Harry Potter book saved from school skip makes £33,000 at auction

A first edition Harry Potter book rescued from a school skip sparked an international bidding war when the hardback came under the hammer of a Derbyshire auctioneer.
Jim Spencer, head of Hansons' Library Auction, with the hardback Harry Potter book which made £33,000 at auction.Jim Spencer, head of Hansons' Library Auction, with the hardback Harry Potter book which made £33,000 at auction.
Jim Spencer, head of Hansons' Library Auction, with the hardback Harry Potter book which made £33,000 at auction.

Fierce competition for the copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone saw the book sell for £33,000, nearly three times the top estimate of £12,000, in the online auction conducted by Hansons Auctioneers.

Seven phone bidders battled with internet bidders in a tense auction which was won by a private UK buyer.

The book, one of only 500 hardback copies from the first print-run in 1997, is the third copy found by Hansons in the last 12 months.

The seller, a 65-year-old teacher and grandmother who did not wish to be named, said: “To say I’m pleased is an understatement. Due to its condition, we thought £20,000 would be a good result.”

The sale, a Harry Potter bonanza packed with J K Rowling-related lots, also included four other books plucked from the skip.

These included two Philosopher’s Stone paperback first editions which sold for £3,400 and £3,000 respectively. In addition, first edition copies of Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban made £360. The skip finds made a combined hammer price total of £39,760.

The skip finds would have been lost in landfill but for the teacher who couldn’t bear to see them go to waste when she spotted them in a skip where she used to work in 2008.

She said: “I love books and reading and it just seemed awful to throw them away, so I picked up about five Harry Potter books. I thought they might be useful for my children or grandchildren in the future.”

Jim Spencer, head of Hansons’ Library Auction, said: “It was marvellous to see the Harry Potter books do so well and spark such intense bidding. I always thought the Philosopher’s Stone hardback first edition might surprise us. I put on a humble estimate due to some damage to the binding.

“We had lots of interest, particularly from America, in what was a Harry Potter-themed Library Auction. We sold a multitude of books for several clients, some signed by Rowling. Another highlight was a Philosopher’s Stone paperback first edition in pristine condition which made £6,500.”

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