Need some sales advice for Martian Chronicles rarities.

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fleggett
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Need some sales advice for Martian Chronicles rarities.

Post by fleggett »

My apologies in advance, as this doesn't have anything to do with SK. However, I trust the people here to steer me in the right direction.

Through various means, I have acquired three EXTREMELY rare Ray Bradbury collectibles. They are:

1. The Martian Chronicles Triptych, letter "L", signed by Bradbury and artist Edward Miller, produced by Hill House, Publishers (HHP) shortly before their demise.
2. How I Wrote My Book, leatherbound in pouch, letter "L", signed by Bradbury, also published by HHP
3. And the real doozy - the lettered edition of The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition, a joint publishing effort by Postscript (PS) Publishing and Subterranean Press, in clamshell traycase. And yep, this one is letter "L", too.

Here's my question - do I just put these up on eBay or should I see about selling it on commission with a rare bookseller? I'd personally prefer the eBay route, but if a commission sale might net me significantly more money by pairing these up with a serious collector (and, by extension, serious cash) who doesn't frequent sites like eBay, I'd be willing to pursue that route. If that's your advice, which rare bookseller would you approach?

This is how my eBay ad would otherwise look:

http://www.awfulbooks.com/eBay/Martian% ... icles.html

What do y'all think this collection is worth? Thanks a BUNCH in advance.
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TheCollector
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Re: Need some sales advice for Martian Chronicles rarities.

Post by TheCollector »

Well I'm not sure on price but in general selling a book via comission can net more than ebay (if you consign with the right bookstore) but can take a while to sell. Ebay will sell within the week but probably for less.
fleggett
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Re: Need some sales advice for Martian Chronicles rarities.

Post by fleggett »

Well, I think I'm going to go the eBay route. I really need to pay down some credit cards and an extra few hundred dollars for a commission sale just doesn't seem worth it if it'll take months to happen.

Problem is I have NO idea how to value this set, as I can't find any price indicators anywhere. That includes eBay, AbeBooks, rare books dealers, and general Google and Yahoo! searches. I'll probably just have to take a wild guess and see what happens from there.
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Re: Need some sales advice for Martian Chronicles rarities.

Post by TheCollector »

I saw the following auction up on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ray-Bradbury-Ho ... 20c6c813e9

Here's a limited edition of The Complete edition, I can't find any lettered but I don't know for sure if these represent actual current rates or are on the high side.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR ... CHRONICLES

My advice to you is to either do an opening bid or reserve at 75% of what you paid for all of these items (or whatever you're comfortable with) and see what happens. I see a lot of Bradbury up, which I think is typical after a person dies, so I would hazard to say it's a relatively good time to sell.
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