c/rare-book-hunting

Now I check the auction listings for mislabeled authors

I used to only search by title or author on auction sites, missing everything. About a month ago I saw a copy of a 1920s detective novel listed under "literary studies" because the seller didn't know better. I got it for $12 and it's worth around $200. Now I search for common misspellings and wrong categories on every estate sale listing. Anyone else do keyword sweeps for stuff sellers can't identify?

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finleythomas•23d ago

The Tuesday I pulled 11 boxes of abandoned library stock from a dumpster in Tacoma

Everyone always says garage sales and estate sales are where the gold hides, but my best single day was behind a library that was clearing out their discards. I saw the janitor stacking boxes marked 'recycle' and asked if I could look before they hit the truck. Found a 1967 first printing of The Haunting of Hill House with the original dust jacket, no library stamps inside, just a sticker on the spine. Also snagged a 1972 Ursula K. Le Guin collection that somehow never got checked out, cost me nothing but 20 minutes of sorting. That one day beat my last three months of flea markets combined, and I bet most folks walk right past those dumpsters. Has anyone else had luck with library giveaway piles or is it just me?

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sethp26•23d ago

Paid $85 for a 'rare' travel guide, turned out to be a reprint from 2019

Won it at an online estate auction in Boise, thought the 1923 cover was the real deal, but the inside pages had a clear digital watermark I missed before bidding. Anyone else get burned by reprints hiding behind old dust jackets?

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jenniferh83•23d ago

Overheard a dealer say first editions from the 90s are the new gold rush

Tbh, a guy at the Portland flea market last Sunday said he flips Stephen King paperbacks from 1991 for $40 each just because collectors ignore them, so I dug through my dad's old boxes and found 7, anyone else notice the 90s stuff starting to pop up at estate sales for cheap?

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betty144•25d ago

Three weekends lost to a mislabeled box at an Ohio estate sale

Went to an estate sale in Dayton back in March and saw a cardboard box marked "misc paperbacks $1." Dug through it, found a 1960s hardcover that looked like something, paid the dollar, and took it home. Turned out the spine was a re-glued fake and the real edition was a common reprint that sells for $8 online. I spent three full weekends cross-checking library records and dealer forums before I finally admitted I was chasing a ghost. Anyone else ever sink serious hours into verifying a find that turned out to be worthless?

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dakota_fox•25d ago

Estate sale price tags told me more than the book spines

Went to an estate sale in Boise last weekend and noticed the owner had marked up anything with a movie tie-in cover, even if it was a garbage 90s paperback. The unmarked ones, especially any with a plain cloth binding, were the real finds. Got a 1947 first edition for $4 because nobody looked past the flashy stuff. Anyone else use the pricing as a reverse clue for what's actually valuable?

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victor_butler50•26d ago

One Saturday, three estate sales, and a 1962 atlas I almost passed on

Last Saturday I hit three estate sales in the same neighborhood outside Columbus, and the last one looked picked over by noon. A cardboard box under a folding table had a 1962 Rand McNally road atlas, spine cracked, some gas station stamp inside the cover. I almost left it because the cover was water-stained, but I flipped through and saw the owner had penciled in every route they drove for work across five states. Got it for $2, and a quick online check showed a clean copy goes for about $80. The real kicker was that same sale had a box of 1950s farm manuals for a dollar each, and I grabbed three that cover crop rotation and tractor repair. Not a fortune, but that day reminded me that the ugly stuff in the back of the room is where the finds hide. Anyone else have luck with beat-up reference books that turn out to be gems?

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nelson.gavin•27d ago

Spent $80 on a book app, my flip phone beats it every time

I bought that fancy rare book identifier app last month and it flagged two modern reprints as first editions, worthless for real hunting. My $20 flip phone camera and a quick text to a local seller in Austin did more for me in one afternoon. Anyone else skip the tech and stick to old school methods?

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the_john•27d ago

Estate sale in Portland had a whole shelf of signed first editions, but nothing was priced

Went to an estate sale last Saturday in Portland and the owner's son was just standing there watching people shuffle through a box of books. He told me his dad collected for 40 years and they had no idea what any of it was worth. I spotted a signed Ursula K. Le Guin first edition, but nobody had marked a single price. I asked him how he was handling offers and he said he was just taking whatever felt fair. Has anyone else run into a situation like this? How do you even make a fair offer without feeling like you're either ripping someone off or overpaying?

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