Dave Arneson's Personal RPG Collection For Auction

grodog · May 13, 2012

FYI folks, the auctions will begin to end tomorrow night @ 7:30pm CDT.

Alphastream said:
I'm curious whether they tried to find a single buyer that could have secured the memorabilia. WotC, Gen Con, etc.

From what I understand of the history of the collection and its transfer from Arneson's heirs to the current owners, the interim seller sold to the collection to Paul and Michael because they didn't have the knowledge or skill to catalog and manage the collection. I don't know whether they tried to contact WotC or GenCon (or anyone else for that matter

).

Alphastream said:
The real value of these items is often long-term and through study and access for fans, not as an e-bay investment for an individual.

Hopefully the preservation efforts that Paul and Michael are undertaking will lead to access for scholars and fans, following in the model of what the Tekumel Foundation is doing for Barker's papers.

Ysgarran said:
I've been in contact with the curator at the "Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Role-Playing Games" and they have expressed an interest in the personal notes and correspondence that is in the collection.
"We are especially interested, as I said, in the unique and rare materials in the collection: Arneson’s own papers; rare newsletters and fanzines; homemade RPGs and drafts of games and campaigns. We are less interested in the published materials in the collection, most of which is already held here. "

LOL. Well, of course they're interested in that stuff---that's the cream of the crop of the collection

Ysgarran said:
I will try to selectively bid on some of the items of interest. If anyone wants to chip in please contact me via private message and I will share my personal information. Anything I do manage to win in these EBay actions I will donate to Duke. I suspect that the prices on these items will quickly rise above my ability to continue bidding. Regardless, I will make the effort.

Good luck! I'm sure the curator for the collection could bid on Duke's behalf as well.

Quarex · May 15, 2012

Right, EBay

Sometimes I forget how EBay works: put in your bid for ~5x the current high bid to guard against being sniped at the last second, then lose every single item to the same bidder whose script bids with 10 seconds to spare. Yes, I know you can guard against this by bidding an unreasonable amount--that is what I thought I did.

Oh well, I am not entirely sure what that reseller is going to do with an Adventure Games Vice-President t-shirt covered in mold, anyway.