...and sometimes more than one Variant collector finds the Hidden Western Variant lot.

There is nothing quite as exciting for a variant collector than finding the needle in the haystack.  In this case, the "needle" is the hidden western 30 cent price variant lurking in an ebay auction but not described as such in either the title or the description.  Every once in awhile, several variant hunters find the same needle and that is where the fun begins.  I suspect that seller porkyscomics was surprised when his listing for 45 well read bronze age westerns fetched $178.49 at a recent auction.  Or maybe he was just cagey because the one extremely rare Two-Gun Kid 131 30 cent western variant is inserted right in the middle of the picture.  Yes, the tell-tale starburst is almost in the middle of the picture.  Anyway, if the buyer is a collector of 30 cent price variants, he got a good deal on this one.  If the buyer is a speculator, he may have paid a bit more than he thought he was going to have to pay.