Page 53 - JOA-Apr-22

What Is It (Not) Worth?

n Jan. 28, 2022, I was a guest on Mike Coffee table books are another slow seller – at least
Ivankovich’s What’s It Worth radio show on in the second-hand market. They make great new gifts
OWBCB 1300 AM which you can also listen when say you want to buy a present for someone who
to online (www.wbcb1490.com/whats-it-worth/). likes to cook as you can quickly and easily find a coffee
Mike is an antiques appraiser who also speaks about table cookbook in whatever price range you want
antiques to groups and will come to your house to do without much trouble. And they are pretty books but
verbal appraisals. Each week, he invites a different on a closer look, they are mostly just big, glossy photos
guest to talk about his or her specialty, so every show with little text or real information in them. Then after
is different. This was my second time on his show, a few years, they seem to get bigger and heavier. I
and it’s always a lot of fun and even, sometimes, know I’ve certainly got more than I need. Of course,
informative (just kidding)! there are exceptions to just about anything in the
Mike asked me why it was that fine first edition world of old books, and there are certainly worthwhile
books seem so undervalued, for example when a comic coffee table books, like big, illustrated books on
book can sell for $1 to $3 million while most first art and photography which, of course, being images
editions of fine literature sell for $10K or less? Well, certainly lend themselves to the coffee table format,
just about everything is supply and demand. So, what just maybe not that many.
makes a book desirable? It is not just that the book is Other books I steer away from are antiques refer-
old because there are tons of old books out there, but Frank Frazetta’s A Princess of Mars ence books, which I used to do a good business in, but
comparatively only a few have real value. As I’ve said original cover art painting, ca. 1970, sold with the slump in the antique collector’s market, in
before, just because a book is old does not automati- for $1.2 million at Heritage Auctions on my experience (and Mike’s too) the demand is not
cally make it valuable. For example, much older September 13, 2020. there as everyone is downsizing and getting rid of
fiction—especially best sellers from long ago—often collectibles. Of course, the flip side of that is that for
turn into non-sellers generations later when tastes the true, dedicated collector, it’s a buyer’s market and
change. Therefore, what might have been “hot” then many bargains are to be had. Hopefully, this situation
can now become “not” for us because the supply now is reversing itself as so many things seem to go in cycles.
exceeds the demand, and the market is clogged up Truthfully, the internet is a factor too, as more up-to-
with them. date prices can be found online without having to buy
Sometimes, the old books that are valuable to us a price guide in book format. But speaking for myself,
were sleepers and ignored when they first came out. I recently got rid of (i.e. gave away) most of the
Other areas that aren’t big sellers nowadays are antiques reference books in my shop to make room for
dictionaries, encyclopedias, and thesauruses! Keep in something else that might sell!
mind, there are usually exceptions to everything As I noted earlier, collecting can be a generational
anyone, including me, can say about books, but I am thing, so books that sold, say, 30 years ago, may not
talking in generalities here, meaning that the average be selling now as people often collect things that they
everyday dictionary and set of encyclopedias today grew up with and not necessarily things that their
you might be lucky to give away. That’s kind of sad, grandparents grew up with. So, certain authors that
but that’s not just my experience. Go figure! were popular then aren’t so much now. People who
Another non-seller or slow seller category would be grew up with children’s series books from the 1920s
the average paperback. This is not to say that there or 1930s that I used to sell 30 years ago—like The Five
aren’t collectible paperbacks, but more often than A 1919 edition of Alice in Little Peppers, Elsie Dinsmore, and such—aren’t big
not a paperback might be collectible for its cover art, Wonderland by Lewis Carroll written sellers anymore because many people now collect the
using Gregg Shorthand, selling for
especially when science fiction paperbacks show $275 on Etsy. children’s series books that they grew up with like
skimpily clad women floating around in space without Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. But of course, the
needing oxygen or space A full set of Funk and Wagnalls from 1979 (29 volumes) selling on eBay for $59.99 super-mega classics like
suits. Mike said that the orig- Alice in Wonderland and
inal painting for the cover art Wizard of Oz are the excep-
for Edgar Rice Burrough’s tions as they are just as
Princess of Mars done by popular now as ever and
Frank Frazetta sold recently hopefully always will be.
at auction for $1.2 million Some books are timeless!
while the paperback itself
might be worth a few dollars.

James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get
a “real” job. For a born collector like Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com

April 2022 51