Jim Davies, a longtime local who is originally from the United Kingdom, recently realised his collection of Harry Potter books held extraordinary value.
Mr Davies purchased the set of all seven books from a friend in the UK who was a "collector of all sorts of things".
"She bought the set of books as she was told they would be valuable one day," Mr Davies said.
She’d already offered the set to a local bookshop — the owner, Mr Davies said, declined and said they were worth "nothing".
"My friend was going to throw them out, so I said to her I’d purchase the books for $200."
All seven were originally bought directly from publishing house Bloomsbury, and, to this day, have not been read.
While first-print Harry Potter books have become increasingly high in value, due to their rarity and demand from fans, one book in Mr Davies’ collection is particularly special.
His copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — the third novel in the series, published in 1999 — contains a rare printing error. In the copyright page, the author’s name is printed as "Joanne Rowling".
When first printed, Bloomsbury made the call to swap "Joanne" for "J.K.", thinking if the author was known to be a woman, young boys may be less inclined to pick the book up.
Just 2500 copies of the book were printed before the error was spotted.
As to the value of the printing error, one copy recently sold in Auckland through Webb’s Auction House for over $5000, while there is one in the UK for sale at present, via Bayliss Rare Books, for $18,606.
Mr Davies, who has kept the books in perfect condition, said he planned to sell the full set on Trade Me, but was not yet sure what he would ask for them.
