I look to see what's available on ebay almost every day. I am an avid Dark Shadows collector, and have acquired a lot of items from there. It's easier than lugging a bunch of stuff home from the dealers' rooms at the Dark Shadows Festival, which I have done too, and a lot of items available on ebay are not available in the dealers' rooms. I have never seen them. I have complete sets of all the items I wanted, bubble gum cards, 1897 pinups, comic books, paperbacks, puzzles, games, Viewmaster (with 3 reels & booklet), and I have seen these items sell for a lot more than I paid for them, so I think I got good deals. Darren mentioned movie items, I have a complete set of "House of Dark Shadows" lobby cards from France still in their original envelopes, and a poster from Italy. Those were pricey, but then I would expect that for foreign items. I have also acquired some rare and almost impossible to find autographs, some of them of deceased actors. You really can't put a price on those. The Dark Shadows Collectibles Book states basically, a collectible is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. It also lists value estimates based on what the items have sold for at auctions and at the Dark Shadows Festival dealers' rooms in the past several years. Prices are for items in mint condition. This is a good book to read to get an idea of prices on memorabilia. Another book I have is called, A Guide To Collecting "Dark Shadows" Memorabilia. I do think $300 for Josette's Music Box, and $170 for a Magic Slate is way too much for those items. I have seen them going for that on ebay. Based on my knowledge of price ranges of Dark Shadows items, I know a good deal when I see one.
