Sat 11 December 2021:
The first edition of Harry Potter sold in the United States on Thursday for $ 471,000, which auctioneers say was the world record for a 20th-century artwork.
The hardback 1997 British edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” with a color illustration on the cover, was described by Heritage Auctions as “magical, incredibly bright and so very near pristine.”
The Dallas-based auction house said that only 500 copies with the specific binding were printed.
The book was published in the United States as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
The final price was more than six times the pre-sale estimate of $70,000. Harry Potter first editions have been known to sell at auction for around $110,000 to $138,000.
“Not only is it the most expensive Harry Potter book ever sold, it’s the most expensive commercially published 20th-century work of fiction ever sold,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena said in a statement.
The book was sold by an American collector and the name of the buyer was not released.
British author J.K. Rowling went on to write six more books about the adventures of the orphaned boy wizard that have sold some 500 million copies worldwide in 80 languages, according to US publisher Scholastic. The books were turned into eight films which made $7.8 billion at the global box office.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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