The Ring!

I'm going to start this part of the story off going back a few years to one of my first trips to The Book Rack. I was about 13 years old and thought I would sneak out of the house while my mom and dad were at work. Keep in mind It was about 5 miles and I had to walk during this trip (the lengths I would go to for a fix). I'm almost there and as i'm crossing the street in front of Jerry's Nugget Gambling Hall I see something shiny in the street. Lucky it was early morning and not many cars on the road. I pick up the shiny object hoping it might be a quarter (I could buy another book or two if it was. No such luck, it was a stupid ring still I put it in my pocket and forget about it.

I make it to the book store and get back home safe mom and dad are none the wiser. Well I ended up getting into trouble later that day and mom makes me empty my pockets (busted). She see's the shiny stupid ring and gives me the third degree. Finally I fess up and tell her how I came by it. Don't know why but I didn't get grounded. She tells me a couple years later that the ring I found was a solid gold 1893 one dollar gold piece ring and that my dad had it fixed because it was bent from being run over in the street but still in excellent condition. Believe it or not she gave me the ring a couple years ago and I have it to this very day.

I thought some of you might like this story (it's totally true) I have the ring in my safe. But funny how in my quest to find comics at the age of about 13, before a true golden age I find gold

Now you would think after acquiring what I considered the deal/dream of a lifetime the story would end, well it doesn't!

I come to find out that the old guy I purchased the book store from still had more comics stashed in some storage facility! Yeah, I was shocked as hell when he comes waltzing in with one of the trademark brown paper bags filled with books and ask if I might be interested. I figure what the heck I already have the store and everything I wanted and more. We open the bag and the stuff inside was absolute primo condition books all 12 cent cover price marvel and or dc. Now I am confused as hell, did this guy just play me (yep) I think so but still I really couldn't complain. I came to realize that the paper bags once completely filled to the top would hold about 200+ comics (normal size silver age).

The best thing about the way he stored his comics was that they were always laying flat and the pressure kept them that way. This was crazy there were 5 copies of each book the entire doctor strange run starting with #170 up to 183 also runs on strange tales, tales to astonish and tales of suspense, remember all of these were primo nothing less than 9.0 I kid you not.

I ask where did he get these and he told me he also had a store up in tonapah in the mid to late 60's and this all was in storage. We worked out a deal for the entire bag remember I was pricing at 1991 overstreet prices and didn't have to pay multiples of guide. I asked if he had any more and he told he had about twenty thousand. Now i'm double confused, why the hell didn't he have the stuff in the store trying to make money in the first place? Oh well I ended up buying a couple thousand more books and told him I would have to stop for a while I was seriously out of cash and couldn't move the books fast enough. That's when I decided to start doing the LA Shrine Show.

I never saw the old man after that and had dreams for the longest time wondering just what else I missed out on. I did score a vg spider-man #1 out of the deal as well. Now everyone has gone back in time with me on one of the most amazing rides I could ever ask for, and even though I have bought many more collections since. None have and I doubt will ever compare to the deal I made when I bought "The Book Rack".

Thanks 4 Reading

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