Harry Potter Books Signed by JK Rowling Not Selling at Charity Auction

Despite being transphobic without a mask for the past two years (somehow, almost impressively, getting progressively worse) and praising people who are self-aware enough to call themselves fascists , JK Rowling’s mainstream legacy has remained relatively intact. However, a recent incident with a first edition Harry Potter the auctioned books seem to indicate that his fall from grace has far-reaching effects.

Of course, beyond some archived footage, she didn’t appear in HBO Max’s Back to Hogwarts special, and fantastic beasts the franchise is basically a sinking ship (albeit for many reasons), but Rowling’s influence is still quite strong considering The cursed child the play is still on Broadway, Barnes & Noble continues to expand its Harry Potter sections, and no later than June 30, Warner Bros. reaffirmed that they would continue to work with her despite her overt and murderous bigotry.

Despite this, some interesting news emerged from the world of collectibles and auction houses when a complete set of signed first edition Harry Potter novels failed to secure even the minimum bid of 119,500. $ at Christie’s. If that sounds like a lot (and it is), consider it’s the same auction house since the late 1700s, the price is a bit inflated for handling charges, and that’s it. is a place known for its prestige (and legal money laundering via dubious provenance).

With all that in mind, while the price sounds high for the average person, this price is comparable to what it costs for a single book of value, let alone a set. In fact, it’s down for the Potter series, as in December 2021, Heritage Auctions broke records by selling a first edition of just the first novel for $471,000.

Excuses

Some Rowling ride-or-die fans (including those who still do almost exclusively Harry Potter content online) tried to downplay that it wasn’t selling as a good thing as there is a rumor that one in three of the novels had forged signatures. Christie’s has since updated to say the auction replaced the fifth novel. Whether it’s true or a rumour, I doubt it affected the sale as it wasn’t a well-known discussion.

Others tried to frame it as “oh people didn’t know about the list”. However, Rowling and many others shared the news. Because his Lumos Foundation – which says “every penny will go directly to helping children and their families” – was to receive a portion of donations to the foundation, I’d bet the news of this auction the list probably traveled through the communication channels of the wealthy.

Of course, this may have only been a blow, considering all the reasons I mentioned above why we can say that Rowling’s transphobia was, unfortunately, not a deciding factor for many. However, barring actual events that would generally inflate the value of such a thing, these books might simply not be considered a worthwhile investment. Even those who haven’t completely cut Rowling out are aware that she’s lost some of her shine, especially when people are parting with their own copies of the books left and right to donate money to organizations. who help trans people with everything from health care to housing.

(via Twitter, featured image: Alyssa Shotwell & Creative Commons.)

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