CT Book Values

[crossmlk]

I have an extensive collection (almost a complete one) of CT books from both GDW and some of their licensees. I don't have any intention of selling them but I am curious to see what they are worth. Does anyone know of anyplace that has a listing of values for these books? Thanks.

Mike Cross
Terra/Sol Games

 

[aramis]

What I've seen, between $3 and $10 per book, typically, depending upon condition. Certain key ones, up to $20, again, depending upon condition. Reprint volumes crashed the retail market for them. PDF CD's have kept it low.

Rather easy, right now, with a color printer, to make excellent fakes, except for the maps.

 

[crossmlk]

Original Traveller Books

Hadn't thought of that. It makes sense though. It's kind of a shame, some of my old D&D stuff is worth over a grand. Although that's what they say its worth, you'd still have to find someone willing to pay that much if you wanted to sell it. Thanks.

Mike Cross
Terra/Sol Games

 

[ShapeShifter]

Judging just by the prices I see on nobleknight some things are common and not too pricey, while other titles are apparently worth a King's ransom. Some sellers on ebay are charging around 20 USD for some of the GDW books. Stuff like Grand Survey gets into the three-digit range. o:

[Heston]It's a madhouse! A maaaadhooouuuuse![/Heston]

 

[beowulf2044]

How dissappointing. Guess I'll eventually wind up tossing my two copies of JTAS #1 in the dustbin someday.

 

[far-trader]

Sure you will...

How dissappointing. Guess I'll eventually wind up tossing my two copies of JTAS #1 in the dustbin someday.

<stands nonchalantly by said dustbin... >

"Who? Me? Just waiting on a friend... "

They're always of value to someone of course. And the value will vary with the seeker's resources and nearness of completion if a collector. As for some (most, all... ?) the crazy prices for some "rare" items, I've seen many relisted time and again for years now and either they never sold or...

...caveat emptor.

 

[Khan Trav]

I live in Fort Worth and back in the mid eighties michaels warehouse got out of the Traveller business and I was able to obtain several LBBs for fifty cents... In today money thats like 3 thousand dollars right?

I also picked up a pristine copy of The Traveller Adventure for a buck fifty. Sadly I now must have all of the JTAS books but am not sure what is the best source...

 

[Matt123]

Hadn't thought of that. It makes sense though. It's kind of a shame, some of my old D&D stuff is worth over a grand. Although that's what they say its worth, you'd still have to find someone willing to pay that much if you wanted to sell it. Thanks.

Mike Cross
Terra/Sol Games

You have me curious! Can you post a link or point me in the direction of where ever it is thats getting these prices. I've got boxes of early well thumbed D&D, Harn, Dungeon mag, etc in deep storage waiting for that last ceremonial read.

 

[crossmlk]

You have me curious! Can you post a link or point me in the direction of where ever it is thats getting these prices. I've got boxes of early well thumbed D&D, Harn, Dungeon mag, etc in deep storage waiting for that last ceremonial read.

Matt,
Here's a link to a website that has an index on the values of some early stuff. It appears whoever keeps the site updates it when new sales are made. It's invaluable to help you learn what the value of your early D&D stuff is.

I have the original Lost Tamoachan and was shocked to see what it was worth. I know they also sold one at the GenCon aution a couple of years ago for around $1100 so if you can find the setting and the right buyers you can get a good price on some of this stuff. I just don't know that EBAY is the right place.

http://www.acaeum.com/

 

[ShapeShifter]

The original Tamoachan?!?! o: Wow! Talk about sitting on The Mother Lode!!! Some of those go for four figures easily. I wonder if GDW has any "Holy Grail" collectors items...

 

[crossmlk]

Yeah, I found that site and started looking at some of the stuff and saw Tamoachan and I thought I had it. So I looked in some of my boxes of old stuff and sure enough I had one of the original numbered ones (#243). I remember buying the thing and thinking the adventure was a piece of crap. It came in a ziploc so I sealed it up and put in a box. It'd been there since 1979. I bought it at the TSR game shop in Lake Geneva which wasn't very far from where they held GenCon in 1979.

 

[JAFARR]

...Although that's what they say its worth, you'd still have to find someone willing to pay that much if you wanted to sell it. Thanks.

Mike Cross
Terra/Sol Games

That's the key to a lot of collectibles (or anything you may be trying to sell). No matter what value the appraiser gives it, it's actual value is what you can get someone to pay for it. All too often, they are worlds apart.

 

[Vargas]

Pricing for CT books is all over the map, but quite often not worth the price IMO. Especially given you can pick it all up on CD. (Although there are limitations with the CDs in terms of useability, particularly deckplans).

 

[Finarvyn]

As others have noted, prices are based on what someone will actually pay. I looked on e-bay and saw a few sort of expensive CT items, but they were BIN and not actually bid up that high. Most CT stuff seems pretty cheap overall, which is great if anyone wants to go back to the '70's and play the original.

I think that one of the problems is that there are so many newer versions of Traveller. If a new entry-level gamer wants to learn Traveller they are more likely to buy the new editions that are actively supported rather than the old editions that are pretty stagnant. Plus the fact that Mongoose gives away free rules, which further encourages a newbie to try their version.

I notice this same effect with my son and Warhammer. When new editions come out, everyone abandons the old one and jumps into the new one. Value of the older stuff drops off in a hurry, except for the occasional "collectable" item.