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Playboy Magazines... are they worth anything past the 1st 10?
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44 posts in this topic

I know Playboys are not comics but I wasn't sure where to ask this question.

 

A friend of mine just inherited his dad's Playboy collection from the 60s & 70s. He asked me if I knew their value and I told him I'd try to find out. I know the early ones from the 50s are worth something, but after the 1st 10 or so do Playboys really have any value? Are there any issues that he should be looking out for (Key issues from the 60s)?

 

He tells me they're in fantastic shape (but we've all heard that one before).

 

I'm not sure if I should advise him to have any of them slabbed or not because I just don't know much about their value.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

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There's not much marketing data on raw Playboys. There are some CGC sales noted on Clink. From what I can ascertain, unless you have uber graded slabs, from the first couple of years, there's not much value. Decent stuff from the 60's may go for 10 - 20 bucks a book. The stuff from the 70's is really common, probably 5 bucks a book. These are just guestimates from my experience at buying them occasionally.

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There's not much marketing data on raw Playboys. There are some CGC sales noted on Clink. From what I can ascertain, unless you have uber graded slabs, from the first couple of years, there's not much value. Decent stuff from the 60's may go for 10 - 20 bucks a book. The stuff from the 70's is really common, probably 5 bucks a book. These are just guestimates from my experience at buying them occasionally.

 

So there's not really any key issues to be on the lookout for?

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I think there are some but I can't remember which ones. I had a collection from 1960-1990s and I know the late 50s and 1960-62 sell OK like $5-$10 if VF to NM. If less, with split spines or many creases, they're $1 books.

 

After that I'd sell them by the year and hope to get $20 a year. 1970s less than that - just too common.

 

Ed

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When I was a kid in the early 70s, those fat playboys from the late 60s you'd find in used books stores and yard sales always seemed to have spine splits or blown staples, so you'd think true VF-NM copies would actually be worth a little, but I guess folks don't really collect them as much as accumulate them. I loved Playboy as a teenager, not just for the nekkid ladies of course, but the magazine really did have great cartoons, fiction, interviews and articles back in those days.

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I think a lot of older folks bought these collected them even back in the day. So they didn't get mishandled like kiddie comics. Then there are all the overstock issues, that all magazines seem to have in some form or fashion.

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I bought a couple of Playboys out of nostalgia. One of them was the November, 1972 issue, which is the source of the Lenna image. It also happens to have been the peak of Playboy's circulation figures, selling 7,161,561 copies. It probably has little collector value because of that number, but it's a neat historical crossover for computer geeks. :)

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In my experience anything from the mid-Sixties on up is a dollar a mag

 

I've never had anything earlier than 1958, so no idea on the reeeeeally early issues.

 

If memory serves, there IS a Bettie Page issue somewhere in the 50's, I'd expect that one, at least, to go for a nice premium

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In my experience anything from the mid-Sixties on up is a dollar a mag

 

I've never had anything earlier than 1958, so no idea on the reeeeeally early issues.

 

If memory serves, there IS a Bettie Page issue somewhere in the 50's, I'd expect that one, at least, to go for a nice premium

 

Jan. '55 has a classic Bettie Page Christmas centerfold and I think it does get a higher price.

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Presently, I have just inherited my 86-year young cousin's 50-year complete Playboy magazines. There are also some binder issues. These start in the 1950's. I have touched base with Southerby's auction in London to no avail; they do not auction Playboy. Each issue has the appearance of just "coming off the press" so-to-speak. I have attempted to locate a collector for purchasing or a manner in which to sell these, and of course ran into some scams... don't want to go there again.

 

Any assistance in price estimate, collector, etc. would be benefit me greatly. I am elderly and would appreciate in handling this in any manner.

 

Catherine

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Presently, I have just inherited my 86-year young cousin's 50-year complete Playboy magazines. There are also some binder issues. These start in the 1950's. I have touched base with Southerby's auction in London to no avail; they do not auction Playboy. Each issue has the appearance of just "coming off the press" so-to-speak. I have attempted to locate a collector for purchasing or a manner in which to sell these, and of course ran into some scams... don't want to go there again.

 

Any assistance in price estimate, collector, etc. would be benefit me greatly. I am elderly and would appreciate in handling this in any manner.

 

Catherine

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Presently, I have just inherited my 86-year young cousin's 50-year complete Playboy magazines. There are also some binder issues. These start in the 1950's. I have touched base with Southerby's auction in London to no avail; they do not auction Playboy. Each issue has the appearance of just "coming off the press" so-to-speak. I have attempted to locate a collector for purchasing or a manner in which to sell these, and of course ran into some scams... don't want to go there again.

 

Any assistance in price estimate, collector, etc. would be benefit me greatly. I am elderly and would appreciate in handling this in any manner.

 

Catherine

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Presently, I have just inherited my 86-year young cousin's 50-year complete Playboy magazines. There are also some binder issues. These start in the 1950's. I have touched base with Southerby's auction in London to no avail; they do not auction Playboy. Each issue has the appearance of just "coming off the press" so-to-speak. I have attempted to locate a collector for purchasing or a manner in which to sell these, and of course ran into some scams... don't want to go there again.

 

Any assistance in price estimate, collector, etc. would be benefit me greatly. I am elderly and would appreciate in handling this in any manner.

 

Catherine

 

Your best bet regarding auction houses would be Heritage - they deal with all aspects of pop culture, and I'm sure they've auctioned runs of Playboy before.

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So........ Presently you inherited a bunch of smut? #1 is the only one worth any money.

 

Other early issues in exceptionally nice shape are probably worth some money too. You see them in Heritage auctions occasionally.

Not sure about "smut." 1950's Playboys seem kind of quaint to me.

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Presently, I have just inherited my 86-year young cousin's 50-year complete Playboy magazines. There are also some binder issues. These start in the 1950's. I have touched base with Southerby's auction in London to no avail; they do not auction Playboy. Each issue has the appearance of just "coming off the press" so-to-speak. I have attempted to locate a collector for purchasing or a manner in which to sell these, and of course ran into some scams... don't want to go there again.

 

Any assistance in price estimate, collector, etc. would be benefit me greatly. I am elderly and would appreciate in handling this in any manner.

 

Catherine

 

I would recommend Heritage Auctions too. They list high grade early Playboy issues sometimes. If you have the first issue it's very desirable, especially a nice copy.

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