New Add - Goldy Graduate

Obviously I love Goldy bobbleheads...I went to school at the University of Minnesota and a Goldy bobblehead was what started this crazy passion/obsession.  One of the latest to be produced is a Goldy Graduate bobble.  Great detail on this one and the cap/gown and base "M" make it really cool! 

New Goldy Bobblehead

The fine people at the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame are producing the newest Goldy Gopher Bobblehead!  I can't wait to add this one to my collection.  Most readers know I'm not a huge fan of Forever Collectible bobbles (I just like other looks better) but this will be an FC bobblehead.  They'll ship later this summer and of course Goldy is in a boat.  Ever since PJ Fleck was announced as the Gopher football coach, RTB (Row the Boat) has been everywhere.  It's always, Row the Boat, Ski-U-Mah.  And I love it.

Another Goldy Bobblehead!

I've been looking for this Goldy for a while.  I've seen it, but never for a price I was comfortable paying.  I'm not sure how rare it is, but it certainly isn't very valuable.  I'm not sure what happened with this bobble, its exactly the same as the Rainbow Foods basketball Goldy, except there is no plaque.  It also doesn't look like the plaque was removed as the paint certainly matches with the rest of the base.  I've also seen several of them, so it kinda tells me there is a story behind this one, and I'd love to know what that story is!

Goldy Bobbleheads - Gymnastics

One last Goldy related bobblehead.  This is probably one of the hardest to find and expect to pay big bucks for it when you do find it.  It's the Goldy Gymnastics version.  These were given out at meets in 2003 celebrating 100 years of U of MN Gymnastics.  Quite the bobble.

Goldy Bobbleheads - 2 more Gold Country Versions

Here are the other 2 bobbleheads from Gold Country.  I took this pictures from the web as mine are in storage right now.  Pretty obvious that these are football and basketball.  They are both pretty rare. I'm still hoping to find out more about the story behind these bobbles!

Goldy Bobbleheads - Gold Country Hockey Versions

These are 2 of my favorite Goldy bobbleheads.  You'll recognize one of them as being on the top of my want list for a long time.  The Goldy on the left is recognizing the 2002 National Champion hockey team while the one on the right is just like the previous Goldy, a Gold Country hockey version.  Both of these were produced and sold by Gold Country.  You'll see the National Champion version a bit more often, but the Gold Country hockey is extremely rare.

Goldy Bobbleheads - Gold Country Version 1

Next in the blog series of Goldy bobbleheads comes a Gold Country edition.  For those of you who don't know, Gold Country was an apparel store in Dinkytown.  Back in the early 2000s, Gold Country produced several different Goldy bobbleheads.  This is one of them.  From what I know these were all retail bobbleheads, but with a very limited run.  This specific Goldy is rarely seen.

Goldy Bobbleheads - Marching Band

Now we come to a few of the more uncommon Goldy bobbleheads.  The first is the marching band Goldy.  I've heard a couple different stories about this one, but I believe these were sold to raise money for the University of Minnesota Marching Band.  I've also heard they were sold at a specific fundraising event, but I'm not sure if that truly happened.  Either way, this is a cool Goldy bobble!

Goldy Bobbleheads - 2 Swimming Variations

Here are 2 different variations of Goldy as a Swimmer.  I blogged about these bobbles recently after I found the second one, but at the time, I didn't know the story behind them, now I do!  The "U of M" was the original Goldy Swimming bobble.  When the U received the first small shipment of these they noticed the "M" was not the Minnesota M, but the Michigan M.  I added a picture of each "M" below the bobbles.  The U quickly revised the bobblehead and had the correct Goldy Swimmers sent. I've heard the original batch was around 250, so the "error" bobblehead is quite limited.  The story behind these 2 bobbleheads is pretty interesting to me and I'm glad I was able to find both of them! Beyond that, I believe they were giveaways at swim meets at the Aquatic Center.  

Goldy Bobbleheads - Alumni Variations

Next up in my Goldy bobblehead blog series are 2 variations of Alumni bobbleheads.  From what I know, both of these were given out by the Alumni Association.  I'm not sure the reason behind the 2 variations of this bobble as its quite subtle, but for those collectors who want all forms of a specific bobblehead, these are must haves.  As you can see, the only difference is the M on Goldy's chest.

Goldy Bobbleheads - The Common 6

Here's a picture of the 6 most commonly seen Goldy bobbleheads. They were fairly easy to find a few years ago and still aren't uncommon, but more and more are damaged in one way or another.  There are 2 different baseball Goldy's.  The one in the white jersey was a giveaway at a baseball game with Hormel sponsoring it.  The other one, just like it's 4 counterparts are all part of the Rainbow Foods promotion.  You could find these on campus pretty easy when they were originally giveaways, and then later, you were able to buy them in Rainbow Foods stores.  I have seen both the wrestling Goldy as well as the basketball Goldy plaque-less.  I don't know the story behind those.  The hockey Goldy is the most valuable of the bunch and the wrestling Goldy is the one I see most commonly damaged. With his arms in front of him like they are, his fingers are often broken.

Check back soon for another variation of Goldy in bobblehead form!

Goldy Bobbleheads

It's probably about time that I blog a bit on Goldy bobbleheads, ya know, since that is the whole reason I started my collection!  I'm planning on rolling out a blog series focusing solely on Goldy bobbles.  I've had a few people ask me about specific Goldys and wonder if I have a complete list of them.  The simple answer to that is...no, only because I'm unsure if I have all Goldy bobbleheads or not.  I believe I have all the modern ones that were produced by the University (classic Goldy) but I don't collect the retail ones, which there are several!

I'm hoping to start the series this week, as of now, I'm not sure how many posts it'll be, but quite a few.  Perhaps someone important at the U will see it and get the idea of making another one!  I'd get behind that idea all day, every day!

What a journey...Goldy is mine!

Finally.  I've hit a few garage sales the past week.  Yesterday, was the best one ever.  Quality over quantity...its a great motto and for me, that's why I'm calling yesterday, the best garage sale find thus far.  This has been on my "Most Wanted List" for quite some time!  In that blog post I wrote that I didn't think it was super rare and not very expensive.  Since then I've seen 2 of these...both selling for north of $150.  I just couldn't bring myself to pay that.  If I didn't live in Minnesota, I might have pulled the proverbial trigger, but knowing that I basically live in Goldy's playground, I held out hope. That blog was 6 months ago and I had been looking for this specific Goldy for at least a year prior to that.  18 months is a long time to wait.  But wait no more.  As I strolled up to the sellers garage I immediately saw the bobbleheads displayed (about 15-20 of them).  Then, like a tractor beam my eyes focused on a yellow jersey Goldy hockey bobblehead.  Outside, it was no different than any other bobblehead.  However, inside, I was a giddy 3 year old sitting in front of cake, or better yet...my dog Murphy eyeing a piece of steak, drooling in anticipation for what's about to be his.

Finally, I can add this one to my collection.  University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Goldy Gold Country Hockey (Yellow Jersey) bobblehead.  Hell yes!

Bad call?

Since most of the sports world is talking about the horrendous call that Seattle made...to lose the Super Bowl, I thought it would be fun...err...interesting...err...well we've all made bad calls and I'm going to share a couple of mine.  Hindsight is 20-20 but dammit sometimes it'd be nice to know what's really sitting in front of you.

2 situations stand out for me.  If I knew what I knew now...at the time I was in this situation, my collection would have an additional 120-130 bobbleheads!  This happened early on when I was collecting.  I had responded to a craigslist ad for Twins bobbleheads.  If you've read previous blog posts, you'll know my passion started with Goldy bobbleheads but quickly moved to Twins bobbleheads.  The guy selling them had several and invited me over to look over them and pick out the ones I wanted.  I had no idea what I was getting into.  He had lots of Twins and a ton of other random bobbleheads, many Minnesota related.  Since I didn't know, at the time, that I was going to end up collecting all these random Minnesota ones, I focused solely on the Twins.  The prices were extremely fair too as he was just happy they were going to another collector.

I'm sure my wife doesn't mind that I missed out on this opportunity.  She'll probably smile and say "Thank God" under her breath or something...when she reads this.  That is...if she ever reads this thing!  And yes...I did go back to the guy and see if he had any of those still available and unfortunately he told me he sold all of them to a local dealer.

My second bad call has a very similar feel to the first.  I was a newbie at garage sales.  I noticed one that wasn't that much out of the way for me, so I stopped by on my way home from work.  I scoured their entire sale and only came across 2 bobbleheads.  The ad said "tons of bobbleheads."  Obviously they were genius marketing wizards, right?  Wrong...I asked about the bobbleheads.  The lady chuckled and responded with..."oh, most of them were sold this morning, when they are all under $5 each, they go quick!"  I pretty much kicked my own ass on the way back to my car.  The 2 that were left...Delmon Young, both versions (SGA & STH), I figured he deserved to sit on that table a while longer.

National Bobblehead Day!

It's National Bobblehead Day.  Yes, its a real thing.  Even Forbes has an article about it today!  It's sponsored by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame.  Click here to learn more and/or donate to their Kickstarter campaign.

Check out Twitter for all kinds of bobblehead pictures.  Teams are doing special promotions and giveaways too.  It's fun to see all the different bobbleheads out there.  Pretty cool day if you are a bobblehead fan.  Keep checking Twitter and other social media for more pictures during the day.  I'm sure people will be posting them all day long.

Here's the bobblehead that got it started for me...my first Goldy...the cause of my passion.

#nationalbobbleheadday

My most wanted bobblehead

I've been in the process of updating my want list, albeit very, very slowly.  I know the #1 position belongs to a Goldy Gopher hockey bobblehead.  Below is a picture.  I don't think its super rare and its not terribly expensive, but so far this one has completely avoided me.  It was a retail bobblehead sold at Gold Country (a store in Dinkytown) on the University of Minnesota campus.  If any of you happen to see this one, I'd be glad to trade for it or buy it outright.  I'll get a more in-depth want list on the blog sometime soon, but for now...I'd be super grateful if anyone contacted me about this one! Here's to hoping!

Perhaps another new section?

What do I do on a random Friday night while my wife is out of town enjoying a "girls weekend?"  Great question - I've been relaxing on the couch watching the Vikings game and playing catch with my dog, Murphy.  I've also been contemplating a new section on my blog and I'm not exactly sure how it'll work. So, before I get too far ahead of myself, I was hoping to get some input from YOU!

Would you, the reader, be interested in some sort of "want list" section.  This is where you'd send me pictures of the bobbleheads you are looking for, in hopes of making a trade with a fellow collector or a cash deal?  I'm not sure if I can have more than 1 slideshow, so it might just be a link on the sidebar.  Am thinking the name of the section might be something like "The Trading Block" I'd rather not go thru the trouble of setting this section up if there isn't much interest in it.

Since this is a "want list" post, I'll include a picture of one bobblehead I'm still looking for.  Let me know if you have one you'd trade/sell.

So this is working out!

I introduced a new section recently called "Collector's Corner."  A buddy of mine, who really isn't a collector (any longer) has a few items that he figures have some value and is looking to sell them.  I mentioned my blog as an idea and he was all for it.  Below are some pictures of stuff he's looking to sell.  Leave a comments and questions and I'll figure out answers or how to connect the 2 of you.  He believes he'll have more stuff, but probably not a ton.  So I'll update this as he gets me more pictures.  Enjoy!  

Goldy Set of 5 - $50

Replica Mini Met Stadium (Twins SGA) - $35

Kirby Puckett World Series Hero Bobblehead - $20

The Holy Grail of Gopher bobbleheads

I think my next several blog posts will consist of bobbleheads I don't know much about.  The story behind the bobblehead is just as intriguing to me as the bobblehead itself.  My first post in this series is what I consider to be the "Holy Grail" of Minnesota Golden Gopher bobbleheads.

The Neal Broten Gopher hockey bobblehead.  I've only seen it in pictures...and actually that shouldn't even be plural, I've only seen one picture of it, the one below.  If you happen to have any information on this bobblehead, please, please email me or leave a comment.  I'd love to learn more about it, when it was produced, if it was a giveaway or not and how many were produced.

Want List (Part 3)

My want list today is pretty simple.  Any bobbleheads from the University of Minnesota.  I'll even take doubles and triples of what I have currently.  The picture below is of 4 bobbleheads that I don't have. There are others that have the M on them, I know Janel McCarville had a bobblehead while playing at the U - very similar to Whalen bobble below.

The first bobblehead is of Bronko Nagurski.  This was produced by the Big Ten Network (BTN) in a collection known as the Big 10 Icons.  It featured one "Icon" from each school in the Big Ten (at the time).  A total of 11 bobbleheads make up the set.  

The Goldy gymnast bobblehead was given out at gymnastic meets several years ago.  The Goldy hockey bobblehead was produced by Gold Country (as you can see on the plaque) and finally the Whalen bobblehead.  I know besides the McCarville bobblehead I mentioned earlier there is another Goldy with a maroon shirt (M on his chest) with his arms outstretched that I currently don't have. There are others out there, but these are my most desired U of M bobbleheads!