Look for vintage gaming fans to swarm Sotheby's in New York next Thursday as the mother lode of dumpster diving goodness goes on the auction block. Then they'll sort of awkwardly wander away when they realize the place is filled with men and women in expensive suits ready to bid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the lot of over 2000 pieces of original Atari marketing materials and artwork from 1981-1983 being offered there.

Salvaged from dumpsters back in 1983, the collection represents over 135 classic Atari 2600 titles arranged into folders by game. It includes instruction manuals, concept art, boxes, proofs and mechanicals...exactly the sort of thing game collectors might put on a tie to watch it be carted off by someone who can afford the $150,000 to $250,000 appraisal the lot has attached to it.

While there is no way in hell any of us could afford this, it does teach us a very important lesson. Digging through other people's garbage rocks. As a plus, in researching this post I became a member of Sotheby's, which entitles me to wear a waistcoat and monocle and...should I feel it necessary, a top hat of the highest quality. Michael Fahey

ATARI VIDEO GAMES (Registration Required) [Lot Information at Sotheby's - Thanks Manofquest!]