Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts August 30, 20180 found this helpful
It probably is not. It is not an antique, and people get their information from the Internet now.
Pghgirl40
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks August 30, 20180 found this helpful
Hello! Without a photo it is hard to give you totally accurate information because there can be variations in the covers and such of these items.
If this auction matches your set exactly, you may want to watch it and see if it sells and if it does sell if it gets full price or best offer. Please do not assume that this is the value you can get for the item--active auction prices only tell you what the seller wants to get something...they can ask a million dollars, but if no one is willing to pay it, the item is essentially valueless.
SOLD auctions (you can find a button on eBay to the left of the screen) tell you want someone actually paid for an item, which is the value. This is critical to the valuing process.
Note--if an item sells for best offer, this tells you that the person paid some where between 1 cent and 1 cent under the asking price...if it were me, I usually value the item 10-25% less than asking in these cases if I am using it for reference.
If this is not your set, I recommend checking in to eBay periodically to find your set and see exactly what it is selling for at any given time.
Selling these is a challenge as they are super heavy and many people won't pay the price to ship them. When a seller includes "free" shipping, it means the seller pays the shipping and it comes off the profits (value and profits are two different things--as profit is what is left after fees and possibly shipping).
Many people make more money with these items crafting with them...either tearing out interesting pages and framing them or turning them in to lamps and such. If you like Pinterest...type Encyclopedia crafts in your browser and you will be amazed at all the neat-o things people make from these dinosaur books!! They are WAY COOL at least to me!
Hope this helps you in your valuing process! Good luck! Let us know what you decide to do with them.
August 30, 20180 found this helpful
As a general rule, for a set of encyclopedias to be of value, there has to be something "unique" about the set. I have not found anything really unique about the 1963 edition except it is the second edition to have 24 volumes.
- Quite a few years ago, encyclopedias were more or less a staple item in a home where children were in school. Now the staple is a computer and it is rare a family will purchase a set for educational purposes.
- This leaves a very tiny portion of the world that will be interested in paying very much for a set of outdated books. Many of these homes (in USA) may still have a set of their own just gathering dust or packed away or even a set they have just trashed because nobody wanted them.
- Does that mean you cannot sell your set? No, it just means you may not realize a high profit and they may be very slow to sell.
- Some of the problems with sets is shipping costs and the damage many boxes/books receive during shipping. Many sellers will state "pick up only" so they buyer does not have to pay the shipping cost and, in theory, would mean they might be willing to pay more for the set.
- If you had a really desirable set, it would be good to list the set on eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Abe's Books as a buyer may be willing to pay the cost of shipping.
- I would suggest you check the sites listed above to see if you find any sets for sale. Asking prices do not mean a lot as the only price that counts is what someone will/does pay. Still, it does not hurt to look at these listings as it shows what is "out there" for sale. If you find a set like yours, you may try to watch it for a while and see if it sells.
- Truthfully, many of these sellers leave books up for many months - even years - as they are big sellers and usually have warehouses. Small sellers (or one time sellers) will usually keep a set listed for a month or two and then (if not sold) reduce the price or remove it.
- Here is a nice looking 1964 set that has been listed several times but has not sold. You might want to place a "watch" on this listing to see if it sells.
- www.ebay.com/.../283122441892
- Here is a very nice looking set (1964) and the sellers seems to think someone will bid higher or, if sold, he may be able to clear a little from his high shipping charge.
- www.ebay.com/.../392110226142?_trkparms=aid%3D222007...
- This listing is the only 1963 set that I have found on eBay but they have a missing volume which does reduce the value. You might watch this one to see if it is sold.
- www.ebay.com/.../173198996184
- Sometimes it is better to list items like this on your local sale sites like Craigslist, IOffer, LetGo, USA4Sale, Facebook Market Place, etc. as you may be able to sell a set faster and maybe clear more money. These sites are easy to list on and most are free but check them out first. You will need pictures of the set and description of the type of binding.
This link has some interesting information about Collier's:
antiques.lovetoknow.com/Collectible_Collier_Encyclopedia
