A Harry Potter book set to be sold for 50p in a car boot sale is now expected to fetch £50,000 after it turned out to be a rare first edition.
And that will spell a magical Christmas for Karen Rumsey, 59, and her family.
Daughter Charlotte, 28, was helping her mum with a clear-out and put the hardback Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone into a pile of 50p books.
She said: “I didn’t give it a second thought.
"But soon after, on the Antiques Roadshow, someone had some rare Harry Potter books and the experts said they could be worth £13,000.
“I rang mum and asked her to check ours.
"I began reading the issue points that identify it as first edition and as she turned the pages everything seemed to be exactly the same.”
Solicitor Charlotte, from Preston, Lancs, had the book’s history confirmed by experts.
She said: “Mum simply can’t believe she has had such a valuable book sitting on her bookshelf all that time.”
The 1997 first edition, one of only 500 printed, was given to the family by a friend in 1999.
Karen, from Blackpool, who also has sons Callum, 27, and Cameron, 25, is to have it auctioned by Hansons at Bishton Hall, Staffs, next Friday.
The company’s book expert, Jim Spencer, said: “This is the seventh first edition of Philosopher’s Stone I’ve found. Only another 493 left to go!”
In October the firm sold a similar book for £60,000.
