Kevin Mackey collects watch fobs and is known on Show & Tell as AR8Jason.

The Internet has obviously brought major changes in how auctions for collectibles are conducted. This certainly holds true in how I use to bid on and buy watch fobs. Years ago, when new to collecting watch fobs, I found out about a book called “Collecting Watch Fobs: A Price Guide” by John M. Kaduck (Wallace-Homestead Book Company, 1973). The book was out of print, so I tracked down the author and bought one directly from him.

In the process, I signed up to get his mail auctions. Kaduck would photocopy the items to be auctioned and mail them out to his client list. The clients would mail back their maximum bids along with the ID number for each item they wanted.

The cut off for mail bids was Thursday’s mail on a set date. John would then compile the list of top bids and bidders, but would still accept phone bids until 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday night. Instead of mailing in a bid sheet, I would call on that night around 9:30 (Eastern) and go over the items in which I was primarily interested. He would tell me the top bid and give me the opportunity to top it. He would also recommend other good buys, several of which I would bid. I wound up getting 80% to 90% of the items I wanted.

If I had beat the bushes full time in the north Texas area, I would not have found near the number of fobs that I had the chance to buy through John.

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