My friend P and I decided to use our lunch break in the pursuit of enriching, mind-expanding activities, instead of the more typical hour spent searching through photos on icanhascheezburger. We  went to the small library branch near our office. Just outside the main entrance, there is a crate for book exchanges. In the spirit of the leave-a-penny-take-a-penny cup at the Seven-Eleven, you can leave a book or take a book without having to borrow it from the library. Usually the crate is filled with dusty, moldy copies of Dante’s Inferno or War and Peace dredged up from someone’s basement, but every now and then there is a gem.
P found the CD soundtrack of the feel-good (I use the term loosely) 1984 classic (again, loosely) movie Rhinestone.  I bet you have this flick in your Netflix queue right now, but in case you don’t, you’ll want to add it immediately when you read the summary: A country music star (Dolly Parton) must turn an obnoxious New York cabbie  (Sylvester Stallone) into a singer in order to win a bet. Right?!?
Dolly Parton! Sylvester Stallone! Singing! Together!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-DOwGIKMtE&w=560&h=315]
We are big fans of Dolly so P decided this was coming back to the office with us.
It’s so bad, it’s bad. You know you want to see it.
He tacked the CD package in a place of honor on L’s cubicle wall, right next to the Mr. T Talking Key Chain (I pity the fool…who loses their keys).  We all got a good laugh — and promptly forgot about it.
For years, Dolly and Sly kept L company until one day she’d decided to do a bit of cleaning. She was about to toss the CD when S popped into her cube.  S did a quick Google search and  found this:
And this:
And then we felt like this:
The CD was still in the original packaging. Mint condition, as they say. Who knew that the Rhinestone CD was rarer than Sylvester Stallone being on pitch in the soundtrack? We spent that lunch hour in the enriching, mind-expanding activity of posting on eBay. It sold faster than you can say 9 to 5 for the bargain price of $152.00. A steal, if you ask me.
The four of us took our bulging pockets to the local watering hole where we contemplated more enriching, mind-expanding activities over prickly pear* margaritas…and wondered if that Mr. T keychain would fetch a good price.
*Melissa Crytzer Fry offers an amazing look at the work involved to extract the fruit from the cactus and remove these dastardly things called glochids. I’ll never drink prickly pear margaritas the same way again.
Have you ever discovered something you owned was much more valuable than you thought?Â
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Kerrrrrching!!!!! 🙂
I hope you’ll be spending at least some of your profits on Cronuts…
Right?!?!
A cronut. My kingdom for a cronut!
Have the lines gone down…? Or are you still faux-nutting it?
I just passed the Dominique Ansel Bakery on Tuesday and the line was around the corner. (Can you believe it? Why didn’t I think of this invention?) Definitely still faux-nutting. 😛
Book exchanges are similar to serendipity browsing in the Goodwill book section, one of my favorite pastimes. I’ve been meaning to bring this up at our business planning session with Lorna and Reggie.
Reggie’s special skills include napping and unearthing used tissues from piles of autumn leaves. How about Lorna?
Same.
I think we’ll need to expand our range of employees.
I wonder if there’s a market for dead spiders… that’s about the only ‘treasure’ I’m likely to find in my flat!
You never know. One person’s dead spider is another person’s treasure, or something like that. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
It was LOTC that put me on to your blog! Glad she did!
That is a fabulous find. Here I thought you were going to divulge that it was absolutely the best movie you have ever ever seen ! The clip is pretty funny! 🙂 Who would have imagined Sly singing ? Oh and btw, my first encounter with some of those obnoxious NYC cabbies will be next weekend when we finally visit our son ! 🙂 And maybe some subway rides—looking forward to my own stories afterwards!
I’m so excited for you to come to NYC. I hope you have a wonderful visit with your son. Do you have any special itinerary plans?
Remember the number one rule of riding the subway — no direct eye contact — and you’ll be fine. 🙂 I can’t wait to read about your adventure.
It is going to be a quick visit but hopefully we will cram a lot in. I am really not sure what all we will do. Definitely tour Columbia and see where he is slaving away at classes, Central Park, hopefully the 9/11 site and of course eating eating eating!!! And thank you for reminding me of the no direct eye contact. That is so not me I will have a hard time with it! 🙂
Sounds like you’ll have a wonderful time. If you get a cro-nut, please think of me. 🙂
!
That’s an awesome story. That’s my sort of lunch break.
I’m thinking of starting a side business based on things I find at the library take-bin… 🙂
Wow, what an amazing find! I always hope to find something to make it big on ebay, so I’m way envious. As for the prickly pear margaritas, I’ve been wanting to try one ever since reading Melissa’s post, so I’m not sure which thing I’m more jealous of!
Usually my “finds” are never worth as much as I think they are. Ha.
The margaritas are sooo delicious. Now that I know how much work goes into getting the prickly pear fruit, they’re even more delicious.
Oh wow… Maybe this is why I like watching Antiques Roadshow – for those folks who have something they feel is of “little worth” only to find out, it’s a coveted collector’s piece. Yay for Rhinestone. And, of course, yay for prickly pear margaritas! Thanks for the shout-out, too. But now – ahem – Rhinestone Cowboy is in my head, AND Sweet Lovin’ Friends. I did NOT know Sly could hold a tune …
I like watching Antiques Roadshow for the same reason! Usually the items for appraisal are, how should I say, of a classier nature than the Rhinestone CD. One guy had brought pages of a diary he thought might have belonged to Benjamin Franklin.
Sorry to plant that ear worm for Rhinestone Cowboy! Trust me, it will take a long time for that to go away. 😛
Good score! — the CD you sold, not the music on it. I must admit to watching this movie on TV years ago. I can picture the spartment where it happened. Bad movies, ya gotta love ’em.
I suppose it would come as no surprise to you just who found the CD at the library. 🙂
I’ve never watched Rhinestone, but I remember thinking when it came out: “Ugh”. What a great score nearly 30 years later! In my father’s house in San Francisco I have a poster signed by Richard Avedon of his photograph Dovima with Elephants. I am sure it’s worth something, but first I have to find it. I dread looking for it because I fear after all these years, it may have gone lost.
If you’re looking for a “so bad it’s good” flick, you can’t go wrong with Rhinestone. Though I must warn you, you’ll never get those songs out of your head.
Here’s hoping you score it big with the signed poster. Then you can quit The Grind. 🙂
I have to wonder who on earth thought putting Dolly and Sly together was a good thing! Way to profit from their mistake. 🙂
You have to wonder the pitch meeting that got this project the green light. I did a quick search and found that it took in $21 million at the box office (in 1984 dollars). Oh my…. 🙂
I have to wonder how much they actually grossed after paying the two stars’ salaries!
I think this was Sly’s attempt at romantic comedy after Rambo. 😛
Who would have thought you can make money this easily! IThere really is a market for almost anything. I’ve got a bunch of old calendars and recently noticed each is worth 300$, the only bad thing – I noticed right after shredding one.
I never would have guessed either!
Sorry that you already shredded one of your calendars. I hope that you had kept a few. Imagine $300 for each calendar. That would buy a lot of books. 🙂
You may well know about my lack of pop culture knowledge, so it might not surprise you that I had not seen this flick or even heard of it, for that matter. But, goodness, this is a GREAT story. I’m trying to think if I’ve ever found anything that turned out to be valuable, and I don’t think I have. Alas. A lack—–of $152 to more exact. Oh well.
Hope you and Reggie are enjoying a wonderful weekend.
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
You have a lot of great collections, Kathy. I bet you’re sitting on a gold mine and don’t even know it! 🙂
I hope your spring is as wonderful as our fall has been.
Seriously–who knew!?! Rhinestone! That’s such a major win. I’m going to have look around this house with a watchful eye.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t checked the value of that Mr. T. key chain! 🙂
Seriously?!?! $152.00?!?! In… legal tender?!
I… I’m… bedazzled (or something like that)!
🙂
I bet if you do have a bedazzler, that could go for a pretty penny on the open market! 🙂
Also I thought about making a ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ comment.
But then I didn’t
Because I that would mean I actually left a ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ comment.
Hey… wait a minute…
D’oh!
🙂
What’s a little ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ comments between friends? 🙂
Not going to lie. I’m a little speechless. How did such a fine soundtrack go out of print (not the right word I know but it’s early here)? I mean Stallone–what a singer. Loved the clip. enjoy the new found riches!
Baffling, isn’t it?
I was kind of wondering if we should hold onto it for a few years…see if the demand skyrocketed. Who knows — maybe I could have financed a trip to Bruges. 🙂
Great find! Sadly you have to pick up a lot of junk before you get to the gold though. I met an artist on a holiday recently. When he was younger, he did a bit of cleaning for a gallery and they offered either money or a painting by an unknown artist. He went for the money. Turns out the painting was by David hockney!
I bet that artist was kicking himself!
Similar story: Just this week Banksy was in NYC selling prints of his street art for $60. The people who bought a print – unbeknownst to them – had just walked away with a print worth thousands of dollars. Could you imagine if you’d had the chance to buy a print but decided not to for whatever reason?
Stallone can sing? I won’t believe it until I see the movie.
If you watch the movie, I highly recommend keeping your finger poised on the mute button.