talkmagic.co.uk

As some of you may know, I am currently suffering major financial problems, having been out of work for 12 months.
Ive been selling, or at least trying to sell books, DVDs, and magical props on ebay, and through a second hand group on Facebook. Not been successful. since I am aware of the value of things, and I am not going to part with things for less than they are worth. Not if I can possibly avoid it anyways.
Now, I have some Tommy cooper related items, which if i were to sell, would only ever be sold as a group. These items include a genuine 10 x 8 publicity shot of Tommy rehearsing a rope trick, A Unique magic studio catalog, autographed inside by Tommy, a fez, and A perfect match mentalism effect that Tommy himself adapted. In the process, he left a glue thumb print on the clear plastic surface. Now, at the moment I am not selling these items. But, if i were, what would you be happy to pay?

obviously this is a collectors lot and unlike most items, this is a bit of a one off.

I think it's really difficult to put a price on something like that. Not being a serious collector I'd say its more what its worth to you than what it's worth to me. That said, when selling specialist items such as these you always always always get way more money, and way more interest in specialist auctions. If you look at auctioneers like Christies etc they have regular popular culture/popular entertainment auctions where these sort if items are put up for sale. The serious buyers go there to seek out what they want. Someone interested in Tommy Cooper memerobilia probably won't be looking at eBay, but will go to specialist auction houses. It might be worth checking out?? Although not for the first time, I may be completely wrong!!

K

Have you thought about putting them into a real auction, perhaps with a specialist memorabilia house? Most auction houses now put the lots on the internet and have interactive bidding, so serious collectors can become aware of what's on offer.

Tomo wrote:Have you thought about putting them into a real auction, perhaps with a specialist memorabilia house? Most auction houses now put the lots on the internet and have interactive bidding, so serious collectors can become aware of what's on offer.

This makes sense, it is the sort of thing that would get good attention in a memorabilia auction.

Would the magic circle or similar organisations be interrested?

doubt it.
They have quite a number of items of his already. I have had somebody inquire about the cost. As i said in my post, at the moment i dont want to sell these items. They are precious to me. I just wondered what people might pay.

I'd imagine that something like that would probably need to be vauled professionally.