Going going gone
anyone go for it?

Wasn't the price a bit high?

Guess not as it looks as if it sold. The old supply and demand theory kicks in here. Might be wrong but i think last one sold for £350 as i recall so whilst it was a fair bit more i am not suprised it sold. It seems at the moment prices are dipping but real rare items still going up.

laurel wrote:
Guess not as it looks as if it sold. The old supply and demand theory kicks in here. Might be wrong but i think last one sold for £350 as i recall so whilst it was a fair bit more i am not suprised it sold. It seems at the moment prices are dipping but real rare items still going up.

It seems like there just isn't much of interest available at the moment. The market for the nicer end of the "common stuff" is probably fairly saturated, so even though there aren't a huge number of sellers, there aren't that many buyers, either. All the people who started collections after the LOTR movies aren't ready to sell them on as yet (at a loss). Another few years, all those collections will start to come back out into the market.

I think the odd rarities (such as the Methuen Sil) that show up are commanding a larger share of attention than previously, just because the market contains so little of interest to keep collectors occupied.

I think things will become more normal in a couple of years. The desirable end of the common stuff might come up a bit and the rarer stuff will inevitably come down (possibly by quite a lot). When you get outside of the very small number of titles that are likely to be used as investments (by those with no actual interest in the material), the number of people genuinely interested in some of the rarer non-ME stuff has to be absolutely tiny.

Does not look to be in that good a condition, but still probably a good price at the moment.

eBay Item #261631278041

I agree broadly with the points you make, Stu; particularly the fact that there is very little out there right now --& therefore decent items are attracting more attention than they might normally, as there are so few of them.

I wouldn't pay $750 for a Methuen Silmarillion though...

BH

The Methuen Silmarillion was listed as in "immaculate" conditions, but I see there are some stains/discolourations on the front cover between the gilded stamp and the top edge.
Definitely not worth that price in my opinion

here's another copy (I have no affiliations with the seller):
eBay Item #281474842265

I am surprised that you don't see this sort of inscription in more books, as this is one of the main reasons why people wrote their name in books

eBay Item #271640036788

"An imminently presentable copy " it says. Oh - well, I'll wait, then..