Ralf Toth wrote:Seriously. I think the 1st printing DMG is neither rare nor expensive. I know I have definitely overpaid for it. It's so easy to find a copy for $20 or even less. Of course, that's just my humble opinion.

Agreed 100%, Ralf.

Patience is the name of the game and a half-decent copy should pop up within that range (only just missed a few way down at ~$8-10).



There haven't been too many "minty" copies around so it will probably be an item people are willing to pay at hefty premium for at that end of the scale, for some time.



And, regardless of actual rarity, it doesn't have the cachet that the 1st MM/PHBs have.



jm-02, too...

bclarkie wrote:

Ralf Toth wrote:
Seriously. I think the 1st printing DMG is neither rare nor expensive. I know I have definitely overpaid for it. It's so easy to find a copy for $20 or even less. Of course, that's just my humble opinion.

I agree, but part of the problem is that it is without a doubt the hardest of 3 hardcover 1st prints to recognize due the harder to notice distinguishing characteristics of it. It is not impossible to distinguish, but looking for the cut off D and the lowered wizard, make it much tougher spot. Because of that it slips through a lot more then the others and with patience can be had pretty cheaply. That being said if I were to place a rarity grade on it based on how often it comes up, I would either give a high 2 or a low 3. Also, just my .02 .

I think it's rarer than you folks think.  Comfortably a 3.  I try to spot as many as I can, and even if you know exactly what to look for, they're hard to find...but not as hard as a 1st PHB.  (To find a PHB, you usually need to ask questions, as most sellers don't photocopy the copyright page.)



I've only seen one copy in VF or better condition, the copy used as the Acaeum photo.  There have been quite a few "fakes" where people have ripped off that photo.

Sure, it can be easy to find and get at a good price, but there's still something cool about it.  Not all of the things that are fun to acquire are rare or pricey.

Prufrock wrote:deimos3428 wrote:

"I've only seen one copy in VF or better condition, the copy used as the Acaeum photo. There have been quite a few "fakes" where people have ripped off that photo."



I got caught in this little scam recently. Lucky it only cost me $30. Seller sent me a 6th print instead of the 1st.



As to the rarity of 1st print DMG, I think is should be about a 3. I've already won another auction for a 1st print. Hopefully this seller will deliver. By the way I won this one at $20. So I have to think that folks are not recognizing these when they come up for auction.



Martin

Congrats on that one, Martin.  Sounds like a good deal.

One minor point on the 1st printing Acaeum description -- it does have the wizard logo and TSR Games address on the spine.  At least mine does.  Not sure how that got in there.  :? (If anybody has a copy where it doesn't appear, let me know!)

deimos3428 wrote:One minor point on the 1st printing Acaeum description -- it does have the wizard logo and TSR Games address on the spine. At least mine does. Not sure how that got in there. (If anybody has a copy where it doesn't appear, let me know!)

I am currently sitting on 3 copies and all three have the wizard logo and the TSR address on the spine. I would say that this must be a slight oversight in the description.

burntwire wrote:Wasn't the print run like 40,000 copies? I see them on ebay all the time. A neat item but not rare.

Personally I wonder about some of the print runs stats that we have, but even if you take into consideration that the stats that we have currently are in fact 100% correct, the listed print run for 1st print Monster Manuals is listed at 50,000.

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Based on tracked results and other observation, I would find it very hard to believe that 1st print DMGs are more rare the 1st print Monster Manuals, but 1st print DMGs are far from common. I have tracking individual sales for just about a full year now and I have only have 12 recorded individual sales on Ebay. Off the top of my head there were a few auctions with 1st print DMGs included in lots with other books, but I would say that that was an even lower figure that that, like say ~ 8. Obviously, I am sure that there were a few auctions that I missed along the way, but I am usually pretty good about finding them. That being said 20 in a 12 month span is less than 2 a month which I dont think is going to endanger them overtaking any of mono tourney modules in rarity, but they are certainly not as common as one might think. Just doing a quick comparison against the uber-common B2(by comparison had a print run of supposedly over 1,000,000), I see that there are 48 auctions in the last 30 days which would work out to ~ 575 in 1 year.

Howdy All,


There are differences in the Acaeum listing from my original research post. Likely just a cut-n-paste error.

I have added a bit more as well, e.g., identifying a 3rd alpha and gamma is nigh impossible without a 3rd beta. The bad news is that a 3rd beta did not make it to outer shipping. They were sorted at the print shop and the good covered ones shipped while the bad ones were recovered. Unfortunately, the re-covered 3rd gammas might be identical to the 3rd alphas. If there is a difference it is likely to be extremely slight.

The 4th printings may actually be the 3rd alpha and gamma, as we have no evidence contrawise.

The rarest of these is clearly the 3rd beta. The only circulating versions of these come from the one or two that slipped past the sorting process and then subsequently not returned by the distributor/retailer (highly unlikely) and any that might have been taken by folks at the printing company or TSR folks previewing the run. The 3rd beta might even be in the unique category!

The next rarest are the 2nd alphas with the MM pages bound in.


Futures Bright,

Paul

(Sounds good to me. thx)