What is the value of an Encyclopedia Americana 1964 Limited Edition/New York World's Fair? The set is complete, with 30 volumes in excellent condition. I can't seem to find anything on the internet about this.
Thanks for any answers in advance. Have a great day.
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It is worth very little since it is not 100 years old.
You can get between $150 and $200,auction or ebay
Encyclopedias are usually very slow sellers at any price but if yours has New York Fair on the cover page they may have a little more interest.
You can check out the listings for 1964 editions listed for sale.
www.ebay.com/
Asking prices are just prices the seller thinks his set is worth but only sold prices show current value and since there are so many variables (edition/year, binding, condition, location) it is really a guessing game.
here is a link to eBay books that have sold over the past several months.
You can check to see if anything looks like it could be similar to yours.
www.ebay.com/
Most sellers list their sets as local pick up because shipping is very expensive and difficult. This means the buyer will be in their area.
I would suggest you list your set on several of your local sites such as Craigslist, OfferUp, LetGo, Facebook Marketplace, Nextdoor as you can list it high and lower the price if no one shows an interest.
With local pick up there would be no shipping involved but you would need several very good pictures of set, book front, information page showing edition.
Thank you for posting such great pictures.
This is a beautiful set and one that I have never seen.
I agree that it is special and could be worth a lot more money than the regular sets published during that period.
Here is a link to some sites to consider and the pictures you provided should be sufficient. Believe me, you will be glad you went to the trouble to seek an appraisal.
www.whatsellsbest.com/
Thank you so much for all the information. I will checkout the appraisal website. Thanks again.
Thanks so much for the additional photos!! The graphics are amazing!
I have not seen this set before, and I am not able to find any comparables out there (part of that challenge is not all listers/sellers know how to describe things for both accuracy and to generate interest) so it is going to be a challenge to get you today's current market value. Do not despair...you have options:
So if this was my set, I would:
1. I would see if I could get a free appraisal--either locally or online to get you an idea of current market value. This will give you a starting price.
2. If you don't want to go that route, you can let the market dictate the value based on WHAT YOU THINK THEY ARE WORTH (DREAM BIG--Sellers always do!)
What does that mean? Say you think something is worth (and I am using round numbers to make it easy--you have to decide what YOU want for them) $100. You want to make AT LEAST $100 for them.
When I do this I do one of two things...
1. First, I will list it on eBay as an AUCTION starting at 99 cents with a reserve for $100.
If it goes for $100 dollars (OR MORE) then you have to sell the item, but if it only goes to $99 you do not have to accept the bid because the "Reserve" was not met, the auction ends...no harm, no foul.
The benefit of the reserve pricing is you do not have to sell if you don't meet the reserve AND it will give you an idea of what people are willing to pay for an item. If you got NO BIDS or it only went to $5, then you would get a sense of what the market is thinking.
Here's a real life example I just had....I had a piece of old jewelry that everyone said was worth $200-$300, but there were no comparables to see what people area actually paying for it in today's (VERY WONKY) market.
I set up an eBay auction which started the bidding at 99 cents with a $300 reserve. I let it go for 7 days and it got to $108. UGH, I was sad.
BUT, I did not have to sell it for $108 dollars because it did not meet my $300 reserve. BUT, I was out $15 to pay for the reseve auction because those are not free. BUT, I learned that the piece was worth at least $108. (NOTE: eBay regular--no reserve auctions are free--you usually get 10 free when you are a new seller, and when you sell for a while and have good feedbacks you can usually get 50 FREE a month. They take commissions on both the sale and the postage--WHEN SOLD, NOT BEFORE).
A few weeks later, I reslisted my pendant for $115 and it sold after a week. I was happy and the market dictated the value of the item. Notice I rounded the $108 up to $115 and it worked.
2. The second way to do this to set up a 30 day buy it now offer for the item at (again, I am using round numbers--it has to be what you think your item is worth) for $300 BEST OFFER and see what people offer you (you can either accept or reject offers). This is a free auction (SEE DESCRIPTION OF HOW EBAY WORKS ABOVE).
Then if it sits for 30 days unsold, you can go in (or reset the auction through eBay) to have it drop the price by a certain percent every week until it gets to a price YOU WOULD NOT WANT to accept, and then you can end the auction and rethink your sale.
When you are advertising it, be sure to include info about the World Fair graphics, as I think that will be the draw. People still love World Fair things.
Post back what you decide!!
Great. Thanks for your feedbacks. I will check out the eBay options and the free appraisal services, too. Thanks a lot for all the great suggestions.
Post back with an update!! I love to know how things work out! Blessings!
Will do. So far I only heard back from HA auction and was told 300 to 400 based on their research. But the person did mention that no prior history of this type of volume ever sold/existed, so no sales data to compare with, except with the same year (1964 with normal encyclopedia sale price. I now wonder how many sets were produced for the World's Fair event?
I am so excited for you! Do you know the history of these? Were you or your family the owner/buyer? If you have history, that goes a long way to the sale.
Here is a link for one of the many sites where World Fair aficionados gather:
www.crawforddirect.com/
I have not dealt with them myself as I have never been lucky enough to find any items like this to sell or love...so I can't guarantee they can help...but perhaps if they can't, they can get you in the right place and maybe even purchase the books for decent $$$!!
I am not sure about the history of these. A family member got
them for me from another person who were moving. The only thing we were told was these were inside an enclosed glass bookshelf since 1964. This is one of the reason why it is still in near new condition. I love collecting World's Fair stuff
and these are amazing items. Thank you very much for the website link, and I will definitely check it out. Thanks.
That is cool that you collect World Fair items! I hope you learn more and will keep us updated! It is so much fun to see unique and special items and learn more about them. Thanks again for sharing them! Blessings!
Just an update. Apparently there are no records of this ever went on auction before. After contacting several people, the value is between $350 to $500 based from other sales data. But the sales data does not have a single source of any of this at all. I also contacted the publishing company that owns this and they have no data about how many were produced at the time. In any event, I am just going to enjoy displaying them on my bookshelf.
Could you please post a photo of the set and the inside page of the first book--where they give all of the info on the book name, copyright etc.
This will help me figure out exactly what you have and the current market value.
Thanks!
hey Joy! Did you ever sell you set of encyclopedias?
Curious as I have a set of these in about the same excellent condition.
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