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The collectors Trove eBay auction....
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Gnat the Beggar
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 1:05 am

There have been torches lit here, but not so much as can be seen every day on many other forum and message boards.

Collectors Trove (Paul) is a class act and like many here I have purchased numerous items from his auctions.
Never had a thought he was "hording the good stuff".
Same for the other names you listed as the large re-sellers.....
I have known BadMike for years and I sold a medium sized collection to him a few years ago for his store.
Sold, not consigned.....
That bit has long since been resold of course and as far as I know he only kept a small handful of middling items for himself.
Nothing of considerable value.

I suspect many of those seller's consignment clients (the collector sellers) would have a problem with that sort of behavior anyway.
Those re-sellers rely on collectors knowing they can trust them.
Word flows fast in this arena and bad word flies faster than good.

As for true collectors?
Those whose main goal is to collect items for their own enjoyment?
Most of the more prolific of the collectors will occasionally also sell a LOT of items and They DO keep the good stuff; but that is well known and certainly expected.

I once considered myself a middling collector, and kept the good items as often as I could.
Sometimes rare items would go on the block, but usually that item was sacrificed to recover from some purchase (or several) that had deflated my bank account.

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misterspock
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:34 am

The Collector's Trove wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:Just a few examples of things I have let go that were existentially crippling for me after they went out the door: Bottle City ms., TSR Chalice, TSR Tiffany paperweight, 1st Players Handbook sold, 1st DMG off the printers, Monster Manual with the signature of every person working at TSR in 1977, Greyhawk Castle maps by Shook, B3 Palace of the Silver Princess print negatives, unused DMG cover proof, Deities & Demigods cover proof, Aegis ink, Vanamoinen ink, Erol Otus devo badger, Hoyer blue enamel RPGA buckle and copper RPGA reward buckle, Mornard's Lessnard play drawn map of Greyhawk Castle, Dread Delgath Character sheet, many, many copies of Random Events, TWO, count 'em, two TSR Lizardman Logo miniatures, TSR Production calendars, a zillion business cards, scads of autographed items (many by people that are no longer with us), countless letters by Gary, missing issues of Domesday Book, Strategic Preview, and Corner of the Tabletop, and the list goes on.

Which auction did that autographed Monster Manual sell in? I think it must have been one before I joined the site. Also who picked that up?

The Collector's Trove
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 10:19 pm

Howdy,

misterspock wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:
The Collector's Trove wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:Just a few examples of things I have let go that were existentially crippling for me after they went out the door: Bottle City ms., TSR Chalice, TSR Tiffany paperweight, 1st Players Handbook sold, 1st DMG off the printers, Monster Manual with the signature of every person working at TSR in 1977, Greyhawk Castle maps by Shook, B3 Palace of the Silver Princess print negatives, unused DMG cover proof, Deities & Demigods cover proof, Aegis ink, Vanamoinen ink, Erol Otus devo badger, Hoyer blue enamel RPGA buckle and copper RPGA reward buckle, Mornard's Lessnard play drawn map of Greyhawk Castle, Dread Delgath Character sheet, many, many copies of Random Events, TWO, count 'em, two TSR Lizardman Logo miniatures, TSR Production calendars, a zillion business cards, scads of autographed items (many by people that are no longer with us), countless letters by Gary, missing issues of Domesday Book, Strategic Preview, and Corner of the Tabletop, and the list goes on.

Which auction did that autographed Monster Manual sell in? I think it must have been one before I joined the site. Also who picked that up?

That was the Sutherland auction IIRC. I'll have to look it up but I'll be busy packaging the next couple of days.

Futures Bright,

Paul

The Collector's Trove The online auction house that features the collections of game designers and artists.

stratochamp
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 11:59 pm

Congratulations to my friend Scott (Melnibonean) who outbid me on the 1978 Gencon Character sheets. Well done (even though that one's going to leave a bruise on me)!

Shrink is not a condition

misterspock
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 12:42 am

then congratulations are in order to all the winners ...and the losers!

I couldn't even get some bids to register on some of the auctions

what in hell was going on here??!?! :lol:

** expired/removed eBay auction **

misterspock
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 12:50 am

The Collector's Trove wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:That was the Sutherland auction IIRC. I'll have to look it up but I'll be busy packaging the next couple of days.

No prob, thanks! Whoever scored that is lucky!

mark1107
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 3:21 am

misterspock wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:then congratulations are in order to all the winners ...and the losers!

I couldn't even get some bids to register on some of the auctions 8O PDT_Armataz_01_05

what in hell was going on here??!?! :lol:

** expired/removed eBay auction **

I was going to bid higher but at that price I'd rather save my money for ziplock tournament copy! I gave up at 1125!

webrik33
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 4:15 am

misterspock wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:then congratulations are in order to all the winners ...and the losers!

I couldn't even get some bids to register on some of the auctions 8O PDT_Armataz_01_05

what in hell was going on here??!?! :lol:

** expired/removed eBay auction **

I agree and can't understand it either. Have prices really gone up that much?

Have no problem understanding why the one of a kind items go for biggggg $$$$

I'm satisfied with the couple of polyhedron issues i won

Make them pay as much as they think they can afford...J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

muaddib5
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:01 am

** expired/removed eBay auction **

** expired/removed eBay auction **

I got schlacked!

Home - Gen Con Wisconsin 1968 2002

grodog
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:57 am

muaddib5 wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:
** expired/removed eBay auction **

** expired/removed eBay auction **

I got schlacked! 8O

Yes, the prices for the GenCon and Origins programs got me thinking I might just have to sell mine

Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
Greyhawk, grodog Style

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muaddib5
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:02 am

grodog wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:
muaddib5 wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:
** expired/removed eBay auction **

** expired/removed eBay auction **

I got schlacked! 8O

Yes, the prices for the GenCon and Origins programs got me thinking I might just have to sell mine

I believe final bids were a bit on the steep side due to the Allen Hammack connection. These are no where near what I've been tracking for nearly a year. Example, a Gen Con X program went for about $75 in October (and it was in very fine condition). The Gen Con XV program only went for $13.50 and I was shocked at that low winning bid based on the other programs in the auction.

I'm still looking for more items if you are thinking about selling! :wink:

Gen Con in Wisconsin (1968-2002)

Home - Gen Con Wisconsin 1968 2002

Last edited by muaddib5 on Tue Nov 24, 2015 8:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

misterspock
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:58 am

grodog wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:
muaddib5 wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:
** expired/removed eBay auction **

** expired/removed eBay auction **

I got schlacked! 8O

Yes, the prices for the GenCon and Origins programs got me thinking I might just have to sell mine

My bids didn't even register on those

mark1107 wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:I was going to bid higher but at that price I'd rather save my money for ziplock tournament copy! I gave up at 1125!

I was thinking along the same lines. I had rather have the real deal!

dbartman
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:18 pm

stratochamp wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:Congratulations to my friend Scott (Melnibonean) who outbid me on the 1978 Gencon Character sheets. Well done (even though that one's going to leave a bruise on me)!

Yes, congrats! Those sheets are a great pickup. Truly rare.

Should have put a higher bid in on those Strategic Preview TSR Jobbies. Nice to get file copies of all four at once.

Peter Green
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Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:45 am

Any thoughts on the pricing of the strategic preview in this set of auctions? I really wanted to big but was worried about getting hit on the head with a iron frying pan by the wife. I would have big up to 400$ for those but the little voice in my head would not let me bid more. I know I know the price of an item is what the market will take. But are these prices a bit much? Is there inflation in this collector market? Many more people collecting driving up prices? Just curious about people's thoughts.

It isn't easy being Green

dbartman
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Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 9:53 am

Those particular Strategic Previews were one of a kind. Even if they weren't, they are about a rare as you can get, with only between 25-50 copies made. Of those, it's unlikely that many survived, as they were just a simple newsletter, and had little perceived value at the time. They would have only survived in a die-hard collector's collection (which there were not many collectors at the time), a TSR employees miscellaneous company paraphernalia (probably by happenstance), or just by plain luck, being secreted away in something purchased at the time, roughly 40 years ago...

So to answer your question, the price was probably a steal, for the right collector, as it is very unlikely that we will ever see something like these come again, disregarding the fact that these were from Allen Hammack's personal collection.

The Strategic Reviews are another collectible altogether. They were more widely distributed, as evident from the relatively frequent sale of them on eBay.

stratochamp
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Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:20 pm

dbartman wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:
stratochamp wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:Congratulations to my friend Scott (Melnibonean) who outbid me on the 1978 Gencon Character sheets. Well done (even though that one's going to leave a bruise on me)!

Yes, congrats! Those sheets are a great pickup. Truly rare.

Should have put a higher bid in on those Strategic Preview TSR Jobbies. Nice to get file copies of all four at once.

I really regretted not winning that lot...and then Paul contacted me with a 2nd chance offer as Al had a second set in the same condition.

As to valuing the Strategic Previews, I would say it turns on how one feels about the concept of "file copies". If they had been "normal" Strategic Previews, I suspect the lot might have gone over 4K, so if one views this lot as being indistinguishable from "normal" copies it could easily be viewed as a steal.

Shrink is not a condition

increment
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Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:51 pm

dbartman wrote in The collectors Trove eBay auction....:Those particular Strategic Previews were one of a kind. Even if they weren't, they are about a rare as you can get, with only between 25-50 copies made.

The cover of the first issue of the Strategic Preview says, "This newsletter will be mailed regularly to all subscribers of THE DRAGON and LITTLE WARS, as well as included with most current mail orders. Sporadically, it will be sent to everyone we can think of..." And also that "some issues may be available at 'The Dungeon' in Lake Geneva, WI." From the subscriber lists of those periodicals alone, this would place the number printed in the thousands; a letter I have that Gygax sent in March 1976 suggested that the starting circulation of the Dragon alone "will not be less than 2,000." What reason do we have to think there were only 25-50 of each Strat Preview made at the time?

Totally agreed that they are rare today and that many were certainly discarded. And the controversy about "file copies" will no doubt return with every major auction of interest. At least these weren't made with a photocopier originally.

Bracton
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Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 4:11 pm

This is a case where I distinguish between Domesdays -- which were originally photocopied for distribution -- and the Strategic Previews, which were not. This was a sale of file copies, meaning that Allen made copies back in the day and put them into his file for reference. So if I were the purchaser -- which I'm not -- I would still be looking for original Strategic Previews for my collection. For that reason, to me, these were of lesser value than originals, even if made as Allen's file copies.

But for others, the provenance will add to the value. So ymmv.

"Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus."

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