Query: The House Called Hadlows by Victoria Walker

R. Totale wrote:
Most surprising that a well-known house like Bloomsbury is basing
estimates on what they find on Internet databases. Don't they have
trained in-house experts? And what do they do when (as has become
more and more prevalent) there's a 10 to 1 ratio in the price of the
copies ordered, and their friends and customers who they know well
represent the high end?

The internet databases are so often pitched towards the high end or naive
buyer. Heck I did a bookfinder search a few days ago on a title that is
still available NEW as a first printing and the book dealers are selling it
as 5 times retail!

For many out of print children's books the demand comes from poor sods who
just want a reading copy and can't afford to mortgage their house to buy one
of the few listed copies. I suspect this title falls in that category, and
when/if it gets reprinted then demand will be largely sated.

"Giltedge Books" wrote in message
Snip
surely this is a common auction house ploy? they entice you in with high
potential figures then dumb them down later. I sold some paintings in
auction through another major auction house earlier this year and they did
exactly the same they told me initially how good the realisations would be
then when it came to estimates and reserves they completely changed their
tune.
/Snip

I am not so sure, both Bloomsbury and ourselves saw a copy being offered for
sale for over £1000 but after we sent the book it dropped to £500. We wonder
whether Bloomsbury contacted the book dealer to verify their pricing and the
dealer reassessed the price. We just don't know.

However, Bloomsbury didn't charge us for the auction even though we had
upped the reserve and they would have been entitled to. We also got a free
catalogue sent to us rather than having to pay £10. In the end they made
nothing from auctioning the book. We were disappointed the book didn't sell
but have no complaints about the auction house and would quite happily use
them again, although probably with collectable rather than rare items!!

It was interesting. When we enquired about the book we were told it would
make high hundreds based on a copy on the internet selling for £1600 (we had
seen the same one). We sent the book and got back the catalogue with an
estimate of £2-300. When we contacted Bloomsbury they said that the only
copy they could find on the internet was £500. We checked and the copy that
had been at a thousands had dropped by half!

Shortly afterwards this copy disappeared from the internet so either it had
been sold or removed from sale. Either way we figured our book was worth at
least £500 and instructed Bloomsbury to increase the reserve to £500. They
also issued an ammendment to the catalogue which was put up at the front of
the rostrum with an estimate of £5-600.

What we wonder is if the estimate had been £5-600 in the initial catalogue
whether the starting bid would have been £500 but I guess we will never
know.

I just chanced across this posting and thought I'd chip in too, since you
seem to be talking about books that I have sold.
For the record I have sold one very nice copy at just over 1,000 , about the
time of the auction another much less nice copy for 525 . Rather than just
blindly checking listings it's quite good to check descriptions too.
I now have a another almost perfect copy again at 1,000.
The copy you have been touting around is not a nice copy in that the jacket
is torn and from memory it is stained internally and whilst your copy is
signed there is no way this can ever be authenticated until ( if ever) Ms
Walker reappears, although it does of course make it interesting.
I think at 240 you were offered about trade market price and I think I was
the underbidder.
What I'm failing to understand is why you're so reluctant to sell a book you
paid 50 pence for at a huge profit since you don't have the confidence to
try and sell it direct.


Kind regards

Graeme
Magpie Books

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:09:16 +0000, Graeme Roberts
wrote:

It was interesting. When we enquired about the book we were told it would
make high hundreds based on a copy on the internet selling for £1600 (we had
seen the same one). We sent the book and got back the catalogue with an
estimate of £2-300. When we contacted Bloomsbury they said that the only
copy they could find on the internet was £500. We checked and the copy that
had been at a thousands had dropped by half!

Shortly afterwards this copy disappeared from the internet so either it had
been sold or removed from sale. Either way we figured our book was worth at
least £500 and instructed Bloomsbury to increase the reserve to £500. They
also issued an ammendment to the catalogue which was put up at the front of
the rostrum with an estimate of £5-600.

What we wonder is if the estimate had been £5-600 in the initial catalogue
whether the starting bid would have been £500 but I guess we will never
know.

I just chanced across this posting and thought I'd chip in too, since you
seem to be talking about books that I have sold.
For the record I have sold one very nice copy at just over 1,000 , about the
time of the auction another much less nice copy for 525 . Rather than just
blindly checking listings it's quite good to check descriptions too.
I now have a another almost perfect copy again at 1,000.
The copy you have been touting around is not a nice copy in that the jacket
is torn and from memory it is stained internally and whilst your copy is
signed there is no way this can ever be authenticated until ( if ever) Ms
Walker reappears, although it does of course make it interesting.
I think at 240 you were offered about trade market price and I think I was
the underbidder.
What I'm failing to understand is why you're so reluctant to sell a book you
paid 50 pence for at a huge profit since you don't have the confidence to
try and sell it direct.


Kind regards

Graeme
Magpie Books

What no one has mentioned thus far is that the primary reason that
this book has acheived such high prices is that author Neil Gaiman
spoke highly of it on his blog. In the of field supernatural
literature it's not really a particularly important volume or much
sought after and without the cache of Gaiman's praise would be
unlikely to reach $300, let alone $£1000 or more. Right now there is a
very small market chasing the book, if it were me, I'd be more than
happy to get $500 for a copy I spent a few dollars on. This is not a
market likely to have any degree of staying power. I commend you on
having the right book for the right buyer at the right time, (that
makes all the difference in the world).

Cheers,

John

On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 20:08:49 -0800, John Pelan wrote:

What no one has mentioned thus far is that the primary reason that
this book has acheived such high prices is that author Neil Gaiman
spoke highly of it on his blog. In the of field supernatural
literature it's not really a particularly important volume or much
sought after and without the cache of Gaiman's praise would be
unlikely to reach $300, let alone $£1000 or more.

That's what I was trying to get at with my followup to the seller's
article. I don't know much about supernatural fiction, but if I
consigned to sell an item through a well known house like Bloomsbury
I'd expect the estimate to be set based upon knowledge of the field
and market such as that you've demonstrated above. Instead, the seller
seemed to be saying, the basis for the estimate on his book was unsold
copies on Internet databases, which seems too capricious by far.

John Pelan wrote in message . ..

What no one has mentioned thus far is that the primary reason that
this book has acheived such high prices is that author Neil Gaiman
spoke highly of it on his blog.

And Neil Gaiman himself looks to be a short-term fad. So I'd say
sell that book quick as the price can only drop.

--
Ht

Hi Graeme,

Thanks for clarifying what happened, we could only speculate and Bloomsbury
obviously don't give out buyer information.

The only copy we saw on the internet was yours which was why we checked with
Bloomsbury. The reason we sent it to them was because, after their initial
assessment based on our description, it could potentially realise a lot
more money than we are happy to deal with ourselves.

If the book was to go for less than £500 then we could sell it through our
usual channels if we chose to, although at £240 it is still probably one of
the most expensive books we have so will probably be going to put it with
the rest of our book collection. After all books are there to be read and
cherished and selling them is a neccessary evil so that we can buy more!!


"Graeme Roberts" wrote in message
...
It was interesting. When we enquired about the book we were told it
would
make high hundreds based on a copy on the internet selling for £1600 (we
had
seen the same one). We sent the book and got back the catalogue with an
estimate of £2-300. When we contacted Bloomsbury they said that the only
copy they could find on the internet was £500. We checked and the copy
that
had been at a thousands had dropped by half!

Shortly afterwards this copy disappeared from the internet so either it
had
been sold or removed from sale. Either way we figured our book was worth
at
least £500 and instructed Bloomsbury to increase the reserve to £500.
They
also issued an ammendment to the catalogue which was put up at the front
of
the rostrum with an estimate of £5-600.

What we wonder is if the estimate had been £5-600 in the initial
catalogue
whether the starting bid would have been £500 but I guess we will never
know.

I just chanced across this posting and thought I'd chip in too, since you
seem to be talking about books that I have sold.
For the record I have sold one very nice copy at just over 1,000 , about
the
time of the auction another much less nice copy for 525 . Rather than
just
blindly checking listings it's quite good to check descriptions too.
I now have a another almost perfect copy again at 1,000.
The copy you have been touting around is not a nice copy in that the
jacket
is torn and from memory it is stained internally and whilst your copy is
signed there is no way this can ever be authenticated until ( if ever) Ms
Walker reappears, although it does of course make it interesting.
I think at 240 you were offered about trade market price and I think I was
the underbidder.
What I'm failing to understand is why you're so reluctant to sell a book
you
paid 50 pence for at a huge profit since you don't have the confidence to
try and sell it direct.


Kind regards

Graeme
Magpie Books

I am not sure what the problem is. In the end the internet is a tool just
like any other and is no more or less accurate than any other source.

For example, we used to get the Book and Magazine Collector and they had an
article on Roald Dahl which estimated the cost of Roald Dahl's Guide To
Railway Safety as £10 (as far as I remember). But you can pick one up in
charity shops for 10-20p and they sell on eBay for 99p if at all.

When we contacted Bloomsbury they were quite clear they had never heard of
it and all they had to go on was the price on the internet. We were aware
of this when we sent the book to auction. I am sure that if it had been a
first edition of The Lord Of The Rings they could have quoted an estimate
based on experience.


"R. Totale" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 20:08:49 -0800, John Pelan wrote:

What no one has mentioned thus far is that the primary reason that
this book has acheived such high prices is that author Neil Gaiman
spoke highly of it on his blog. In the of field supernatural
literature it's not really a particularly important volume or much
sought after and without the cache of Gaiman's praise would be
unlikely to reach $300, let alone $£1000 or more.

That's what I was trying to get at with my followup to the seller's
article. I don't know much about supernatural fiction, but if I
consigned to sell an item through a well known house like Bloomsbury
I'd expect the estimate to be set based upon knowledge of the field
and market such as that you've demonstrated above. Instead, the seller
seemed to be saying, the basis for the estimate on his book was unsold
copies on Internet databases, which seems too capricious by far.

"Graeme Roberts" wrote in message
...
It was interesting. When we enquired about the book we were told it
would
make high hundreds based on a copy on the internet selling for £1600 (we
had
seen the same one). We sent the book and got back the catalogue with an
estimate of £2-300. When we contacted Bloomsbury they said that the only
copy they could find on the internet was £500. We checked and the copy
that
had been at a thousands had dropped by half!

Shortly afterwards this copy disappeared from the internet so either it
had
been sold or removed from sale. Either way we figured our book was worth
at
least £500 and instructed Bloomsbury to increase the reserve to £500.
They
also issued an ammendment to the catalogue which was put up at the front
of
the rostrum with an estimate of £5-600.

What we wonder is if the estimate had been £5-600 in the initial
catalogue
whether the starting bid would have been £500 but I guess we will never
know.

I just chanced across this posting and thought I'd chip in too, since you
seem to be talking about books that I have sold.
For the record I have sold one very nice copy at just over 1,000 , about
the
time of the auction another much less nice copy for 525 . Rather than
just
blindly checking listings it's quite good to check descriptions too.
I now have a another almost perfect copy again at 1,000.
The copy you have been touting around is not a nice copy in that the
jacket
is torn and from memory it is stained internally and whilst your copy is
signed there is no way this can ever be authenticated until ( if ever) Ms
Walker reappears, although it does of course make it interesting.
I think at 240 you were offered about trade market price and I think I was
the underbidder.
What I'm failing to understand is why you're so reluctant to sell a book
you
paid 50 pence for at a huge profit since you don't have the confidence to
try and sell it direct.


Kind regards

Graeme
Magpie Books



I love the smell of sour grapes in the morning...

Sorry mate but it sounds like your saying that its OK for you to sell your
copies for 1,000 but that OP should settle for what you are willing to pay,
hell, I would be reluctant to sell for 200 odd quid knowing you were
churning them out at over 500 a time. If you regularly sell for 500 + then
by your own admission there is a market and it sounds like OP made the right
choice to not sell for less.

Kind regards,

Huw

On 14/11/03 2:24 am, in article
, "Huw Janus"
wrote:

I love the smell of sour grapes in the morning...

Think you're missing the point,

Sorry mate but it sounds like your saying that its OK for you to sell your
copies for 1,000 but that OP should settle for what you are willing to pay,
hell, I would be reluctant to sell for 200 odd quid knowing you were
churning them out at over 500 a time. If you regularly sell for 500 + then
by your own admission there is a market and it sounds like OP made the right
choice to not sell for less.


Matey,

If you choose to sell in a wholesale market such as Bloomsbury then expect
to get trade prices, if you have a retail market with demand for the book
then sell there.

Simple really isn't it.