First ever version of Doom in Germany

[Katzimir]

Hello Doom World Community,

 

this ist my first post here.

 

I was rummaging through my old games box in the attic. Then I found my original version of Doom, which I bought in 1993. Doom Version 1.1, complete on 4 original floppy disks, with original big box, the Pearl manual (20 p.) and the Pearl hint book (32 p.), plus a Pearl disk with Doom update to 1.2 - everything in Top condition.

 

At that time, in Germany Doom was officially licensed and distributed by two companies only: CDV Software and Pearl Agency. Of course by mail order only.

 

I have the version from Pearl Agency. My version is so early that Pearl didn't even have the original manual from id Software. The labels of the disks do not even have the additional imprint "Registered" as in subsequent versions!

 

Here is the text that Pearl Agency had printed in German in the specially produced pre-release manual: "The programme description in this manual is based on the press version of Doom that was the only one available at the time of going to press. We apologise for any discrepancies due to this circumstance. We had to make this small compromise because the final programme version was not yet available when the manual went to press. On the other hand, we did not want to withhold the full version of Doom from our customers any longer than necessary - especially since computer freaks are already impatiently waiting for the sequel to the long-announced game sensation!"

 

Now for my question:
What could I expect for something like this in terms of price, e.g. on Ebay?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Cheers

 

Michael

 

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Katzimir

[Azuris]

Das gabs bei Pearl :D

Geil.

 

Hatte zwar selbst ein paar Titel bestellt, aber dass es Doom gab, war mir unbekannt.

 

Ich kann leider keine richtige Schätzung abgeben, der Kuriositätsbonus durch die Pearl Discs und Inlays/Handbuch könnte beim richtigen Käufer aber was bringen.

 

Mit etwas Glück könntest du ein paar Hunnis abstauben.
 

Die Kohle hab ich persönlich leider nicht :D

[Murdoch]

Nice historic find. Best way to find out prices is to check. Do a search on ebay and see what other similar packages go for.

[Katzimir]

I assume that Pearl got the boxes and the disks from id Software in the USA to distribute Doom in Germany. At least the labels of the disks, I'm not sure about the grey disks themselves, because I've only seen black disks in the follow-up versions.

 

But as I said, that's how I got it myself from Pearl at the time, after I sent them the order form from the Dos Trend special edition.

 

http://www.kultmags.com/mags.php?folder=RG9zLVRyZW5kL0V4dHJh

Edited August 2, 2022 by Katzimir

[Ludi]

This is very cool! What are you hoping to get from it?

Edited August 2, 2022 by Sr_Ludicolo

[Katzimir]

7 minutes ago, Sr_Ludicolo said:

This is very cool! What are you hoping to get from it?

Thanks, but to find out what I can charge for it, I posted it here to have it judged by you experts. ;-)

[Ludi]

6 minutes ago, Katzimir said:

Thanks, but to find out what I can charge for it, I posted it here to have it judged by you experts. ;-)

 

Sadly, I'm no expert. Hope you get a good price, though!

[thestarrover]

50 minutes ago, Katzimir said:

I assume that Pearl got the boxes and the disks from id Software in the USA to distribute Doom in Germany. At least the labels of the disks, I'm not sure about the grey disks themselves, because I've only seen black disks in the follow-up versions.

 

But as I said, that's how I got it myself from Pearl at the time, after I sent them the order form from the Dos Trend special edition.

 

http://www.kultmags.com/mags.php?folder=RG9zLVRyZW5kL0V4dHJh

It's really an amazing set! And the Dos-Trend  special issue is great! :)

[Katzimir]

1 hour ago, Azuris said:

Das gabs bei Pearl :D

Geil.

 

Hatte zwar selbst ein paar Titel bestellt, aber dass es Doom gab, war mir unbekannt.

 

Ich kann leider keine richtige Schätzung abgeben, der Kuriositätsbonus durch die Pearl Discs und Inlays/Handbuch könnte beim richtigen Käufer aber was bringen.

 

Mit etwas Glück könntest du ein paar Hunnis abstauben.
 

Die Kohle hab ich persönlich leider nicht :D

Yes, at that time it was still called "PEARL Agency", and they really only started with shareware. In the beginning, it was the shareware magazine DOS-Trend that led to orders. Today PEARL is one of the largest suppliers of household articles. According to a Spiegel report from 2019, the mail-order company sends out up to 100,000 items per day at peak times.

[Gregor]

In a way this is quite a find. Such early versions are certainly rare. Looks to be in great condition as well. Which is even rarer. It's just a shame that the manual isn't part of this set. Otherwise you could probably charge over 400 bucks for it. This particular version is probably only really interesting to a very small circle of collectors. But it's the original Big Box and version 1.1 in primo condition. Don't give it away for a 100 bucks.

In fact, why not keep it for now? It will only get more valuable with time.

[Katzimir]

24 minutes ago, Gregor said:

In a way this is quite a find. Such early versions are certainly rare. Looks to be in great condition as well. Which is even rarer. It's just a shame that the manual isn't part of this set. Otherwise you could probably charge over 400 bucks for it. This particular version is probably only really interesting to a very small circle of collectors. But it's the original Big Box and version 1.1 in primo condition. Don't give it away for a 100 bucks.

In fact, why not keep it for now? It will only get more valuable with time.

Thanks for your reply.

 

In fact, I had already posted it on "ebay Kleinanzeigen" here in Germany. With a price based on negotiation. Unfortunately, "eBay Kleinanzeigen" deleted it, claiming that products over the age of 18 are not allowed. That's nonsense, too, because the "Bundespruefstelle" here in Germany downgraded it years ago.

 

Nevertheless, it was online for a very short time and I received a lot of enquiries from potential buyers. One wanted to give me 150 € for it with the actual reason: "It would be in good hands with a collector who doesn't want to make a profit from it himself". Huh? That actually gave me the idea of keeping it myself for the time being.

 

Of course, it's a pity that the original manual doesn't exist. But historically speaking, id Software didn't even have it. At least that was the reason given by PEARL Agency at the time.

 

With today's knowledge, I probably would have bought another subsequent version with a manual, but at the time I guess I didn't care, you just wanted to play.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Katzimir

[Gregor]

Yeah, that guy on Ebay was trying to rip you off. However, are you sure you bought this in '93? That doesn't really make sense since the box contains an update disc for v.1.2 which was only released by id Software on February 17, 1994. Also the fact that in the manual they talk about fans already waiting impatiently for the sequel aka Doom 2 is a further indication that this set didn't go on sale in this version until 94. I don't know when exactly Doom 2 was first announced by id Software but i doubt it was in '93 since Doom 1 only released in December of that year.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Gregor

[Katzimir]

29 minutes ago, Gregor said:

Yeah, that guy on Ebay was trying to rip you off. However, are you sure you bought this in '93? That doesn't really make sense since the box contains an update disc for v.1.2 which was only released by id Software on February 17, 1994. Also the fact that in the manual they talk about fans already waiting impatiently for the sequel aka Doom 2 is a further indication that this set didn't go on sale in this version until 94. I don't know when exactly Doom 2 was first announced by id Software but i doubt it was in '93 since Doom 1 only released in December of that year.

You are right, I had indeed not described that correctly. I received the update disk to 1.2 from Pearl Agency at some point later in 1994. This was not originally included in the box. The Hint-Book was also a special bonus from Pearl Agency for their own customers. But since everything somehow dates from that time, I put it in the box.

 

Here again is the link to the Dos-Trend magazine, whose order form I used to order Doom in 1993:

http://www.kultmags.com/mags.php?folder=RG9zLVRyZW5kL0V4dHJh

Edited August 2, 2022 by Katzimir

[Gregor]

Yeah, the text in the Pearl manual you quoted is still a bit weird with its reference to Doom II.

Could you post a photo of that text from the booklet? I'm curious.

[Katzimir]

10 minutes ago, Gregor said:

Yeah, the text in the Pearl manual you quoted is still a bit weird with its reference to Doom II.

Could you post a photo of that text from the booklet? I'm curious.

Well, the text doesn't say anything about Doom II. By "sequel" Pearl meant the continuation of Doom I with the additional episodes in the full version as opposed to the shareware version.

 

But what is really a bit misleading is the magazine "Dos-Trend Extra 1993-04 - DOOM". On the cover it does indeed refer to the games hits for 1994, but the magazine is from 1993.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Katzimir

[Gregor]

Just now, Katzimir said:

Well, the text doesn't say anything about Doom 2. By "sequel" Pearld meant the continuation of Doom 1 with the additional episodes in the full version as opposed to the shareware version.

 

But what is really a bit misleading is the magazine "Dos-Trend Extra 1993-04 - DOOM". On the cover it does indeed refer to the games hits for 1994 but the magazine is from 1993.

Yeah, you mistranslated that last sentence from the quote a bit. ;) There's no mention of a sequel. They just describe Doom 1 as a long-awaited gaming sensation.

[Gregor]

So the Pearl manual that came with the Big Box re-quoted the text from the magazine?

[Katzimir]

Yes, that's how I would see it too.

 

And "continuation" would probably have been better translated than "sequel". ;-)

[Katzimir]

Here is a scan of the page with the text I quoted. It is the second paragraph, beginning with: "Achtung ...".

[OniriA]

Sieht es gut aus.

 

Hoffe du verkaufst es nicht für 800 euro bei ebay.

[Katzimir]

2 minutes ago, OniriA said:

Sieht es gut aus.

 

Hoffe du verkaufst es nicht für 800 euro bei ebay.

Why not? ;-)

[Gregor]

"Die Wände in DOOM haben Struktur."  Ah, this is so cool... :) Back when textured walls seemed like magic. 

[Gregor]

43 minutes ago, Katzimir said:

Why not? ;-)

Yeah, i can't tell you what to charge for this but it's definitely worth more than the average Doom 1 box on Ebay. It probably isn't worth 800 though. If i was you, i would hold on to it for a while. In a few years original Big Boxes of Doom 1 will be worth far more, judging from the state of decay of a lot of these torn up boxes being sold on Ebay right now. ;)

In the meantime take good care of it.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Gregor

[OniriA]

56 minutes ago, Katzimir said:

Why not? ;-)

 

Well, upon further notice you posted this link in the other thread:

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/134133672048

 

Is this your article? Or did you just suggested it randomly there. It does have the same type of "damage" on the below left corner of the box  

as your version (just looks more damaged overall though, so is this here an older picture of the same article?). If you're selling this for that price, then 

I leave that up for debate as I already shared my thoughts about what I think of such prices in the other thread.

 

It's also a funny coincidence that as soon you made this thread, the 800 plus Euro's version posted about in the other thread was removed. ;)

Edited August 3, 2022 by OniriA

[Gregor]

8 minutes ago, OniriA said:

 

Well, upon further notice you posted this link in the other thread:

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/134133672048

 

Is this your article? Or did you just suggested it randomly there. It does have the same type of "damage" on the below left corner of the box  

as your version (just looks more damaged overall though, so is this here an older picture of the same article?). If you're selling this for that price, then 

I leave that up for debate as I already shared my thoughts about what I think of such prices in the other thread.

 

It's also a funny coincidence that as soon you made this thread, the 800 plus Euro's version posted about in the other thread was removed. ;)

His version doesn't have the manual and the disks are grey instead black. 

It's also nearly 3 am in Germany, so he's probably asleep.

[Katzimir]

53 minutes ago, OniriA said:

 

Well, upon further notice you posted this link in the other thread:

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/134133672048

 

Is this your article? Or did you just suggested it randomly there. It does have the same type of "damage" on the below left corner of the box  

as your version (just looks more damaged overall though, so is this here an older picture of the same article?). If you're selling this for that price, then 

I leave that up for debate as I already shared my thoughts about what I think of such prices in the other thread.

 

It's also a funny coincidence that as soon you made this thread, the 800 plus Euro's version posted about in the other thread was removed. ;)

Why so suspicious?

 

No, your assumption is wrong. I merely posted this and the other discs only auction as examples of what others want to see in bucks for such things.

 

Why would I have a second eBay auction going on and then not say that here?

 

And as I said before, my eBay Kleinanzeigen ad has been deleted.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Katzimir

[Katzimir]

Another auction went for 193.56 € here today:

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Doom-1993-PC-3-5-Disk-Version-Mit-OVP-Anleitung-laeuft-/354106814040?hash=item5272692e58%3Ag%3A8KcAAOSwaslipzi1&nma=true&si=zdlt%2BeIy0F3JOAKfJnIt%2Fmm10h8%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[Katzimir]

1 hour ago, Gregor said:

Yeah, i can't tell you what to charge for this but it's definitely worth more than the average Doom 1 box on Ebay. It probably isn't worth 800 though. If i was you, i would hold on to it for a while. In a few years original Big Boxes of Doom 1 will be worth far more, judging from the state of decay of a lot of these torn up boxes being sold on Ebay right now. ;)

In the meantime take good care of it.

Thanks for your statements!

 

I have kept this box well for almost 30 years, so I will certainly be able to keep it for a few more years. :)

 

BTW, I also have a lot of other original id Software stuff in my game box, such as: "Final Doom", "The Ultimate Doom", "Doom II" and "Master Levels for Doom II".

Edited August 3, 2022 by Katzimir

[Katzimir]

These were the order options for my Doom version in Dos-Tend magazine at the time:

[Gregor]

40 minutes ago, Katzimir said:

BTW, I also have a lot of other original id Software stuff in my game box, such as: "Final Doom", "The Ultimate Doom", "Doom II" and "Master Levels for Doom II".

Are these also all German versions purchased through Pearl? Doom II could be of similar worth if it's in good condition and a complete version. Not sure about Final Doom but Ultimate Doom isn't nearly worth as much as Doom 1. And Master Levels... well, they're worth something, i guess. ;) Did your version come with the Maximum Doom disc just like the US release?