Fellowship: Question #5 - biggest score

Going to have to go with this one as I will inherit this book, £3.99 from a charity shop, my Uncle rang me shaking moments after he bought it, as he could not believe his luck, and he did not think it was a real signature, very happy to confirm that it was

https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/n ... =ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0

A dealer not knowing what they have isn't savvy buying, that's just lucky & opportunist. Whereas Amazon mis-pricing is savvy buying, is it not?

I don't understand the question!

For me, this is going to be a hard one to pick a particular story for (as my mode of shopping tends to be to keep a sharp eye on a wide array of markets waiting for the really good deals to pop up...)

I managed to run across a copy of the Proceedings of the British Academy 1936 for a few euros on amazon.de from a third party seller a few years back... I was quite excited when it actually showed up! http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details2.php?id=116

On the new release side of things, I was one of the lucky ones who saw when they priced the pre-release of the deluxe edition of Children of Hurin at less than a pound because of a misplaced decimal. They honored the price even when I pointed it out, and I got a large number of copies from it.

Khamûl wrote:
A dealer not knowing what they have isn't savvy buying, that's just lucky & opportunist. Whereas Amazon mis-pricing is savvy buying, is it not?

I don't understand the question!

I just stated my own preference for answers "not particularly looking for" and "more interested in"... I don't dispute what you are saying either.

For me, if a dealer says "that's a misprice" I will totally understand and not press for a deal. If Amazon.co.uk had said the same, again I would have no problem with it. I was quite impressed that they honored the sales at that price (they haven't always done that.)

If the dealer is happy with the sale, and the buyer is jumping up and down in joy at the price, then that is interesting to me.... that's all. Looking for good stories!

Bought an edition I was missing of Bilbo's Last Song a little while ago for $1.25 and was happy to find it was signed by the illustrator.

No amazing scores of rare stuff, but my $50 1946 Hobbit was a good deal, as was my as-new 1967 Hobbit, which was advertised as a 1966 - The professional seller refunded and didn't want it back, so that was a bargain.

HarperCollins sent me two SuperDeluxe S&Gs when I only ordered one (and didn't seem to want the extra one back). The first one arrived with no name on it and kicked around the office for a week before it was identified as being for me. It wasn't damaged, fortunately. The second one arrived randomly - with my name on it - a few days later. All very odd.

The rare Child's World Oliphaunt was another one that ended up free; This time by virtue of taking 6 weeks+ to arrive. Book Depository refunded me after a month of it not showing up.

Then there is the Clays Deluxe HoME that arrived damaged, got sent back (at great expense, refunded by Amazon), got rejected by Amazon in Spain and then ended up back with me. Horrible set, but I guess there is some bibliographic interest (and other than a lot of mucking about, didn't cost me anything)...

Okay then, probably my £15 copy of The Silmarillion "signed by the editor"; advertised as such, so the seller knew that it was Christopher's signature. Seemed like a decent price!

Really hard to decide which one to state.

My collection is (very fortunately) filled with bargains (or savvy purchases if you will) due to my budget versus collecting ambitions (being a completist collector). Have to bridge the gap by spending a lot of time actively searching (putting the hard graft in), waiting for the right copy of the more expensive editions and selling duplicates.

A few that spring to mind (which I just searched my purchase emails for prices)

1927 Stapeldon Magazine for £11
1923 Microcosm for $35
1970 Private Printing of the Map of Middle Earth (from a former GA&U employee for £50) which was also signed by Pauline Baynes
1925 Review of English Studies (Vol 1 No 3 - Devil's Coach Horses) 36 Euro
1955 Time and Tide 11 Euro

and another which was a joy was 2 listings on ABE on the same day by the same seller for Leeds University Verse and A Nothern Venture, £200 and £350 respectively. To get two major wants in one fell swoop out of the blue at a bargain price - that one kept my spirits high for some time...

I'd have to say most of my biggest book scores are non-Tolkien, but I've been fortunate to find some Tolkien bargains. A few hard-to-find EP titles that sell for sky-high prices I've found for cheap. A few years ago I picked up CoH for around $100 and recently sold for $350. It's back in print now so I was able to replace my copy. Some of the recent deluxe editions I've ended up with free copies for some reason or another. As others have experienced, some second-hand purchases have unexpectedly shown up with signatures: Douglas Anderson, Hammond & Scull, John Howe are some of mine (no Tolkiens unfortunately!).