Reiver hardcover catalog-- does anyone think the $125 price is excessive?

Longacre · February 22, 2006 9:16PM

I really don't know anything about how much it costs to produce a hardcover book, so please tell me if I am being unreasonable. I noticed the ads from Heritage indicating that the Reiver sale catalogs, in hardcover form, are available for $125. This sale was one of the finest early copper sales in recent times, and it garnered a lot of publicity. I have the softcover catalogs and I still look through them to try to learn more about early coppers. From a purely financial standpoint (notwithstanding that the hardcover book is a great reference item), is the $125 price reasonable? I assume that the book does not contain any other new content, and is merely the soft catalogs with a hard cover. How much does it cost to get the catalogs bound, especially given the fact that Heritage probably has great economies of scale with printing? I also realize that the price tag probably does not truly reflect the time and effort that went into writing the catalog. I am just curious.

RYK · February 22, 2006 9:23PM

My guess is that they are trying to profit from the catalogs, perhaps to make up some of the cost of producing such a large volume. I would guess that on a price per coin basis, the Reiver sale probably realized a lower number than any recent Heritage sale.

You probably could have your catalogs bound for considerably less. I will do some research on this, and if I find anything of interest, report.

Barndog · February 22, 2006 10:14PM

Given the fact that I "sold" two volumes of the Reiver 3-volume set to other board members for the cost of shipping, I say YES, $125 is excessive. If one fancies hardcover books because they look nice on a shelf, feel free to shell out the cash. My remaining catalog will be thumbed, written in, and generally used wrecklessly to further my knowledge of bust half dimes.

PreTurb · February 22, 2006 10:24PM

I believe the hardcover versions of Stack's J J Ford catalogs cost $100 each (at least #1 did).

This Heritage Reiver catalog will be quite a bit larger than any of the Ford catalogs...

Cladiator · February 22, 2006 11:17PM

The price tag stopped me from getting one.

AuldFartte · February 22, 2006 11:22PM

<< <i>The price tag stopped me from getting one. >>

Me, too. I'll stick with the soft-covers for this one.
However, this will probably be used as a reference by variety collectors for a long time, and an awful lot of coin reference books cost $100 or more.

Keyrock · February 22, 2006 11:23PM

Yes, same with the Rasmussen auction catalog. The work has been done since the paper backs exist, the binding and hard cover should not be that expensive. My thesis copies were not that expensive and I had less than a dozen made.

MrHalfDime · February 22, 2006 11:28PM

An auction catalog such as the Reiver sale catalog represents a once in a lifetime event, and serves not only as the sale catalog, but also as a reference book on the early Federal coinage, by die variety. It is something that will be refered to continually for years to come. As to the cost for having something hardbound, I can only compare it to two other items with which I am familiar. To have a five year set of John Reich Journals hardbound, the cost is $275, and you supply the journals. Of course, this is for quality Moroccan leather, gilded edges, marbelized end papers, and gold stamping on the cover. With a little searching, lower prices might be found. Also, the Russell J. Logan auction catalog was offered, in extremely small quantity, to a few of his friends for the same price of $125. This, too, had gold stamping with the recipient's name on the cover, and was serial numbered 1-10. For those who also collect numismatic books, the price is not out of line.

michael · February 22, 2006 11:36PM

it is fair

the printing costs and mailing costs alone really do not pay for the cat. at 125 hardcover

and something specialized like this is an excellent reference book

and in low printed numbers

if a major printing company did this like little broan and all borders and barnes and noble book stores carried it and promoted it if they charged 125 for this hardcover book they would not sell enough copies to even break even in their costs

ziggy29 · February 22, 2006 11:48PM

Seems high. But I also suspect that it will sell for more money in a few years, especially if there's a very limited run because of the price.

Lakesammman · February 22, 2006 11:55PM

If I was a hard core variety collector of those series, I'd buy it. But, I'm not, so it seems excessive.

chabot510 · February 23, 2006 12:00AM

I know the rasmussen collection also had a hardcover edition for the same price. i think they are still selling some of their limited printed catalogs.

david lawrence put the richmond sale in hardcover and made each catalog $50 for the general public. at the auctions they gave the catalogs out for free.

Conder101 · February 23, 2006 2:20AM

Considering the number produced and the quality, and compared to other similar books I've seen, yes the price is reasonable.

By the way, does anyone have a copy of Reivers catalog part II that they don't want? It was mentioned that JRCS members were supposed to get a fee copy of all the catalogs but obviously they decided to leave me out since I got a copy of Part I as a member of EAC. I managed to pick up a copy of part III at the local coin club meeting, but the guy who got part II wouldn't part with it.

Cladiator · February 23, 2006 2:37AM

<< <i>It was mentioned that JRCS members were supposed to get a fee copy of all the catalogs but obviously they decided to leave me out since I got a copy of Part I as a member of EAC. I managed to pick up a copy of part III at the local coin club meeting, but the guy who got part II wouldn't part with it. >>

I called Heritage and gave my JRCS number and all my info for the catalogues. Never arrived.

seateddime · February 23, 2006 10:26AM

not cheap!

roadrunner · February 23, 2006 11:23AM

I gave away my soft bound cats for the price of shipping. I wondered if someday I might regret that. Nope.......Heritage followed up a few weeks later with a complimentary hardbound version. It was cheap enough for me. A very nice and totally unexpected gift.

roadrunner

Coinosaurus · February 23, 2006 12:19PM

It's a fair price. They will sell for that much in the aftermarket in a few years easily. I wouldn't buy it unless I was serious bust fanatic, 'specially cuz Heritage already sent me a set for "free" (not considering all the biz I have done with them this year).

Cladiator · February 23, 2006 12:24PM

After thinking about it I'll probably end up buying them some day down the road for some insane price. lol

Barndog · March 17, 2006 8:21AM

My bound Reiver catalog came today...VERY NICE! Well worth the money. Heritage printed a copy of the prices realized and sent it along too. If your collecting interests were similar to Mr. Reiver's, you could do a whole lot worse than getting a copy of this valuable reference.

Cladiator · March 17, 2006 9:33AM

Hey my birthday is coming up soon Barndog

majorbigtime · March 17, 2006 10:06AM

yes

Barndog · March 17, 2006 10:28AM

<< <i>Hey my birthday is coming up soon Barndog >>

Happy Birthday. I hope you have a great time at the hockey game. I'll be reading my book while you are out having fun. Too bad for me

Reiver hardcover catalog-- does anyone think the $125 price is excessive?

Comments

Leave a Comment