Collecting magazines

A feel for the magazine market

One way to get a feel for the magazine market is through Ebay.co.uk. A search in March 2007 revealed completed listings for 29,425 items using the words 'magazine -book' in the section Books, Comics & Magazines. An analysis suggests the price breakdown in Table 1. So, 86% of all the magazines would fetch less than £10, and 99.66% less than £65.

Magazine prices on Ebay

On the first two pages of 100 lots, prices ranged from £839.99 down to £65, but about half of these did not sell, including the two most expensive items (nine volumes of 1861 - 1863 Temple Bar magazine and a set of Buses 1971-2005 for £650). Also, someone tried selling a copy of Nova from 1967 for the ridiculous price of £150. A complete set of Q to issue 117 didn't sell at £199.

Among those that did sell, were the following:

• 180 copies of Vogue from 1968 to 1993 sold for £499 (£2.77 each).
• a Christmas 1908 copy of Strand Magazine for £433. This issue carried the first outing for the Arthur Conan Doyle story 'The Adventure of the Bruce Partington Plans'. The seller described it as 'extremely rare in this condition'.
• bound volume of the Gentleman's Magazine from 1752 with 32 colour plates for £415.50. A 1769 volume sold for £78.10.
• a collection of the first 10 years of Face (121 copies) sold for £185 + £40 postage with 20 bids (£1.53 each).
• Three different issues of Oz for between £160 and £169.69, headed by an October 1967 issue in excellent condition which attracted 14 bids.
• 365 copies of Car from 1970 to 2005 sold for £167.59 (46p each).
• A copy of the launch issue of Wallpaper (Sept/Oct 1996) for £155.99 (14 bids); a copy of the July/August 1997 issue sold for £142; a March/April 1997 issue sold for £73.10. However, two 1998 issues sold for 1p (plus £3 postage) and several failed to sell at £1.50 plus £1.50 postage.
• A bound volume of 27 copies of the Radio Times sold for £137.67 with 5 bids;
• Lost Magazine issues 1 to 9, all, said the seller, with the 'rare variant covers ... never issued in the UK' for £124.99 plus £9.99 on a buy-it-now listing. A copy of issue 2 went for £12.50 .
• A collection of 1,000 car magazines dated between 1980 and 1990 went for £110 on a buy-it-now listing.
• The first 100 issues of Classic Rock with the cover CDs for £92.
• Christmas 1916 issue of The Bystander with cartoons by Bruce Bairnsfather (Old Bill) and Wilmot Lunt for £71.
• A lot of about 70 issues of Evo car monthly for £69.90 (the seller wisely withdrew the first issue during the sale to sell separately - for £21.87).
• 8 copies of 1950s pin-up title Spick for £21.
• a copy of BBC Sky at Night (issue 14 with CD-ROM) for £21.01.

By the end of page 30, the prices were down to £30 (and again, typically, at least half the lots were unsold). By page 83, the price was under £10, but only about a quarter of the lots on offer had actually sold; there was page after page of bulk-selling, pay-it-now items at £15 and £10 not selling.

The same period saw more than 130 pages listing titles for £1 or less - most of which did not sell.

Guardian article on collecting magazines

What makes a magazine collectable?

The Ebay list gives some excellent clues to what sells. Attractive elements include:

• the quality of the title;
• rarity;
• cult status, eg, The Strand with Conan Doyle, Oz and Lost;
• first issues (and last);
• cover subject: people such as Princess Diana, Madonna, Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe sell old, as well as new, magazines (see Dick Stolley's mantra for what sells People);
• age does not necessarily make a magazine valuable, but it will multiply the value if it already meets some of the above criteria;
• the seller's reputation.

However, a sale can sometimes be down to luck. For example, there were 70 completed listings of Oz in the period covered. They ranged in price from £1.95 (a copy of issue 40 in good condition, 'although there is a felt pen marking on cover which has come loose'. The listings also show that Ebay is far from a perfect market and there are bargains to be found. One copy of issue 26 didn't sell; another sold a week later for £4.20. Both were in 'reasonable' condition. Two copies of Oz issue 7 (the cover of which was used as a poster) were sold - for £169 and £156.

The highest paid for a collection of Lost issues 1 to 9 was £124.99 plus £9.99 postage, but four other sets went for £51-£90. A first issue sold for £19.99 and other copies went for £1.60 to £19.99.

How do people collect magazines?

There are probably as many reasons for people to collect magazines as there are magazines. However, there are some common factors that attract collectors:

• first and last issues;
• specific title;
• titles devoted to cars or films;
• writers may collect magazines from an era to help capture the 'feel' of a period;
• covers with a theme, for example Beatles covers;
• genres, such as pin-up titles;
• product advertising;
• specific writers, photographers or illustrators;
• magazines linked to work or academic study, for example fashion or design titles;
• illustrators or designers will collect magazine for inspiration;
• historic events, such as the Moon landings.

Then people might buy a one-off title, for example to commemorate a birthday or rekindle a teen/childhood event.

One Ebay seller was auctioning a complete set of pop monthly Rave (February 1964 to September 1971): 'This collection was puchased monthly for my wife and lovingly stored, for her to look back on her teenage years.' He added: 'Individual copies can sell anywhere between £8-£30+ so the price I am asking is an average cost per issue of £9.50 (copies that have sold recently, are averaging out at £18 per copy).'

Places to buy and sell magazines

The condition of magazines

The Magazine Collector Club US message board and trading post has several useful postings:

• guidance on 'official' terms such as 'mint' and 'fair'
• storing magazines
• introduction to collecting magazines.

A seller who is not familiar with such terms should stick to everyday language and be careful to state, for example, whether:

• pages are missing;
• items cut out;
• any pages are ripped;
• cover becoming/are detatched;
• any writing on covers (such as a delivery name or address) or inside
• forms or crosswords filled in;
• rusting staples (common in magazines before 1970).

Selling on Ebay

It's astounding what people think they can sell a magazine for. One Ebay seller recently put up a first issue of Cosmopolitan that had an undisclosed reserve on it (bad idea in the first place) that turned out to be something ridiculous like £100. I asked them about this and they said they'd spoken to someone 'high up' at NatMags who said they were very rare and the office copy was kept in a glass display case(!). Do I detect the pitter-patter of someone off up the garden path?

This demonstrates the first rule - do an advanced search on Ebay for sold copies. If the mug above had done hers, she would have seen a copy go the month before for £8.50. Even the copy in the best possible condition would be unlikely to go for 10 times that.

Of course, people have different strategies. If you have a collection of Honey magazines and you put them all up at £125, perhaps some of them will sell for that. But the vast majority will not. And none of them will go very quickly. But it's your choice. So my advice:

• search on sold copies in advanced search to get an idea of price; it will also tell you how many bids there were, hence the level of demand;
• if you can't find one, use a comparable title - Glamour for Cosmo; Vogue for Elle; FHM for Maxim;
• you may see from the search that the title simply doesn't sell ; if so, take it down the charity shop or up into the loft for a decade;
• if it's not worth much, is there an interview in there that might sell to a Madonna buff, rather than a magazine collector? So list in both places;
• don't list a collection all in one go; do a few a day to try and build up interest - with the best ones being sold last;
• postage costs are a bugbear - often more than the magazine will go for - so consider selling 2 or 3 copies at a time. If you do this, maximise the value by keeping within the weight boundaries;
• protecting mags in the post is vital - use old card and put them in a plastic bag. A padded bag is sometimes not enough - an ordinary envelope definitely not enough;
• don't be tempted to jack up the postage - the buyer will get revenge when they see the stamps cost 99p and you charged £4;
• finally, make sure you have checked all the pages are there and there's nothing cut out or written anywhere. It is very easy to miss a page torn out - and you'll end up having to give the fee back because the postage return will be more than the mag!