Alot of stuff TSR put out when they were going through financial trouble has a pretty low print run.  One example of this is the North box set, which really only had a single printing I've heard.  While there were probably quite alot in that printing, there was nowhere near as many made as the other box sets.  I think alot of the other things released in that time period were probably sub-par bland 2e books that didn't sell for a reason, so they might be kind of rare, but if nobody wanted them in the firstplace, they aren't much of an investment.

I'm rather amazed at the scarcity of Greyhawk:  Wars and From the Ashes too.  Don't know the story on the print runs, but an unpunched Wars is getting kind of scarce.

I am not so sure of the print runs myself on the From the Ashes, and Wars.



I can say I disagree with  you on how many of these are unpunched, I have sold 4-5 of them Unpunched in just the past few months. From the ashes I think I have sold about 5-6 Sets of that.



What I am actually TOTALY amazed at is the fact that Wars often sells for $30.00  From the Ashes goes for an average of $45.00,  Yet the City of Greyhawk boxed set, Which in all honesty KILLS from the Ashes and Wars as far as content and what all it includes for play purposes, only sells for $25.00 on the average.



The other 2nd edition items that I am amazed at the lack of value are the Tome of Magic and Book of Artifacts.  In all honesty all the rest of the hardcovers of the 2nd edition were  um should we say in my opinion found Lacking.



The only2nd edition book that sells good for a good price is the Monstrous Compendium ( red ) Harccover. The blue one sells for an average of $10.00 less than the Red one.   No I have no idea why that is.  



The other item that has good Value is the Forgotten Realms  Undermountain boxed sets. and they are Definatly  WORTH what they sell for.

I got my Planescape Sketchbook for dirt cheap. Knowing Kuo he got his plus the original owners first born for even cheaper than mine.



The other 2 I am only aware of with one of them being almost in rumor only. So I guess there is no reliable purchase price history on any of those.



I can say with all of the crazed Planescape collectors out there, they will surely shoot the moon if listed appropriately on ebay.



Not many realize Jade Hare is actually 2nd edition as it gets so much attention on this 1st Edition website. So I gotta say this is the number one 2nd ed item of rarity.

Here is what I think are the toughest (in no particular order) 2nd edition items:



===Forgotten Realms The North box set



===Planescape Sketchbook



===Players Guide to the Living City ver 1, 1.1, and 2.0



===Complete Book of Necromancers <--never seen one for sale at a store, I only see them for sale on ebay



===Jade Hare



===Tsr Spotlight



===AD&D Play by Mail



===AD&D Free Fast Play <--available at Barnes and Nobles for a short time



===Players Guide to Procampur



===Living City Visitors Guide <---available at gencon at one of their rpga meetings, etc.

Hey Mkman,



Where did they offer the Play By Mails?



Does anyone know? Thanks.

Hey Mike, isn't that a 3rd Edition logo on that RPGA gazeteer?  And how is it different from the other 3E gaz?

Also, Complete Book of Necromancer's isn't as rare as most people think...  I've found 3 copies in the store, and had about half a dozen people sell or trade me theirs for less than $10.  I wouldn't doubt that it doesn't have a low print run though.  The ones I've sold over eBay have sold for WILDLY different prices:  one only went for $20 while another went for like $90.  Complete Ninja's Handbook used to be just as bad, but lately in the past year its been selling for just slightly more than the Necromancer's book.

Gotta admit, never seen (or heard of) that Play by Mail.  Pretty interesting.

Promo fast play adventure (This is the one Mike mentioned above.):

This Personal Web Pages (PWP) site has been discontinued



Diablo II fast play promo (Did this one come with the game or what?  I never see these for sale.):

This Personal Web Pages (PWP) site has been discontinued



Player's Secrets of Hogunmark (I believe it was an RPGA only thing.  Just a plain B&W book, no cover.  Also available in PDF.  I thought Muden was PDF only, but I could very well be wrong about that.):

This Personal Web Pages (PWP) site has been discontinued



Complete Starter Set (Mentioned by Ralf.  Seems to be quite rare.  I've only seen a couple for sale over the past few years.  Mainly cool because it comes with abbreviated softcover versions of the core rulebooks.):

This Personal Web Pages (PWP) site has been discontinued



Alternity Fast Play Rules (Vaugely on topic, anybody know where this was available from or how hard it is to find?):

This Personal Web Pages (PWP) site has been discontinued



And since nobody's mentioned them, how about the Dark Sun supplements Earth, Air, Fire & Water and The Will & The Way.  Both put out near the end of DS with small print runs and both quite useful.  TW&TW in particular is an indispensable supplement for ANY campaign with psionics.



On the subject of Legends of the Lance, has anybody noticed a price difference between folded vs. non-folded?  Just curious.

I haven't noticed a price gap between folded and unfolded L of L, but shouldn't the folded and mailed be more common than the unfolded? Or were the unfolded handed out at game shops/bookstores?



Nice job on those L of L items Burnie. Glad a forums user got them.



Any one know where the Play By Mail item originates?



Later.

Adam

The PBM item is very interesting indeed. Should be also important for Scott (The Acaeum), since it is a Pre-1990 AD&D item with the TSR logo. Any information about it, Mike Kuo?

Hey guys;



Thought I'd chime in, as I've been buying, selling and trading AD&D online for about ten years, I've come across a few bits of info.  First, scarcity and rarity is not always reflected in price.  There are quite a few items I only run across a couple of times a year that go for nowhere near the price they should on Ebay and other venues.  Like the aforementioned Planescape, a lot of it has to do with the quality and/or usability of the item to a new generation of gamers.  Besides the very obivious examples already mentioned and covered here (Jade Hare, etc), here are a few perhaps not so obvious rarities or maybe future rarities:



Warriors of the Grey Queen:  A second edition Greyhawk adventure that was a seperate insert in I believe Pyramid magazine #50 (please correct me if I'm wrong!) a few years back. You used to see these on Ebay fairly often and they went for $15-$20 or so.  I just checked, and not only are none available on Ebay now but none have sold in the last 30 days there.  Usually thats a pretty good barometer on scarcity, but for all I know a bunch may pop up over the weekend.  Still, I've never seen a copy not in the original magazine as an insert...because of it's size, no outside price, format, I think it's overlooked quite a bit.



Atlas of the Forgotten Realms & Atlas of the Dragonlance World:  I don't know if these officially qualify as 2nd edition, but neither was reprinted and both feature the beautiful Karen Wynn Fonstad maps.  I sell these for $25-$50 each when I get them in, in ANY condition.  They are hard to find in NM or unread condition.



Waterdeep or Krynn Trail Maps: Just almost impossible to find still folded, without pin marks, or in the original folders. I rarely find these in sellable condition. Plus they are really huge, and look impressive on the wall! I do see these on Ebay a lot but mostly they have been folded back into the cardboard holder and have some flaws like creases, tears, holes, etc.



I think more items that came out in 1996, right before TSR went out of business for several months, should be given more attention.  The North boxed set is hard to find and commands high prices, but not many know the Netheril boxed set came out during the same period and is just as hard to find.  It just doesn't seem to get the same kind of attention. The Rod of Seven Parts set (1996), however, seems to pop up pretty often, obviously it had a much higher print run than either of the above items. The Polyhedrons around this time had really, really low print runs, at the time they were almost impossible to find (I didn't get my last few copies in the mail even) and are the hardest to find in the entire run.  I think the RPGA are sold out of these as back issues now.



Ok, so L3 Deep Dwarven Delve is officially a 1st edition adventure. But it was only available in the Silver Anniversary Boxed set released in 1999, which means you had to lay out $50+ to get this ONE item you didn't have in the set (the other items being reprints of older more common D&D modules).  For awhile these were all over the place as people tore apart Silver Anniversary sets to sell these seperately, and many who wanted this one item just bought it off ebay instead of buying the entire Silver Anniversary set....but years later they are getting scarcer to find on Ebay and other outlets.  Speaking of which, how many more years before the boxed set itself complete with all the modules and such climbs in price, since many of these were bought, opened, and the contents sold piecemeal? The box is kind of flimsy, also, and easily gets bent or falls apart.



Neverwinter Nights: The ORIGINAL computer game boxed set, not the 3rd edition version.  I still have mine with the disks, instruction book and Neverwinter Nights travelogue.  How many people actually saved these once the original game went offline?



Mike B.