Blackburn, West Ham, Little Chelsea and 'silly prices'

[TheMusic]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLAC.....NA:GB:1653

Based on this, could one conclude Blackburn and/or West Ham are simply bigger clubs than Chelsea with collectors prepared to pay even 'sillier' prices?

[Posh1959]

That programme is the hardest West Ham post league programme and also one of the hardest Rovers home issue. It is the first one i have ever seen on Ebay, never seen it on anyone's offers list. The only time i have seen it on general sale before was at auction, the lot was a complete season of West Ham aways 49/50, i believe it fetched £2500 plus commission. I have it in my collection, but fell lucky in obtaining it, but still paid a good price.

I expect there is more mileage in this in the next few hours.

[TheMusic]

Interesting to know, thanks. Early post-war West Ham and Blackburn programmes can go well in general, I've heard, especially some aways.

[nozer]

Nice cover though ?.

[martino]

It is disappointing that the seller could not give anything other than a very brief description. Looking at the photo the cover has other faults and these (and other faults) may extend through the 16 pages. However, as a sort after programme, the buyers seem willing to overlook this.

If I was interested I would have asked for a detailed description. Perhaps the interested buyers have done this but the seller has not posted these on the listing.

[treble99]

As a professional seller with north of 9000 trades and 100% feedback I think he knows what he is doing

Anybody who is actually interested in spending a large amount of money would/should have asked the right questions
If not ebay will probably sort it out

[Wullie]

nozer wrote:

Nice cover though ?.

[rogerclunn]

Went for £1826.77 Why so much?
_________________
Regards

Roger Clunn

[rogerclunn]

Went for £1826.77 Why so much?
_________________
Regards

Roger Clunn

[bisphamseasider]

That's quite astonishing but please don't anyone mention 'silly' prices as we will probably be lectured again on the subject.

[TheMusic]

A person needs it for their collection and has the spare money to bid that much. I guess that's it.

Possibly a more interesting question is what were the circumstances surrounding the programme's production and the match which makes it now so much harder to find than all other post-war Blackburn homes/West Ham aways?

[Tynie Topics]

bisphamseasider wrote:

That's quite astonishing but please don't anyone mention 'silly' prices as we will probably be lectured again on the subject.

Ahem, "inflated"
_________________
https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[blueshearer]

Hi All,
As the underbidder on the programme I can confirm as Clive has said previously that this is on every serious Blackburn collectors (and there are quite a few) wants list including mine. It is likely to be the last programme (apart from the one mentioned later) that serious West Ham collectors have on their wants list. The condition wasn't great but as it has not appeared for sale in years most collectors would make do with an average copy.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if a copy of the 1962-63 Postponed West Ham v Blackburn appeared for sale as only a few copies are in existence.

Anyone got a spare?

Cheers

Bernie

[Dorking]

I have no problem with the price paid and don't think it is at all silly if more than one person is willing to pay that sort of money for it.

My questions (out of curiosity) to the better informed are:-

- was there a reserve?
- did the seller realise exactly what they had here?
and most importantly,
- why is it so rare? Were no programmes issued or something, but this one escaped from the printers? Or some similar story?

As someone wiser than me recently wrote, 'where there's one, there's two'. Is there likely to be another appearing if that is the sort of money they can go for? (How many are there????)

[kcs]

I'm probably not the most qualified to answer Dorking but here is my opinion.

The seller is a experienced programme seller (especially with Leeds United and and Leeds rugby league). I would say in this instance he was probably unaware of the rarity as he normally starts his rarer (known to him) programmes at a sensible higher startingpoint. E.g. Leeds pre war home for around £300 - they sell for higher than the starting price but a rough asking price is used.

We know through this thread that the programme has surfaced twice before this time, one that Clive has and the one that was in the west ham away collection - I can only assume this is the third known copy and not the one from the west ham collection. I think I am aware that 2 west ham collectors have this as they are complete post war. Tbc.

Obviously rare because of the price reached but I can assume again that it wasn't in the near complete Blackburn collection Bernie purchased not so long a go.

The date would suggest its not a postponed issue and so would the previous comments, it looks like a low print run or weather conditions played a part!!
_________________
Nuts and Bolts Web Design
https://www.nutsandboltsarchive.co.uk/portfolio.php

Showcase your collection in an online programme guide!
Display your research in a comprehensive history archive!

[treble99]

Ahem!,

Current market value figure is now known

As the under bidder has now announced himself I presume all the bedroom bandits are sifting through boxes of worthless shit just in case they have a reason to start banging their todgers

[rogerclunn]

I got the following reply from Simon Lord, which I thought was interesting.

Unfortunately I have not been able to log in to this forum in months (no idea why) but as a couple of posters commented, this is by far the rarest West Ham programme since 1945.

I only know of 4 copies - the one in my collection, the one just sold, the one mentioned as sold in auction and 1 other mentioned in the forum. I know three West Ham collectors who are all complete post war apart from this programme and these are all guys who have been collecting since the 1960s. As to why it is so rare - it was the last home game of the season for Blackburn (and they were fighting relegation) so the crowd and weather were not a factor.

The only possibility I can think of is that paper was still in short supply at this time - it is a quite substantial 16 page programme with an over sized cover and almost a "VIP" feel to it - possible a very low print run & of course Blackburn from that period are hard to find at the best of times. I can confirm this is the first copy I have ever seen on ebay,

I have never seen one in a dealer's catalogue & given its' rarity, £1800 does not seem excessive
_________________
Regards

Roger Clunn

[Dorking]

Thanks for the helpful replies.

Fascinating to see (what I consider) a lot of money for something that was neither a prestige match (eg a Final, Semi etc) nor pre war.

I'll go back to my Palace badges, cards and occasional ticket collecting now, quietly relieved that the sort of stuff I like to collect isn't in that sort of price bracket! (I'm not sure what Palace stuff would be that sort of money unless a 1905 programmicard appeared !!!)

[Posh1959]

In most walks of collecting there are the odd item which is very rare and so the price goes up. If this rare one had been v Bury it would have fetched far less. If it had been Rovers v Manchester United and as rare as this the price would have been far higher. West Ham are a very well collected club so more collectors need this than if they were a poor collected club.
Blackburn are a well collected club despite their smallness as a club and there are a few programmes from the early 50s and late 40s which would command a price of £400 plus.

I can only guess that there were other bidders last night who bid at the last second and as their bid was lower than £1727 did not register on Ebay.

Happy collecting.

[treble99]

Dorking wrote:

Thanks for the helpful replies. Fascinating to see (what I consider) a lot of money for something that was neither a prestige match (eg a Final, Semi etc) nor pre war. I'll go back to my Palace badges, cards and occasional ticket collecting now, quietly relieved that the sort of stuff I like to collect isn't in that sort of price bracket! (I'm not sure what Palace stuff would be that sort of money unless a 1905 programmicard appeared !!!)

I suspect that pre war Palace against well collected clubs would be very high
If a Palace v Chelsea,Spurs or Manchester United,as examples from say the 1920's came on the market and one of the known nutters needed it then a silly price north of £2k wouldn't be out of the qustion
**Sorry i meant to say collecting collectors who wanted it would pay the current market price which they would decide on*

Don't even get me on to badges if you are talking modern badges
Those on sale at every game involving every big club
They cost flumpence to make the stem and the day of the game badge peels off and costs about 10p a sheet of 100
They are usually on sale for about 3 quid and as soon as they are bought they are totally worthless
They have a resale value the same as most 1970's,80's,90's and City Link shares

I understand a certain quality of person buying a modern badge.They also buy 50/50 scarves and 50/50 shirts
They head back home with the game ticket and a thousand ipad pictures with somebody,who will probably never get to another game again