Published 13:56 IST, December 11th 2019
UK man finds his 1p Harry Potter book is actually worth £2,500
A book collector, Mark Cavoto, 51 was astonished realizing that a signed Harry Potter book he had bought for a penny is now worth up to £2,500 on Amazon.
- World News
- 3 min read
A book collector was astonished realizing that a signed Harry Potter book he had bought for a penny is now worth up to £2,500. Mark Cavoto, 51, has spent his last decade buying and selling the novels since his daughter started collecting them as a child but the one he purchased from Amazon was a pertinently big earner. The book was signed by JK Rowling herself. A rare Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets is expected to collect between £1,800-£2,500 while on the other hand, ten hardbound editions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets could gain £800. The collection is set to go under the auctions on December 12.
Three books sold for £9.99 each
Jim Spencer, from Hansons Auctioneers, said that he still receives 50 emails per day from people who think their copy may be valuable. He added that JK Rowling rarely signs the book but the one with her signature will obviously do well. Mark has been in the business selling Harry Potter novels for the last decade following a chance discovery courtesy of his daughter Holly, now 25. He said that when Holly was a child she loved Harry Potter books and started gathering her own collection. He added, before 10 years ago they decided to sell some of the old books and three of them were sold out within no time on eBay for £9.99 each.
The businessman with a shop in Buxton said that he knew this was a great business opportunity. He said that he checked ISBN numbers and sourced the same three books second-hand on Amazon. The books he bought for a penny was sold in minutes for £9.99 each on eBay. He added that once he bought around 10 Harry Potter books a day and Holly liked to open all the books. One day she glanced at a book and said that it got ink on it. He said that she stared at him and said that it is being signed by JK Rowling. It was a 1998 hardback first edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second novel in the series.
Updated 14:17 IST, December 11th 2019