"tables" and "A NOTE UPON A WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR..." (1 Viewer)

[Thaha]

I am wondering if anyone would point me in the right direction. I have two original Bukowski poems that I purchased in Los Angeles many years ago from a friend of his. They are the second sheet (carbon copy) of the poems. The address at the top of both poems is the Carlton Way address, both are signed at the bottom by Bukowski, both have corrections written by Bukowski in green (felt?) pen. The first poem is titled "tables" and is on two sheets, the second one is titled "A NOTE UPON A WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR WITH TINY HAIRS UNDER HIS CHIN:" and is on a single sheet.
I have no idea how to value them and I would like to sell them. Any ideas/help/interest?

 

[mjp]

Post some scans?

Mid-70s carbon manuscripts can have a pretty wide price range. Condition matters, signature matters, content matters (though it seems to matter less to some). Which is why I suggested uploading scans.

Those are also uncollected which should warrant a bit of a premium, but again, a lot of buyers don't place any particular value on that.

 

[Thaha]

Thank you for the info; I appreciate your getting responding so quickly.
Don't have a scan, but here are photos. Do you know anything about these two pieces? Thanks!

 

[bospress.net]

They certainly are authentic. Did you buy them from Red Stodolsky or Scott Harrison?

These are worth less now than they were 8 years ago, but worth more now that you can actually get for them now, if that makes any sense. The market is weak. 10 years ago, you would pay $200 at the high end, and $40 at the low end for late70's early 80's poems. If these are carbon copies I'd say $400-$500 a piece, but not sure that you'd have an easy time finding someone to pay that for them. A few years ago, you could have offered these to one of two rabid collectors (or put it on ebay, where they fought it out) and sold them for $1500 each. I still say that this was an unrealistic, inflated price and only peaked for a short time. Once those two buyers stopped buying (at the same time, no less) the market for manuscripts tanked.

 

[mjp]

The market tanked because Harrison flooded it.

If you recall those two knuckleheads who drove up the prices came in toward the end of Harrison's stash (or so he said at the time). As far as they knew there wasn't much left for them to fight over. I suspect if they had been there from the beginning, or come in midstream (and not been lunatics), the prices would have never reached the $1500 range. Only because the supply was so plentiful.

Having said that, yes, the manuscripts seem undervalued to me right now. But what is the real value of these things (of anything)? Only what someone will pay. Not a great time to sell. But I don't anticipate a "great time to sell" again for quite a while. And it will likely never be as great a time to sell as it was when those two deep pockets were buying.

The prices pre eBay were even lower. You could buy 1960s manuscripts and letters for $50, $60. And the books - let's not get started on what you could pick those up for.

 

[Thaha]

Thank you for all of the info. I believe the dude I purchased them from was Scott-- did he own a bookstore in LA?
When I purchased them the thought of them being an investment was never in my mind (although I would have sold for $1500!!!) I can't recall exactly what I paid, but I think it was a few hundred dollars for both. Now I need the $$$, but I think it best to hold on to them for a while, as I really really like both poems and don't want to let them go for pennies on the dollar. Perhaps there will be another film made from one of Bukowski's novels one day and that may restart the whole process again...

Thank you again for such great info!