Man Utd - 1973 - £345!!

[derby1884]

I'm more intrigued than anything else - a ManUtd programme issued by a theatrical company!
But....£345?

For all I know, that may be a bargain - but what do the MU collectors think?
Is this something of interest?
I like to pick up the odd theatrical programme when it relates to my fav Agatha Christie novel, but I know these things aren't in any way valuable....so what goes on here?

As I say - I'm genuinely intrigued!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VERY.....4609a7be9e
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[roughyedz]

derby1884 wrote:

I'm more intrigued than anything else - a ManUtd programme issued by a theatrical company! But....£345? For all I know, that may be a bargain - but what do the MU collectors think? Is this something of interest? I like to pick up the odd theatrical programme when it relates to my fav Agatha Christie novel, but I know these things aren't in any way valuable....so what goes on here? As I say - I'm genuinely intrigued! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VERY.....4609a7be9e

I would have though that it was worthless ......... but im sure that someone on here can find out what the buyer paid for it at The Sportingold Ltd Auction on 4th November 2011.

[kenred]

Not for me at that price I am afraid ! Maybe a £1

[redmiddyman]

roughyedz wrote:

derby1884 wrote: I'm more intrigued than anything else - a ManUtd programme issued by a theatrical company! But....£345? For all I know, that may be a bargain - but what do the MU collectors think? Is this something of interest? I like to pick up the odd theatrical programme when it relates to my fav Agatha Christie novel, but I know these things aren't in any way valuable....so what goes on here? As I say - I'm genuinely intrigued! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VERY.....4609a7be9e I would have though that it was worthless ......... but im sure that someone on here can find out what the buyer paid for it at The Sportingold Ltd Auction on 4th November 2011.

''MANCHESTER UNITED A very unusual programme, The Manchester United Show programme, a 12 page issue by the Contact Theatre, Manchester and produced in identical format as the official Manchester United programme (see illustration). Issued in 1973

sold for £340

[goonerboy]

So he/she buys it for about £410 (ie £340 plus 20% buyers fee) then puts it on eBay a year later at a price for which he/she will actually receive about £300 (ie list price minus 10% ebay selling fee plus the 3.5% paypal fee). Am I missing something here ?

[Wullie]

I found the answer why so expensive on Leslies site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/3334438897/
Numbered No 1 for the season and the first game was number 2.
Very odd. Not wonder United fans need it for the "set"

[treble99]

derby1884 wrote:

I'm more intrigued than anything else - a ManUtd programme issued by a theatrical company! But....£345? For all I know, that may be a bargain - but what do the MU collectors think? Is this something of interest? I like to pick up the odd theatrical programme when it relates to my fav Agatha Christie novel, but I know these things aren't in any way valuable....so what goes on here? As I say - I'm genuinely intrigued! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VERY.....4609a7be9e

It's an oddball of a programme.

By a total coincidence the printers screwed up and did not produce a No 1 for that season and this theatre programme has a number 1 on the cover.
The two are not related but if you didn't know or "just wanted to believe" then you have to have it.
If it didn't have a number on or had any other number but 1 on it would be worth more or less nothing.

There has been several theatrical productions over the years about Manchester United and Manchester United players and none are worth more than a couple of quid but this one gets fought over.

It is a bit like the 1996 FA Cup Final programme between Manchester United v Liverpool.

Somebody started a rumour it was scarce and all of a sudden it was a £100 programme.
The price held up for years.
Probably until the recession when people worked out there were the usual number about.
Now you can't sell it for £20

[slightfold]

It's interesting as a piece of Man Utd ephemera, but stating the obvious, it's not a football programme per se, so maybe nothing to get too excited about, unless you have to have everything!

[manchesterunitedman1]

goonerboy wrote:

So he/she buys it for about £410 (ie £340 plus 20% buyers fee) then puts it on eBay a year later at a price for which he/she will actually receive about £300 (ie list price minus 10% ebay selling fee plus the 3.5% paypal fee). Am I missing something here ?

Your making a lot of presumptions here and such a negative view, why do you collect? and more to the point i do not understand what prompts your comment anyway as the thread is why is it so expensive as it turns out it is not even a football programme at all, but the real reason is of course it is numbered 1 and every United collector can obtain a complate season for literally little cost but this one stands out for obvious reasons, yet you for no reason take this other opinion which was not even being debated?.
The one thing for sure is that unusual items, quirky stuff will always be a bit more than the run of the mill of course, but in the case of Manchester United the prices are without a doubt the highest acheived for programmes and especially when a scarce item turns up.

In the same season 1972-73 there are two postponed matches v Everton and Crystal Palace a handfull of programmes escaped the incinerators and either or both if they found there way onto the market would be hotly contested around the £2000 mark easilly, makes that Theatre programme look a good deal!.

Leslie Millman-manchesterunitedman1

[treble99]

goonerboy wrote:

So he/she buys it for about £410 (ie £340 plus 20% buyers fee) then puts it on eBay a year later at a price for which he/she will actually receive about £300 (ie list price minus 10% ebay selling fee plus the 3.5% paypal fee). Am I missing something here ?

Compared to Arsenal items this is expensive but as Manchesterunited man says "one mans meat" etc.
Put another way there are Manchester United fans prepared to pay for what they want whereas with Arsenal collectors i have heard constantly in my 40 years collecting the same comment over and over which is that "it's not worth it"
I have never understood this comment as if two or more people want an item it clearly is worth it.
Manchester United items of quality show a continued overall increase in value.
A 1968 European Cup medal sold last week at Graham Budds for £40k plus commission(£48k).
This medal was initially bought for a fraction of that price.

I have a bazaar brochure from Newton Heath(forerunners of Manchester United) from 1902.
One of only a couple known to exist.
I wonder what that is now worth compared to something Arsenal from that era.

As an aside you can view this item along with other top quality Manchester United items at
www.flickr.com/photos/63580000@N04/sets

The worlds largest private Manchester United collection.
Coming to a computer near you

[derby1884]

treble99 wrote:

I have a bazaar brochure from Newton Heath(forerunners of Manchester United) from 1902. One of only a couple known to exist.

Fascinating item, Ray!
Equally interesting were director's annotations on the set of accounts you scanned in.
My first boss always told me to be cautious of anything in accounting classed as "other" or "miscellaneous" - looks like Mr.Davies was of the same mindset!
_________________
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[goonerboy]

[quote="manchesterunitedman1
Your making a lot of presumptions here and such a negative view, why do you collect? and more to the point i do not understand what prompts your comment anyway as the thread is why is it so expensive as it turns out it is not even a football programme at all, but the real reason is of course it is numbered 1 and every United collector can obtain a complate season for literally little cost but this one stands out for obvious reasons, yet you for no reason take this other opinion which was not even being debated?.
Leslie Millman-manchesterunitedman1 [/quote]

maybe my comment was misunderstood as it appears to have hit a nerve. I wasn't questioning the price per se. Frankly the price of anything is what someone pays and rarity/competition for it will drive price whatever the club. And indeed manu items are heavily sought after etc etc. What I was raising was in my opinion a strange turn of events ie why a collector buys something for over £400 and then tries to sell the same item for effectively £300. Of course there will be reasons of which I do not know but to me that is not an everyday occurrence so I was expressing my surprise and not an attack on the value of manu collectables as it appears to have been interpreted. In fact I would have been surprised and commented so regardless of the club involved. You accused me of making assumptions so don't fall into that trap yourself please as suddenly with your response and treble jumping in there was the germs of personal attacks again. So if it helps rest assured my comment was not an attack on the value of manu collectables.

[treble99]

derby1884 wrote:

treble99 wrote: I have a bazaar brochure from Newton Heath(forerunners of Manchester United) from 1902. One of only a couple known to exist. Fascinating item, Ray! Equally interesting were director's annotations on the set of accounts you scanned in. My first boss always told me to be cautious of anything in accounting classed as "other" or "miscellaneous" - looks like Mr.Davies was of the same mindset!

Glad you like what you see.

If you want to see Manchester United v Derby County take a look in the set/seasons for 1922/23,1927/28,1929/30,1930/31.
You will see a combination of programmes from both Manchester United and Derby County.
More seasons will follow shortly as i continue to upload quality and rare programmes from the 1960's.
If Manchester United played your club in the 1920's or 1930's there is a good chance the programme will be availble for your entertainment on my flickr page.

Take a look.
www.flickr.com/photos/63580000@N04/sets

Also happy to help with valuations or if you want to sell something of quality please drop me a pm.

The worlds largest private Manchester United collection.
Coming to a computer near you

[manchesterunitedman1]

goonerboy wrote:

[quote="manchesterunitedman1 Your making a lot of presumptions here and such a negative view, why do you collect? and more to the point i do not understand what prompts your comment anyway as the thread is why is it so expensive as it turns out it is not even a football programme at all, but the real reason is of course it is numbered 1 and every United collector can obtain a complate season for literally little cost but this one stands out for obvious reasons, yet you for no reason take this other opinion which was not even being debated?. Leslie Millman-manchesterunitedman1

maybe my comment was misunderstood as it appears to have hit a nerve. I wasn't questioning the price per se. Frankly the price of anything is what someone pays and rarity/competition for it will drive price whatever the club. And indeed manu items are heavily sought after etc etc. What I was raising was in my opinion a strange turn of events ie why a collector buys something for over £400 and then tries to sell the same item for effectively £300. Of course there will be reasons of which I do not know but to me that is not an everyday occurrence so I was expressing my surprise and not an attack on the value of manu collectables as it appears to have been interpreted. In fact I would have been surprised and commented so regardless of the club involved. You accused me of making assumptions so don't fall into that trap yourself please as suddenly with your response and treble jumping in there was the germs of personal attacks again. So if it helps rest assured my comment was not an attack on the value of manu collectables.[/quote]

i think your comment was misunderstood as you introduced it from no where[about this item being purchased then sold for less-confusing]-anyway i was simply putting over the facts that United programmes and memorabilia will sell for more than any other clubs generally-we all know this so there is no debate. Let's move on as the thread is now moving in different directions and i have no further input on the original post. Leslie Millman-manchesterunitedman1

[Wullie]

back to the point. I can't believe for a moment, that the first game of the season was accidently listed at Number 2, whilst a totally unconnected theatre show prints a programme similar to a match day programme and lists it Number 1.It can't be a coincidence . It must have been printed this way on purpose

[manchesterunitedman1]

Wullie wrote:

back to the point. I can't believe for a moment, that the first game of the season was accidently listed at Number 2, whilst a totally unconnected theatre show prints a programme similar to a match day programme and lists it Number 1.It can't be a coincidence . It must have been printed this way on purpose

Happy to return to the point there Wullie-spot on as always with your comments.
Even back in 1972 United understood a little about marketing for sure and they allowed the contact theatre to spend time at the ground and it probably was a novel idea using the programme from football to maybe entice some people to buy one and the only persons who could tell you the truth of it are long long gone but i reckon as Wullie says it was done on purpose-however "on purpose" was probably as innocent as it can be as let's face it programmes in the 1970's were what they mainly are to this very day-totally worthless paper[bar the odd postponement of course!!!] who would have thought 40 odd years later this item would sell for hundreds of pounds so there possibly could never have been a motive just some forward thinking printer that it would be an idea to sell the theatre programme and make it look like a United home game but none of them gained anything from it and programmes only become scarce if there are low print runs oand people do not buy enough on the day and i reckon they probably tossed most of them into the furnace when the contact theatre finally pissed off!! Does it all sound logical!

leslie Millman-manchesterunitedman1

[MATT RUSH]

Printer must have had permission, otherwise copyright would be
infringed.
I wonder if it was printed by the regular programme printers ???

[derby1884]

treble99 wrote:

Glad you like what you see. If you want to see Manchester United v Derby County take a look in the set/seasons for 1922/23,1927/28,1929/30,1930/31. You will see a combination of programmes from both Manchester United and Derby County. More seasons will follow shortly as i continue to upload quality and rare programmes from the 1960's. If Manchester United played your club in the 1920's or 1930's there is a good chance the programme will be availble for your entertainment on my flickr page. Take a look. www.flickr.com/photos/63580000@N04/sets

So many amazing items in both your collection and Leslie's.
I'm in awe
_________________
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[manchesterunitedman1]

MATT RUSH wrote:

Printer must have had permission, otherwise copyright would be infringed. I wonder if it was printed by the regular programme printers ???

Very good question. Regular programme was printed by Sidney F Wicks in Manchester for donkeys years with 14 pages but his one was an identical cover and format inside, colours etc etc but was printed by an unknown printer Direct printing in Manchester with only 12 pages, they even mimicked the team line ups by showing the contact theatre team.

Sidney Wicks would have given the other printer access to the plates to produce it and of course all under the auspices of the club who owned the copyright and design.

If anyone wishes to see the entire programme just send me a PM-ok.

Leslie Millman-manchesterunitedman1

[Red C]

For what it's worth, I've always considered the friendly against Italian Youth to be number 1. It was just 3 days before number 2, which was Ipswich on 12/8/72 and was a normal programme.

I'd buy the theatrical one for a few quid, maybe a tenner, but not for hundreds just to have a number 1 in the set.

If anyone has number 9, England Amateur, for sale then drop me a PM.

Cheers