If not Ebay then where ?

Further to my post in November this is not an offer for sale - this is a hypothetical question - where apart from Ebay could I advertise a collection of programmes from the seventies and eighties ?


It would be interesting to know your thoughts

The motorsport magazines maybe?

Or even just try writing a letter to the editor about them, you might get lucky.

Any programme post 1975-ish is always going to take careful marketing if it's going to make money. Especially the smaller internationals like the Silverstone International Trophy, because everyone who wants one has invariably got one and there were lots sold on the day. The big dealers won't be interested because as with Autosport and Motor Sport collections, they get offered them daily.

That's the negative out of the way.

Positively speaking, if you've the time to market them singly and the lure of eBay is too great, most programmes will find homes for more than pocket money and will have earned their keep.

There are collectors out there who are desparate to fill gaps in collections - I've got 4000 of the little so and so's and I've got hundreds more to get.

If you've got lots from the minor, more regional circuits (Cadwell, Mallory, Combe etc) you'll find people will have more gaps of those than they will for Silverstone and Brands collections. Again, it's partly the sheer number of people who bought a programme on the day and kept it and it's partly the fact that local circuits have a very devoted regional fan-base. I've driven a long way to buy a good run of Snetterton clubbies for example.

Finally, do check for autographs - you might just surprise yourself. I happened to glance in a Silverstone 1000km programme the other day and found myself staring at a Stefan Bellof signature I'd forgotten that I had begged for. Similarly, I've offered a big dealer a lump sum to clear out their whole programme collection having noted that there were a couple of F1 progs in there. The amount I subsequently got for the Aussie GP edition with most of the contemporary competitors' autographs plus those of Moss, Brabham and Salvadori more than paid for the whole collection!

You never know your luck!

Hope you find appreciative new homes for them, Jos.