Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Collector's Trove Presents... Timothy M. Jiardini Collection

Howdy Folks,

The Collector's Trove Presents the Timothy M. Jiardini Collection!

The auction is up and running at: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZstormber

The Collector's Trove has been authorized to auction the collection of Tim Jiardini. These items were acquired during Tim's six years as an employee of TSR, the company that founded the roleplaying game industry, and a lifetime of playing RPG's.

Each lot comes with its own unique Letter of Authentication personally signed and dated by Tim Jiardini.

Tim was employed at TSR from 1978 (unofficially it was 1977 but he was still underage at the time!) until 1983. His mother worked at Graphic Printing in Lake Geneva and did the typesetting on all of the early TSR books that were printed there. It was this connection that got Tim welcomed into the world of TSR at the ripe old age of 14!

Tim was first employed at the Mail Order Dungeon Hobby Shop working for Ernie Gygax, and surrounded by shelves and pallets of all of the fantastic products at the height of TSR's heyday. Probably, one of the best jobs to be had by a teenage gamer in the late 70's! Oh, the envy!

Later Tim was employed in the TSR mail room, working for Joe Orlowski. From there he went to the shipping department to work for Ken Reek. After graduating from high school, he moved up to sales, working for Karen Ledger. Finally, he returned to TSR's shipping department in the early 80's where he worked at import/export of TSR products. When the layoffs came in 1983, Tim says, "They let me go in order to attend college instead of firing someone who had a family and kids to raise." So ended Tim's stay in the Camelot of our youth.

During his tenure at TSR, Tim was involved in various campaigns such as Rob Kuntz's World of Kalibruhn campaign. He was also involved in playtesting the original ranger and paladin classes with Ernie Gygax. According to Tim, "If there was any tiny contribution, it was that they learned through my playtesting that they had to punish you severely for acting out of character (I was never a very good paladin, more chaotic than lawful) or for switching character classes. They already had some penalties, obviously, but my chaotic play forced them to make the penalties more severe."

Of course, this segues in to Tim's major claim to fame in the RPG annals, his character Arrarat the Gifted (Lucky, Unfortunate, Foolish, Bold, and Avenger), the fallen ranger, who appeared in a Rogues Gallery NPC entry. The description tells us that Arrarat, "[…] was at one time a ranger, but after a time found that he could not live with the restrictions of the stoic group and so abandoned it […]". Sounds familiar!

While Tim modestly states, "I don't think I had much influence on the development of the game, other than as a bystander watching it all happen and hoping they would allow me to play once in a while", it is clear that he was part of the magical alchemy at TSR that produced the games that filled the imagination of our youth. Quite a legacy indeed!

Now you have the opportunity to be a curator of a portion of this legacy! I look forward to seeing your bids!

Here is just a sampling of the 80 or so items up for auction:

TRUE 1st Print Player's Handbook (The first one ever sold! Signed by Gary Gygax!)
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (Orange Cover Recalled Version)
TRUE 1st Print Greyhawk
D&D OCE White Box (autographed by Tim)
Tim's Arrarat Character Sheet! (Tim's character sheet for the mischievous Arrarat, the fallen ranger from the Rogues Gallery!)
GenCon XI Souvenir Program
Tricolor
Panzer Warfare
The Dungeoneer Fanzine Issue 1 by Paul Jaquays (Addressed to Mike Carr)
World of Greyhawk Folio (Original Shrinkwrap)
World of Greyhawk 1983 Boxed Set (Original Shrinkwrap)
Gamma World (1980; Original Shrinkwrap)
Gamma World (1983; Original Shrinkwrap)
Marvel Superheroes (Original Shrinkwrap)
Gangbusters Boxed Set
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn (Original Shrinkwrap)
Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks (Original Shrinkwrap)
Hildebrant Worlds of Wonder Calendar!
AC1 The Shady Dragon Inn (Original Shrinkwrap)
Monocolor B1 In Search of the Unknown (Original Shrinkwrap)
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (French; Green, Original Shrinkwrap)
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (Green, Original Shrinkwrap)
B4 Lost City (Original Shrinkwrap)
AD&D Player Character Record Sheets (3rd Print; Original Shrinkwrap)
Monocolor C1 Hidden Shrine of Tamachoan (Original Shrinkwrap)
I2 Tomb of the Lizard King (Original Shrinkwrap)
L2 Assassin's Knot (Original Shrinkwrap)
R1 To the Aid of Falx
RPGA2 Black Opal Eye
RPGA3 The Forgotten King
RPGA4 Elixir of Life
S1 Tomb of Horrors (Green; Original Shrinkwrap)
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (Original Shrinkwrap)
U2 Danger at Dunwater (Original Shrinkwrap)
…and much more!

Futures Bright,

Paul