Talk about a bargain!

quill_luv

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Yesterday I was at a garage sale, and I picked up a few books. One of the books is The Shining by Stephen King. You know the movie
. Well, it looks pretty good considering how old it is, the jacket condition is excellent, no rips, tears or stains anywhere. Anyway, a few minutes ago I was looking around on the net for whatever reason and decided to see if the book was of any significant value.

It turns out that the book is a first edition, and its market price falls into the range of $400 - $500 !!!

I got it for 50 cents!!!

Has anyone else bought a bargain like this?
 

jcat

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I've actually found some late 19th - early 20th century hardbacks at garage sales that were worth hundreds, if not over a thousand. The funniest "find" was made by one of my godchildren when he was 10. He spotted a book at a garage sale that was in German, and bought it for me for 10 cents, just because it was in German, which I was studying at the time. It turned out to be a very rare history book from 1921, and netted us close to $2,000 (in 70s dollars). His mom put his share into a savings account, and he later used it for a trip to Europe (and visited me, because I'd moved here in the meantime).
 

agent_haun

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Neat!
I've always wondered if any of my garage sale finds were worth a lot...might have to do a bit of research too.
 

shengmei

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When I first met hubby he was this slightly spoiled teenager that would randomly throw things away. It was like an obsessive-compulsive thing for him.

Well, I managed to "train" him out of his habit. He still occasionally throw away things without even thinking or remembering. Hopefully he doesn't accidentially throw away anything valuable.
 

catloverin_ks

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That is awesome
Very cool find for you!! I dont think I have ever found anything worth money, or if I did-I didnt know it!
 

phenomsmom

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That is really cool!! I don't know if anything we found was really worth anything but we bought this awesome painting of a knight with just the funny hat on. He looks mean. We have started telling people that he is our great great great uncle or whatever!!
I tried researching the signature and it looks like a fairly famous name but I can't find anything about that paricular painting on one even similar!!
 

pandybear

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i love garage sales! Jeff and i are at them every weekend


i found a few 007 books once, i payed $4.00 for them and made $100, i also found an old copy of some book, can't remember the title....i brought that one for 20c and made $50.

my best find was about 400 archie comics, she was selling them for $50 but i haggled her down to $20 and sold them for over $400


amazing that some people just don't realize what they are getting rid of.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by pandybear

amazing that some people just don't realize what they are getting rid of.
I'm one of those people that don't really care what it's worth - if I have no use for it - out it goes. I have neither the inclination nor energy to go researching how much my junk might be worth to someone else.
 

gingersmom

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Originally Posted by Quill_luv

Yesterday I was at a garage sale, and I picked up a few books. One of the books is The Shining by Stephen King. You know the movie
. Well, it looks pretty good considering how old it is, the jacket condition is excellent, no rips, tears or stains anywhere. Anyway, a few minutes ago I was looking around on the net for whatever reason and decided to see if the book was of any significant value.

It turns out that the book is a first edition, and its market price falls into the range of $400 - $500 !!!

I got it for 50 cents!!!

Has anyone else bought a bargain like this?
Make sure that the edition you have is actually a trade edition and not the book club edition, which is worth FAR less.

Also, if you sell through a reputable book dealer, you can get a LOT more than if you go through eBay - there just isn't the market on eBay for King books that you would think.

I know, I'm a collector of his works, and have several that are worth a pretty penny!

I actually found a leatherbound early special edition that has his first 4 novels in it at a yard sale for 50 cents about 10 years ago. At that time, it was worth over $100.
 

catlover19

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I have never got anything at a garage sale that is worth anything but my sister did. She got a super nintendo and about 10 games for $10. A super nintendo on ebay is about $60 and the games are all worth quite a bit too.
 

jillian

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How did you all go about determining what the books/comics were worth? Is there a website that I can consult?

TIA (=
 
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