By
Stu
25 Nov, 2014
(edited)Edited by Stu on 2014-11-26 10:33:59 PM UTC
Edited by Stu on 2014-12-12 3:38:21 AM UTC
Edited by Stu on 2014-12-12 3:39:26 AM UTC
Edited by Stu on 2015-1-1 7:40:04 AM UTC
Edited by Stu on 2015-1-1 7:41:20 AM UTC
Edited by Stu on 2015-1-1 7:42:11 AM UTC
Edited by Stu on 2015-3-23 6:42:52 AM UTC
Edited by Stu on 2015-3-23 6:43:38 AM UTC
2014-11-25 9:45:55 PM UTC
Just in case anyone is interested, I have been monitoring selling prices of Hobbits the last few months.
All numbers are roughly converted to NZD at a rate of 2:1, so just divide the numbers by two for pounds. Red indicates ex-libris or some other stamp/bookplate was present. The top half of each section is "without dustjacket" and the bottom section is "with dustjacket".
More than anything, it shows which years seem to come up more often (e.g. 1972s and 1975s come up very often)
[Edit: Updated figures 12/12/2014]
[Edit: Updated figures 01/01/2015 - Notable daft Xmas prices in December...]
2 Dec, 2014
2014-12-2 8:58:04 PM UTC
Thanks for posting this! Very useful information. Sorry I didn't get a response out more quickly to you, but I really appreciate the effort in pulling this together, and the willingness to share. This type of data really helps other collectors know when they are getting a good (or horrible!) deal.
3 Dec, 2014
2014-12-3 10:42:14 PM UTC
That's no problem. I think it is probably in collectors' interests to share this information, as it is easy to look at the asking prices on Abe and think those reflect market prices (and then significantly overpay). Particularly with the third edition, they should definitely be pretty cheap.
One definite lesson from the data is don't waste your time buying jacket-less copies of the third edition, as the prices are often very similar to those with jackets (and condition of the books is broadly similar). I'm not sure why anyone would buy a jacket-less third, to be honest (other than to marry up to a perfect jacket that they already have). With the second edition, the difference between the price of jacketed and jacket-less is much more pronounced, as you would expect.
12 Dec, 2014
2014-12-12 3:51:06 AM UTC
Figures updated (in first post). A couple of crazy sales in the last couple of weeks, including an unjacketed 1946 Hobbit which sold twice (the first time for 550 pounds, and the second time for just over a thousand pounds!). The seller told me that the first buyer couldn't complete the sale, so it was re-listed. The first price was a bit high, the second price for it was nuts, especially as one every bit as good sold a few weeks earlier for sub-500. Very odd.
A couple of surprisingly expensive jacket-less 1966s last week, also. One at 29 pounds, which was crap, and a decent copy at 39 pounds. Silly price for a not-very-rare book with no jacket, though.
Maybe it is because Christmas is on the way, so people are throwing their money away on gifts and The Hobbit is topical due to the movie.
23 Mar, 2015
2015-3-23 6:45:58 AM UTC
Figures updated again. I'm probably not capturing as many sales, as I'm not actively collecting at the moment -- and I decided Hobbits are clearly in a movie-related price bubble (having looked at patchy data going back 5 years or so).
3989
1734793