Expect the Unexpected?

[unforth]

So this morning, I sat down to eat my breakfast - pancakes. I wanted to read, but I didn't have a free hand, so I grabbed the only book I had nearby that looked like it would stay open without me holding it open. This was a copy of "The Cat in the Hat" that I picked up at goodwill yesterday because, well, it's a good book to have and I didn't already own a copy. I turned to the first page, and saw an inscription in neat script - apparently, this was a Christmas gift to three children in 1986. That's sort of sad, I thought to myself, they didn't keep it. My eye traced casually over the rest of the page...and in the lower left hand corner of that page was a signature - Dr. Seuss. It was in different ink and penmanship than the inscription (so not an inscribed copy, whatever) and was sort of sloppy - and I thought to myself, naw, no way, some kid just wrote Dr. Seuss in sharpie on this page.

Turn to the internet (my breakfast sits getting cold on the table) and find a couple facsimile's of Dr. Seuss's signature...and they match. A signed copy! Dude! Turn to abebooks.com to try to figure out if this is worth anything. Surely not, I tell myself, Dr. Seuss probably signed zillions of books, just like most modern famous authors, even the ones who've been dead for a while. (yeah, their zombies still sign copies of their books, that's right)

Yesterday, at Goodwill, I spent $1.99 on a book that is apparently worth at least $450. I can't be sure yet, because in all my hunting online I could only find two equivalent copies, and one was $450 and the other was $750.

Pardon me while I recover from shock and try to decide just what the hell to do with this book! I'm still not sure I believe it, truth to tell...maybe I'm just imagining it...maybe it's not a real signature...but...but...dude!

Comments

[danielmc.livejournal.com]

whoa! and cool.

i feel a need to speak/type in verse, but i got nothin.
except ... cool!

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I'm sort of giggly about it. ;)

[danielmc.livejournal.com]

this definitely falls under the catagory of 'glamourbomb'.
there is an LJ community on doing them, but ya might share.

http://community.livejournal.com/glamourbombs/

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

o_O

Pardon me while I recover froms shock and try to decide just what the hell to do with this book!
You could put it on a shelf
You could read it to an elf
You could keep it in a box
You could keep it under locks
You could add it to your stash
You could sell it for some cash (Though I wouldn't. (; )


What a splendid treasure! Even if it's not real, it's still a most excellent book to add to your collection - especially for under two bucks!

[unforth.livejournal.com]

...that verse totally rocks. :)
For now, I'll probably keep it...but damn is selling it tempting...

[(Anonymous)]

Unless you are a huge Seuss fan and this specific item really lights up your dials (in the sense that you'd personally pay $500 for it if you had the disposable cash), I'd sell it. Anyone who would pay $500 for it would be thrilled and treasure it, and then you could spend the $500 for anything that you'd take as much pleasure in owning yourself.

I once bought a pair of vintage 1970s cowboy boots for $1 at a garage sale that turned out to be highly collectible (Britney Spears wore the same exact pair) and I sold them on ebay for $530. Which I then spent in a delicious madness of utterly indulgent book and clothing purchases.

[arcana-mundi.livejournal.com]

Oops - that was me!

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I'm currently thinking of keeping it as a rainy day fund. I don't really need the money right now, but I probably will at some point, and it'll almost certainly appreciate value with time, so I might as well wait. But first, I'm gonna do what I need to do to make sure that it's the real thing. :)

The boots story is pretty awesome, though. :)

[arcana-mundi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in my case it was good to unload the boots quickly, because they depreciated. The same pair rarely sells for more than 200-300 on ebay now. Due to the waning of Brit's star.

[kniedzw.livejournal.com]

Very nifty. :)

[ex-arekin.livejournal.com]

Few years back my dad pulled a few books out an old funeral home that was falling apart and managed to find a signed copy of a book by F.D.R. In our desire to authenticate the signature I learned a few things.

First get a magnifying glass, look closely at the signature. You want to look for bleeding arround the signature, this is from the ink soaking into the page, and means that the siganture wasnt printed with the book. Some people would say "well duh" but on some types of paper it can be difficult to tell.

Next look at he ink in the signature itself, it you can see lines in it (following the signature) that means it was a hand signed book, if not its had a signature stamp used on it.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice! I don't think the second step would work, cause it was signed with a sharpie, but I'll take a look for the first one. :)

[sapphohestia.livejournal.com]

That's very awesome. I wonder if you could get it appraised the next time you're in NYC?

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I could, I'm sure, but appraisals are quite expensive in and of them selves, so it's probably not worth it. :) I am gonna check with Prof. Silver to make sure he thinks it's the real thing, though...

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

A most wonderful find!!! Yay!!

[ultimabaka.livejournal.com]

Sell the bloody thing :). The key is only to find someone sufficiently stupid enough to pay that much. Then, you win $
-- Gerardo

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Like I said, though, if I wait a few years til when I actually need the money, I can probably find an idiot willing to pay even more, and I'll have some $$ when I really need it. ;) Rainy day fund, it's the way to go I think. Knowing you, you'd sell it now and put the money in a mutual fund or something on the assumption it'd be worth more that way...my willpower just ain't that good though.