lippy wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:late stage capitalism

Could be, could be something else. Sometimes, some people get to a place in their lives where they are forced to sell their greatest possessions and even then it won't be enough money to get them where they need to be if they only get fair market value for them. I'll never forget being in line at the pharmacy and watching a man break down and cry because he couldn't afford his wife's medication (I don't remember the exact amount of money he needed for his wife's 10 pills, just that it was an astounding). He ended up walking out of there with 2 of the 10 pills he was supposed to get.

I assumed when you wrote that, you were referring to the seller's greed but I don't know for certain if that's what you mean. If it is, would it be so greedy of him this money is to help pay for a year of college for a grandkid when the rest of the family is in debt up to their eyeballs. Had $200K of medical debt, or may become homeless in the near future unless he/she can get a bunch of money together.

There are lots of things that $10-20K doesn't really help with, but $50-75K would.

Sorry I'll get off of my soapbox now

lippy wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:
I was half joking, but your examples really bring it home, comrade.

Well, if calling someone greedy that you don't really know their situation is something you'd joke about, to each his own.

I'm a member here to gain knowledge from the people here that are much more experienced than I am in role playing games. I probably have very little to contribute to the group myself in that regard. I actually work in local auctions, that's where my experience is that I can share or at least hope to.
I get it that my examples sound like a Bernie Sanders' speech but those same situations are what consignors tell my company why, when they are selling their stuff. Most of the time it isn't that, just typical downsizing. But it does happen.

Here's some bonus knowledge you didn't ask for. Say you were interested to know why someone would be giving 10% to charity when they really needed the money? Because it works. My company only does it rarely but auction houses do it, some do it every auction. As long as a known, legitimate charity gets picked as beneficiary. It can greatly encourage bidding and is worth 2-4 times what it takes in, which is good for both charity and consignor.

Think of all that info I gave you for free Lippy. What a little hippee I've become - I might have to grow my hair out, stop taking showers and learn to play the Bongos.

Obviously I took it too far then. Hope you'll understand why by the points that I tried to make, didn't mean to be an internet bully.

Invincible Overlord wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:
However even with the intent to donate a percentage to charity, a brown box isn't going to sell for 75K unless it belonged to Gygax/Arnenson/Kaye...

To a knowledgeable collector, you are absolutely correct. But what if it isn't sold to one of them?

When I saw this, the first thing I thought of was some 90's rock band dude that had a MTV Show (If think he was in Poison). But anyway, I was over at a friend's house one day and my friend said "Jeff, you've got to watch this show He has like the greatest comic collection in the world". Of course I knew he didn't, because I would have heard of him before that.
So we're watching the show and sure enough he breaks out an Amazing Fantasy 15 and says some crap like "This is the greatest comic ever and I have one and you never will..." I'm sitting there laughing about it and my friend asks what I'm laughing about. I told him besides that the guy is a total douche, that book isn't super rare but is really desirable.
My friend, who knew nothing about comics, then told me "Oh you're wrong, He paid xxx (I don't remember what the exact dollar amount was for it, but it was crazy) and he says it's impossible to find one" I say "Dude, I know at least twenty collectors right now that have that book and the guy I buy Silver Age from has four of them right now and two Amazing Spiderman #1s, three of the AF 15's are in better condition than that one and he'll sell one them to you for a third of that price". I just saw them yesterday"
Of course my friend didn't believe me because I don't have a TV Show (pfft eye roll) but here's the thing I thought of later on. Douche Rock Star probably didn't even buy the book, he probably had the production company for the TV Show buy it for him as part of his compensation. Production companies overpay on authentic set dressings all of the time because it takes more time than it's worth to them to find a fair price. (I have a great personal story about that but this is already a long read).

We as collectors have a real straight forward mentality of how we buy our collection, to understand value and to not overpay. But a lot of non collectors don't see it the same way. Because this seller didn't do a straight auction and giving it time to become known (I'm sure this has been shared everywhere by now). He does give himself the opportunity for a non knowledgeable collector or other entity to buy it.

Obviously I have no idea if this will sell or not. But if it does, it will most likely be by something/someone other than one of us.

Yep, speculation on intent to sell is over, now it's an auction. Ought to be a good one


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The sales trend is definitely up.  Check out the graph here:

Rulebooks Index

This graph is for VG condition.

Since 2016, there have been five recorded sales of 1st prints selling for over $10K, with two sales over $20K.  Before then, the highest recorded sale was $7,200.

It's important to note that the Acaeum valuations are not reflective of spot price trends, but are based on a "value curve" over time, with more emphasis on newer sales than old.  These valuations are only estimated values, based on market data, primarily from auction sales.

I thought it might go higher too.  Anchoring the price with the first $75k BIN seemed clever.  Gorgeous set, I hope both parties are happy.

dbartman wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:If you haven't seen it yet:


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Looks like a really nice copy.

Man, is that a nice set. Too rich for my current disposable income, but that thing is probably as good as you're going to get condition-wise these days.