Inherited the PC "John Smith" of The Regulators...WTS

[BuddhaRivet]

Hi! I am 100% new here and I am terribly sorry if I am intruding, but I have inherited a Publishers Copy of the S/L of The Regulators and I am looking to sell it. As you may already know, the PC's of The Regulators are unlike typical PC's, in that they are actually one-of-a-kind. They have the binding of the numbered copies, but the "check naming" sequencing of the lettered copies. This copy is the sixth from the top of the list in the series, made out to "John Smith" for "Tutoring" for $80.00. I haven't got a clue how much to ask for it. I am assuming that because it is not a typical PC, it is actually worth more than a numbered copy. Obviously, it is not worth as much as a lettered copy, but I do think it should be somewhere in between, since there were only (30? per Stephen King.com, 52? per DarkTower.org) copies printed. I have contacted Betts Bookstore about consigning it.

Thanks!

[mmalling]

Contacting Betts is a good way to go!
Did you have a question in this post or were you just announcing that Betts would have it for sale soon?

[BuddhaRivet]

I was interested in getting opinions as to the possible value of the book, but when I expressed that in the original post, it was flagged as "spam", so I had to take that sentence out. My apologies for being forced to be unclear.

[mmalling]

Ah, ok well no apologies necessary!
I'll let others who are more familiar with this edition weigh in on the current market value. Best of luck on your sale!

[BuddhaRivet]

Thank You!

[TheCollector]

As this isn't a regular S/L I'm going to hold off on trying to provide a value for a PC copy that rarely comes up for sale (Heck even recent sales for regular S/L regulators have dried up). David at Betts is going to have a much more dialed in number than I would.

I will say if you're looking for a second opinion, you may want to drop an email to Emmanuel over at Veryfinebooks, I'm not sure if this book will meet his minimum value for consigning or not. But if it does, he's going to try to sell it for more than David will, so you could get more for it.

If you follow David's guidance though, I'm confident the book will sell right away so you'll have your cash in hand very quickly.

Either way you'll have two booksellers weighing in on their price points.

[BuddhaRivet]

Thank you so much for your advice. David is of the opinion that it is of notably lower value than a numbered copy because it is a PC copy, even though it is highly unusual in it's one of a kind status. I have been led to believe that PC copies are worth less primarily because they are undifferentiated, which, if I am correct, would not apply in this case. So, I will contact VeryFineBooks and see what they say. I may end up having to wait until I have a higher number of feedback ratings on eBay than I do now, price it as I see fit, wait for the right collector and hope for the best. I do think that *someone* will see it as more valuable. I'm not in any hurry, so I have options. If anyone would like to make me an offer, they can PM me.

Thanks!

[mmalling]

As far as the value of PCs vs Numbered in general, PCs are about 20% lower in value than the numbered equivalent. There are exceptions to this rule though. For instance, DT books are collected as PC sets and their value can be higher than the actual numbered edition.

[TheCollector]

As far as the value of PCs vs Numbered in general, PCs are about 20% lower in value than the numbered equivalent. There are exceptions to this rule though. For instance, DT books are collected as PC sets and their value can be higher than the actual numbered edition.

Michael is completely right.

In terms of rarity, if you look at it PC copies always have fewer copies than numbered copies, but the market doesn't see it as increased value (usually) over numbered copies because there simply aren't enough people specifically collecting PC copies out there to drive up the value.

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

There are 52 PC copies. I have a list of all the checks. PC copies are normally 20% less because there are lots of them, but only one number or letter. Betts hasn't sold a PC copy for years. The last one was "King in Yellow" for jeans, which sold for $799. The last numbered he sold in June 2023 went for $1750.