Playboy Price List-Info for Buying, Selling for Collectors

There were a lot of great Playmates, but the 1980 era had more of the stunning playmates than any other era.

From 1982:

1982 Playmates

• Kimberly McArthur
• Anne-Marie Fox
• Karen Witter
• Linda Vaughn
• Kym Malin
• Lourdes Estores
• Lynda Wiesmeier
• Cathy St. George
• Connie Brighton
• Marianne Gravatte
• Marlene Janssen
• Charlotte Kemp

Hard to Beat....

     See that vintage Underwood typewriter being used by Hugh Hefner to create the first Playboy magazine. It has sold for more than $160,000 at an auction in Los Angeles. The sale at Julien’s Auctions on November 30 featured hundreds of items from the estate of Hefner, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 91.

      The typewriter was the sale’s top lot, achieving an impressive price of $162,500 against a pre-sale estimate of $2,000 – $4,000. Hefner had originally used the Underwood Standard Portable typewriter whilst at the University of Illinois, where he studied psychology and creative writing before starting his career as a copywriter. 

      Hefner’s personal copy of that first issue also crossed the block at Julien’s, selling for $31,250 (more than six times its estimate), and his entire archive of bound copies running from 1954 through to 2013 sold for $76,800. The interesting thing about the sale of the original copy is that it was not in that great of shape. VG to maybe a VG+ and definitely showed it's age. Somewhat surprising considering his penchant for detail and scrapbooking his memorabilia.

Here is an interesting question. If you are reading this you are either a collector, or looking into buying a vintage back issue of what was once the premiere men's magazine in the world. Always cutting edge and ahead of it's time. Playboy has interviewed heads of state and movers and shakers. It has photographed in various stages of undress celebrities, celebrity wanna-be's, as well as actresses and the girls next door type models. Most collectors start with a period in mind. Starting with the more current issues working backwards. Seems logical....no?

I argue that if you are interested in Playboy collecting as an investment, you need to go after the vintage and important issues first, as those tend to increase in value quicker than, say, issues from 1975 to date. As of this writing, some of the 1960's issues are becoming hard to find, but more on that later. I have witnessed different levels of collectors over the years. If you are a casual hobbyist, you probably started with "just having a copy" of the issue in your collection and completing a "run" for a certain period of time. This is typically the way most people started.

Once your collection was complete, maybe you achieved your goal, and could say "I have a complete set of Playboy magazine from 1953 to date. However, after a small haitus, you may have re-energized and created a higher goal....like getting all the vintage issues in Collector Grades, Trading/Selling your old copies and upgrading to better quality issues. Replacing them in the same manner you initiated from oldest to newest. You have been completely bitten by the collecting bug! You are now very proud of the collection you have built. Not ashamed to show off any of the vintage copies that are all now in collector grade.

The next step in the evolving is getting your set graded, or starting to replace again with professional graded issues in tamper proof slabs. The "serious" collectors strive to fill their runs with a minimum of CGC graded 9.0 or better issues. That is an achievement and is reserved mostly for high end collectors, BUT I have seen savvy collectors supplement their collections acquiring HIGH GRADE Slabbed Issues of IMPORTANT ISSUES ONLY as investments...pretty smart if you ask me.

There has been recent speculation on the number of issues printed for this scarce issue. As most sources indicate, the premiere issue had a circulation/print run of somewhere between 51,000 and 54,000 (although some sources indicate it was as high as 71,000).

What most people don't realize is that The Premiere Issue was actually available on newsstands beginning in October 1953. Along the way the premiere issue became synonymous with the month of December 1953 even though it had been available for 2 months prior. I find it amusing/curious that even though common folklore indicated the "early success" of the magazine was because it sold out of its initial launch and allowed Hefner to proceed with Number 2 (January 1954)....If that is a fact, then why did the January, February and March Issue offer a back issue of #1 IF you bought a subscription? I thought they were all sold out?

Regardless of my ranting, it has been speculated, that January 1954 actually had LESS ISSUES printed than the original! That, along with the fact that the magazine itself was printed poorly makes it much harder to find in high grade (for whatever reason, the silver gloss and the thickness of the paper seem to degrade more than most issues). If you have or can find a high grade #2, hang on to it!

OMG...did this guy even look?

-------- cut from description-------

I added close up pictures of the item so you could bid in confidence. Some colors may appear different because of the light. The item has slight wear, markings, cracks, breaks, internal damage, rips, tears, scratches, discoloration, dents, stickers, stains, spots, loose, broken, glued, or missing pieces. If there is internal damage or broken or missing pieces the item may or may not work perfectly. For parts or repair.

-------------------------------------

This is not the worst I ever saw, but we all need a magazine for "parts or repair". Please people, watch who you buy from......

      Current price list is a question I get frequently. Where can we find a price list for my used Playboy magazines. I have a dated one available here in excel format. You can find it under Checklist.It is older but is still functional and somewhat accurate. The problem, as always, is the price difference between an average issue (which "most" copies are) as compared to High Grade Collectible Issues.

       As an example, because of the black covers, the January 1974 issue in most cases, is average to below average and is valued around 10-15 dollars. IF you can find a legitimate "Near Mint" (9.0 - 9.4) it is worth hundreds of dollars. So, as you can see, a price list is still dependent on knowledge of grading and giving an honest, reliable assessment of your issue.

     Also, as an aside.......I am so tired of people referring to dtmagazine for pricing. Good grief! The damn website has not been updated in 12 freaking years....come on people......The HIGHEST price mentioned is $6300.00 for Volume 1 #1 Premiere December 1953. Needless to say how inaccurate that is, with issues routinely selling for $10,000.00 + and a couple sales approaching $71,000 as well as an Ebay sale for almost $100,000.00. Granted, this is an extreme example, but it is, unfortunately, listed on Google Search first page, so everybody believes it. WAKE UP GOOGLE! When people search for Playboy Price List, at least give them something current.

In this day and age, not only can't I understand how a seller can say "See Photo for Details" and have a blurry, dark picture you can't even make out the PLAYBOY title logo. SAD!

Don't even get me started on lazy sellers who don't remove an issue from the storage sleeve to shoot a picture. What are you hiding? OH....and in a temporary sleeve, it is not "SEALED"!!!!!

Did you remember to get your $2000.00 copy of the coneheads issue? hahahahahaha

Sometimes you just shake your head and wonder.......

---------------------------------------------

Playboy magazine February 1991 Cristy Thom Pamela Anderson NEAR MINT.

Condition is Good.

Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.

A little cover damage as seen in last two pictures thank you

---------------------------------------------

Which is it? Near Mint or Good? A little cover damage?

This would be lucky to grade a 2.5

December 1953 #1

The first issue, published in December 1953, did not carry a date, as Hefner was unsure whether there would be a second issue. It was produced in Hefner's Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used had originally been taken for a calendar, rather than for Playboy, and was originally named the sweetheart of the month. Estimated circulation was 53,991 (Source: Playboy Collector's Association Playboy Magazine Price Guide). There are unsubstantiated rumors that up to 30,000 were destroyed by law enforcement officials, and that there were 3 DIFFERENT printings of Issue 1 (The Normal Issue, the Red Star Issue, and the Page 3 Issue) The cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in Mint to Near Mint condition sell for thousands of dollars, and a copy of the first issue of Playboy, autographed by Joe DiMaggio supposedly sold at a Sotheby's auction for over $40,000. There is some that say it was a forgery, as well as an issue with Marilyns signature on it. As far as I know, the highest price paid for a Playboy magazine has been 99,000.00 for an autographed by Hugh Hefner Number 1 graded a spectacular 9.6 by CGC. There have been sales of other issues non CGC graded for as high as 71,700.00 that can be verified. Some estimate that only a couple hundred Near Mint issues still exist.

There are differing views on which variants are more rare. According to CGC Census statistics, the Red Star edition is the rarest, followed by the Page 3 Issue then the Newsstand edition. These are only the stats for graded issues, but that is about all we can go on.

There were some interesting auction results this past year. The largest of them was in March when a complete 1954 run all above 9.0 with "White Pages" hit the auction block at Heritage in Texas. Some of the highlights include a January 1955 (Bettie Page Issue) with a steller grade of Near Mint/Mint (9.8) selling for a whopping almost $9000.00 followed closely by February 1954 Playboy #3 (HMH Publishing, 1954) CGC NM+ 9.6 White Pages for $7170.00.Some of the frenzy continued as a #1 REPRINT collected 1500.00 bucks. A nice start to the year with some record prices showing that having high grade CGC will sell for premium dollars.

I will review some other high end sales as well as some private sales I have been privy to. Some feel that Playboy collecting is making a quiet comeback as some the earlier issues are drying up and the 1960's are becoming harder to find in superb shape.