More eBay commentary on what's up for auction every once in a while to help educate collectors and--well, have snarky fun too:) So, I'll highlight a few interesting finds, crazy listings, and eBay Nancy Drew flubs and the like. Chime in, in the comments section with your thoughts or questions! Copy the item number and go to http://www.ebay.com and enter it into the search box to view the following auctions:
(Disclaimer: No offense meant to any seller or bidder/potential bidder--I'm sure you're all lovely people:)...)
So, the trend of really high prices on Nancy Drew books seems to be going down, or the stock of items is going down. Or both:) Will be interesting to see how it goes over the course of the summer!
Amusing Auctions:
Item Number: 260255358098 Description: NANCY DREW #32 The Scarlet Slipper Mystery (1954)
(Ended: 07/01/08) - Imagine how well the Nancy Drew books would have sold if the dust jacket artwork had been in black and white! Not too snazzy.
Item Number: 330246484287 Description: THE LOST FILES OF NANCY DREW DetectiveSecrets 2007 Book
(Ends:06/29/08) - I was amused by the seller stating they can't guarantee this book to be from a smoke/pet free home. Aside from the pet issue, the SMELL test always works for smoke ;) FYI, I contributed some artwork and history information for this book and my website is credited in the back of the book!
Not So Fast Seller! (Or...It's no mystery, it's just not rare!)
Item Number: 320184202654 Description: Nancy Drew Leaning Chimney Rare 1st/ dj Farah 1949-B
(Ends: Indefinite--Store Listing) - Asking Price: $185.00. (Farah's Guide Value=$112.00). Oh and by the way, it's not rare! Not even medium rare :) (Thanks Dean for the reference!)
Item Number: 250243652126 Description: Keene, Carolyn. NANCY DREW MYSTERY OF BRASS BOUND TRUNK
(Ends: Indefinite--Store Listing) - Asking Price: $199.95. This is a mid-50s printing worth 36.00 in Farah's Guide. Look at the shape it's in. Not a great dust jacket.
Item Number: 150265687411 Description: Vintage Nancy Drew HIDDEN STAIRCASE WS DJ ~ RARE Format
(Ends: 07/07/08) - Buy it now is $99.99. It's well done I'd say. I'm just sayin'.
Item Number: 140245658490 Description: Clue in the Diary NaNcy Drew Applewood 2nd N PerfecT
Gorgeous, rare, HTF Second Edition! Great Investment!
(Ends: 07/07/08) - Buy it now for $79.99. Or bid for 29.99. I'd rather invest in the first printing/first edition Old Clock up for auction at eBay, it will always have an excellent resale value!
Interesting Auction Ending Prices--Trends in Nancy Drew Collecting:
Item Number: 170232771476 Description: Nancy Drew Secret of Old Clock Blue Leather Applewood
(Ends: 07/01/08) - Ending Price: 180.68. This is one of the Applewood Books Leatherbound editions--the only one they printed in fact, and the print run was around 100 or a little over, so this is a rather rare collectible to own. There won't be anymore made like it. So, the ending price is interesting. It cost around 1/3 of that ending to purchase to begin with.
Item Number: 290240711325 Description: Nancy Drew Secret/Old Clock 75th Anniversary Ed, As New
(Ended: 06/27/08) - Ending Price: $74.99. A bit lower than the above book.
The Case of How It Ended So High?!
I'd like to take a moment to point out a few things to you all. Farah's Guide is the definitive guide to the Drew books. Often you can purchase books in it for less than the guide prices. Further, the guide's prices are for books in excellent shape. If your book has any flaws, it's worth less than the guide price. The following auctions ended far and above Farah's "excellent shape" prices, which has me and my chum Nancy a bit stymied!
Item Number: 320269208664 Description: Nancy Drew Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk 1st EDITION
RARE w/ Dust Jacket First Printing Carolyn Keene SUPERB
(Ended: 07/1/08) - Ending Price: $750. (Farah's Guide Value: $280.00) This is actually not a rare book fyi. It's scarcer than a yellow spine picture cover though :)
News From the Apple Tree:
Item Number: 250260268151 Description: Nancy Drew Applewood 1st THE HAUNTED BRIDGE Fine hcdj Very Collectible Applewood First Edition Nice!
(Ended: 06/23/08) - Ending Price: $250.29
Item Number: 350071645265 Description: AS NEW Scarce Applewood # 17 Nancy Drew 1st Edition The Mystery Of The Brass Bound Trunk - VHTF - Gorgeous!
(Ended: 06/28/08) - Ending Price: $107.52. BUT, it didn't meet reserve. (Rolls eyes...)
Item Number: 350070105692 Description: Nancy Drew Applewood Secret in the Old Attic 1st ed
(Ended: 06/19/08) - Ending Price: $104.49. Guess WHAT?! You can get this book for 16.95 at Barnes & Noble online. It's still available Shhhh, don't tell the resellers!
Item Number: 350070717300 Description: AS NEW Applewood # 9 Nancy Drew Carolyn Keene 1st Print
The Sign Of The Twisted Candles - Gorgeous, VHTF
(Ended: 06/22/08) - Ending Price: $79.99.
Item Number: 350070101800 Description: Nancy Drew Applewood Clue in the Jewel Box 1st edition
(Ended: 06/19/08) - Ending Price: $71.99. And, you can get this book for 16.95 at Barnes & Noble online. It's still available too.
Item Number: 110266441711 Description: Nancy Drew gift box set books 1-6 OOP Applewood NR 2005
75th Anniversary Gift Set Exact copies of the originals
(Ends:07/06/08) - The seller copies verbatim from my website--you can see the little R symbol by "Nancy Drew" which I use on my website, but doesn't cite my website, then copies some info from Wikipedia and cites their website. Amusing to say the least;) I will be interested to see how this set does as I have a couple of extras on hand. This was produced for the 75th anniversary and I'm not sure how many sets were made. The asking price is $200.00 and I'm not sure they'll get that much. It cost around $50 to $70 originally depending on what site you purchased it from. Depending on how little were produced, it could easily go up in value. Don't confuse this with the generic Applewood books that are selling in my opinion, far over their actual value!
Jenn:)
Nancy Drew Fans: Here You'll Find Collecting Vintage Nancy Drew & Series Books, Nancy Drew Crafts & Projects, Nancy Drew Merchandise and Party Planning, Nancy Drew Convention Info and Many More Mysterious Things!
7 comments:
Re: Item Number: 320184202654 Description: Nancy Drew Leaning Chimney Rare 1st/ dj Farah 1949-B
Can you say "fake dustjacket?"
RE: Item Number: 140245658490 Description: Clue in the Diary NaNcy Drew Applewood 2nd N PerfecT
Gorgeous, rare, HTF Second Edition! Great Investment!
(Ends: 07/07/08) - Buy it now for $79.99. Or bid for 29.99. I'd rather invest in the first printing/first edition Old Clock up for auction at eBay, it will always have an excellent resale value!
~~~
First of all, your facts are wrong. The opening bid was $39.99.
And WHO would not prefer a First Edition Old Clock?
It is a moot point and very, very few of us can afford a $11,000 book and, quite frankly, I can think of several better ways to spend that sort of money!
Applewoods have shot through the roof in value so, yes, they are great investment, despite your disapproval.
You do not have to like the Applewoods. I do not like many of the newly published Nancy books as people have different preferences.
Nevertheless, the Applewoods are very attractive and plenty of collectors really appreciate them, particularly for the gorgeous artwork!
I'd rather have a nice Applewood than any Nancy in ratty condition!
Many people list things that others might term as JUNK.
Whoa talk about a bitter comment! I never said I didn't like the Applewood editions, so way to go on the lack of logical reasoning/reading skills :) Nancy would be ashamed. LOL!
At any rate, I think I speak for most collectors, we all love the Applewoods, they're fabulous. But, they're not worth some of the insane prices that people have paid. You can buy a vintage book for less, and most of us would reasonably rather have a vintage book in our collection for that price. There are loads of first edition aka original text Nancy Drew books on eBay that are actual books and not reproductions, so it's not like the Applewoods are the only and last hope for collectors:)
How do you know whether Nancy would disapprove or not? LOL. Duh.
Been holding seances with fictional characters?
You arrogantly mock auctions and the people involved as if your perspectives are the "end-all" and your opinions are more valuable than others.
Your disclaimer only serves as a feeble attempt to obfuscate the obvious.
As for your OWN logic skills and reading skills, I never stated that Applewoods are "the only and last hope for collectors". How absurd!
Your elitist attitude is quite obvious as is your disapproval of the value of collectible items that do not coincide with your preferences.
The market itself ultimately determines the worth of collectible items.
It's pretty clear who you are--the seller of the Applewoods who claims they're what I say they arent. That's pretty blatantly obvious.
I'm the last person who has an elitist attitude--in fact I'm so the opposite that your comment is incredibly laughable. So you're now causing me to have to do comment moderation on my Blog. People like you who post anonymously to hide behind their crude and rude words, have no place in the Nancy Drew collecting field--or anywhere in society frankly. Society as a whole does not approve of your kind of malicious behavior and it won't be tolerated here at my Blog or anywhere else.
Love this Blog, Jenn, you shouldn't worry about what people like that say, we all appreciate your hard work with the Nancy Drew website and the Sleuths:) Keep up the good work!
JK
The values of the Applewoods seem to have fallen again, and I think that the low prices are the cause of the bitter comments. The anonymous poster stated, "The market itself ultimately determines the worth of collectible items." Right now, the books seem to be selling for around $25.00 to $40.00 from what I can tell, so undoubtedly this is very upsetting to those who believe the books are worth hundreds of dollars. Currently, the books are only worth $25.00 to $40.00.
Who knows where the prices might be in years to come? It could be that they are going to be worth hundreds of dollars. Nobody knows.
Like me, Jenn collects library bindings. She and I are hardly elitist. We would not have library bindings in our collections if we were elitist. Library bindings are regular editions that have been removed from the original bindings and rebound in arbitrary bindings that have nothing to do with the original editions. True elitists scorn them.
I can tell you what an elitist collector is. There is a Nancy Drew collector who asks sellers whether the spine part of the text block is flat up against the outer spine or whether there is a gap. If there is a gap, how much is it? I am kind of afraid to sell to this person. I've never paid attention to the gap between the text block and the outer spine! Most all of my books have gaps and are no good to an elitist!
I have noticed in my own blog that just about everyone who posts anonymously is either critical of my comments or is spamming my blog. A person's words carry far more meaning when that person stands behind them.
There is nothing wrong with Jenn thinking that the Applewoods are not worth $50.00 and higher. There is nothing wrong with me feeling the same way. There is also nothing wrong with people who feel like the books are the most desired of all Nancy Drew books and worth hundreds of dollars. We all have the right to disagree.
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