Tintin Forums

Hi All,
I am not a "Tintinologist", although I have some very fond childhood memories of the stories.
Anyhow, I found some old Tintin books I was going to give to my niece, but as I looked through them, I realized that they might be fairly valuable.
I figure that I might be better off selling the books and putting the proceeds towards my niece's educational fund.
I was curious as to what the best venue is for selling these books: is eBay OK, or is there a place where I might do better?
I contacted several local antique booksellers and they were not of much help.
There are 7 books in all: 2 are published by Methuen in 1968; 4 are published by Methuen in 1964-65; and finally, there is a copy of Red Rackham's Treasure published by Casterman in 1952.
They are all in very good condition with no tears, markings or smudges.
They have varying degrees of wear along the edges and corners, but less than one would expect considering the age.
Any help you experts can give me on selling these items will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chicago Dave

ps. If this post violates forum policies, kindly remove it with my sincere apologies.

Looks like you're on to a winner there, Dave. The 1952 copy of Red Rackham's Treasure published by Casterman is very sought after. It was the first English edition (along with The Secret of the Unicorn published the same year).

The other books; given that they're not first editions (unless one of the 1968 books is Flight 714,) they probably won't be worth that much. My advice would be to give those to your niece. The Red Rackham you could sell - I wouldn't like to put a value on it but it could fetch hundreds – not thousands – of pounds/dollars.

If you're selling on ebay be sure to make it available worldwide - i.e. to international sellers.

Thank you very much for the advice. Doing my own research, I was getting conflicting opinions, depending on the agenda of the source. For instance, used booksellers want to charge the highest price when selling, but pay the lowest price when buying. The truth lies somewhere in between. I guess I came to the right place to discover that truth.

So true!
I'd monitor eBay for a while if I were you, ChiDave... Look at completed listings on books which resemble yours (check that you are looking at the same edition, for example), and see how the market is doing.
You could still get tens of dollars for the sixties books, for example, so they might be worth selling (you can always use the money to buy your niece new copies, and bank the change), and as Harrock says, the Casterman in good condition is a real find, and should get a good result if sold.

Good luck!

I have listed the 1952 edition of Red Rackham's Treasure for sale on Ebay. As I am not a "Tintinologist", I am unsure about condition vs. pricing on this item, and would defer to any expert advice I might receive. I see several copies of this book for sale for $2000. These copies seem to be in similar condition to mine. I know that the prices are severely inflated and I should not expect to receive anywhere near that price. Naturally, I would like to receive the most money I can for this item, but I have no desire to gouge anybody or to misrepresent the condition. Concerning the condition, while there are the expected signs of age, there are no ink markings or writing in the book, and outside of one page with a small tear in the bottom margin, the pages are in perfect shape. There are no stains, smudges or water damage to the book. The cloth spine has two very small rips at the top and bottom, but is otherwise in good shape. Anyhow, if you can look at my listing and have any advice or can give me an idea of what I might expect to receive for the book, I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks in advance,
ChiDave

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221363784337?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid =p3984.m1555.l2649