Is a signed PH worth anything?

[TalonComics]

Man, all of my D&D books are signed! I mean really... How else can I tell if their mine if I don't have my name in them?

Btw, missprinted books are usually considered damaged and not deemed a collectible.

~Derek

 

[Wicht]

Hold on to the book for a while - thats the best advice you can get. In the current book market, most books printed in the last 50 years are not that collectable, with some rare exceptions. However one should also realize that the value of a book in good condition does not normally go down, in fact the price will remain for the most part equal to those of new releases, taking into consideration condition and all that. The other things that add to the value of newer books (again 50 years old or less) are rarity and demand (naturally). I once came across a book of poems, only about twenty years old, cheap paperback printing, that I picked up in a dollar bag and resold for $50. Apparently most copies had been burned in a warehouse fire. Thus it was rare but as far as books go that sort of situation is rare as well. The problem with mass publishing is that the books are, well, printed in mass and there are lots of them. Thus supply, even in out of print books, normally exceeds demand.

Also remember that autographs do not immediately add a lot to the value of a book. Wait until the author (or whomever) dies and their autographs become impossible to get any longer. Then their scrawl has more value.

 

[Umbran]

Btw, missprinted books are usually considered damaged and not deemed a collectible.

Hrr. I'm not sure that's neccessarily true. My coin, baseball card, and stamp collecting friends have mentioned that a mis-made item can, in some instances, be worth more because they are more rare, more unique.

In this case, the book itself won't have collector's value for a very long time. The signatures are the real issue, not the tome. The fact that the signatures are on a vaguely apropos item is icing on the cake.

In either case, if you've actually been using the book, well, it's collector's value will drop. If you want the item to have collector's value, you need to seal it in a bag and keep it on a shelf. The dings, scuffs, and soda-stains a normal gaming book takes on do make it damaged goods, and thus worth less...

 

[Wicht]

Hrr. I'm not sure that's neccessarily true. My coin, baseball card, and stamp collecting friends have mentioned that a mis-made item can, in some instances, be worth more because they are more rare, more unique.

This is true of stamps and coins, but Derek is correct about books. Book collectors are not normally collecting for the same reason that stamp and coin collectors are. Generally what one looks for in a book for it to be more valuable is condition of the spine, cover and pages. The closer the book is to mint the better. I have rarely seen a book be worth more because of a minor misprinting or binding problem in one or two copies. If I was buying an antique book personally I would want all the informational content to be correct or the value of the book would personally be decreased and I suspect most book collectors are like me in that regard.