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  • Posts Tagged ‘Harry Potter’

    BLOODY SUNDAY MATCH TICKET SELLS FOR €7,000

    Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021

    A match ticket to the fatal Bloody Sunday game at Croke Park in 1920 sold for a hammer price of 7,000 at Fonsie Mealy’s collectors sale on March 3. It had been estimated at 2,000-3,000 and after competitive internet bidding it went to a buyer in Ireland. Shootings at the game followed the early morning assassination of eleven British Intelligence Agents, “The Cairo Gang,” in an operation organised by Michael Collins. The British retaliated later that day at Croke Park. Military and Auxiliary Forces fired into the a crowd indiscriminately, killing twelve people and wounding about sixty. A total of 73 issues of Limerick War News, later the South Western Command War News from July to October 1922 sold for 6,500 at hammer. This is one of the rarest of all Civil War journals.

    De luxe edition of the Harry Potter series aroused much interest. A first edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets signed by J.K. Rowling made 5,000 at hammer; a signed first edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban made 4,800 and a signed de luxe edition of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone made 4,000.

    The sale realised 220,000 on the hammer.

    HARRY POTTER MAKES MAGIC NUMBERS AT BONHAMS

    Wednesday, March 11th, 2020

    A rare first edition of one of the most popular books ever written, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone inscribed by author J. K. Rowling “to Bryony… the first person ever to see merit in Harry Potter” sold for £118,000 in Bonhams Fine Books, Atlases, Manuscripts & Photographs sale in London today. It had an estimate of £70,000-90,000.

    Bryony Evens was the office manager for the literary agent Christopher Little, when in 1996, she picked up a three-chapter submission from the slush pile and started reading. Instantly hooked, Bryony asked Little to request that the author send the rest of the book. They soon received the full manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by the then unknown J.K. Rowling, and the rest is history.

    Head of Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts Department, Matthew Haley, commented: “This unique copy of the highly desirable rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone really was a little piece of Harry Potter history. I’m not surprised that it attracted such interest and achieved such an impressive price”.

    A MAJOR PIECE OF HARRY POTTER HISTORY

    Tuesday, December 13th, 2016

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    A major piece of Harry Potter history, a rare presentation copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard created, hand-written and illustrated by J.K. Rowling sold for £368,750 to an anonymous buyer bidding on the telephone at Sotheby’s in London this afternoon. With a personal inscription by the author the copy, number 3 of the 7 that J.K Rowling produced, was presented to British publisher Barry Cunningham who famously accepted the first Harry Potter book for publication.  Cunningham played an instrumental role in launching J.K Rowling’s career as an international best-selling author. In a dedication written in the front of the book, JK Rowling wrote: “To Barry, the man who thought an overlong novel about a boy wizard in glasses might just sell… THANK YOU”.

    Cunningham recalls the experience of receiving the copy in December 2007 as ‘unreal’, becoming ‘progressively more exciting’ as he opened a white jiffy envelope to reveal a beautiful, cloth-wrapped manuscript book, adorned with semi-precious stones and a sterling silver mounted skull. The original packaging, in which the copy was delivered, is included as part of the lot. Originally presented as a personal gift to ‘those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books’, the manuscript of wizarding tales is one of only seven unique copies produced for the most important people in Rowling’s life during this time. In 2007, a seventh copy produced specifically for sale at auction to raise money for J.K Rowling’s charity Lumos, was sold at Sotheby’s for a record-breaking £1.95 million. Bound in brown morocco leather, the manuscript carries seven unique mounted rhodochrosite stones. At the end of the volume, the author notes that these semi-precious stones are ‘traditionally associated with love, balance and joy in daily life.’ The exterior is additionally embellished with hallmarked sterling silver ornaments, centred by an ominous skull.

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard