Hi all!

I have about 400 or so boxed sets of figurines that need to find a new home. Some are fairly common, like the Grenadier Fighters, Magic-Users etc, and some are prety much unique (unique meaning I've never seen another one in 30 years of collecting). Two questions for today, gents:

1. Is there a site where I can get an idea of the relative value of the figs? Not so much the common ones, but stuff like the Encounter at (X) Grenadier series, the Imperial Dragon, mail-away Swamp Dragon and the like. eBay doesn't seem to have much up there.

2. Is it better to sell whole runs or break them up? It took me a long time to assemble things like the Monster Manuscript series, and I hate to see it get parceled off. However, I don't want them to go for a tithe of what they are worth. I'm not looking to squeeze pennies; I'd rather they go to someone who appreciates them.

Any opinions would be most welcome!

Frank

I haven't sold one in a couple of years, but I had been selling Grenadier Gold Box series stuff for about $20 each with a little patience, a little more for the larger boxes, with and without sheets. Unpainted minis get the best price, of course. In most cases, it comes out to about $2 a figure, so not really a big cash generator. For the Dragon Lords series I dragons I was getting about $7-10 per dragon whether unpainted or stripped, and just the mini alone.

Monster Manuscripts do get a better price from what I have observed. Dragontooth minis tend to do well even out of packs for most things I have seen (which admittedly is not a great amount).

Ral Partha sets like the Dragonlance heroes or Forgotten Realms personalities do rather well, as well as the sets they did for Battlesystem.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

I've sold thousands of minis, mostly of the 25mm, old-school, lead variety, although, I would not consider myself a mini appraiser expert.  The advice you have received so far is solid.  I will make a couple of comments you can take or leave.  

First, it seems like prices for 25mm minis have not appreciated much if any.  The 32MM scale is much more in vogue.  I am glad I sold out most all my stuff when I did.  The Reaper Bones minis are the superior product right now, in my opinion, if you factor in cost, durability, paint-ability and portability.

Second, Ral Partha minis tend to sell for higher prices than Grenadier as the quality is usually higher, but not always.  Series 11 minis, in particular, often go for above average prices and some go for ridiculous prices.  There are some Custom and Heritage minis which also command high prices.

Third, I recommend you state in any of your eBay listings for minis that are older than 1990 that they may contain lead and are not suitable for children younger than 12, or something along those lines.

Fourth, demons, dragons and giants command some of the higher prices among minis generally speaking.  Strangely, Kobolds also command good prices.  If you have some minis of monsters that you've seen no where else, it's possible they could also command really good prices (over $20.00 each).

Finally, please post pictures of what you have on this thread.  I'd be happy to add additional feedback if I notice anything.  

So a bit late to this, and I am only just starting my figure collecting, but found this site which was good for making sure figure sets that were open were correct (I learned that one hard way when some sets I bought were mixed up with other sets seller had.  Sadly I did not win them all, so both myself and other winner each have parts of each others sets...thankfully the price was pretty low for them.)

The Miniature Art of Dungeons and Dragons

There are some notes at the beginning of each section that list some average prices, but nothing specific.  

Might be helpful though.

Thanks

Here are a few more miniature resources:

Lost Minis Wiki (current)
Main Page - Lost Minis Wiki

Stuff of Legends (not current, but still very comprehensive and has some great user galleries)
The Stuff of Legends

Collecting Citadel Miniatures (current)
CcmWiki

And there are quite a few Yahoo! collecting groups if you need info on specific lines.