I found an old dusty book shoved in a drawer & was planning on dumping it at charity shop – turns out it’s worth £10k
A WOMAN was stunned to realise her old book was worth £10,000 after it had languished in a drawer for decades.
It was found at a Berkshire home when the vendor showed an auctioneer the dust-covered book as an “after-thought”.
She had inherited the dusty book many years ago and had no idea of it’s true value.
The woman was gobsmacked to discover that she was in possession of an extremely sought-after first edition of The Hobbit.
The coveted first impression copy of J.R.R Tolkien’s classic 1937 fantasy novel could now sell for over £10,000.
Only 1,500 copies were published in the first run, with this copy, in its original dust cover, set to spark a bidding war at Kinghams Auctioneers who are based in the Cotswolds.
An auction house spokesperson said: “Our valuer made a routine home visit to a house in Berkshire to advise on various items, non of which had any value but as an after-thought the vendor was going through some drawers and showed this.
“It had been languishing in there for many years with them having no idea it was of any value.
“It could easily have gone to the charity or discarded!
“They were delighted to be told it could fetch over £10,000.”
Adrian Rathbone, the auctioneers’ associate director, said: “I have never handled a first edition before in my 20 to 25 years in this industry, it’s a very rare find.”
Over 100 million copies of The Hobbit have been sold, while the Lord of the Rings trilogy, published in 195 and 1955, have shifted 150 million copies.
On the first edition, first impression there is a manual correction on the rear inner flap of the dust cover for “Dodgeson”.
Charles Dodgson was a fellow Oxford don who is better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll and as the author of Alice in Wonderland.
The tale of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures through Middle Earth was written by Tolkien during his time in Oxford.
The Professor of English language and literature at Merton College originally created it as a bedtime story for his children.
Iconic author Tolkien died in 1973.
The sale takes place on May 23.
Ways to make money off charity shops
While many people love to thrift shop at charity stores, only a few know how to turn it into a profitable side hustle.
Charity shops usually sell items that are donated by other people – sometimes very rich ones who give away expensive stuff.
And they can be treasure troves when it comes to picking up high-quality items at affordable prices.
People thrift shopping at such stores can resell the items to make a profit for themselves.
One of the best platforms to sell goods bought from charity stores is eBay, where one can easily make a few hundred pounds by putting in some part-time hours.
Luke Hadley says he makes an extra £500 each month by reselling stuff from charity shops.
He turned his hand to reselling last April when millions of households felt the pinch of rising bills from energy to food.
The dad-of-one scours his local charity shops for womenswear from posh high street shops and sells them for a profit on eBay.
Hadley from the West Midlands, says it’s worth it as he’s been able to give his 14-month-old son Harrison and partner Catherine Saunders, 25 a Christmas to remember.
He also took the family away on a week-long holiday to Butlins and has started to build up his savings and a separate emergency fund.
It comes after a man was shocked to discover an old book he bought for just 50p from a charity shop was actually worth £16,000.
The whopping price tag comes from the legendary book having a rather dodgy misspelling on the cover that made it sell for a fortune.
It was found by Andy Hewson in an animal welfare charity shop in central London where he bought it for just 50p.
Is your book worth any money?
If you have books collecting dust at home that you think may be valuable, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Firstly, the condition of it is key and will impact the value.
First edition books are also highly sought-after and will usually be more valuable than a later printing.
Better yet, if the author has signed it, you can expect it to be worth more.
The number of copies in existence will also have an impact.
To check if your books are valuable, it’s worth first looking up completed listings on eBay and filtering by the highest value.
You can also decide to have it valued by auction houses but be aware of any fees.
If you decide to sell, remember that you’re not guaranteed to be quids in.