Kent’s Search for the Black Balmoral A5

Read Kent’s wonderful blog post here about his search and acquisition for the elusive A5 Black Balmoral with the full-length A4 back wallet pocket. His absolute delight in this organizer is just amazing to experience.

My side of the story is that one day I was browsing the Philofaxy Facebook Group and noticed that Kent had put out a request for someone from Sweden to contact him. About six people had already replied so I thought twice about writing, but thought maybe I could help anyways and wrote ‘I am!’.

Soon a Personal Message popped up and Kent asked if I would bid on a Tradera auction for an A5 Black Balmoral. I said of course. I honestly don’t mind – if a person has a maximum amount and as long as the Tradera auction does not end at an ungodly hour (the Tradera interface does not allow advance bidding or sniping) I will do it with pleasure, just like people have done the same for me.

We had to wait about five days. I never bid too early unless I want to gauge interest so I waited until about half an hour before the auction ended. When it is just me, I wait until the last few minutes but as this was very important to Kent I really did not want to blow it.

I needn’t have worried as I was the only bidder. The nice thing about tucked away non-English language sites like these is that most people don’t know about them or can’t bid, and the filo fanatical community in Sweden is not as big as elsewhere. We won! Got it for the original price.

I paid the seller via bank transfer, Kent paid me via Paypal and then the waiting started. About two days later the following package arrived:

Now I had a dilemma. Did I open it and check for defects and that it was, in fact, what it was supposed to be. This way I could attempt to rectify any problems before the binder travelled across the world.

However, it was so snugly and firmly wrapped that it seemed a pity to open and rewrap. I wanted Kent to be the first one to see it – as though he bought it directly from the buyer.

So off it went. I told Kent it should take about 10 days. Post from Sweden is expensive but it is fast.

True enough it took about ten days. And Kent was pleased with it. It was exactly what he wanted and in beautiful condition.

I was so happy to be able to help. Just as many people in the community have helped me – most recently Kim who has bought me two binders from Dutch buyers who did not accept foreign bids. Things like this really give a sense of community and trust and faith in human nature. Life today is so fractured that it really feels nice to be part of a community.