First Edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” Sells for $471,000 at Auction

by · December 11, 2021

With only a limited run of 500 copies, it’s fair to say that the first edition of the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone hardback is pretty rare and valuable. Recently, many of these long-lost first-edition copies began cropping up at various auctions fetching price tags that would make any reader scour their own bookshelves to verify. Yesterday, a first-edition hardback copy of Philosopher’s Stone just sold at auction for an unbelievable $471,000, a number that would make most readers faint before viciously tearing through all of their belongings.

Yesterday, a near-pristine first-edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone went up for sale by Heritage Auctions, located in Dallas, Texas in the United States. The auctioneer opened the lot at $80,000 before someone immediately bid a whopping $180,000. The price eventually shot up to a tear-inducing $380,000. Including the $91,000 buyer’s premium, the grand total is $471,000, which is potentially the highest price paid for a first-edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Over the years, a first-edition copy of Potter has rarely breached six figures, but there are a few that have broken through and been recorded as the highest price tags. In November 2017, Bonhams auction house sold a signed first edition for approximately $140,000. Bonhams eventually made headlines again last year when it sold a first edition of Philosopher’s Stone for £118,000 ($144,786). However, the highest recorded price paid for a first-edition Potter seems to be a copy of Philosopher’s Stone containing notes and illustrations that was sold back in 2013 by Sotheby’s in London, England, for £150,000, which was approximately $226,000 at the time and just under $200,000 with today’s exchange rates. Therefore, yesterday’s sale easily breaks the previous record, making it the most expensive first-edition copy of Philosopher’s Stone.

 

 

Do you think you have a first-edition copy lying around? If you did, would you keep it or sell it? Let us know.

 

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