Dave Arneson’s Personal Game Collection

This was a great way to start my morning (no sarcasm intended at all). Apparently, Dave Arneson’s personal collection of games and notes from his days as a designer were left in a storage unit after his death. Eventually, they were put up for auction, and found their way to The Dragon’s Trove, which specializes in auctioning exactly that sort of material. From their website:

In early 2011, The Dragon’s Trove had to chance to buy what is
arguably one of the two most important collections of gaming materials
every offered for sale, the one belonging to the late Dave Arneson,
co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. In my opinion, the only other
more important collection would be the one owned by the late Gary Gygax
that is currently being sold off by his widow, Gail. When I was
contacted by the owner Dave’s collection, it was immediately apparent
how lucky all gamers were that this collection was not lost forever.
Because it purchased at a storage locker auction (that’s right, just
like on TV) and it was by pure chance that the new owner attempted to
find the meaning of some of the boxes of paper rather than deciding that
there was no gold or jewelry to be found, and just tossing it all into
the nearest dumpster.

Now, after nearly a year of careful cataloging and research by Paul
Stormberg of The Collector’s Trove, we are proud to offer this once in a
lifetime collection to the public. Paul Stormberg is probably the
foremost expert of this type of esoteric collection, and will be holding
a series of auctions over the coming months to allow the vast
assortment of items to find a home. You can follow this on his site
here:

The Collector’s Trove’s Web Site

I’m very pleased that things worked out the way they did, and am looking forward to seeing some of the hitherto-unknown material come to light.

The Collector’s Trove will also be auctioning a portion of the collection starting this Sunday:

The auction will include nearly 200 items including several rare
wargames, Call of Cthulhu, Empire of the Petal Throne, Blackmoor,
Dungeons & Dragons, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Highlights
of the auction will include inscribed and autographed copies, editorial
and review copies, author’s and comp copies, Dave Arneson library
copies, and personal play copies! Among many special items are a series
of Empire of the Petal Throne books and journals autographed by the
late M.A.R. Barker.