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Missing a Meisha Merlin/Sub Press numbered or lettered ed?


Geddon

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I was thinking like Justinian as far as selling them all together. I agree that it would scare off buyers if they couldn't "be sure" to get all 4 if they are going to pay out wat it would cost. The condition is new, unread, not a flaw to the eye. The jackets are protected in Brodart covers which are easily removed. I also have the bookmarks and chapbook that came with Storm and Feast via Subterannean.

I was considering waiting to complete it, due to the interest the HBO series will add, but I have 3 kids and don't feel right spending the money on the next 3 in hopes of making even more later.

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I was thinking like Justinian as far as selling them all together. I agree that it would scare off buyers if they couldn't "be sure" to get all 4 if they are going to pay out wat it would cost. The condition is new, unread, not a flaw to the eye. The jackets are protected in Brodart covers which are easily removed. I also have the bookmarks and chapbook that came with Storm and Feast via Subterannean.

I was considering waiting to complete it, due to the interest the HBO series will add, but I have 3 kids and don't feel right spending the money on the next 3 in hopes of making even more later.

I would probably wait for the HBO series. But waiting to complete it? With what? The odds of it being "completed" in the sense you mean approach nil.

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For an unmatched set, sure. But a matched set? Listing 4 lots instead of 1 would scare off some serious bidders who are only interested in a matched set, since they would be wary of winning only 3 of the 4 auctions because somebody snipes one at the last second. And having 3 out of 4 of a matched set is pointless.

I agree with your logic 100%. Still, the matching sets I have seen wind up selling for less together than they would individually. Having sold a number of copies ASoS and AFfC, I know a lot of people do not care about matching the numbers at all. If you do decide to group them together though, you should probably be patient with a BuyItNow rather than trying to catch bidders at the right moment.

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I agree with your logic 100%. Still, the matching sets I have seen wind up selling for less together than they would individually. Having sold a number of copies ASoS and AFfC, I know a lot of people do not care about matching the numbers at all. If you do decide to group them together though, you should probably be patient with a BuyItNow rather than trying to catch bidders at the right moment.

This may have been true earlier. A lot of people came in late, and missed AGOT. They had ACOK and ASOS and were willing to pay alot for AGOT, but couldnt care less for the rest of the books as they already owned them. Dont know if this is still the case.

THe going price is very likely lowered. A few years ago I would easily have offered you 2000 (maybe a lot more). Today i am considering selling my own books. The series will never be finished, and most collectors knows this. Maybe you can find a even bigger fool after HBO ?

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This may have been true earlier. A lot of people came in late, and missed AGOT. They had ACOK and ASOS and were willing to pay alot for AGOT, but couldnt care less for the rest of the books as they already owned them. Dont know if this is still the case.

THe going price is very likely lowered. A few years ago I would easily have offered you 2000 (maybe a lot more). Today i am considering selling my own books. The series will never be finished, and most collectors knows this. Maybe you can find a even bigger fool after HBO ?

I think this is key. AFTER HBO. If the series takes off (and right now I see NO reason for it not to) we are talking a potential doubling or tripling of the fan base. People are going to want to READ the series after seeing it and buzz will continue to grow.

Collectors are going to be there and when you factor in the almost unbelievably tortured history of these limited editions an unbroken set should sell for a king's ransom.

Think about it for a minute. EVEN GEORGE MARTIN HIMSELF does not have a matched set. He gave up his lettered books for "artist proofs" so Subterranean wouldn't be hurt.

Be patient and wait about two years or so. A matched set then should sell for about 3k pretty easily then. I can only assume that at that time we will be adding Dance with Dragons to the series.

If he can stick to his overall plan and finish things off in two more books then an unbroken set will begin to approach a Stephen King Dark Tower limited edition collection if the series also does well on HBO.

I know there are A LOT of "what if's" in there the biggest one being GRRM actually finishing the series but if they all tie in, then no exaggeration 10k is in the discussion for a complete numbered and matching 7 book set.

And there WILL be a fan in 6 or 7 years who will pay it.

Dennis

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Think about it for a minute. EVEN GEORGE MARTIN HIMSELF does not have a matched set. He gave up his lettered books for "artist proofs" so Subterranean wouldn't be hurt.

Hah hah hah! I have a matching lettered set! Fear me! But I don't understand what you mean here. Why did Martin give up his lettered set?

I agree that if the series is ever finisher and with the HBO stuff a matching set could potentially be worth a bundle. But, well... I guess we're not allowed to talk about when the next book will come out anymore so I will refrain from elaborating. I'll just say that none of us is getting any younger.

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Hah hah hah! I have a matching lettered set! Fear me! But I don't understand what you mean here. Why did Martin give up his lettered set?

I agree that if the series is ever finisher and with the HBO stuff a matching set could potentially be worth a bundle. But, well... I guess we're not allowed to talk about when the next book will come out anymore so I will refrain from elaborating. I'll just say that none of us is getting any younger.

Hi Justinian,

When Meisha Merlin had the rights, George was given Lettered Editions G, R, and M as his own. (Get it? The letters are initials of his name). Later the rights got transferred to Subterranean Press. Bill from Subterranean Press rightly pointed out that there are only 52 lettered books he can sell and George keeping three of them meant he could sell only 49 set: a not insignificant hit on his bottom line (about 5 percent reduction). The fact that Meisha didn't think about this when they gave George those 3 letters may have something to do with the fact that they are out of business today.

In any case, George thought about it and graciously decided that Bill had a point and relinquished the rights to G, R, and M. I'm unclear what he did with the lettered copies he owned but I'm pretty sure he kept them. However, from Storm of Swords onward, he would get three BLANK (or Artist Proof) editions and G,R, and M were then released to be bought by the general public. Of course, it goes without saying that those three sets are broken beyond retrieval because George has the G,R, and M of the Meisha Merlin Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings and he's not selling those ever. Nor can he get Artist Proof replacements for them because Meisha is out of business.

The bottom line is that of the 52 lettered editions of this series, I would be willing to bet quite a few are broken sets. Only Bill from Subterranean Press knows for sure obviously and he isn't telling but I wouldn't be surprised if 20 percent are broken.

That makes a FULL lettered set extremely rare. It is already considered one of the grails of Martin collectibles and will go stratospheric if the series takes off on HBO.

I'm aware of only two or three people on this site with an unbroken lettered set.

As far as I know, I'm the only one who owns an unbroken lettered AND numbered set. (yes, fear me)

Dennis

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  • 2 weeks later...

My set is CC. I dunno why but I like the sound of it.

I think I have a problem because I've gone so far as considering having a custom slipcase made for Storm of Swords. You can't believe how much it annoys me to have the titles on the "spine" part of the slipcases for Thrones, Kings, and Crows but not Swords.

Maybe I could write it on there with marker.

...

...

what?

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  • 5 months later...
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