Disney-comics digest #576.

[Don Rosa]

MIKE P.:
	Depending on how the Finnish editor sent those comics, they could be here
in anything from a few days to a few months; I would assume he had the money to
send them airmail and not by boat!
	And he sent me 3 months worth of that fanmail he's asked his readers to
send for me? I hope he includes a note from himself telling me what he expects
me to DO with that stuff! I always answer what little mail finds its way to me
now, but it takes months to get to the answering. If he sends me dozens
(hundreds?) of letters in one lump, there's no way I can answer it all, and
being the democratic guy I am, I'll therefore read but answer NONE of it. We'll
see what his idea is.

DAVID G.:
	There's an enormous difference between an antique dealer and what I was
calling a flea market dealer. The former deal in certain items and know their
material, understand their market, respect their customers, and are honest. The
latter deal in anything they can get at auctions and estate sales, have no
understanding of any sorts of markets, no respect for their "victims", and only
seek to put the highest prices from the price guides on their shoddy merchandise
regardless of condition. I see these people at local flea markets with the same
toys and books year after years, all priced too unresonably to ever sell except
to that one sucker who wants to become an "investor" that they expect will
stumble by their booth someday. They won't discuss their merchandise with you
since they know they know nothing about it and their ignorance will make their
pricing suspect. They won't buy anything from anyone at the show since they are
used to getting their material literally for pennies from estate auctions. No
matter what Duck or Mouse toy they have, even if it's clearly labelled
DISNEYWORLD 10TH ANNIVERSARY, they'll claim it's from 1928, and won't listen to
any discussion to the contrary. This is not their day job, only once-a-month
weekends, and they only seek to get windfall money which they naturally don't
report to the IRS. In 20 years of visiting flea markets, I haven't seen but a
handful of respectable dealers... I only go looking for recent Duck toys that
even THEY wouldn't charge more than $5 - $10 for.
	Finding those mint condition BLBs at fair prices from a flea market
dealer was a shock until I noticed he couldn't read or write; I figured that
would explain his ineptitude at dishonesty. I caught him in several lies about
where he got the books and how long he'd had them... but he still didn't know
enough to overprice them.
	At flea markets, let the buyer beware. That's why I call 'em fleece
markets.