Sorcerer's Apprentice Complete Run

Posts: 1193 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:10 am

As the subject lines implies, how much would a complete run of Sorcerer's Apprentice fetch? Should I sell it in one lot or is there enough interest to split it up into individual auctions? Thanks for input.

Posts: 342 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:42 am

As a seller I'd sell them indivdually and as a buyer I'd love to get them as one lot (because I have always found that an auction lot goes for less almost all the time).

I also would hang onto them for awhile. There are some hard to find issues but from what I have seen SA is tremendously undervalued at the moment. It is a great looking magazine with good content. It has stories and poems by Karl Edward Wagner, and if they are published there for the first time then you have collectors (who aren't interested in gaming) who would be interested in those issues (or who will be down the road).

Posts: 1193 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:32 pm

Yeah, I'm conflicted on selling them. They're really nice looking magazines but I'm afraid they would just sell for a low price. Gaming magazines tend not to go for very much for some reason, though they usually have a good deal of varied content with a lot of interesting bits, particularly in terms of nostalgia with the ads.

Posts: 2339 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:40 pm

Sorcerer's Apprentice is sometimes a toss up whether they do well or not. I have seen #1 sell in the $50 range but also in the $10 range.

Posts: 2130 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:09 pm

Lately the first few have been going nuts in price. I would sell them individually Smile

Posts: 1348 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:12 pm

How many issues are there? Just never been into magazines, really.

If there are a lot of them (ie, more than 20), selling the initial issues 1-10 individually is probably better, and then selling in groups of 5-10 after, like Dragon or whatever. If there aren't very many issues, it would likely be better to sell them one at a time, because you're most likely to get higher values from people looking to fill a void, but a newer collector (like me) would be interested in all of them, so you never know.

Like Jason, I'd be more interested in a lot -- saves on shipping and is easier to get a bunch at once.

Posts: 342 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:30 pm

mandalaymoon wrote:

Yeah, I'm conflicted on selling them. They're really nice looking magazines but I'm afraid they would just sell for a low price. Gaming magazines tend not to go for very much for some reason, though they usually have a good deal of varied content with a lot of interesting bits, particularly in terms of nostalgia with the ads.

Part of the problem is that the T&T system was heavily flawed. It was a light system best suited in my opinion to solitaire gaming, and I loved their solitaire adventures.

But SA had fantastic art and fantastic writers like Wagner and Zelazny. They are a little oversized like warly White Dwarfs, which makes them easily damaged, so copies that are in decent shape are to be prized. I just don't think the time has come for these, but in a very short number of years or even months with the craziness of ebay, they will have a peak.

I would keep an active search for them on ebay. See how they are doing, and when they start consistantly selling for a decent amount think about selling them. I know the copies I was selling didn't go for a spectacular amount, though they went to a good home.

Posts: 1440 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:40 pm

Although I do not know how many issues of SA there were, I do know it is long out of print.

Also, I am certain the Sourcerer's Apprentice magazine ran through at least issue 17, since the Flying Buffalo web site shows a scan of the front cover of issues 12, 16 and 17.
(Flying Buffalo is the parent company of the now defunct SA magazine, Tunnnels and Trolls and several other game systems)
You can still purchase SA magazine issues 11 and 12 directly from them (Apparently they had fewer requests for those two issues).
They cost $5.00 each.
Not very long ago, you could even buy Issue No. 5, but they ran out about two months ago.
Shipping has never been more than $3 for me, which is simply amazing since some of my orders were quite heavy in the past.
I have ordered quite a lot of stuff from them over the past year or so.

All that said, I do agree with the posts above in that the sale prices for SA issues varies greatly from time to time.

You can find some of the later SA issues at the shops on E-Bay for from $6-$12 and sometimes the same issue will have that range on the same day from different sellers.

Earlier issues will of course get a higher price, since they are tougher to find.
As for whether to place them up as a lot or individually?
On that I have to dissagree with the majority of opinions above.
Partially for my own selfish reasons.
If they were mine, I would place them up individually, one issue per listing.

Listing all of your SA's into one listing will most certainly mean a good price for the lot, but it would also eliminate all of your possible (fill in the missing gaps) single issue customers.

At least one anyway........... Laughing

It is a dilimna of course, and best of luck in whatever you decide to do.

Posts: 2938 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:23 pm

You could buy new copies of SA from FB directly, and I bought a few at GenCon 2004 from Rick. Not sure if they're still available or not, but IIRC those were issues 11, 12, and 17 I think.

Posts: 1193 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:24 pm

I'll be listing them individually at 99 cents each for starting bids. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Posts: 342 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:27 pm

mandalaymoon wrote:

I'll be listing them individually at 99 cents each for starting bids. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Please post a link to them in the classifieds.

Posts: 1193 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:29 pm

JZavoda wrote:

Please post a link to them in the classifieds.

Will do. I'm moving shortly so it's going to be another big set of auctions... I've already got a bunch of stuff up now, and will be posting about those to the classified section later. Hope all the stuff finds a good home... Wink

Posts: 593 · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:00 am

Hi,

bizarrely enough, I went thru my lockup at the weekend, and found a large box of priced rpg mags, which I havent opened for about 3 years.

Inside were a couple of early SAs, priced at $2 each, apparently priced in roughly 2004. So they really weren't worth having then. Embarassed

Pulled 'em out and re-priced!

Cheers,
Malc