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Need advice on selling my collection


7 replies to this topic

#1 Terry

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Posted 17 October 2013 - 10:52 PM

Hello fellow Bond fans,

 

I have been collecting Bond since I was around age 18 and am now at 58.  So over 40 years of collecting a subject I enjoyed very much.  I have decided to sell my collection but am not sure how to proceed.  I have a few 1st edition Flemings and all the following authors in addition many other related books.  There are full runs of BONDAGE and 007 magazines and many other titles. 

 

The biggest and most unusual part of my collection is the magazine and newspaper archive.  This massive collection has over 120 each 3" three ring binders, filled with newspaper and magazine clippings from all over the world, which I have carefully clipped, backed with heavy white paper and sleeved in plastic covers with two pages per cover.  I have worked to organize them by film title and enter in order of their publish date.  The collection includes 8 x 10 stills, original letters from EON employees, and recently many hours have been spent in the VARIETY trade newspaper archives searching for articles with dates back to the early sixties.

 

If I were to net $100 per binder, you can see we are talking over $12,000.00.  It is not really something one can sell over ebay.  So, I would appreciate some suggestions on how I can do this the best way.

 

I still love the Bond films but I feel the time is right to downsize.

 

Thanks very much.

 

 

     



#2 Turn

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Posted 18 October 2013 - 01:07 PM

Sounds like you have a very unique collection and I can understand wanting to take steps to get the most out of what most people don't have.

 

It's a good start coming here because you have a lot of hard-core fans who may be interested. It just depends on the price you want for your goods as mentioning the price on the binders if that's a start may make some apprehensive. That's where something like eBay may be a better choice as it reaches a wider and sometimes more serious group of collectors with deeper pockets.

 

The thing is the shipping on 120 binders if selling them all at once. And while the 007 and Bondage magazines aren't selling for the prices they were a decade ago, selling an entire run would certainly bring out some competition since those rare early issues are hard to find and seem to bring in good returns.

 

As mentioned above, a decade ago there was an article here on CBn about the booming prices of 007 Magazine in eBay auctions when the club announced the magazine would be published online only. Then they eventually returned to the printed page and the prices went back down.

 

There's always the option of an auction house as there seems to be auctions with Bond-related memorabilia at least once a year. I'd be curious to see samples of some of the unique items you have.



#3 Grard Bond

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Posted 19 October 2013 - 08:56 AM

Ebay is the best choice. Auction houses are taken too much money for themselfs. It will cost you too much and you get yourself not as much as you hoped for. If you put your items on ebay you  have to try not selling everything at once. If you put one or two clippings on it every two weeks it looks even more unique, in stead of putting tweny clippings on it at the same time.


Edited by Grard Bond, 19 October 2013 - 10:12 PM.


#4 Terry

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Posted 19 October 2013 - 02:29 PM

Thanks very much for the advice.  Both make valid points and I will likely have to reconsider how to move forward.  As any true Bond fan can imagine, it is a painful process.  I have been disappointed at the prices some of the rare Bond zines from the sixties and seventees sell at on the auction sites.  I guess it is a good thing if you are a new collector.

 

Turn, I have been intending to share some of the stuff I have, always seem to run short of the time.  One example of where I waited too long was an 1965 article from Variety telling how Shirley Bassey sued the producers because they did not use her version of the THUNDERBALL theme for the movies title song.  This information came out in the wonderful book by Jon Burlingame, The Music Of James Bond.  If you do not have this title on your shelf, I highly recommend it.  One of my favorite titles.

 

So, to sum it up, unless a rich Bond fan comes along and buys the whole lot, I will have to sell it a piece at a time.   



#5 Poor Man's JB

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Posted 05 November 2013 - 06:36 AM

I've considered selling my collection a time or two and the big hurdle has always been this issue of liquidating as a block versus parting-out.

 

There are pros and cons to each: The upside of using an auction house is that they can take on a collection in its entirety. The downside is, of course, that they take a substantial percentage plus, generally speaking, they going to expect it handed to them already catalogued.

 

Selling on your own online you'll come away with more in your pocket but it's also a tremendous amount of work (describing, photographing, packing, and shipping) and you're likely to find yourself stuck with a good deal of the lower-end stuff.

 

Honestly, if you can stomach the lesser take and truly want out, I'd go the auction house route. Not sure where you're located but you can find a house (like Sotheby's in the US or Vectis in the UK) who work on smaller margins.



#6 glidrose

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Posted 12 November 2013 - 08:14 PM

I just hope you have better luck than I did the time I tried selling my non-Bond video collection. I posted my experience here to serve as a cautionary tale for one and all.

http://www.dontevenr...ew.php?post=105

Happy reading!

#7 Poor Man's JB

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Posted 09 December 2013 - 06:20 AM

I just hope you have better luck than I did the time I tried selling my non-Bond video collection. I posted my experience here to serve as a cautionary tale for one and all.

http://www.dontevenr...ew.php?post=105

Happy reading!

 

CBN needs a "Like" button ...



#8 doublenoughtspy

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Posted 10 December 2013 - 01:42 AM

Your collection sounds very interesting.

 

And while the temptation may be to try to sell it all at once, I think that is unrealistic.

 

1) If you went to any of the standard auction houses with binders/scrapbooks, I don't think they would be interested.

 

2) Whenever people try to liquidate their entire collections at once, I always ask them who they think the buyer will be - who wakes up one morning and says "I want to buy a Bond collection today"?  People in the Bond collector market already have collections, they are looking to add to it - and forcing them to pay for common items as well as unique things will turn them off.

 

3) Think of the Bond buyer's market as a pyramid.  The largest base, the bottom of the pyramid, are people who are willing to pay about $20 or so to get their Bond "fix."  The next level up is around $50.  (I have a bit of experience with this price point with my two Making Of books.)  Then on to $100 or so.  Each step up there are fewer and fewer buyers - people willing to spend at that level.  Once you reach the $1000 mark, or, in your example $12,000, you are talking about only a handful of fans.  The tip of the pyramid is very small unfortunately.  You'll have a lot more luck if you split it up and can sell to the wider base of casual fans.

 

Where are you located?  I've bought Bond scrapbooks from Australia, Britain, and throughout the US.  They are a great time capsule.  The fact that yours include stills and correspondence will certainly add to their value.