Both the book and the jacket meet the points for the first printing, 1932A-1. The auction closed at $2,605.00.
Here are prices for examples that have sold in the past.
February 26, 2008 post:
#7 The Clue in the Diary w/DJ, 1932A-1, 1st printing, $2,750.00
June 3, 2008 post:
#7 The Clue in the Diary, 1932A-1 w/DJ, $1,650.88
I believe that the first printing in jacket has also sold for around $3,500 on one occasion.
A discussion about this auction and others that closed at the same time occurred on Facebook. I made the following comments.
On September 15, I wrote:
Two things about eBay these days:
1. Prices are extremely volatile. A valuable first printing in jacket could sell at auction in the thousands one day and for a song at auction few weeks later. It all depends upon who's looking during the time that the auction is active.
2. Prices are being driven by people buying to resell, very often to list on other marketplaces. The winning bidder of the recent Shadow Ranch 1st w/DJ, tonight's Diary 1st w/DJ, and tonight's Bungalow Mystery non-1st w/DJ is a reseller who purchased the books under his buying ID. He was the runner-up bidder on Mysterious Letter. He will most likely be selling all of the books that he purchased.
I was asked who will buy the books from the reseller. I responded:
Some of them put the books right back on eBay with the price greatly marked up. They do often make a profit. Some buyers inconsistently check listings online, or they may impulsively purchase, thinking a high price means better quality. Buyers like that are likely quite well off.
Some resellers sell to celebrities who don't deal with common folk. Celebrities are fine with paying a premium. The eBay user Bookbid is someone who sells to celebrities. His Nancy Drew books are priced extremely high, and he doesn't expect to sell his books to any of us, just the rich and famous. Bookbid doesn't appear to have bid on any of these recent listings. When he does bid, he almost always wins.
A common tactic is to buy on eBay and then sell on Amazon or AbeBooks. There are buyers who only check sites like those and never check eBay. Those buyers probably never interact with any of us and aren't in these Facebook groups.
While $2,605.00 sounds like a high-end price, consider that someone purchased the book in order to resell it. The question is, how much do they think they can get for it? $4,000 or $5,000...?
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