Nothing sours a toy fair morning like finding the perfect figure and having no way to pay for it. Two British collectors found that out the hard way in Southend-on-Sea, after one of them spotted a 1990 wrestling figure on its card for £40 and his friend told him it was worth double.

The host of 80s and 90s RETRO COLLECTOR filmed the whole trip, from an early Sunday drive to a frantic search for a working cash machine.

An Early Bird Sunday Drive After A Halloween Of Horror Movies

He starts the day happy. Halloween night, he says, was the traditional one, with horror movies including Halloween and Friday the 13th, his favorites, while fireworks went off outside. Now he is heading to a toy fair in Southend-on-Sea, a pretty part of Essex.

The roads are quiet. “One good thing about getting out early on a Sunday morning,” he says, “you can enjoy driving.” Entry is free after 10, with early bird tickets a few pounds, and free parking, which he loves. The fair is held at a primary school hall.

“You Are Kidding, That’s Worth Double That”

Inside, he meets his friend, who is already holding a carded Jake the Snake wrestling figure. The card is not great, but the price was £40.

“You are kidding,” the host says. “That’s worth double that.” His friend grins. He tells the host he is glad he got it first, because the host would have gone straight for it.

The friend had also bought two other wrestling figures from a dealer known as Blast, paying £130 for those two and £40 for the one, and later sold £100 worth to get most of it back. That is how it goes with collectors, he says. It is not so much a collection as an addiction and a lifestyle.

Four 1990 WCW Figures On Their Cards For £40

The host found his own treasure soon after. Four WCW figures from 1990, still on their cards with Toys R Us stickers, for £40, which is £10 each. “I cannot believe it, mate. I’m over the moon,” he says.

He had only ever seen figures like these on Instagram, he says, and even loose they would be cool at £10 each. Seeing them carded, thirty-six years after 1990, made them special. He is thrilled to display them, and he says there was better stuff here for wrestling fans than at the huge Birmingham show.

He also bought a Toys R Us catalog from 1993 and a Beetlejuice figure, a favorite film of his, for good deals on both.

“Two Cash Machines Not Working,” And The Morning Slips Away

Then came the snag. The seller could not take his bank card, and the host had left only some cash in his car. Wages go into his bank account, he explains, so he usually just taps a card. He keeps a boot sale pot in the vehicle, but he did not want to hand over a heap of pound coins and fivers.

So they set off to find a cash machine. The first shop did not have one. Garages in other parts of town usually do, he thought, but the first one they found did not work.

“No, two cash machines not working,” he says. “Brilliant.” They tried another direction, asked a few people, and followed a phone map that pointed them down side streets. In the end, he says, they went to three places before they finally found a working cash machine. His friend jokes that they looked like two men who skipped the fair and went to the pub.

“We’ve learned a lesson here,” he says. “We won’t come without hitting the cash point first.”

Mad Balls, Rick Rude And A Talking Mr. T Hunt

The fair offered plenty besides wrestling. He has started collecting Mad Balls, because they do not take up much space, and he has about 18 of them. A Vader figure at £235 struck him as a lot for a small fair, though the stalls were full of crowd-pleasers, from Care Bears to Ghostbusters sets.

He is also hunting for a talking Mr. T in the box, which another collector told him sold for £400 at the Birmingham show.

Between the stalls, the friends chatted with dealers they see all over the country, swapped stories about past shows and compared what they had bought. It was the kind of friendly crowd where everybody knows each other, and where a sticker on a lorry window is a badge of honor.

What To Pack For Your Next Toy Fair

The lessons of the day are simple. Many dealers at toy fairs and boot sales prefer cash, so pull it out before you leave home. Look for a cash machine near the venue in advance, since the closest one may be out of order.

Carry small notes for haggling, because a price like £40 is easier to negotiate when you can hand over the exact amount. Keep a list of what you hunt for, and know what a figure sells for loose and carded so you can spot a bargain when you see one.

And remember the other lesson, which is the fun one. A sleepy Sunday drive can end with a treasure in your bag, as long as you can pay for it before someone else walks off with it.

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