Nancy Drew #2 The Hidden Staircase 1930A-1 eBay Auction

A 1930A-1 first printing book and jacket for Nancy Drew #2 The Hidden Staircase recently sold on eBay for $1,312.00.

While the condition is rough, so was the condition of the 1930A-1 Old Clock that recently sold for $6,877.  Old Clock is more in demand, but Hidden Staircase should be worth at least half that of Old Clock.  There are very few 1930A-1 jackets in any condition for any of the books in the breeder set.  I feel that this Hidden Staircase is worth $2,000 to $3,500 when compared to how the Old Clock auction did.

Some collectors on Facebook said that they never saw this listing.  I read reports that eBay's search was malfunctioning and not showing all listings to everyone.  This means that some people who might have bid also might not have seen the listing.  The auction might have closed at a higher price if eBay's search had been working properly.  

The winner of this auction was the Hollywood dealer, who will be reselling the book.  Collectors have expressed doubt as to whether the dealer can mark the price up and actually sell the book.  I am confident that he will succeed at selling the book at a much higher price.

I have noticed that when I mention the Hollywood dealer that collectors don't understand the situation.  Even when I have explained it, some collectors still don't believe me, which is perplexing.  The Hollywood dealer is a high-end bookseller (see previous related post).  He isn't selling books to the likes of us.  His clientele are wealthy.

I wrote this on Facebook in 2020:

The seller of the $6,500 Larkspur Lane is most likely the seller of the other high-priced books mentioned in the comments.  That seller is located in Hollywood. His books are always priced very high.  He does not expect any of us to purchase them, and we won't.  He sells to wealthy people.  Those people will pay a premium to purchase from someone like him rather than dealing with ordinary people like us.  Think of him as a high-end book dealer.

A Nancy Drew fan gave this response:

Interesting. I didn't think wealthy people would just throw money away.  But I don't really know any of them personally.

The Hollywood dealer's clientele have incomes that people like us can't imagine.  We have no comprehension of the amount of money that they have.  These are people who might spend $10,000 on a bottle of wine to have with their dinner.  Yes, ten thousand dollars, and I'm not joking.  People with extreme wealth spend their money on stuff like that.

Someone who has the money for a $10,000 bottle of wine would have no problem with paying $10,000 (or even more!) for the rough condition Hidden Staircase book and jacket from the recent auction.

The comment about wealthy people not throwing money away astonished me.  Let's take someone with an income of $100,000 per year.  Someone like that could purchase a book for $10,000, but they might have to charge it.  $10,000 is 10% of their yearly income.

Take someone with an income of $1,000,000 per year.  A $10,000 book is just 1% of their income.  That's quite a difference.

Let's crunch the numbers with this listing.  Hidden Staircase sold for $1,312.  For someone who makes $100,000 per year, this amount is 1.312% of their income.

Using 1.312%, this same book would be the equivalent of a book priced at $13,120 to someone who makes $1,000,0000 per year.  Put another way, a millionaire regards $13,120 the same way that one of us might regard $1,312.  If the Hollywood dealer marks the price up to $10,000-15,000, then it won't be priced too high for his clientele.  The book will sell eventually. 

I hope this explanation helps you understand.  This copy of Hidden Staircase isn't worth $10,000 or more to any of us, but someone who is wealthy would be willing to pay that much.  The high-end seller's wealthy clientele pay him a convenience fee.