Snagged a rare copy of Brass Birmingham at a garage sale for $5 last Saturday

I was driving through Maplewood last weekend and saw a garage sale sign. Dude had a box of old board games, and sitting right on top was a first edition of Brass Birmingham. He said his kid moved out and left it behind, so he just wanted it gone. Has anyone else ever found a gem like this in the wild or am I just lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamiegreen2d ago

Maplewood is a solid spot for garage sales. I got a first edition of Arkham Horror at an estate sale there once. Thing is, you gotta check the box condition too. Dents and creases can tank the value. People forget that. A pristine first edition with all the punchboards intact is worth way more than a beat up copy. So yeah, you got lucky but check the interior for missing bits. Those coal cubes get lost easy.

reese_patel2d ago

That $5 find is wild, I'm still kicking myself over a garage sale I hit in Oakwood back in 2019 where a lady had a whole stack of old games for a dollar each. I grabbed a copy of Cosmic Encounter but left behind a first edition of Shadows Over Camelot because the box had a crushed corner. @jamiegreen is totally right about checking the inside parts though. I actually pulled out the coal cubes from my Brass Birmingham copy the other day and realized two were missing, so I had to order replacements online. Those little pieces vanish easy, especially if the box has been moved around a lot.