Sleuthing at eBay #11: The Case of the Holy Grail Old Clock

Holy Grail Old Clock Auction at eBay! Get it now or wait a long time possibly. The dust jacket is what's really rare about this book. Not many exist with the intact dust jacket! Images above are from the auction.

Item Number: 170234581748 Description: NANCY DREW-TRUE 1930 EDITION-SECRET OF THE CLOCK-DJ AN UNBELIEVABLE FIND-AN ABSOLUTE MUST TREASURE

(Ends: 07/06/08) - This is as good as it gets! It's a bonafied first printing/first edition! The dust jacket is the real prize here! It should sell high. Can't wait for the ending!

I'm loving that the seller wouldn't end the listing for a paltry 3000 offer! This book should sell for around 10,000 if not more. Can't wait to see what it goes for! I've always wondered why a first of Hidden Staircase doesn't sell as high, it was released at the same time. Same goes for Bungalow Mystery. Maybe it's the idea that Old Clock is book #1 so that adds to it. More on my first of Staircase below...

I think there are a lot more copies out there, we just don't know about them. Not everything sells on eBay, and there are lots of private sales/auctions/estate sales going on in which these books change hands. There are a lot of collectors or lovers of Nancy Drew who may not be diehards that may not even know the collecting community exists like it does to even begin to come forth and say what they have. They may not even know what they have. Lots of variables.

Among the collector community, there are several people who have first printings with the dust jacket. One came up for auction a few years ago but it was never verified and the seller disappeared with it--some nut job. There was one sold to a woman in CA. And the one that sold a couple of years ago by a Sleuth member who sold it off of eBay and wouldn't tell anyone what it sold for but we're assuming 10 thousand or more. I know there are probably more, for some reason people don't like to discuss they have firsts;) That's the impression I get! It's not like owning a first printing Nancy Drew is like owning a Monet or a Picasso worth millions or something related to national security after all:) LOL!

I think quite a few people have firsts without the dust jacket as those blank endpaper books sans dust jackets are fairly readily available.

One reason I suspect the dust jackets aren't found on a lot of these 1933 and before books, is that on the dust jacket's reverse side was a huge listing of books to collect. The back of the book said don't throw away the wrapper and pointed kids to the titles there. I think some kids probably took of the dust jackets and used them as a list of what books to read and collect. See my site on this:

http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/dj.html

I purchased the first printing on eBay--no dust jacket--around 1998, can't recall off hand. I paid around 280 for it. I got a copy of an actual first printing dust jacket which I have on the book. So that's a nice touch. And in 2002 when I met Millie Benson in Toledo for the Sleuths' first annual convention, she signed the book for me. So I really like having a first printing signed by the ghostwriter. I wish I had a real dust jacket! The picture above was taken in 2005, my Old Clock is the book on the far left of the shelf, Hidden Staircase next to it. I have a lot more white and wrap spines in my collection now!

I was e-mailed in around '03 or '04 by someone in NYC who had a Hidden Staircase he thought was a first, it was. I asked him what he wanted for it. He'd seen my website and that I was looking for firsts. He said 500.00 So I purchased it. That was one of my dream ND purchases. It's worth quite a bit more. And it's in pretty good shape too!

The next first I have is Ivory Charm. Those between 1 and 13 are so hard to find and so spendy, that I haven't been able to afford them. I'd love to just stumble upon them at a sale like some of these sellers seem to! Maybe one day:)

Jenn:)