Those are the
Jim Rikhoff “Big Five” African hunting anthologies, issued as signed/numbered leather-bound limited editions. The first four were published by
Amwell Press, and the rhino volume was published much later by
Safari Press to complete the series. Your photo shows all five volumes with their original slipcases, which is important to value.
Current specialist-dealer asking prices suggest roughly:
| Volume | Approx. dealer value in fine condition |
|---|
| Hunting the African Buffalo | $500–$600 |
| Hunting the African Elephant | $450–$600 |
| Hunting the African Lion | $375–$450 |
| Hunting the African Leopard | $500–$575 |
| Hunting the African Rhino | $100–$150 |
The leopard is generally considered the scarcest of the original four. Trophy Room Books currently has examples around $575 for leopard, $600 for buffalo, $600 for elephant, and $400–450 for lion. The rhino is much less valuable because it was issued in 2014/15 and remains comparatively available; recent dealer pricing is roughly $125–135, and an eBay seller has sold copies around $80.
The important question is whether
the limitation numbers match. The original four were limited to
1,000 signed and numbered copies. A matched-number set of Buffalo, Elephant, Lion and Leopard is currently being offered by a specialist dealer for
$1,850, while another current listing is about
$2,035. Trophy Room Books recently offered the four together for
$1,600.
What I would put on your five-book group
From the photo, the books and slipcases look quite good. I would estimate:
Dealer/retail asking value: approximately
$2,000–$2,400
Realistic private-party sale: approximately
$1,500–$1,900
Quick-sale / auction expectation: perhaps
$1,000–$1,500, depending heavily on venue and bidder interest.
There is one potentially significant upside:
if Buffalo, Elephant, Lion and Leopard all carry the same limitation number, I'd treat them as a matched collector's set rather than five miscellaneous books. I would probably advertise the complete five-volume group around
$2,250–$2,500 and expect negotiations into roughly the
$1,800–$2,100 area.
The Rhino number does
not necessarily have to match, because it was published roughly 20 years later by Safari Press specifically to complete the series. It was deliberately produced to resemble the original Amwell books.
If you open each book to the
limitation/signature page it shows the numbers.
