dbartman wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:You can find some numbers here:

Rares Index

Print Run

This page might be of interest to you as well, if you haven't seen it already:

Library

Thanks I've read that a few times now.  Interesting, but not what I'm looking for.  What I am interested in for example is lets take a rare 5,  "ST1 Up the Garden Path".  The information page about this module reports that it is estimated 600 copies were printed, and maybe 100-200 sold.  It says Unknown how many survived, but has anyone, or any site or reference kept track of how many are out there?  Is there less than 10 known copies?  

This would be some interesting information to learn about.

Len Lakofka has left us.

ExTSR wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:Len Lakofka has left us.

The Secret of Bone Hill was one of the first adventures I went through as a player, and it was magical.  D&D lost a good man.  

Congratulations on your retirement, Chris!—or whatever you’d prefer to call it

Allan.

eBay managed payments - Hows that going? I haven't listed anything for a while, just curious.

benjoshua wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:Sean Connery, James Bond actor dies at age 90.  

Allen Quartermain from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Connery's depiction of Quartermain was the definitive Quartermain.

aia wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:Hi, just a quick question: do you know any website similar to the acaeum dedicated to dice collecting? I'd like to understand better what's in this market...
Thanks and ciaooo

I don't know of one for pricing valuations, but there are several FB groups dedicated to dice you can search for and join.

Kevin Cook's site is the best one I'm aware of for identifying/cataloging dice:  DiceCollector.com - Home of the Worlds Largest Dice Collection - THE place for Dice Info & Questions

Allan.

benjoshua wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:Well, I've done it now.  This is my last week of paid work in the world (that I know of).  I will get a severance until the end of November, but after that, no more paychecks.

Some people call this retirement, but I don't like that word or even that idea.

I don't visit the site as much as I used to and just saw your post.
Congratulations! I am sure that you will find lots of things to stay busy.
I turn 60 next year and am already heavy into retirement planning.
2020 has been a rough year to work in the retail industry and 2021 is showing all the signs of being even rougher.
Best of luck with your post-paycheck career!

I just saw the news on facebook and confirmed it with friends of the family. Eddie Courtroul died of a heart attack yesterday morning in Japan. Although he wasn't as active in the collecting community as many others here, he was a very serious collector of RPGs for the last 30 years.

Eddie was a RPG collector and a helluva great guy. I met him while he worked as an attorney in Dallas in the 90s. He bought a few things off my old usenet listings and we got together to trade stuff. We hung out a lot and shared a lot of collector type knowledge. He was the first one to tell me to contact Gary Gygax when I found the Conquistador with Expedition to the Black Reservoir story in it, which kind of jumpstarted my true serious collecting instead of just checking off items in Heroic Worlds. Eddie could speak fluent Japanese so he ended up in Japan working for a law firm there, married again, and had two late in life daughters. When he left, he gave me several boxes of AD&D books and modules....extras he didn't need and told me to sell and keep the money for myself for helping him with his collection. Just the kind of thing he would do.

While in Japan Eddie was responsible for putting together the team (Analog) that produced a kickstarter for a very nice version of The Deck of Many Things. I know he had more projects in the works but his job always seemed to take up most of his time and the other ideas he had never really got finished, which is too bad.

Eddie was one of the most loyal and trustworthy people I've ever met. He had much of his gaming stuff shipped to me from his parent's house when they moved, and when I sold it on consignment he gave me the account number of his personal bank account to deposit the money into. He was an avid collector and started building a large collection when in Japan, which included picking up as many Japanese D&D titles as he could find (many of you have bought these from my booth at NTRPG Con). The first year I sold a bunch of his stuff at NTRPG con i sent him a detailed list of what I sold when I sent him the money; the told me not to bother with the list in the future and just send him the money. He trusted me implicitly in our dealings. I told him that as an attorney trusting people was a terrible strategy LOL. I've been holding a lot of his stuff at the NTRPG con warehouse for almost a decade, he always said he was going to come into town to take what he needed and donate the rest to the con, butt it just never happened. He was scheduled to attend NTRPG con this year but sadly due to Covid his trip was postponed.

Eddie last year told me he was going to retire soon and wanted to become a big name in collecting circles, he was able to cash in some stock options and was sitting on a nest egg. He was negotiating with a few people to buy some large collections, and was on the lookout for some of the harder to find and more valuable items in the RPG hobby. What sucks is that he was taken before he got his chance. Even worse, he told me the last time we talked he had been collecting for years but due to work didn't have the time to really enjoy his collection, and was looking forward in retirement to finally reading through a lot of items he had accumulated. Just another reminder that we aren't guaranteed anything, enjoy your gaming goodies while you can.

Eddie leaves behind a wife, two young daughters, and a grown son from his first marriage (I'm not aware of any other children). I can't tell you what a pleasure it was knowing him for the last 20+ years and I'll miss his emails and phone calls; as well as the lost opportunity of he being able to see NTRPG con in all it's glory and see him meet and wheel and deal with other collectors.

I was contacted by a family friend and his collection in Japan is going to be sold with the money given to his widow and daughters. Which means the gaming items I've been holding for him at the warehouse will be liquidated as soon as I get back in town, I'll let everyone know when that process is started. The more valuable stuff has already been sold but there may be some items of interest remaining.

I'll be toasting Eddie tonight, a nice guy and a true asset to the hobby.

Mike B.