Signed ‘Harry Potter’ book bought for a penny to be auctioned off for as much as $2,700

ENGLAND - A British man who owns more than 1,500 “Harry Potter” books will be auctioning off some of his collection, including a first-edition book with J.K. Rowling’s signature that he got for only a penny.

Mark Cavoto, 51, of Buxton, Derbyshire, began collecting “Harry Potter” books about 10 years ago. His daughter Holly, who is now 25, loved the books when she was a child.

As she got older, her parents decided to sell some of her older books and sold each one quickly for about $11 on eBay. Because of the quick sales, her parents decided to make a business out of it.

Mark and his wife would search for “Harry Potter” books on Amazon at low prices by using ISBN numbers. Then they would sell them as collector’s sets for more on eBay.

It was through this process that Mark ended up getting the signed book for only a penny.

He said his daughter Holly was inspecting the books and ended up noticing one marked up with ink. She eventually went back to that book and realized it was signed by Rowling and that it was a first-edition from 1998 of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” the second novel in the seven-book series.

The signature said, “To Alexandra (again!) J.K. Rowling.”

The book is estimated to go for about 1,800 to 2,500 euros, which is roughly $1,996 to $2,772.

It will go up for auction, along with other special collector’s books from Mark’s collection on Dec. 12 at Hansons’ Fine Art & Library Auction in Staffordshire.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.