National Geographic's from 1940's?

[wayne gohl]

Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa.

 

I recently got some old National Geographic magazines dated 1945 and 1947 and have them up for sale. Because they were not moving I decided to look online for more information on them and see that one from 1945 is on the top 100 list. 

 

What does this mean and would it make that particular magazine more valuable then the rest?

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Wayne

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Wayne,

To the best of my knowledge, the Top 100, short for the original title of: “The One Hundred Best Special Numbers,” was a list put together by a well-known published authority of the NG Magazine, Edwin C. Buxbaum.

He first published a pamphlet to assist collectors in 1935, followed by an official collector’s guide in the 50’s, a second edition in the 60’s and a final third edition in 1971.

In this last edition, you’ll find the aforementioned title as Chapter Fifteen where he describes how he derived his top 100, revised from his earlier editions. Essentially, the “special numbers” are “…those devoted entirely, or almost entirely, to one subject or area, and those containing an outstanding article of extraordinary interest…”.

He continues his discussion with, “…of course, (the list was) never so designated by the National Geographic Society. …” In other words, the list was based entirely on his expertise and in-the-end was completely subjective.

As I mentioned, the top 100 list was slightly different (revised) for each of Buxbaum’s editions so you may actually come across lists that are inconsistent with one another. Additionally, since 1971, using Buxbaum’s own criteria, the list should have been revised dropping some on the “older” list and adding others. Unfortunately Buxbaum passed away (I believe in the late 70’s) and no one has picked up the flag. So the list is either grossly outdated or contaminated with additional subjectivity from who knows where (or from whom).

As for additional value for being on (one of) the list(s), I have not observed the list(s) influencing the value of any magazine one way or another, but I am far from being the expert in this arena.

What I have observed is that “uniqueness” is more critical to the value of an individual magazine. Uniqueness such as a record insert (of Churchill’s speech, of space flight, or whale songs) still attached to the magazine makes an issue more valuable than an issue devoted entirely to one subject, both examples of which had more than 1 million issues published. Granted, the examples of the records were published after 1960, not the 40’s as you are inquiring.

Of course, salesmanship also plays into this, and perhaps interest can be peaked by referencing the issue as being on (one of) the Top 100 list(s).

Good luck with your sale!

Mel

[wayne gohl]

Hi Melvin

Thank you very much for the valuable information it is much appreciated. It sounds like the Mayan 2012 Stone Saga, the engraver died before he could finish his writings and now we think 2012 is the end of the world.  I must go through these other magazines to see if there is anything inside them although I think there is nothing there. I will certainly add "top 100..." to my listing to enhance that sale.

 

Much appreciated indeed.

 

Regards,

 

Wayne