Hi all,

Just how rare is a complete copy H1 Bloodstone Pass these days?  I've read through the threads speculating on why it commands high prices, as well as those concerning Cougarrinard's attempts to corner the market on this item.  But, realistically, how hard is it to find a copy?  Especially one that isn't in the clutches of the dreaded Cougarrinard.

I suppose the crux of my question is whether the number of existing copies comes anywhere near justifying the ever inflating price of this item.

Regards,

The Egg

One pops up in various conditions about every 4 months.  Price wise, I do believe it is the only one of its kind, mixing the Battlesystem rules with AD&D.  Has two sets of counters and 2 module booklets.

A nice set (decent box with mint contents) is probably worth the $100.  The best one on ebay mint box, mint SW and mint contents (since it was never opened) sold for $200+ not too long ago.  I doubt I will see the day when another in that condition will pop up since the box was of very poor construction and is usually dented, creased etc.

Egg of Coot wrote:Hi all,

Just how rare is a complete copy H1 Bloodstone Pass these days?  I've read through the threads speculating on why it commands high prices, as well as those concerning Cougarrinard's attempts to corner the market on this item.  But, realistically, how hard is it to find a copy?  Especially one that isn't in the clutches of the dreaded Cougarrinard.

I suppose the crux of my question is whether the number of existing copies comes anywhere near justifying the ever inflating price of this item.

Regards,

The Egg

Maybe sales have slowed on them because its been longer and longer for when i have seen a full set.

Maybe partials and decripid copies of them are being auctioned but I dont pay attention to those.

Good ones are certainly far and few between.

Ralf Toth wrote:

Terminal_Frost wrote:One pops up in various conditions about every 4 months.

I think it's a little bit more often than this. I have recorded 22 sales in the last 1 1/2 years or so, plus there were a couple of unsold and I may have missed some. Olav Riediger's auction data supports this. In the ~18 months before I started scanning eBay, Olav's software recorded 31 sales of H1 (averaging $52 - of course, this was before cougarrinard started hoarding them).

beyondthebreach wrote:

red dawn wrote:But some of the lots he picks up... sets of perfectly mundane, non-collectible, AD&D hardbacks for unremarkable prices, and then paying for the heavy things to be shipped to the UK...

This reminds me of something I have been wondering. . . Cougar often asks if they can be shipped in an "M Bag".  What the heck is an "M Bag" anyway?  

I thought I knew most of the Postal "In's and Out's" - but I still can't figure what it is. . . .

M-Bags (Direct Sacks of Printed Matter to a Single Addressee).  I've used these on a few occasions to buy large collections from the USA.  From memory they work out almost half the price of standard air or surface mail.  And you get a useful mail sack to keep!  You must get the seller to triple wrap your wins though as I suspect that the mail bags are thrown about quite badly.

Have a look at The page cannot be found

beyondthebreach wrote:This reminds me of something I have been wondering. . . Cougar often asks if they can be shipped in an "M Bag".  What the heck is an "M Bag" anyway?

I thought I knew most of the Postal "In's and Out's" - but I still can't figure what it is. . . .

Ah, now that's a touchy subject...

I've always used M-Bags for bulk purchases of books (non-RPG) from the U.S., and most bookshops are well clued-up (well, it makes sense in their line of business, I suppose).

However, eBay sellers are often another matter altogether- often insisting on using the standard USPS "calculator" provided and/or refusing point-blank even to check with the Post Office.
Not that that helps, sometimes; since USPS clerks (who don't work with bookshops regularly) often don't know the regulations or fail to look them up correctly (last one was "there's M-Bags to Australia, but not the UK, but we think they use them internally, there" (huh!)... presumably having looked up UK rather than Great Britain, or whatever!).

[/end rant] *g*

When it works, it works very well for international shipments (often cheaper than internal post within the UK).

Calculator is at:
The page cannot be found
link, click "M-bags", then "Airmail M-bags"; or else
The page cannot be found
(GB & NI = UK is a "Group 3" country), for the tabular format.

i.e. 90 cents per pound for surface bookrate to the UK, with an 11 pound ($9.90) minimum and 66 pound maximum.

(Hands up everyone else who didn't know about these).

=

aside to John: sturdy boxes are plenty good, from my experience even for surface shipping. Certainly no worse than the internal post in the UK!
And yes, the bags are excellent freebies for budding Father Christmases!

M-bags work very well in theory.  Unfortunately I've found no way to insure them.  I've had two instances now (in 5 years) where the customer insisted on an M-bag to save money, despite my reservations; I packed as well as I could, padded box, sealed and placed in the bag, and gotten complaints for damage and less than stellar feedback.

Having been burned twice, all of my auctions now have the following disclaimer:  Due to the possibility of damage, I refuse to ship using M-Bags. If this is the only form of shipment you will accept, then please do not bid on this auction.

They're amazingly cheap, but the receiver has to be willing to deal with the consequences if they're insisted upon.

My local post office lets me insure M-bags before sending them, though that could be against their regulations.  

Clear as mud...

DL12 is Dragons of Glory - and speaking of Dragons of Glory. . . there is a complete one in this lot I just won.

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& ... RK:MEWN:IT


The reason that this is interesting is the question posed to the seller - check it out. . . it has the tell-tale signs of the big "C" himself.

Maybe, with a little bit of hoarding, a complete DL12 can be "reserved" up to $75.00 ?


(As recently mentioned, inability to Snipe cost him this lot).

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT

(Okay, I was too impatient to actually look up what Dragons of Glory was and mistakenly put DL12 - I won't edit my mistake out, though, so that Foul's post below will still make sense.    )