RICK STARR

A few of mine from my collection.

Or it is the Ash Wednesday collection.

I am tending to agree now about the TR 44 being scarce or HTF. Have all our boardies here posted theirs yet? If so, yow, what does that say about it. I do seem to recall a beat copy on Ebay just a little while back. I've had 2 copies of TR 45, but have not seen any others available otherwise. Duke, your memory is scary. Yes mine is the Neatstuff copy from 2004. It did not come cheap!

Here is my copy. Has a long diagonal crease along rt. corner. Except for that, structurally beautiful with ow/w pages. Also, found this panel inside (upper left) Recognize it?

I know of another big Baker collector who, I doubt, looks at this thread. Ebay name TommyFoxwood. He may not have a complete collection, but I know with many HG issues. I will not divulge his name, some of you may already know.

That is yours?

Finding any copy of AIWW 22 or 25 is a score let alone HG copies. Here is my latest Atlas purchase. Only need # 8 for a 3-15 run.

They look nicer than the grades. Sweet!

A recent pickup. Finally, I found a decent copy.

Here is mine for $ 45.00 in San Diego 2006. ow/w pages to boot.

Those with a long enough memory will remember that we've been here before, when scarce Baker romance issues first hit ebay, and a hard core bid up low grade copies to astronomical values. Then things gradually tapered off. CGC/high end copies have brought that intensity back. And as you say, it quickly fizles out when a small but significant number of copies of any given issue are acquired by a tiny romance community of sissy boys. Very good point. Baker prices seemed to hit a peak in 2002 and then a real lowpoint in the 2006-2007 period. And then since 2012, it seems like a new high is achieved almost on a weekly basis. I actually believe that there are much more Baker collectors than are active on this thread. And as we all know, when prices go up, many more collectors/investors are drawn to the excitement. So prices in my opinion can go in almost any direction. As we know, it only takes two to set a new record high. And I suspect there are at least three going after most of the high grade Baker books. I'd say, 2003 was really where this trend towards fantastic prices began. An amazing OO GA collection was discovered by Neat Stuff Collectibles, and auctioned on eBay. There were Bakers that many of us were seeing for the very first time. Many of the late period issues of Cinderella Love, Diary Secrets, Going Steady, and Teen-Age Romances were there, and in solid grades. Fierce competition over those books resulted in then-unimaginable prices. After that, the occasional Bakers continued to trickle in, but prices remained just as strong for the quality items, because the same three or four determined collectors were still competing. (I don't mind owning up to being one of those collectors. Would anybody else care to stand up and identify themselves, Rick Starr and Flex Mentallo?) Yes, all this is partly our fault. I'm sure you guys remember 2005 and 2006... there was no particular shortage of new-to-market Bakers... but they were largely monopolized by a character named Joe Serpico... (at least, that was one of the very similar names he used. We suspected it was probably two or more brothers, working in unison.) I, for one, had a terrible time landing anything, during that period. Joe seemed to want every single Baker that came around, and appeared to have unlimited disposable income to put towards them. All we could do was watch and wait for him to cross off his entire want list. There was actually another fairly large collection of Bakers that was sold on eBay during '05 and '06... but the identity of the seller eludes me at the moment. (Michael, do you remember who that was?) Prices continued to be strong, though. 2006 and 2007, the Crippen Bakers were auctioned through Heritage, and those sold consistently well, but for some reason didn't set any records. In 2009 and 2010, another large batch of graded books sold through Comicconnect, over approximately three different auctions, and many of those set new record prices. I'm really just reminiscing, here, but the overview of past events might be interesting to newer collectors. Quite a history lesson and memory! I think the Ebay auction in 05 and 06 of a mass of Baker books was an Ebay seller Adamstrangearcheologist (spelling?). He sold off an incredible collection. There was a lot of intensity and frustrations with acquiring Bakers back then. Many covers I had never seen before and I have been going to major conventions since the late 1970's. I had forgotten about ole' Joe S. I know Shaun Clancy must have an incredible Baker collection most likely with multiple copies of issues.

Wha' there are Preheroes on Clink for sale ?

Supply is an interesting topic. After some killer high sales prices on the CL 25, the fact that more didn't come out of the woodwork might suggest supply is pretty tight. I can say that in over 20+ years of aggressive Baker hunting, CL 25 was definitely not the hardest of the CLs to acquire. But that was just my experience. The one fun part is that Baker is coming out of the woodwork and thus hopefully supply and demand will harmonize a bit more. TR 9 is way harder to find than CL 25. I've had 3 different copies of CL 25 and only could find one TR 9 in 9 years. The ones being offered now on Clink and the Sixth St. copy (TR 9) are the first I have seen since acquiring my copy. I am willing to bet that almost everyone of the regulars here on this thread have a CL 25 in their collection. Add those to the ones we have seen offered lately. That is quite a few CL 25's. CL 25 is one of my favorites, just not HTF.

Some of my new acquisitions.

OK, finally pulled the True Crime Cases. Entire book is all crime stories. I counted 3 Bakers: Rookie Cop trails the Kingpin of crime Police valor defies the bulletproof bandits Diamonds C.O.D. (nice) According to Overstreet and Gerber, this book is dated 1944! Which predates any APC books. inside FC is blank except St.John publishing and address at the bottom, no date. inside BC is completely blank. picked up mine from Silver Age comics in NY six years ago.

I have a copy (GCE 4). I will look at it later on tonight. Will post info then. I would consider this issue HTF.

OMG, a shame really. Nice books, but nothing to knock your socks off. No business from me on these.

Has anybody tried to register their CGC slabbed books? It's weird, that some St.John titles are in the census, but when I create a new set, the title is not in the index. Only one title, Pictorial Romance, appears on the indexes. I've done this enough times to think what I am doing is correct.

Yee Yowzaah!!!

Yeah, the colors are for real. The seller told me the book was not pressed either. So, one more to cross off the list.

Good lord, dude. Those all look to be very "decent" copies. Sweeeeeetttt!!

Magnificent books, congrats!!!

Excellent transaction with Beltan. Securely packaged and accurate description! A plus all the way. JT

Just received this one from across "the pond". This issue has been evasive for me in HG. Crispy ow/w pages. A nice addition to my PH JIM run.

It's not for me but I reckon that book has plenty of room to go further. And further still. Better tighten your belt Rick! No thanks!!