A Harry Potter Book, Bought for $1 at a Yard Sale, Could Sell for More Than $37,000 at Auction

Around 1999, an office worker from Stafford, England, was browsing at a yard sale when he came across a 1997 print version of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. He purchased the book for $1, thinking nothing more than that it would be a nice read, as the New York Post reports.

What he didn’t know was that the copy he purchased is actually one of just 500 original copies, complete with misspellings and typos. Nearly 20 years later, that now-54-year-old gentleman could receive upwards of $37,000 for that bargain book buy.

"I thought nothing of it at the time," the man (whose name was not revealed) said. "I read the book … and then put it away in a cupboard for years ... It’s so exciting to think that a holiday read could be worth so much now."

Earlier this year, an autographed first edition copy of the same book sold at auction for $90,000. The auction for this recently discovered copy does not have a precise date yet, but will be later this month—when we can expect the man to walk away with a pretty penny.

[h/t New York Post]