The wife came out to the shop this morning while I was finishing up powder coating some bullets. She told me she wanted to go to the antique mall here in town. We go every two or three weeks, I go to look for pewter (couple good scores in the past) and she goes to look for....well, um...I'm not sure what she's looking for, lol. So, off we go to take a look around. I did find pewter but I wasn't willing to pay the prices they wanted for it. She found a knick knack for the house. While she was waiting in line to checkout. I wandered over to the display case in the corner where they have small advertising items. The case is full of old lighters, ink pens, playing cards, etc. I was ready to walk off when I spied something on the very dark bottom shelf. MONOTYPE letters!!!!!
I asked what they wanted for them and was informed $3.00 each. They pulled the tray out for me to look at. I jokingly asked, how much for the whole lot? Owner and son(?) discussed it and I heard mention that they had it for years and only sold two letters. Owner looks at me and says $20.00. I didn't want to show my hand, replied, "let me think about it a bit". I took a step back and saw a second tray of letters! They pulled the second tray out for me to look at. Owner told me I could have it all for $30.00. I judged the total to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 30 lbs. Told her, "you got a deal". I couldn't get my wallet open fast enough. Came home and weighed it out, just over 25lbs. It now resides in a nearly full 30 cal ammo can.
I'll bet I've passed that display case thirty times over the past few years and never saw the monotype. I'll be looking more carefully from now on.