Interesting Judges Guild Items on Ebay

Posts: 3132 · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 1:41 pm

Yeah I bought from him on a couple of occasions, had a 'blip' once, but have seen the problems from others talked about on here. He's shut down his ebay store and now goes through his wifes.

ShaneG.

Posts: 173 · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 2:31 pm

My first transactions with Terry were good. Then he didn't send me three items after I paid him, several e-mails and a phone call later, I finally got two of the items. He never responded to my e-mails about the third item. When he switched to selling through his wife I took another chance and got burned. I was sent a printing other than what was pictured and the maps were missing. After several e-mails I finally got a refund. If they are still selling, I would steer clear.

Posts: 173 · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 2:45 pm

Aneoth wrote:

From your name I suspect you are a Miniature collector. Do you by chance also collect fantasy dungeon/castle/building/cavern settings too? Or build them for minis?

I am a miniature collector. You could get lead poisoning walking into my game room. I started in the mid 70s with Heritage fantasy and Sci-fi miniatures. Shorthly there after I got into historical miniatures. I don't know how many I have. It has to be upwards of 10,000. I have all kinds of terrain and models for setting up table top battles. I've made some of it but bought most. I just don't have as much time as when I was a youngster. I don't really have much in the way of dungeon dressing, like Dwarven Forge, etc.

For a list of my periods and scales you could check out my bio page on the Necromancer boards.

http://leadjunkie.necromancergames.yuku.com/

Posts: 1428 · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 3:41 pm

Yup Terry..

He was a bit random at times, and it has been at least a year or more since I last purchased anything from him. I was not aware he had lost his E-Bay account. He was always very nice to me and always made things right if there was a screw up.

One of the times I bought a large group of JG stuff from his E-Bay listings he said I could come by in person to pick them up and when I got there he didnt actually have exactly what was in that specific listing. So he gave me a LOT of other stuff that was not in the listing. To me it more than made up for the error in the listing.

The house was basically a hazard area. With shelves in every room. Not book shelves like normal houses might have, but like the metal framed shelves you see in warehouses, or in commercial kitchen storerooms. All of them were stuffed full of all kinds of items.

Posts: 917 · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 4:48 am

That is interesting. This Seller may be sitting on a number of these items:

Portly Pomp Catalog:

Recently Sold
Newly Listed

Judges Guild 1977 Guildmember button:

Recently Sold
Newly Listed

Maybe he has a whole box full of buttons!

Posts: 7604 · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 5:34 am

HermitFromPluto wrote:

That is interesting. This Seller may be sitting on a number of these items:

Portly Pomp Catalog:

Recently Sold
Newly Listed

Judges Guild 1977 Guildmember button:

Recently Sold
Newly Listed

Maybe he has a whole box full of buttons!

and are we sure they are like 100% legit? nobody sees them pretty much for many years and then all of a sudden...multiples? hmmmm maybe its just my pessimism showing again Smile

Posts: 3132 · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 5:45 am

killjoy32 wrote:

and are we sure they are like 100% legit? nobody sees them pretty much for many years and then all of a sudden...multiples? hmmmm maybe its just my pessimism showing again Smile

Well it would seem only 2 people have/are selling these. Bill Owen which would make sense as he kept various things Smile

and this seller. I half expected people finding these buried in draws and what not and putting them up after those other auctions, but maybe these just didn't survive as well.

ShaneG.

Posts: 917 · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 6:51 am

It is interesting, I have been watching for catalogs and barely any came up for the first 18 months I watched. It may be that people are just becoming aware that they have value and seeing them sell for good prices more are being listed rather than consigned to the dustbin! I imagine they are still pretty rare though as they are not the sort of thing people keep. Do we have any idea of the print runs for catalogs?

Posts: 917 · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 7:04 am

Plaag wrote:

Well it would seem only 2 people have/are selling these. Bill Owen which would make sense as he kept various things Smile

and this seller. I half expected people finding these buried in draws and what not and putting them up after those other auctions, but maybe these just didn't survive as well.

ShaneG.

It might be worth contacting that Seller and asking him about the history of his items given that they are a real collectible. He may have an interesting snippet of history.

Posts: 3132 · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 7:46 am

HermitFromPluto wrote:

It is interesting, I have been watching for catalogs and barely any came up for the first 18 months I watched. It may be that people are just becoming aware that they have value and seeing them sell for good prices more are being listed rather than consigned to the dustbin! I imagine they are still pretty rare though as they are not the sort of thing people keep. Do we have any idea of the print runs for catalogs?

I would guess early on they were 2-3k and maybe later 5k but thats only basing on subscriptions and later print run numbers. Who knows..

ShaneG.

Posts: 1165 · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 1:20 am

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Judges-Guild-rare-Dungeon-Tac-Cards-Set- oop_W0QQitemZ360054362290QQihZ023QQcategoryZ44112QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrd Z1QQcmdZViewItem

tac cards

Posts: 7604 · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 4:41 am

JZavoda....are your ebay auctions intentionally US only?

some of your items would go for more if you allow other bidders (like me, wanting to bid on WotMR)

Confused

Posts: 342 · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:27 am

killjoy32 wrote:

JZavoda....are your ebay auctions intentionally US only?

some of your items would go for more if you allow other bidders (like me, wanting to bid on WotMR)

Confused

I added you to my exemption list, but yeah, I was trying to keep out of the post office as much as possible. Even for regular shipping I normally get someone to take the packages down for me but I make exceptions for people I know or who come recommended.

Posts: 1203 · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:42 am

JZavoda wrote:

I added you to my exemption list, but yeah, I was trying to keep out of the post office as much as possible. Even for regular shipping I normally get someone to take the packages down for me but I make exceptions for people I know or who come recommended.

well, if possible, i would really love to be part of as well... i have written you in the past with no results... Crying or Very sad

(my nick on ebay is kingofprimiera)

tnx

Posts: 1165 · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 6:55 pm

aia wrote:

well, if possible, i would really love to be part of as well... i have written you in the past with no results... Crying or Very sad

(my nick on ebay is kingofprimiera)

tnx

I've lost count of the number of questions I've seen on auctions with Axel's 'k-o-p' moniker. (He's always real polite - and knows from experience that it never hurts to ask!!)(BTW - Axel - #28 left me this morning Very Happy

)

Posts: 1203 · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 12:50 am

gyg wrote:

#28 left me this morning

suuuper!

...you should write me a reply on that...

Posts: 48 · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 12:51 am

Plaag wrote:

I would guess early on they were 2-3k and maybe later 5k but thats only basing on subscriptions and later print run numbers. Who knows..

ShaneG.

Yes, we would print at least 2,000 of the catalogs and more like 5,000... but that was 1977-1978. It's possible that the initial print run (before a major con) was larger later.

The catalogs were incredibly cheap to print as they were on newsprint and importantly, not bound with staples. Binding the pages with staples may have doubled the cost.

Until later when Bob had so many products they were made into giant, stapled books (instead of tabloid, unstapled like I made up which was also the Journal/Pegasus initial format if I remember correctly). Sometimes Bob would add self-covers utilizing the first 4-8 pages (and last 4-8 pages too) with what Stevens called High Quality Newsprint nearly white in color which is the products were printed with. I sold a red covered catalog like this recently on eBay.

All of these products after the original 7x8" installments, were produced on giant web presses in western Illinois town of Astoria. Essentially like what most weekly newspapers and junk mail catalogs are still done on. KK Stevens has since added such improved-quality 4-color versions of the presses so that he gets better work still and in quantities that are staggering--I think half million was the largest I heard about. And they do the mailing too so Astoria has its own major Post Office even though it's a town of a few hundred people.

I get a giant kick out of seeing the presses and smelling the ink... it's in my blood, maybe literally, ever since I sliced 4 fingers on a mimeograph press sharp edge in 1971 making game materials and pulled out my hand soaked in glistening black ink with a crimson ribbon across all the fingers.

Back in 1978, an 8-page tabloid catalog on newsprint, several thousand copies, could be printed in just a few days for only $90... which is the equivalent of $450 now perhaps with inflation (1.5 teenager weeks). So each copy for about 9 cents! (In today's prices!! 1.8 cents in 1978 prices.)

I remember these prices because I carried this publishing knowledge back to the travel agency where I got to the high point of a 64-page bound full-color Travel Catalog of our local departures of tours and cruises. These 36 catalogs (plus several other special collateral items) were all with high-white or 'heavy' 60# stock, self-covers, most in full color.

Some of the JG products, while I was there, got separate covers printed by sheet fed presses like Abbott & Foran locally... with 2 colors of ink and nicer, heavier paper... like Thieves of Badabaskor, Revised CSIO and First Fantasy Campaign. The covers sometimes were nearly the same price as the text pages! But we thought justified by increased value and marketing impact.

Sorry, if I just go on and on but I get started and it all comes out!

Back to the original point, I would think it's rare to reprint a catalog (unlike the products) because in a few months you would likely have new products to include anyway. For this reason and the fact that catalogs were frequently thrown out because they were free or missing the latest stuff, they actually might be rarer than most products.

I saved lots of catalogs because of possible orders and graphic interest... I was self-taught so they were among my textbooks. And how many times has my wife berated me for reading the menu upside down because I'm deconstructing the design rather choosing an entree?! (I didn't say I was sane!)

Posts: 48 · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 1:01 am

Plaag wrote:

Well it would seem only 2 people have/are selling these. Bill Owen which would make sense as he kept various things Smile

and this seller. I half expected people finding these buried in draws and what not and putting them up after those other auctions, but maybe these just didn't survive as well.

ShaneG.

I don't THINK I have any more buttons. 2 was all that I could find in my souvenir drawer of wierd stuff.

I think that the buttons would be hard to reproduce because the near hairline thickness of the artwork. I kind of goofed on that but it may have been a great anti-counterfeiting tool.

I started to selling wargames because that's all I thought had value, then miniatures rules sets, then D&D stuff, realized some poop sheets might be of interest -- especially because they were likely to be quite rare, the T-shirts because some had a print run of 1 or 2! (and my wife would freak out if I put them on again), and then run across handmade stuff that's historical in nature re JG.

The 2nd justification for selling the stuff (besides funding my new company's software development) is that I get to see my stuff on the web in many cases just a few hours or days after I sold it! Before it was boxed, filed or piled... and not seeing the light of day.

So I want to thank all of you guys who scan and post this stuff because I get a kick of seeing it too!

Posts: 3132 · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 8:20 am

Great info as always. Smile

ShaneG.

Posts: 48 · Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:50 pm

I just uploaded a unique item relating to my campaign just after I left JG and other misc. rare wargame items. There will be more old stuff next week too. My ebay moniker is gamedesign4u.