Stu
I agree but as we have said before a book /any item is only worth what someone will pay at that time. I too wouldnt mind this book but not enough to pay circa £400. Bidding early sometimes works well as other bidders believe their is more interest thus are put off. I have brought some good bargains using this tatic before.
I think we will find in a few years this and the LOTR signed AL copy will both come down in price.
£175 for the LOTR deluxe doesnt seem to bad and at current rates a goodprice i would say.
Sounds like you collection is building SonOf Dolf

Stu:

I'm rather new to Ebay so yes maybe my max bid was incorrectly sized. My thinking at the time was that 375 was the max I would be willing to pay because I could pick it up at Thornton for the same price (that is no longer the case though).

Laurel:
My collection is growing slow but steady but still very modest. Why do you think prices will come down for these specific items? Or do you think Tolkien book prices will come down in general?

I think the whole market (bar top end) has taken a decline recently vs. I would normally expect Tolkien books to at least hold their value.

As discussed before ebay is an odd sales vehicle at times but overall like other sales vehicles it is open to simple rule of supply and demand. If there is only say 1-2 Hobbit AH books for sale pa then the price will increase. If more prices will decrease.

This is why i believe these prices will decrease. During my time collecting i have noticed 15-20 years after release more books come onto the market and the prices drop albeit maybe only for a short period but they do decrease.

Other factors such as a well known film coming out soon will increase value but only for a short time 3-4 years maybe ?

The question in my mind is wait or not to wait and this is of course dependent on us mad collectors and the desire to own that Tolkein book.

For me it is more the thrill of the chse as well. Yes I could raid my piggy bank and buy the AL Hobbit for £4-450 i am sure but imagine if i can get/find a copy or £250!

What was orignal price of this book, anyone know ?

£60.00. That's what I paid for mine, at Oxonmoot 1997.

With hindsight, maybe I should have bought half a dozen...

Heavens! --we're on this old "item is only worth what someone will pay at that time" chestnut; sorry laurel ( ). In looking at a range of prices, you simply cannot include the top (and bottom) of this scale. I'm not talking in this case, but if 99% of a particular title sell for, say, £100 (let's say in a £75 - £125 range) --but 1% of copies sell for £200 (or thereabouts) --it seems patently absurd to claim that it is "worth" £200 just because a few people paid this price at some particular time; or even that it was "worth" £200 at that time.

garm, how far did £60 stretch back then though?
[EDIT: Sorry, you said "1997" --which actually wasn't that long ago...]

BH