Are you planning to buy a Harry Potter book for a child this Christmas?  A first edition of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone has made £50,000 at auction after almost being sold in a car boot sale for 50p, according to STV News.

The rarity was among 500 hardback copies published by Bloomsbury in 1997, before Edinburgh-based JK Rowling’s tale of magic and wizardry found international success.

Charlotte Rumsey, 28, from Preston, found the book in a box of unwanted things her mother was intending to sell at a car boot sale earlier this year.

However, after watching Antiques Roadshow, and seeing a similar first edition valued at £13,000, she asked her mother Karen, from Blackpool, to check the copy’s worth with Hanson’s Auctioneers.

Upon discovery its potential sale price, Charlotte told the auction house: “Things like this don’t happen to normal families like us. Our friends are delighted for us.”

She added: “We still couldn’t believe it so we contacted Hansons. Their expert Jim Spencer confirmed it was a genuine first edition. We’re so excited.

“Mum moved to Blackpool in 2003 and can’t believe she has had such a valuable book sitting on her bookshelf all that time.”

Hansons Auctioneers’ sale in Staffordshire on Friday also saw another first edition of The Philosopher’s Stone sell for £68,000.

The auction house has uncovered a number of Harry Potter first editions in recent years, last selling one in October this year.

Posted to their books expert Jim Spencer in a tea towel from Luxembourg, the item realised a hammer price of £60,000.