I was wondering if anyone can please discover for me the answers to
these two questions:

Question 1:

What is the approximate auction value of my 30 year complete original
set of National Geographic Magazines?

General Collection Information:

My collection:

* spans January 1976 to December 2006;
* includes original National Geographic Magazine boxes - two boxes for
each six months of the year;
* includes all original maps, supplements, special editions for
members, including first holograph cover, for example;
* includes original National Geographic Index for each year, including Index boxes;
* includes boxes for organizing map supplements.

Provenance of collection:

Collection comes as a result of my unbroken National Geographic
Magazine membership commencing with January 1st, 1975, and proof of
provenance being my original National Geographic Member Certificate so
stating my membership start date.


Question 2:

Among National Geographic Magazine collectors, which covers are
considered either the most valuable or the most sought-after, (if that
points to the same cover(s) or in fact are two separate covers?

Additional Info:

I have already checked eBay Auctions and although a lot of full
collections and various covers are available, there are so many it is
almost impossible to discern the answers to my question. I have not
checked any other resources to answer these questions myself.

Pricing does not include my intention to offer a top gratuity for an
obviously well researched answer, including citations to verify your
answer.

Thank you.

Not really very much, they are too modern,  The sort of person who
would buy these magazines probably already subscribes to them and will
have read the latest. Break them up into separate decades. Provenance
means nothing.  Yes sometimes the separate issues are worth more but
that will depend on the buyers market. keep checking eBay, I hope you
succeed


Kemlo

I worked for several years in a used bookstore. Collections of
National Geographic are generally not worth nearly as much as the
owners might hope, particularly if the issues are fairly recent, as
yours are. In the used-periodicals market, things that are neither
rare nor particularly old are of little interest to most collectors.

Thanks for the feedback kemlo-ga and pinkfreud-ga. I guess your
comments pretty well confirm what I suspected - they're only special
to me - like many collections are to their owners. I know the old
editions are worth a dime a dozen. For some strange reason I've always
held them in higher esteem than any old run-of-the-mill monthly
publication. But, when you get down to it, I must confess, that is all
they are really.

Anyway, the kids want my collection left to them. They learned to
appreciate the photography - which was my impetus for becoming a
member of the Society - and my going on to become a professional
photographer. They assure me they will continue to derive some
pleasure from having it close at hand. Now, deciding how to divide
it....

Thanks again so much,

CanuckBC-ga

Value of a National Geographic collection: Not a lot of money.
Providing both education and entertainment to your children: Priceless!