Grimsby v Aldershot 1969/70 single sheet.

[Tintowner]

An interesting story imo.

On the 10th March 1970, Grimsby Town issued a single sheet programme for their league fixture against Aldershot. It was basically a print of their normal back of the programme page. It was done like this due to the game being arranged at short notice.
This prog is one of the rare ones and is probably on many a Grimsby and Aldershot collectors wants list....and rarely appears on Ebay.. or anywhere else.
A few years ago, on e went for just shy of £200, the last one on ebay was around the £150 mark.

About a month ago, somebody was selling a load of Grimsby homes from various seasons. They were put into separate seasons with a drop down menu to make your choice. The programmes were all on offer for a buy it now of between £1 and £1.50
The 69/70 season was there.
I used the drop down menu and the seller had the Aldershot prog but it had been sold.

I contacted the seller and asked him politely what the Aldershot one had sold for....the reply was £1.50
When I explained the value of the issue he was very taken aback.

I received an email a day or so later from the seller informing me that the buyer had agreed to send the programme back to him so that he could put it on as a separate auction on ebay.

The seller 'kind of' offered it to me , but, and being the fair type of person I am, politely declined, stating that although I would love to have it in my collection...so would a lot of other serious Grimsby and Aldershot collectors.

The programme was put on ebay (along with a few other early 70s Grimsby SS, one a Lincs cup game against Lincoln City (may 71) which I called as collectable and went for about £125).

I bid on it, and so did the original buyer... and we both lost out.
I was winning it until the last five seconds where a bid came in at £133.50.

I was a little gutted, so close but there you go.

It found its value and the seller informed me that the winning bidder lived around the Aldershot area.

Fair play to the original buyer who originally purchased it and returned it....such honesty and a collector with true ethics and morals.

Lately, I was asking myself, if I had seen it advertised at BIN for £1.50 and got it.... would I have sent it back?



PS: before paying, I would have discussed the issue with him and would have offered him a figure that I mentioned that I had bid on on the last one (£100) a year or so ago.
If he had refused (after being made aware of its potential value) I definitely would have let him cancel the transaction.

As it is now..... still in the market for that programme
Grimsby v Aldershot single sheet 10th March 1970.

[Pacey Winger]

Interesting point

Id like to think I was in the ethical bracket and would highlight the issue and/or return it.

Makes me wonder how many sellers out there have lost out under similar circumstances.

Mind you, on the flip side, I have had a laugh at some of the asking prices as well on E Bay.

[Reginald Time]

Personally I would not have returned the programme. I think paying someone what they would like for a programme is fair enough. A distinction can and should be made, that if a little old lady approaches you and asks for a valuation of her Grandfather’s pre WW-I cup finals and you offer her a tenner for the lot, is indeed morally indefensible.
The price anybody pays for a programme has many factors and to be honest rarity has very little to do with it. As a Reading collector the 1954/55 cup matches against Man Utd are amongst the priciest, but are they rarer the previous round against Gillingham? The value of any market is what someone is prepared to pay, and I’m not paying the fifty odd quid for the home programme and god knows what for the replay. However if someone offers them both up for twenty quid, I’m on it like a rash. Not because I want to take advantage of the seller, but because I consider it value for money.
I’m sure the wife would argue that every programme I have ever brought has been overpriced, and on the odd occasion she would probably have been right. There are times when a seller has an item that you need to fill a gap, and you know that you will have to pay over the top to prise it out of his hands.
I know nothing about coin collecting, and I get a fifty pence piece in my change and sell it for a quid I’ve made a 100% profit, happy days. I haven’t asked for a valuation, I’m just happy with my profit. Now the buyer has read every copy of ‘Ten Bob Bit Monthly’ and knows that dealers are asking £75 for the exact same coin. He’s done the leg work, good for him.