11 October 2015

Mushroom Harvest

Like mushrooms after the rain, Fischer items pop up on eBay after any significant news on the 11th World Champion. The latest such news was the release of the movie 'Pawn Sacrifice'.

Here on Top eBay Chess Items by Price, the latest Fischer auctions were Fischer Insecure? (April 2014) and More Fischer - Spassky 1992 (January 2015). I could have chosen among several for today's post, but decided instead to go with a composite image. All but the lower middle item closed after the release of the movie.

A couple of the items pictured don't show the real final price. The item in the upper left, titled 'CHESS SET SIGNED BY BOBBY FISCHER AND BORIS SPASSKY' (from the 1992 match), sold for more than $3000. The item in the lower right, titled 'ICELAND CHESS Bobby Fischer vs. Spassky match 1972 - exceptional memorabilia', sold for $750. The upper middle item, titled 'Bobby Fischer JSA Certified Signed Autographed '66 Chess Book Pawn Sacrifice' was for the '1966 First Printing of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess'.

If I had included items that were listed but not sold, the same composite image would show more than 30 auctions, including many unsold items relisted, often at inflated prices. Fischer would likely not have approved.

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