Blackstone's Lessons 1-23 value?

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Guest

Blackstone's Lessons 1-23 value?

Postby Guest » January 6th, 2008, 10:36 am

A friend of mine was going though his fathers' attic and found what he
said was "Blackstone's Lessons" 1-23 published 1962 Haverstown, PA
They are playing card size and inside each are the original, unused
props.
He is missing #15,16, 19 and has duplicates of some of the lessons.

Does anyone have an idea of the value of the set or each lesson? Was
there more than 23 lessons? Is this a rare find? I can not find any
info on the web about this set.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Blackstone's Lessons 1-23 value?

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 6th, 2008, 10:56 am

I think these came in bubble gum wrappers with gum.
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Guest

Re: Blackstone's Lessons 1-23 value?

Postby Guest » January 6th, 2008, 2:12 pm

The full set has 24 of the folders.

See HERE for a previous Genii Forum thread on the subject.

See HERE for an original wrapper.

I need the "props" for one of these. If your friend is interested in selling please contact me.

Guest

Re: Blackstone's Lessons 1-23 value?

Postby Guest » January 6th, 2008, 7:18 pm

Hi,
So what is the best way if he wants to sell these? As a set or by the piece?

From what I can see these are in MINT condition. Only one stain from the wax sheets in the vanishing candle one and the wood paddle stained one of the coin papers in the coin slide. It must have accidently slid in the wrong folder.

I guess he is missing the ones with the metal pieces since I do not see any.

He does not have the wrappers or gum.


Thanks!

Guest

Re: Blackstone's Lessons 1-23 value?

Postby Guest » January 7th, 2008, 8:28 am

If time is of the essence, I'd say try to sell them as a single lot on ebay.

If he is trying to get the maximum dollars, sell them piecemeal. It might be good to get them graded through one of the trading card grading companies, if they are really in top shape (There are several companies around who will take trading cards and the like, seal them in plastic, and provide a neutral third-party assessment of the condition, so that a buyer can have confidence that the item is "as advertised". PSA and Beckett are the two that are best known. See HERE for a discussion.)

Your friend might be wise to get a sample copy of The Wrapper , an adzine for ephemera of this type. There are a number of dealers who advertise there who would buy them at a wholesale price, and then sell them one at a time at retail. Expect to get, at most, fifty percent of retail when selling this way (and probably less).

I would be surprised if he could get more than $10 each for them. If I had them for sale, I probably wouldn't accept less than $5 each, assuming that they are complete and are truly in top condition. (But he may be more motivated to sell than I am).

If he had a complete set, that would bring a premium from most buyers. A true completist would want each of the 24 different folders; each of the props; each of about 4 different wrappers (the differences were in the mail in contest advertised on the wrapper); the small poster of Blackstone that came with the original box; and an empty box. Richard's price of $250 for a set of folders/props from a couple years back seems reasonable; I think I paid about $200 for a set (less one prop) maybe 8-9 years ago.


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