get a copy.

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Permalink Reply by Dav12 on June 21, 2021 at 10:55am

Eminem for me - I live in the U.K. and always seem to miss his items going up

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Permalink Reply by Andy on June 21, 2021 at 10:57am

I wasted a lot of time on Billie Eilish's book

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Permalink Reply by terry berry on June 21, 2021 at 12:37pm

Maradona- I was the second highest bidder on more than one signed copy of his El Diego book

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Permalink Reply by Marshall Slayton on June 21, 2021 at 1:32pm

Quite a few, but the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

Metallica S&M2 Box Set

Hans Zimmer- No Time To Die (Vinyl)

Eminem (I second Kdavies12 -- he always seems to upload items at a time I'm unavailable.)

Smashing Pumpkins -- Shiny and Oh So Bright (Full Band)

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Permalink Reply by ShadyBootlegger on June 21, 2021 at 1:46pm

Eminem drops are bad I used to wait up for them and still lost out

the email always comes out too late every time

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on June 21, 2021 at 1:59pm

The one that got away - and was recaptured!

My Mom saw me bidding on a Vivien Leigh one night. She could not believe what I was about to bid to win. After a few minutes watching the countdown she got caught up in the thing and said "Bid X! WIN!". I lost anyway. In the year she passed away, I found the same exact SP and was able to secure it - something to remind me of Mom. Here it is, photo by Angus McBean - from Tom Kramer - along with the original 1949 playbill. :

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Permalink Reply by Dan on June 21, 2021 at 2:03pm

That's an amazing touching story, thank you for sharing.

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Permalink Reply by damageinc777 on June 21, 2021 at 3:42pm

The Ramones. They had a scheduled in-store 20/25 years ago in Royal Oak and when we got there they had cancelled it. Never did get anything signed by the band and I don't buy anything via ebay, autograph sites. So that was a bummer because it obviously won't ever happen now.

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Permalink Reply by Shawnstormer on June 21, 2021 at 6:49pm

I purchased an Elton John signed LP, with the inscription 'To Brian - Best Wishes'. Absolutely perfect seeing my name is Brian.

...but it got lost in the post during transit by FedEx! I was fortunate to be offered a full refund or an exchange but it's just not quite the same as owning that one-of-a-kind item.

The one that got away, I wonder where it is now...

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Permalink Reply by crazyrabbits23 on June 21, 2021 at 10:23pm

I was willing to pay a lot of money ($1,500+) for a couple of "author's copies" (that is, the author's personal copy of their own work, noted and auctioned off as such) of books I really wanted, but the auctions got me several times. I was also willing to pony up some serious cash for a couple of signed Pierre Trudeau letters, but got outbid at the last minute.

Most recently, I was willing to put down $300+ on a signed Margaret Atwood association copy of her second book of poems, got outbid, then saw the same seller (who works a couple cities over from where I live) deciding to flip it on Abebooks for five times the price. Vulture.

Several titles I came across in secondhand shops, didn't pick up and then went back for, but never found again: a signed copy of Charles Krauthammer's first(?) book, Cutting Edges, with a bookplate that was dated to an event shortly after he won the Pulitzer (I had no idea who he was when I found it); a signed copy of Shaquille O'Neal's "Shaq Attack" (I thought it was fake); Romeo Dallaire's "Shake Hands with the Devil" (an entire short easay written to a graduate on the ffep; I wasn't big on the condition when I saw it).