Harry Potter goes for $954 a magic word

  December 13, 2002 at 8:01 PM ET
      DarkMark
 


A private United States buyer coughed up US$485 ($954) a word yesterday for a 93-word synopsis of the yet-to-be-completed fifth book about wizard boy wonder Harry Potter.

"It was sold to a telephone bidder from America for £28,680 [$90,990]," said a spokesman for Sotheby's auction house.

The price for the collection of random words giving a tantalising glimpse into the plot of Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix was nearly five times the pre-sale estimate of up to £6000.

J.K. Rowling offered the teaser for sale to raise funds for Book Aid International.

The content of the plot preview will remain the buyer's secret, although Sotheby's did release a selection of the chosen words as a taster before the auction.

"Thirty-eight chapters ... might change ... longest volume ... Ron ... broom ... sacked ... house-elf ... new teacher ... dies ... sorry," were obviously more than enough to generate keen bidding.

Source: New Zealand Herald
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