TRIXIE BELDEN lot of 16 BOOKS #1 THRU 16 HARD BACK Item #230328041264
This auction was for a complete set of the 16 Trixie Belden thin hardcover editions from the 1970s. The auction closed at $102.00. The Trixie Belden PCs from the 1970s were made from cheap materials and have not held up well over time. Most examples that I find have split hinges. The seller gave no indication of condition, but I can see wear at the spine ends. It is doubtful that these books have intact hinges, since most surviving copies do not. I feel that $102.00 for a complete set is a bit high.
Peril Over the Airport Vicki Barr w DJ ExceLLent Item #140304694964
This tweed Vicki Barr book with dust jacket closed at $43.32. Last year when we had the buying frenzy, Peril Over the Airport did sell for this kind of price. Right now we do not have a buying frenzy, so it is surprising. The dust jacket has a sticker scar on the front panel, and that does take away from the value. Two people must really want to complete their Vicki Barr sets.
Nancy Drew COMPLETE SET of Vintage Books 1-56 RARE Item #220366940439
In recent months, complete sets of Nancy Drew books have not been doing nearly as well as they were previously. I have seen quite a few sell for $200.00 and under. Each time I have tried to sell one, I have had people tell me that my set should sell for some ridiculously low price. This set sold for $445.00. It was described as "RARE," and I think the buyers fell for it—hook, line, and sinker. Some of the books are not even in that great of shape. Other sets went unsold at $239.00 and $235.00. Why???
Actually, this just proves my point of how booksellers should not drastically undercut their prices in desperation. Many buyers prefer to purchase the higher-priced books because of the perceived value. Think about it. While I would not bid a complete set of Nancy Drew books up to over $400.00, I have selected books to purchase on the Advanced Book Exchange by considering which seller will offer me a better product and better service. I do sometimes go for the higher-priced one. The buyers probably bid this lot to over $400.00 because of the perceived value.
Huge Lot of 35 The Nancy Drew Files Mystery Novels Item #120389862569
This is one of the most shocking auction results I have ever seen. The auction was for 35 of the Nancy Drew Files. The auction closed at $910.00, which is $26.00 per book. The books are worth no more than a couple dollars each. The closing price is crazier than anything I recall from last summer during the buying frenzy. I have to wonder whether the winning bidder has completed the transaction. I find it very hard to believe that someone would be willing to pay almost $1,000 for slightly more than one-fourth of the Nancy Drew Files set.
Contrast the above auction to the following one:
Lot of 51 Nancy Drew Files Good Condition Item #290302715603
This auction closed at $56.50, a much more realistic price.
I believe that the reason for some of these high prices is that the selection has greatly deteriorated on eBay in the last few months. Since fewer books are available, the ones remaining are more in demand.
3 comments:
I really enjoy your comments about various ebay auctions that make you go "Huh". Maybe we all could share a couple. One that I recently remember was a white spine Dana Girl Wax Queen that went for over $60. I even emailed the seller, who is a very active and knowledgeable Nancy Drew/Dana Girls seller, if she knew why it went so high but she didn't. She was pleasantly surprised. I figured the buyer didn't know the difference between matte and white but I haven't seen the matte go that high. Any clues?
I just completed my Rosamond Du jardin collection which made me quite proud. (Teenage romance books of the fifties/sixties)Has anybody recently completed a set of books that they have been working hard to finish?
I have also finished the Deluxe set of Trixie Beldens which are my favorite sets. I am now working on the hard back copies of the Golden Press upper books. Wish me luck.
All the best.
I've noticed some sellers say their books are "1st edition" and they seem to get higher prices, but I'm wondering what they mean by this. Is it the same as first printing? If not, what's the difference and which are really more valuable?
As an example of this and another "huh?", Item number 220379310125S is a book that looks to me by the thickness to be a later printing and I believe the blue silhouette on the spine means it was printed in 1941 at the earliest. So what does this seller mean by first edition?
This is a difficult topic to explain, but I'll try to get to the core of it without a very long explanation.
Know that a "first printing" is always a "first edition," but a "first edition" is not always a "first printing."
There is apparently a court ruling that states that a book has to be 10% different before a new copyright can be applied. Some people have interpreted this to mean that all original text Nancy Drew books are first editions. These people will call any Nancy Drew book that has the original text a "first edition" regardless of when it was printed. They call the Applewood reprints "first editions" as well. I cannot begin to describe how much this grates on my nerves.
Novice collectors believe a first edition is the first printing, and these people are easily misled by the eBay descriptions that state that books are the first edition.
Some of the eBay sellers may be deliberately misleading buyers, while others are doing it out of ignorance. It is really hard to know what the intent of any one seller is, and we all need to be careful about what we assume about another person's intentions. All that I can state is that I am bothered by the use of "first edition" in so many listings in which the books are not first printings.
I am even bothered by the use of the term "first edition" when the book is the "first printing."
For whatever it is worth, I have noticed that certain sellers who tend to use "RARE" to describe commonplace books also tend to use the term "first edition" rather than "first printing." Some of these sellers will use "first edition" by stating that a Nancy Drew book is the "first edition, first printing" or the "first edition, second printing" according to Farah's Guide. These people are giving the correct printing information but at the same time are making the second printing sound better to the novice collector.
Because of what I have observed about some of these sellers, I tend to be overly suspicious of them. I'm not sure they really want people to be that suspicious, but they have kind of brought it on themselves.
A couple of us had a private discussion about a certain auction that one of these sellers had, and we pretty much agreed that this seller seemed to hope that prospective buyers would not notice the omission of the Farah's Guide details when this seller normally provides this information. I have decided not to mention this auction publicly, since after all I cannot prove intent. Remember to always be vigilant, and keep in mind that some people omit important information on purpose while others do it out of ignorance.
I used to use the term "first edition" when I began collecting. After I got online and because more educated in the different terms, I began using the term "first printing" instead. It took me several years before I internalized the change in terminology so that I began to think in terms of "first printing" rather than "first edition."
My comment did turn out to be a bit long, but I was far less wordy than I could have been, not that anyone would have minded.
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