Dragon Magazine Values Jan 2014

(This is a rough list without consideration of condition. It is meant to give a general idea of individual sale prices. The price of issues from bulk sales are not included. The number of the same issue sold with an average value is also not included. This is a very rough list with the intent to track issues with no sales or sales under $5. Prices under $5 run from $0.01 to $4.99 but are on average less than $2.)

NOTE: This is very raw data. The next step is to compile the low selling prices. More complex data would be condition, number of items sold, number offered for sale and the time period during these sales. I believe they reflect 3 months worth of selling and very often only a single magazine was sold. Two of the sellers who might show anomalous prices because of who their reputation are NKG and Collectors Trove but that would require a great deal more data and something of a subjective interpretation.

I find the most significant data to be the No Sales and the Under $5.00 sales. If I delved deeper I could search to see if these issues were offered for sale at all during this time period and the asking price, but I don't think there would be any great surprises. I've shown shipping costs but those are often reduced for combined shipping prices so I can't be certain if they actually reflect the consumer cost of the issue.

Too simplify this list I plan on combining No Sales and Under $5.00 issues to reflect what in my subjective opinion are issues that have no market value individually.

Highest Sold Price on Ebay + Shipping

1 $217.50 + $6.15
2 $195.00 + $4.41
3 $152.50 + $12.35
4 $28.00 + $3.99
5 $23.49 + $3.30
6 $21.50 + $3.30
7 $40.00 + $3.25
8 $15.55 + $3.30
9 $15.55 + $3.30
10 $40.00 + $7.80
11 $50.00 + $3.30
12 $40.00 + $7.80
13 $30.00 + $3.30
14 $40.00 + $4.93
15, 16 No Sales
17 $40.00 + $6.00
18 $12.00 + $3.30
19 $12.00 + $3.30
20 $12.00 + $3.30
21 $40.00 + $7.80
22 $25.00 + $4.93
23 $12.00 + $3.30
24 $12.00 + $3.30
25 $25.00 + $4.93
26 $15.00 + $3.30
27 $20.00 + $4.93
28 $25.00 + $3.30
29 No Sales
30 Less Than $10.50 (Best Offer) + $5.05
31 Under $5.00
32 $12.95 + $5.05
33-36 No Sales
37 $18.00 + $4.92
38 No Sales
39 $23.00 + $0
40 No Sales
41 $9.95 + $5.00
42 No Sales
43 $8.95 + $5.05
44 Under $5.00
45, 46 No Sales
47 $10.00 + $5.00
48, 49 No Sales
50 Less Than $10.00 (Best Offer) + $4.93
51 $24.00 + $5.26
52 $7.95 + $5.05
53 $8.50 + $4.92
54 $10.00 + $5.00
55 $8.95 + $5.05
56 $10.00 + $5.00
57 $9.99 + $2.53
58 No Sales
59 $10.00 + $5.00
60 No Sales
61 $8.00 + $5.00
62 $15.95 + $0
63 $9.95 + $4.99
64 $10.00 + $5.00
65 $7.95 + $4.99
66 $6.50 + $4.93
67 No Sales
68 $8.00 + $5.50
69 Under $5.00
70 $6.00 + $3.43
71 $7.50 + $4.50
72 Under $5.00
73 No Sales
74 Under $5.00
75 No Sales
76 $7.50 + $3.43
77-82 Under $5.00
83 $8.00 + $5.00
84 Under $5.00
85 $6.00 + $4.50
86-99 Under $5.00
100 $6.50 + $8.50
101 Under $5.00
102 $9.95 + $4.00
103-105 Under $5.00
106 $5.95 + $4.99
107 $6.95 + $4.99
108-110 Under $5.00
111 $6.95 + $4.99
112 $6.95 + $0
113 Under $5
114 $8.99 + $0
115-120 Under $5
121 $6.00 + $8.50
122 $8.99 + $0
123 Under $5
124 No Sales
125 $8.99 + $0
126 No Sales
127 $7.61 + $0
128-133 No Sales
134 $8.99 + $0
135, 136 Under $5.00
137-139 No Sales
140 $7.61 + $0
141-144 Under $5.00
145 No Sales
146, 147 Under $5.00
148 $15.50 + $0
149 Under $5.00
150 No Sales
151-153 Under $5.00
154 $8.99 + $0
155, 156 Under $5
157 No Sales
158 Under $5
159 $6.89 + $3.89
160 Under $5.00
161 No Sales
162-165 Under $5
166 No Sales
167, 168 Under $5.00
169 No Sales
170, 171 Under $5.00
172 $6.50 + $3.89
173-175 No Sales
176 $6.50 + $3.89
177 Under $5.00
178 No Sales
179-182 Under $5.00
183, 184 No Sales
185, 186 Under $5.00
187-190 No Sales
191 Under $5.00
192-196 No Sales
197 Under $5.00
198 No Sales
199, 200 Under $5.00
201 $5.00 + $4.50
202 No Sales
203, 204 Under $5.00
205 No Sales
206 Under $5.00
207 No Sales
208-210 Under $5.00
211 No Sales
212 Under $5.00
213 No Sales
214-217 Under $5.00
218 No Sales
219 Under $5.00
220-224 No Sales
225 Under $5.00
226 No Sales
227, 228 Under $5.00
229, 230 No Sales
231 $7.95 + $5.26
232 No Sales
233 $9.95 + $5.26
234, 235 No Sales
236 Under $5.00
237, 238 No Sales
239, 240 Under $5.00
241No Sales
242 $9.95 + $5.26
243 $5.00 + $4.50
244 Under $5.00
245 No Sales
246, 247 Under $5.00
248-251 No Sales
252 $5.00 + $4.93
253 Under $5.00
254, 255 No Sales
256 Under $5.00
257 $5.00 + $4.93
258 $5.00 + $4.58
259 No Sales
260 $14.95 + $4.92
261 $5.00 + $4.92
262-266 No Sales
267-269 Under $5.00
270 No Sales
271 $5.00 + $1.86
272 $9.50 +$5.26
273 $8.49 + $0
274 $15.00 + $6.00
275, 276 No Sales
277 $5.00 + $4.93
278 $5.50 + $4.92
279 $12.95 + $4.92
280, 281 Under $5.00
282 $5.99 + $8.60
283 Under $5.00
284, 285 No Sales
286 $5.00 + $4.93
287 $8.00 + $5.26
288 $5.49 + $8.50
289 $8.00 + $8.50
290 $14.00 + $8.50
291-294 Under $5.00
295 $9.99 + $0
296 No Sales
297 $8.49 + $0
298 $5.00 + $8.50
299 Under $5.00
300 $7.00 + $6.00
301 Under $5.00
302 $8.49 + $0
303 $8.49 + $0
304 $8.49 + $0
305 No Sales
306 $6.00 + $6.00
307, 308 No Sales
309 $5.99 + $2.03
310 $5.50 + $8.50
311 No Sales
312 $5.12 + $5.26
313 $5.00 + $6.00
314, 315 No Sales
316 $5.00 + $4.93
317 Under $5.00
318 $6.00 + $4.92
319 $10.00 + $5.00
320 No Sales
321 $9.50 + $4.92
322, 323 No Sales
324, 325 Under $5.00
326 No Sales
327, 328 Under $5.00
329, 330 No Sales
331, 332 Under $5.00
333 $5.50 + $4.92
334 No Sale
335 $5.50 + $6.00
336 No Sale
337 $7.89 + $3.89
338 $5.00 + $6.00
339 $5.00 + $4.58
340 $8.49 + $0
341, 342 No Sales
343 $8.99 + $0
344 Under $5.00
345 $5.50 + $6.00
346 Under $5.00
347 $5.50 + $6.00
348, 349 No Sales
350 $9.99 + $0
351 Under $5.00
352 $10.00 + $5.00
353 $8.50 + $4.58
354 Under $5.00
355 $6.00 + $6.00
356 $5.50 + $6.00
357, 358 Under $5.00
359 $24.99 + $6.95

Mars wrote in Dragon Magazine Values Jan 2014:Have the numbers been rounded or are they mostly from BIN sales?

The number of sales of each would be interesting - my guess would be that many of the higher priced ones are one off sales where a collector is willing to pay a good price to complete a run.

They are just completed prices. Some are BIN and some are auctions (though with ebay anymore I guess BINs predominate). There are a ton of one item sold in the time period issues. Just took down high final sales which made it easy to compile and keeps the data very raw, but I was looking for the low values and no sales for elimination. A No Sale pretty much shows the low value of an issue (though I think issues #15 & 16 don't fall into a low or no value category). From this I will be able to make a quick list of all the No Sale and Under $5 items for people to get a quick look at when asking about their collections. Going to do the same with Dungeon and Polyhedron.

Keep in mind all Ebay sales usually have shipping so include the shipping cost as the final sales price, unless someone buys several copies from the same seller and saves on shipping.

The trouble with this is that, you can't really say much of anything that is meaningful without good solid data and there just isn't enough info here.

How many of these sales were Collector's Trove that come with signed certificate for a former TSR staff member?  Cheap way to get a signature or help a cause.

How many are 1 off sales or 2 off, etc?  Is this issue really more collectible than the others in a similar range or simply there was that one guy who wanted to finish his run so he bought it but in the next 3 months it will be a different issue.  With that in mind I think this list would be a lot bigger.

I also wonder as a whole, how many ebay auctions were there for Dragon magazines compared with how many sold - my guess is the sales are a very low percentage ~1%?

I think if you are going to try and pick out issues that sell better than others, I would need to see at least 4 sales of that particular issue compared with 0 of another to start to think, there is something about that particular issue that makes it stand out amongst the others.

If you can pick out issues that sell better, there is also always going to be a debate on "what's its value?" - how much would it sell for in an open auction vs how much could you get waiting long enough with a BIN.  Is #233 really a $15 issue or #51 a $29 issue?

As Bart S said, 'priceless like a mother's love, or the good kind of priceless'?

I love my Dragons, and my collection means a lot to me, but there were sooo many printed and they are cumbersome... hence challenges to move in the aftermarket which affect prices beyond intrinsic/play value.

Invincible Overlord wrote in Dragon Magazine Values Jan 2014:And although I'm extremely appreciative of your work here, you might need another category for the Dragon Magazine, with covers (issues 7-40?).

Thanks!

There are many condition types worth noting. Autographs, from collections of different notable people, paper covers, plastic cover and various grades of conditions.  Also how many sales per tracking period, how many the same magazine offered for sale and at what price, but with 359 issues it gets daunting. That is why I feel it is very worthwhile to eliminate the issues which have no sales regardless of condition during that time period. Down the road I plan to add more notes on each issue and a list of conditions such as 'in mailing cover' and grades of wear, but that level of detail will take awhile.