Two readings from the same day, two medians which vary from simple to triple

Rather than choosing the most flattering number, you might as well explain why they diverge — it's more useful than a rating.

This article details the three statements, explains what separates them, shows what they allow us to assert despite everything, and gives a reading method applicable to any series.

Les trois relevés

All date from August 29, 2026 and relate to fixed price announcements. These are prices asked by sellers, counted separately depending on whether the copy is raw or certified.

Why they diverge

The explanation is entirely that each query selects, and it is verifiable.

A broad search returns all numbers.Over a series of several dozen numbers, most of which are common, the median goes down mechanically — $9.99 describes the average number, not the first.

A targeted search on the first number concentrates the searched parts.It brings back more high-level certified copies, resulting in a certified median of $525.00.

A search mentioning circulation attracts sellers who document.These precisely describe their copies, including late prints - hence 65 certified announcements but a median pulled down by less sought-after copies.

None of these three measures lie.They describe three different populations that nothing obliges to look alike, and the only mistake would be to treat them as competing estimates of the same thing.

What we can say despite everything

The discrepancy does not preclude any conclusion. Three observations stand up to the three statements.

The body of the series is cheap.Regardless of the query, the raw median remains between $9.99 and $23.00, and entries fall between $1.50 and $2.00. Reading this work in numbers does not cost much.

The certified market is massive for self-publishing.From 16 to 65 ads depending on the measurement: even the lowest figure is considerable for a series published by its author.

Colorized editions have no collectible market.Zero certified ads out of 60 ads noted, and a median aligned with that of current numbers.

These three findings are robust precisely because they do not depend on a particular query.What survives several independent measurements is better than a precise number obtained once.

What the certified slope reveals

The scale of the certified market is the most singular fact in this series and deserves to be explained.

On the other self-published works examined in this campaign, certification is anecdotal or even absent: one announcement, two, sometimes none. There are dozens of them here.

The reason is functional.A second vintage print is materially almost identical to the first, the distinction based on mentions in small print. Certification is therefore the simplest way to establish a rank, and it has a usefulness that no one disputes.

This also explains why it is practiced on modest specimens. A median certified at $150.00 in the third measurement indicates that we are certifying copies that are not worth a fortune — because it is not the price that we are trying to establish, it is the identity.

This is a use of certification different from that observed elsewhere, where it is mainly used to set a status on an already expensive part.

What the extreme demands say

All three readings have spectacular maximums, and it's worth saying what they are.

There are requests for $2,950.00 gross and up to $7,500.00 certified. These amounts are isolated: no neighbor corroborates them, and the corresponding medians are two orders of magnitude lower.

A request without a neighbor is not a price, it is a proposition.There is no reason to consider it as serious, and there is no indication that it has ever found a buyer - an ad report only measures what is posted.

However, these values ​​have a real effect. Taken out of context, they create expectations among occasional sellers who align their own requests with the highest figure seen, and the mechanism propagates without any transaction having validated it.

This is one more reason to think in terms of median and number of observations. The median ignores the extremes by construction; the average would find itself distorted to the point of no longer describing anything.

What this case teaches about published odds

A general conclusion is necessary, and it applies well beyond this series.

Any published rating results from a method: a choice of sources, a scope of references, a way of dealing with extremes.This method is almost always invisible, while it determines the outcome as much as the market itself.

This file provides the clearest demonstration of the entire campaign: three measurements of the same object, on the same day, by the same person, with differences that would be interpreted as years of evolution if they appeared in different sources.

The lesson is not that we should be suspicious of numbers. This is because a figure accompanied by its method is worth infinitely more than a precise figure delivered alone — even if the first seems less certain.

This is why each article in this campaign indicates the date of the statement, the number of announcements, and the separation between raw and certified. These details make the reading more cumbersome; they are what make the numbers usable.

Misreading a market

We must add a limit which applies to all of these readings, including mine. An asking price is not a price paid, and nothing in this data provides information on the transactions actually concluded. A seller can advertise an amount for years without ever finding a buyer, and his announcement will weigh in every survey carried out in the meantime. What I measure is therefore the state of supply, never that of the market.

A reading method applicable everywhere

Four reflexes are enough to avoid making a mistake, in this series as in any other.

Always ask for the query.A market figure without its method of obtaining is not information, it is an assertion.

Count the ads before reading the median.A median in ten observations and a median in a hundred do not have the same status, even if they are written the same.

Cross several measurements.What appears in three differently constructed statements is solid; what only appears in one is a property of the query.

Systematically rule out the extremes.On these three statements, the maximums range from $199.99 to $7,500.00 without any being corroborated by a neighbor.

These four reflexes cost a few seconds and they protect against most errors.They are better than knowing a rating, which will expire long before them.

What to record

In a series where public measures diverge so much, the sheet must preserve what these measures will never say.

The price paid, the date, and the exact description the ad carried.This last mention is key: it indicates whether your copy was sold as an early print, as a late print or unspecified - information which determines what you can say later and which disappears as soon as the ad is removed.

On a series where the edition rank is a factor of one hundred between two identical copies in appearance, this is the only usable trace of what you have purchased.

The ad capture itself, when possible: seller descriptions are the primary source for this entire file, and none survive the sale.

These two statements constitute your own statement, the only one whose method will be known to you - which is precisely what all the others lack.

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