Sometimes you get an offer that is just too good to be true. It might be a tip for a bet, it might be a free voucher for Dominos Pizza, a surprise refund that you had forgotten about, a link to a Party Casino bonus code or some other beneficial circumstance.

Well, I got one recently that I’m still reeling over. It wouldn’t get many people excited, but it does me. You may know that I collect Argos catalogues. For our US friends it’s a bit like the Sears catalogue. For us in the UK it was the encyclopaedia of all of our Christmas wish lists. And today they are treasure troves of memories of all the toys, gadgets and games of a bygone era. I love them and I’ve already got a substantial collection. I did have some gaps in the collection though.

Then, one day, someone who used to work in Argos got in touch with me. He had worked in Argos since the 80s and had amassed a collection of Argos catalogues that he now wasn’t able to shift in one lot. He just wanted rid of them and wanted them to go to a good home. He had tried selling them as a bulk lot on eBay but had no takers, perhaps because they would have to be picked up in person. That’s because we’re not talking about 4 or 5 Argos catalogues here. He had 77 catalogues that he was trying to get rid of. Yep, 77. He had nearly every catalogue from 1981 onwards up to present day. Pretty much all in great condition, having been kept in his loft all these years. He said family members kept calling him mad, but I for one am glad that he hung on to all the catalogues.

He had searched online for Argos catalogues and came across my site. And the incredible news was that he only lived about 10 miles from my house! He sold me them all for an extremely good bulk price and was very open about encouraging me to sell any that I had doubles of or didn’t want. It has filled a lot of holes in my collection which is great. I now only need three 1980s ones, from 1980 and 1981, the year before he started working at Argos. And I now have a lot of my holes from the 1990s filled too.

I’m very pleased that my Argos presence online allowed him to offload his catalogues to a good home and not just bin them. Some are now proudly displayed on my shelf and others stored safely in my loft. Now it’s my family that think I’m the mad one!

He also shared some very interesting information about his time working at Argos and also a couple of old Argos newsletters. I plan to write a more detailed article about those elements soon. Stay tuned.