Foreword: We want to thank and credit Heritage Auctions, specifically Valarie Spiegel & Evan Masingill, for bringing the Plattsburgh Collection to WATA’s attention. We appreciate the opportunity to preserve this piece of history and want to recognize Valarie and Evan’s efforts to discover and assist in documenting & preserving finds like this to the benefit of the greater collecting hobby.
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The Plattsburgh Collection originates from a now defunct electronics and media store that doubled as a media distributor. The store was located in upstate New York, just half an hour from the United States-Canada border. In the late 80’s to early 90’s, a middle class family had dreams of opening a video game and movie rental store. They acquired the overwhelming majority of the now ordained Plattsburgh Collection between 1988-1991, before moving to Columbus, Indiana soon after.
As their family priorities shifted after their nearly 1,000 mile move, the collection sat dormant in the closet of the family’s video game loving son. While the dreams of a rental store stayed alive in the family’s hearts, the more time that passed, the less realistic the thought of the store opening became.
Given the rapid advancements in the video game technological space, the release of consoles like the Super Nintendo threw a massive wrench into the family’s plan. Their video game inventory was primarily NES games, which would pale in comparison to the newer 16-bit options on the Super Nintendo; especially at a rental store, where video game lovers would be primarily interested in the latest and greatest that the video games industry had to offer.
Ultimately, other business priorities came first for the family and the store never opened. The hundreds of NES, Genesis and Master System games sat dormant in a closet with occasional late additions like a dozen PlayStation 1 games and two copies of a single Nintendo 64 title — the idea was alive in the family, but ultimately time took its toll. While the game selection was spot-on with franchises like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Mega Man represented, the quantity was not enough. A rental store was never going to happen as their inventory was simply too dated and too small.
The Plattsburgh Collection was marginally thinned out over the years, as the physical storage of the games became a nuisance. Eventually it came time to clear out that childhood closet and it was finally time for the games to be sold. To the surprise of the family, the games today garner both more interest and value than they ever could have as rental store copies more than 30 years ago.
It’s a wonder that these hundreds of games, originally intended to be opened and copiously played by gamers of the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, still exist today in their impeccably sealed forms. Now forever preserved in WATA cases, these games bear one of our prestigious pedigrees: The Plattsburgh Collection. It’s more than a location on a label — it’s a signifier of the journey these games have gone through in order to be in front of you today. Although renting is now off the table, these incredible games are finally ready to find new homes.
Please enjoy a handful of images of the games before they were submitted to WATA!
All images credited to Heritage Auctions
All images credited to Heritage Auctions
