Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011, 11:30 p.m. — One of the things that can cause a key collector’s heart to sink is receiving a Priority Mail parcel and feeling things sliding around inside as you pick it up.
This was the case today when my mailman brought my mail — and a large Priority Mail flat-rate box — to my front porch this morning. I picked up the box, noting its heft was more than the usual 3 or 4 lbs of the usual Vibroplex or McElroy bug. Then it hit me — I had won two auctions for bugs, and the seller had packed them BOTH in the same box.
Ugh!!!
I carried the box to my shack carefully, though I knew any damage to the contents had been done long before it arrived at my house. I opened the box, expecting the worst. This seemed to go downhill from there.
At right is a photo of what I found in the box — two keys packed in NEWSPAPER. I probably set a record for the longest string of cuss words uttered in one breath.
I pulled the wads of newspaper “packing” out of the box, the photo shows what I found — two bugs, wrapped individually in more newspaper. Unwrapping the keys, I found the seller had wrapped each one in a two or three wraps of small bubble bubblewrap, which is woefully inadequate for safe packing a bug.
I gingerly unwrapped the first bug — a 1938B McElroy Mac Key DeLuxe — being careful to catch any parts that might fall from the wrappings. Mac Keys are pretty tough, and this one arrived — surprisingly — in good condition and no worse for wear!
The second bug was a well-made homebrew bug; some screws were loose on this one, but after it was unwrapped, it too was basically undamaged. How, I’m not sure — other than the fact both keys are built like tanks. The homebrew key has a massive base of solid brass!
I’ve not had time to do anything with these keys but unpack them. I’ll have more to write later, I’m just thanking my lucky stars that — despite the crappy packing job — that both bugs arrived in good condition!
Enough bug stuff tonight … more to come!
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