Text guide
Harry Potter bought for 50p in charity shop sells for £15k
Harry Potter, bought for 50p at a charity store, sold for £15,000
A battered old Harry Potter book bought for 50p from a charity shop has sold for £15,500 in a hard-fought auction.
A worn-out harry pottery book bought for 50p from a charity store sold for £15,500 in a fierce auction.
The first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is one of just 500 copies from the first run in 1997.
The first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was one of only 500 copies first released in 1997.
Described as "charming" by the auction house, it is full of a child's scribbles and was initially expected to sell for about £3,000.
The auction house called the book "fascinating", filled with a child's doodle and initially estimated to be around £3,000.
It was found among the dusty boxes of a Manchester charity shop and sold following a “colossal battle”. An anonymous collector in the US was the lucky bidder in the end.
The book was found in dusty boxes in a charity shop in Manchester and sold in a "fierce scramble". In the end, an anonymous American collector was lucky enough to photograph it.
“What a battle for the battered and bruised Potter,” auctioneer Charles Hanson said.
Auctioneer Charles Hansen said: "The race for this tattered Harry Potter book was quite intense. ”
Key vocabulary
1. battered /ˈbæt.əd/ damaged, especially by being used a lot 破旧的
- He drove up in a battered old car.
2. hard-fought /ˌhɑːdˈfɔːt/ achieved after a lot of difficulty or fighting 激烈的
- It was a hard-fought negotiation and that was the outcome.
3. auction /ˈɔːk.ʃən/ a usually public sale of goods or property, where people make higher and higher bids for each thing, until the thing is sold to the person who will pay most 拍卖
- They're holding an auction of jewellery on Thursday.
4. scribble /ˈskrɪb.əl/ a careless piece of writing or drawing 涂鸦
- What are all these scribbles doing on the wallpaper?
5. colossal /kəˈlɒs.əl/ extremely large huge
- They were asking a colossal amount of money for the house.
6. bidder /ˈbɪd.ər/ someone who offers to pay a particular amount of money for something 出价人
- In an auction, goods or property are sold to the highest bidder.
Read more
“It deserves to be in a museum. Those doodles, penned by a child who loved the book and its characters, demonstrate the power of the Potter phenomenon in the late 1990s. It really is quite charming. I'm absolutely delighted for the seller and the buyer, who has purchased a piece of book history."
"It should be put in a museum. The graffiti on the book was drawn by a child who loved the book and the characters in it, which demonstrated the power of the Harry Potter phenomenon of the late 1990s. This book is really fascinating. I'm happy for both the seller and the buyer, who bought a piece of history of the book. ”
The seller, who also preferred to remain unnamed, said he was “astounded” at the result. “I know it's a piece of modern history but the result was extraordinary,” he said.
The seller, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was "shocked" by the result. "I know it's part of modern history, but the final price is too shocking," he said.
The JK Rowling novel was auctioned at Hansons in Staffordshire alongside a pristine copy of the same book, which sold for £69,000. That copy, which was unread and had been stored in darkness for 25 years, was described by auctioneers as “good as new”.
The JK Rowling novel was auctioned off at Hanson's in Staffordshire, along with a new edition of the book, which eventually sold for £69,000. The one was left in the dark for 25 years, no one had read it, and auctioneers called it "almost brand new."
The seller, a retired paper merchant’s director from West Sussex, said he was “very pleased”. “I've really looked after it,” he said. “It's in the best condition it possibly can be — almost perfect I would say. It's never been read.”
The seller, a retired paper business executive from West Sussex, said he was "very satisfied." "I really kept it well," he said. "It's the best it can get – I have to say, almost flawless. No one has ever read it. ”
“A year after I bought it, with Harry Potter excitement growing at my daughter's school, she asked if she could read it. I said no, absolutely not." The 68-year-old said he bought her another copy and kept the first edition “tucked it away in darkness” and away from “prying eyes”.
"A year after I bought the book, more and more people were reading Harry Potter at my daughter's school, and she asked me if I could read it. I said no, absolutely not. The 68-year-old said he bought another copy for his daughter at the time and hid the first version "in the dark" away from "prying eyes."
It was snapped up by another US bidder and sold above its guide price of £40,000-£60,000.
The book was auctioned off by another US bidder and sold for £40,000 to £60,000 above its guide price.