Buying toys from the flea markets - part 2

Some years ago at the Clarke Quay flea market, there were short trends of demand for 80’s action figures like M.A.S.K., Transformers, He-Man etc., while me and very few other collectors created a lesser demand for My Little Pony, She-Ra and Dino-Rider toys at there.  You had to be very sharp-eyed to spot your targeted toys from the countless piles and boxes of mixed toys on the floor of each stall as not all the sellers used tables.  It was possible to find ‘hidden treasures’ from those stalls, such as UK or Euro exclusive My Little Pony toys that cost a premium on Ebay but only a dollar at the flea market.  Of course you needed to contain your excitement until after you had paid and left the stall.  It was all part of the bargaining game which was also fun!

For second hand toys like those from the 80’s, you have to accept that many of them had been played by children and often ’damaged’ by them.  Some toys became ‘ruined’ by the hot and humid Singapore weather.  Sometimes these second hand toys can be ‘restored’ into good conditions but not always.  A seasoned collector would be able to tell by examining the extent of the ‘flaws’.  For example, many My Little Pony toys were found to have brittle hair.  When you pulled their hair gently, they broke off easily.  This was due to our Singapore weather.  Such ponies could not be ’saved’ unless you were prepared to ‘re-hair’ them, which is a lot of effort.  Hence it was better not buy them unless you needed their heads and bodies as customzing baits, and that they were also dirt cheap. 

When the sellers started asking for exorbitant prices for such beat up toys, collectors turned to Ebay or online toy forums as alternatives sources.  That also coincided with the rise of the internet era and its popularity was very quickly embraced by toy collectors all around the world.  A fellow local My Little Pony collector, who later became my best pony collector pal, subsequently introduced me to using Ebay and toy forums after the local pony supplies at Clarke Quay started to dry out. 

So when is the best time on Sundays to visit the flea market (a.k.a. toy market)?  Formerly at Clarke Quay, it depended on what toys you were looking for.  Some Star Wars fans and other toy collectors would arrive before 9am and ’sweep through’ the stalls while the sellers were still unpacking their wares.  Then sellers started reserving toys for buyers so that reduced the early mad rush. 

I used to visit Clarke Quay just before 10am to find My Little Pony toys and intially my trips were fruitful.  Then gradually, I switched to reaching there only at around noon and could still make good pony finds because some of the regular pony sellers only set up their stalls at that timing.  Then as the pony supply started to dwindle, I teamed up with another local pony collector to purchase ponies from Ebay and trade online with other overseas pony collectors. 

I rarely visited this flea market after it moved to China Square Central.  I usually went there at around noon with my pony collector pal as there was no urgency for us to find ponies there anymore.  Although the stalls are in an air-conditioned building, which makes the shopping experience much more comfortable than at Clarke Quay, I missed the ambience that I was so used to at its former location. 

The China Square Central flea market is less appealing to me, even though almost all the familiar sellers and regular toy shoppers are there on weekends.  This is partly because I had long passed the ‘Rapid  Growth’ stage in toy collecting and I could turn to other physical and online sources to acquire the toys I want.  Nevertheless, when My Little Pony collectors from overseas visit Singapore, my pony collector pal and I would bring them to China Square Central to visit our Singapore version of a ‘flea market’.  There are other more traditional flea markets here in Singapore. 

Come back again tomorrow to read more about the flea markets that I had been to during my early toy collecting days!