Tolkien’s Writing Desk on Auction at Christie's

If you have a spare £50-£80,000 lying around, you might be able to pick up JRR Tolkien's writing desk in an auction at Christie's. The desk is a late 19th Century Merton College desk, and is part of Christie's upcoming Groundbreakers: Icons of Our Time auction which celebrates groundbreaking discoveries and achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Also available will be the original artwork for the first edition of Warhammer.

The auction will be taking place at 11 December at 4pm GMT at Christie's in London.

Christie’s is excited to present Groundbreakers: Icons of our Time, a new auction offering a curated selection of works that reflect the groundbreaking discoveries and achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries. Spanning natural history, cinema, music, literature, fashion, sport and technology, Groundbreakers celebrates the best of human endeavour and showcases cultural touchstones of the modern era.

Leading with the remarkable Spike, marking the debut of the iconic Caenagnathid at auction, offered works range from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Merton College desk to early letters by Ayrton Senna, which offer unparalleled insight into the mind of Formula 1’s greatest driver. Further highlights include the 1931 annotated draft of the London Underground, the original artwork for the first edition of Warhammer, and the first edition of Turing’s On Computable Numbers — with further groundbreaking treasures to be revealed in the coming weeks.

 

[Alby87]

"That belongs in a museum!"
Another professor about the professor's desk.

 

[GreyLord]

Yes, that is the one. Estimates are that it will go for 300,000 to 400,000 GBP, it seems like a disservice that mention of it is only a footnote. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6566459

So he has a 300K - 400K RPG box just sitting on his desk???

That's worth far more than just about any RPG item I have (and I think I have the Original ODD versions).

That's a pretty impressive price for an RPG. Why is it worth that much (besides the obvious that they think someone will pay that much for it).

 

[Morrus]

So he has a 300K - 400K RPG box just sitting on his desk???

No. The original art is worth that. The Warhammer box set is worth about £30.

 

[GreyLord]

No. The original art is worth that. The Warhammer box set is worth about £30.

Ah got it.

I think I have a prototype Holmes set (I have asked about it before, only to have people correct me about what is in Holmes)...having gone back and read my set it absolutely says that elves get to choose which class they are from adventure to adventure vs. Holmes release (I also got a Holmes release set a few years back as well so it appears people were right when they said this) which says they advance both as F/MU at the same time).

I'm not sure if it's a prototype or what, but I do have a set that has a different wording about elves and how they operate than what was rote standard in Holmes that everyone else got.

I don't think that would even touch that 300K-400K value though. Probably like 100 pound maximum or something like that.

I would never have thought an art object connected to an RPG or Wargame would go over 100K, much less 300-400K worth.

 

[Mannahnin]

I think I have a prototype Holmes set (I have asked about it before, only to have people correct me about what is in Holmes)...having gone back and read my set it absolutely says that elves get to choose which class they are from adventure to adventure vs. Holmes release (I also got a Holmes release set a few years back as well so it appears people were right when they said this) which says they advance both as F/MU at the same time).

I'm not sure if it's a prototype or what, but I do have a set that has a different wording about elves and how they operate than what was rote standard in Holmes that everyone else got.

I don't think that would even touch that 300K-400K value though. Probably like 100 pound maximum or something like that.

Please share photos of your Holmes set with language about elves choosing from adventure to adventure! Zach Howard from Zenopus Archives has no mention of that change anywhere in his exhaustive change list of differences between the printings/versions of the Holmes rules, but it's certainly possible that he missed a version.

The collectors at The Acaeum and D&D amateur historians everywhere would love to see this artifact. If it exists, it would be worth a whole lot more than a hundred. The Acaeum currently lists first prints of the blue Holmes box set at $314 - $1257 depending on condition, but a "zeroeth" printing would be worth a whole lot more. Probably tens of thousands, to a collector.

 

[Jeffzilla]

One does not simply walk into Christie's and buy J.R.R. Tolkien's desk.