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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 4430854" data-attributes="member: 20741">GenCon 2008 Auction HallOne of the centrepiece events of any Gencon is the world’s largest game auction hall.  The importance of this event to Gencon has arguably declined over the past ten years with the rise of eBay.  At the same time, however, as the price level in the dealer room for new product has climbed, the real bargains at Gencon can only be found in the auction hall.  I tend to spend a fair bit of time in the auction hall as a consequence.This year, I spent more time in the auction hall than I do normally due to the conflicting schedules of most of the people I attended Gencon with. The end result is that I can give a pretty coherent report on what sold and for how much concerning several thousand items that went this year.The entertainment value of the Auction, especially when Frank Mentzer is the auctioneer, is hard to beat if you are a hardcore gamer. Frank was entertaining as always, though he was a little subdued on his first night up when he started to mention Gary’s death.  For gamers, EGG was an icon of our youth and the death of the Father of the Game that saddened us all. For Frank, Gary was much more: a close friend of 40+ years. He choked up and had to wipe away the tears. It was a bittersweet start to the collectible auction.  Generally speaking...Original and 1st ed Collectible RPG Products: Prices remain stable to climbing for early D&D rpg products in “excellent” or better shape. Prices for 70’s and early 80s era products still in the shrink are insanely high, even with respect to fairly trivial TSR products.  That said, a copy of the First edition Original D&D Brown box version, third printing, with an incomplete and heavily damaged box with books in, at best, “good to very good” shape went for $850 this year.  If the product had been in excellent shape – it would easily have gone for five to ten times that amount.Products signed by Gary are climbing in value, for obvious reasons. ‘Nuff said.2E products: Prices are still relatively low here, except for a few gems.  Overall, I thought the 2E era games were fewer in number for sale, and the prices were, if anything down.3E products: There is no auction market for 3E era items yet. Wait another ten years please <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Collectible Auction Highlights: Most of the serious money was extracted on Friday night. An excellent to  near mint copy of Quest for the Fazzlewood went for only $750. It was in impressively good shape, and the price was light in view of previous sales. Lost Caverns of Tsojconth (not a typo) went for a lot more as I recall $1300 I think. I missed the sale price on Palace of the Vampire Queen (the first ever D&D module) which sold on Saturday night around 1:00 a.m.. An excellent B3 went for $1100. A “little light” to borrow a phrase from Frank Mentzer.The stuff that absolutely blew me away was the price for 1st edition Dungeon Geomorphs, in the shrink. I remember buying and opening the products from these lines. If I had known that I could have picked up a second copy of each and stored ‘em for 27 years or so to get $350-$450 each for them...well...I would have bought a few more! A copy of Bladerunner – the Boardgame in mint condition went for $850. In light of the rarity of the product (100 made, given as a promo at premiere of movie), I think that one was the steal of the auction.  The game really did look like it had been stored in a suitcase full of pillows for 25 years.  It was the heart and soul of “mint condition”.  I can easily see how 25 years from now, that item could go for $20,000.00+ if it is stored in the same manner it has been for the past 25 years. Other auction notes: The high water mark for Talisman was evidently set last year. With the release of the 4th edition by Black Industries last Gencon and the forthcoming re-release (a “5th Ed”) by FFG (with plastic figures) set for later this year, it’s time to sell your GW Talisman stuff on eBay while you can. Prices were down significantly from last year.  Don’t get me wrong – they are still expensive as hell – but the downright nutty prices of $300 plus were nowhere in sight. A player’s copy of Talisman 3rd Ed in fair to good shape went for $80. Last year? That went for $225.Auction Gripe: The length of the charity auction on Saturday night pushed my limits of patience. Two hours is one thing - four is another entirely. This format of the charity auction needs to be rethought.My steal of the Auction:  I got a copy of Eagle Games’ Age of Mythololgy, in the shrink, for $38. I was happy.  I have not opened it yet – but yes, I plan to open it and play it. I prefer to play my games, thanks.</blockquote>

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