Playbill Collector Question

[Moritat]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 2:46pm

Recently I came into 100-200 Playbills from the 1970s and 1980s. Most are in solid near mint condition with one little issue. Whoever owned these wrote in ink (at the very top of each issue) the date in this format (4/78). The writing is very small and its in the upper right corner, but it does deface these otherwise near perfect copies. How much would this writing bring down the value of these Playbills? I'm concerned that this might make them almost worthless, but I'm not certain. The other question would be where is the best place to sell these? Ebay of course comes to mind, but perhaps there is a better option where one could address more theatre fans.  Thanks in advance for all responses.

[Rainah]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 3:35pm

Is the date written on the cover or on an inside page?

In terms of value, depends on the playbill itself and how fussy the person buying it is. It doesn't necessarily lower the value. Some playbills are worth $200 each, a lot are worth pennies.

I do most of my buying on ebay and facebook groups (Try search terms like "Playbill trading" "playbill selling" there are many groups)

[Rainah]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 3:35pm

Accidental double post so I'll expand on how I value playbills

A lot of it is super subjective. I am always upfront with people if I'm saying "I am looking to pay X, other people will likely pay more if you want to hold out a bit but that's my offer" or "I would need X amount to part with mine, though you can probably get it cheaper elsewhere if you keep looking".

With older playbills it will likely be a lot of waiting for the right person to come along that will be really interested. A lot of the trading is what's new and hot, and then the few ones that are always in demand. If something is OBC, signed, has a performer who later went on to do big projects, or has a rare cover or some sort, that all adds value. Marks on the cover (and to a much lesser extent, inside the cover) lowers the value, but depending on what it is it may not matter. Supply and demand. If you have the only playbill of that type on the market atm, no one will care. 

 

Usually I look on ebay for pricing. If there aren't multiple examples of the same playbill up for sale, I look at what's similar and gauge with that. If I have, say, a Les Mis 25th anniversary cast playbill and there's none ebay, I might look at what other Les Mis playbills are selling for, then what playbills of similar prestige from other shows are selling for, like a phantom 25th anniversary cast. Whenever I'm giving someone a price, as either a buyer or seller, I want to be able to say "This is what I'm pricing it as and this is my logic about why it's a fair price".

If you put something up for sale on FB and immediately get messages about it, it's probably something rare/high valued. Don't sell it right away. Take a day or two, do some research, figure out what's a fair price. I had someone take the first offer for a playbill, I'd messaged them less than a day later with an offer that was literally double, they'd already sold it. Didn't know what they had. 

If you have anything in particular you want a second opinion on feel free to reach out, though my expertise is mostly in Hamilton, Comet, and Heights stuff

Updated On: 3/17/18 at 03:35 PM