My biggest enduring passion is for the printed word. Posters, old trade cards and postcards, stamps and magazines increase my interest in any estate. But nothing gets me stoked like a library full of books.
Sadly, most estate sale companies give books very little love...and to some degree, they are right. Some books have little or no value, such as encyclopedias, text books, Reader's Digest condensed books and Harlequin romances. Almost 100% of the time, these volumes end up in the trash after a sale.
But, some books can score big bucks at your sale if your estate sale company has a book-nut like me on staff. Here are Pop's guidelines to assessing your books and whether you can expect to profit from their sale.
Condition - As with every collectible, condition heavily affects value. The unique factor for books is the presence of a dust jacket. Sadly, our grandparents often tossed the dust jacket, rendering their books far less desirable to collectors today. A real value killer is mold or water damage, as these are difficult to impossible to fix.
First editions - The first edition of a volume sought by collectors can be worth many times that of a later edition, and especially a book club edition. At the same time, the vast majority of first editions carry no premium if they are not particularly collectible. One reason to pick an estate sale company with book expertise is that identifying first editions is sometimes difficult. Desired books tend to get reprinted a lot, sometimes in facsimile editions that can confuse the casual seller.
Subject - While some fiction can command huge prices, estate sales do best with non-fiction, such as history, arts and music, military and aviation - sometimes the narrower the specialty, the better. But not all fiction is created equal. Science fiction and fantasy attracts voracious buyers, as does literary fiction, horror, Westerns and some mystery. And let's not leave out paperbacks. While newer paperbacks have less value than their hardback cousins, vintage paperbacks can bring interested buyers to your sale.
So if your estate has lots of books, give Lolly & Pop's a call!