Someone got Peoples of Middle Earth 1/1 for £50 at the weekend:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peoples-Middle- ... ction&hash=item1e5fde1133
The seller meant to put it on for £150 but a slip of the finger had it sold in minutes!
My own best buy in the short time I've been buying would have to be the 1996 ALan Lee illustrated LOTR box-set PB http://tolkienbooks.net/html/lotr-sc-hc_6.htm which I picked up for £3 plus P&P. It really is a lovely set!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peoples-Middle- ... ction&hash=item1e5fde1133
The seller meant to put it on for £150 but a slip of the finger had it sold in minutes!
My own best buy in the short time I've been buying would have to be the 1996 ALan Lee illustrated LOTR box-set PB http://tolkienbooks.net/html/lotr-sc-hc_6.htm which I picked up for £3 plus P&P. It really is a lovely set!
bruffyboy: Someone got Peoples of Middle Earth 1/1 for £50 at the weekend
I got my own copy of Peoples for about £30 (Buy It Now). I was quite lucky (and happy afterwards)! It was an auction on eBay, but without a picture, so one would've thought it was the paperback edition, unless you read the description.
Christina and I have had a number of lucky finds over the years. A few that come to mind (with prices as best I can remember): a first American Hobbit, with the bowing hobbit on the title-page, but without dust-jacket, for $45; two copies of the Puffin Hobbit, in mint condition, for $1 and $6; the issue of Redbook magazine with Smith of Wootton Major for $2.50 on eBay, not long after another copy went for $75; Oxford Poetry 1915 (wrappers issue) for $25, half the original asking price after I pointed out to the seller that the pencil signature "J.R.R. Tolkein", so spelled, was hardly genuine; a first edition Adventures of Tom Bombadil, in jacket, autographed by Tolkien, for £27; a first edition of the Clark Hall Beowulf, in jacket, for £3.
Then there was the time, long ago, that a large lot of Tolkien books failed to sell in an auction at Sotheby's London, and the bookseller Anthony Rota arranged for me to buy it privately for £100 and shipping: this included a run of Tree and Leaf in different printings, the Reader's Union Lord of the Rings, and much else that arrived in an enormous box - Christmas in July.
Even better was my first set of the Allen & Unwin Lord of the Rings, 2nd/1st/1st printings, in the jackets, which was given to me by a local British expatriate who knew of my interest.
Of course, the longer one collects, the greater the chances of good luck. Part of this, for Christina and me, has come from the fact that in many cases we've bought things as they've been published, many of them before Tolkien became quite so collectible. Now that our collection is so large, we're at a point of diminishing opportunities for lucky finds - though we did recently pick up a long run of Medium Aevum, including one part of Sigelwara Land, for a very low sum indeed (if not as low as that garm achieved - good luck being relative).
Wayne
Then there was the time, long ago, that a large lot of Tolkien books failed to sell in an auction at Sotheby's London, and the bookseller Anthony Rota arranged for me to buy it privately for £100 and shipping: this included a run of Tree and Leaf in different printings, the Reader's Union Lord of the Rings, and much else that arrived in an enormous box - Christmas in July.
Even better was my first set of the Allen & Unwin Lord of the Rings, 2nd/1st/1st printings, in the jackets, which was given to me by a local British expatriate who knew of my interest.
Of course, the longer one collects, the greater the chances of good luck. Part of this, for Christina and me, has come from the fact that in many cases we've bought things as they've been published, many of them before Tolkien became quite so collectible. Now that our collection is so large, we're at a point of diminishing opportunities for lucky finds - though we did recently pick up a long run of Medium Aevum, including one part of Sigelwara Land, for a very low sum indeed (if not as low as that garm achieved - good luck being relative).
Wayne
Gawain
I was trying my best to beat your best deal on:
'3 (ebay) Folio Numbered Limited Edition 3-vol LOTR slipcased £75'
Have to admit I have failed as just picked up a set for £90! Was gutted - Not. What a lovely set.
It just goes to show if you hunt hard enough you can still find bargains even on ebay!
Anyhow got the matching Hobbit & Silmarillion for £50 each?
:) :)
I was trying my best to beat your best deal on:
'3 (ebay) Folio Numbered Limited Edition 3-vol LOTR slipcased £75'
Have to admit I have failed as just picked up a set for £90! Was gutted - Not. What a lovely set.
It just goes to show if you hunt hard enough you can still find bargains even on ebay!
Anyhow got the matching Hobbit & Silmarillion for £50 each?
:) :)
Very impressive, laurel.
I have a matching Silmarillion but am still waiting (in vain, possibly) to find a matching Hobbit at a bargain price.
I have a matching Silmarillion but am still waiting (in vain, possibly) to find a matching Hobbit at a bargain price.
God damn it laurel! It was you who got it. Damn it!, again.
This seller had the set up on Friday or Saturday, open bidding, starting price £50. I put in £150, just to get it started, but was surprised to find the auction had been ended early late on Saturday night. At the time there was no link to the relisted item.
But, and if I'd stayed on the computer another few minutes I'd have got it!, the item was mistakenly relisted as a Buy-It-Now for £90. I think Sunday I noticed the link to the relisted item was now there, but when I went to it, surprise surprise, it had been sold for £90! I contacted the seller and they admitted they had no idea how the item relisted, or where the price came from. They were baffled, but evidently not too bothered about the price. Damn.
BH
This seller had the set up on Friday or Saturday, open bidding, starting price £50. I put in £150, just to get it started, but was surprised to find the auction had been ended early late on Saturday night. At the time there was no link to the relisted item.
But, and if I'd stayed on the computer another few minutes I'd have got it!, the item was mistakenly relisted as a Buy-It-Now for £90. I think Sunday I noticed the link to the relisted item was now there, but when I went to it, surprise surprise, it had been sold for £90! I contacted the seller and they admitted they had no idea how the item relisted, or where the price came from. They were baffled, but evidently not too bothered about the price. Damn.
BH
Sorry Khamul - I was wondering who had placed first bid?
I wonder why item was relisted for £90!!!! Cant think!!! ;)
Happy hunting
I wonder why item was relisted for £90!!!! Cant think!!! ;)
Happy hunting
Lucky finds... I could fill a little book with those! Maybe one day I should organize a small get to gether at my place and I can do a little tour through the collection. It must be, like with any collection, that every book (or item) has a tale behind it. Sadly enough (or lucky enough) I have been selling a lot of the true special items and I start to think one day to make a small list online of all these items that are now gone. I simply don't get the time to list the items online these days, they come and go too fast! So no complaining but for collectors I'm certain there are some objects that would have been of high interest.
As for collecting I tend to enjoy the short time I can treasure these items and understand now very well that all these items will exist long after I am no longer here...
As for collecting I tend to enjoy the short time I can treasure these items and understand now very well that all these items will exist long after I am no longer here...
Like others here I have a good selection of lucky finds in my collection, but recently I have been surprised at the benefits to be found in keeping a keen eye on the Amazon (UK) marketplace.
Last week I received a 1956 Hobbit (no DW) from a marketplace bookshop for £30 and thought I had done well. However, today a received a copy of the Report on the Excavation of Lydney Park, with Tolkien’s essay The Name ‘Nodens’, bought for £10 only! The marketplace seller was a small museum library shop in Wiltshire who presumably were selling off some unwanted stock.
Last week I received a 1956 Hobbit (no DW) from a marketplace bookshop for £30 and thought I had done well. However, today a received a copy of the Report on the Excavation of Lydney Park, with Tolkien’s essay The Name ‘Nodens’, bought for £10 only! The marketplace seller was a small museum library shop in Wiltshire who presumably were selling off some unwanted stock.
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