AUCTIONS: July 2025 Agatha Christie Lots.

In July 2025, there are a few auctions that feature Agatha Christie collectibles. They are all detailed below individually by auction house. Of note when looking at the estimated values, usually they are far below when the likely realized price will be. This is often done to encourage bidding. In addition, it is important to know that there is a Buyer’s Premium added to the hammer price at almost all auctions which generally ranges from 20% - 30%. Taxes and shipping costs may also add to the cumulative cost of a lot.

3 July 2025: Activity Auctions (USA): Online via LiveAuctioneers.com

Lot 308G: Sparkling Cyanide, Collins for The Crime Club, London, 1945. First Edition, Dust Jacket. Estimate $3,000 - $4,000. CC: Sorry for the late notice on this one, but a rather optimistic estimate in my opinion despite these 1940s books becoming much harder to find in complete jackets! If you've read this book and enjoyed it, then do read the short story Yellow Iris (if you haven't) which features Poirot. This novel is based on that story but as Christie did with many of her stage plays, Poirot is removed.

17 July 2025: Forum Auctions:  Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper.

Lot 98: Cards on the Table, The Crime Club, Collins, London, 1936. First edition, light browning to endpapers, original orange cloth lettered in black, slight sunning to spine tips, dust-jacket priced at 7/6, spine ends and corners chipped affecting first word of title at head of spine and publisher's imprint at foot, few short nicks and tears to head and foot of panels with light creasing. Estimate: £1,500 - £2,000. CC: This will likely sell for substantially more as mid-1930s books in original jackets are now exceptionally scarce.

Lot 99: Murder is Easy, The Crime Club, Collins, London, 1939. First edition, original library cloth, slight bumping to spine tips else fine, dust-jacket, closely trimmed at head, light toning to spine spine ends and corners chipped, with loss to lettering of title and imprint, minor chipping to spine tips, light foxing and faint surface soiling to lower panel. Estimate: £1,000 - £1,500. CC: While less appealling than lot 98 due to its year of publication and less attractive jacket, this one more common collectible has now also become quite scarce.

Lot 100: Hercule Poirot's Christmas, The Crime Club, Collins, London, 1939. First edition, original library cloth, dust-jacket, trimmed at foot with loss to imprint at foot of spine, slight toning to spine, spine ends and corners a little chipped, a few short nicks with creasing to head. Estimate: £1,000 - £1,500. CC: This is a library copy which is distinguished by trimmed pages, a smaller overall book with different cloth and thus a trimmed dust-jacket to fit. This is why the foot of the spine is missing most of ‘The Crime Club’ lettering. These jackets are often tinkered with to recreate the missing bit and are then married to correct first editions. It's still collectible but the price is likely correct here.

Lot 101: The Body in the Library, The Crime Club, Collins, London, 1942. First edition, original cloth, sunning to upper and lower edge, slight bumping to spine tips, dust-jacket priced at 7s.6d., slight toning to spine, spine tips and corners a little chipped, larger chip to top corner of lower panel. Estimate: £600 - £800. CC: The first state of the jacket with the artist's name appearing below the 'y' of Library. Export copies had jackets that lacked the name. Thus, very collectible and arguably worth double the estimate.

24 July 2025: Potter & Potter Auctions (USA): Books, News & Papers.

Lot 558: The Seven Dials Mystery, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1929. First American Edition. Publisher’s full orange cloth, front board and spine stamped in black, patterned endleaves, publisher’s dust jacket, previous owner’s signature on ffep.; light rubbing to jacket. Estimate: $600 - $800. CC: In my opinion one of the two most beautiful first edition jackets for a Christie novel - the other being the Dodd Mead edition of Partners in Crime. Of note, the new WilliamMorrow paperback (USA) of this book with art by Stephen Millership used this original Seven Dials jacket as a starting point and then modified it. See link for more details.

Lot 559: 4:50 From Paddington, The Crime Club, Collins, London, [1957]. First Edition. Publisher’s full red textured paper boards, spine stamped in black, publisher’s unclipped (“12s. 6d. net”) dust jacket (hinges just starting; light rubbing, soiling to jacket, small tear to fore-edge near rear jacket flap). Estimate: $150 - $300. CC: A book I always enjoy reading and still affordable (in relative terms). The supply of high quality firsts from the 1950s is getting slimmer and this appears in Very Good to Near Fine condition.

Summary.

In addition to these more traditional auctions, eBay is filled with interesting Christie collectibles and should regularly be visited. However, be more cautious on eBay as seller descriptions are often inaccurate so rely heavily on pictures and ask for more if they are inadequate. As always, you can reach me by email at collectchristie@gmail.com, or via my Social Media platforms (details below), or by adding a comment to this article.

Upcoming Speaking Events.

16-Sept-2025: Cornwall, England. If you are going to be in Southwest England for the International Agatha Christie Festival, please know that I may be speaking at an event for U3A (The University of the Third Age) in Launceston, Cornwall on Tuesday 16th September. The event will be open to all and will be about 'Agatha Christie & The West Country'. I'll be talking about her books, plays and short-stories specifically set in Cornwall and Devon. I say 'may be speaking', because the venue requires a certain amount of attendance so initial interest from U3A members is being determined. Once the event is confirmed I'll let everyone know.

18-Sept-2025: Devon, England. Later that week, I speak at the International Agatha Christie Festival on Thursday 18th September. Only three tickets remain. The ticket gains you access to my talk on the artist Tom Adams, a drinks reception and the launch of a new exhibit of his work at the Torre Abbey Museum. More details and tickets can be found at: https://www.iacf-uk.org/festival-2025/literary/tom-adams-and-agatha-christie-partners-in-crime

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Happy Collecting.