Sqeggs

On 5/26/2024 at 10:16 PM, Point Five said:

You're saying you won the Slash-D Doublecross, correct?    How much Baker involvement are you seeing in the book?  

 

Supposed to be delivered on Tuesday. I'll scrutinize it. Even if not Baker, it's kind of a cool, scarce book. Not really $1K cool, but I've made dumber purchases! 

On 5/26/2024 at 9:13 PM, LadyDeath said:

Those are always the best stories.

Yeah, usually I just make them up. But this one actually happened. 

On 5/26/2024 at 9:32 PM, Ricksneatstuff said:

I think it was before we were truly on a first name basis. My first regret is selling them at all and my second regret is they aren’t with you.  

You could just have said, "Hey over there. Come 'ere. I got some books for youse." I'd have responded!

On 5/26/2024 at 9:15 PM, Point Five said:

"Be right there, honey. I'm trying to have six months of conversations with Sqeggs in twenty minutes."

 

I came, I saw, I spammed! 

On 5/26/2024 at 8:29 PM, adamstrange said:

Definitely some.  Maybe a lot.

Been a few years since I last talked with the dealer who brought them to market. Last I heard from him, he was washing his hands of it, leaving the family to fight it out. 

On 5/26/2024 at 7:45 PM, Iksar said:

Wartime Romances 9 may have a Matt Baker, cover but True War Romances 9 sure doesn't. Never saw a mislabeled CGC book before

I've seen a bunch of them. They also miss a lot of peds. They'll correct errors, of course, but it is a pain to have to send books back. I'm thinking I may just keep this book as is a curiousity. 

On 5/25/2024 at 12:49 AM, MBFan said:

This might end up being the all-time record sale price for Slash-D Doublecross, published by St. John in 1950. My beat up copy was purchased for 1/20th of the price about 10 years ago. One comes up for sale every now and then.

Slash-D Doublecross is not listed in Art of Glamour. Overstreet lists it, and shows no Baker credits (as per the 50th Edition, the most recent one I own). Grand Comics Database says the cover pencils and inks are by Matt Baker, but incorrectly credits Baker with pencils on most stories and adds, "Art looks like Matt Baker layouts."

Again, I own this issue and have examined every page. The cover might be by Baker, but there is absolutely nothing inside that looks like Baker. Nothing. 

Midget Comics 2 (Tex West Cowboy Marshall), also published in 1950 by St. John, contains the same lead story “Hell Bent for a Funeral”, which GCD credits to Mike Arens.

Apparently, someone has paid a Matt Baker price for a book full of Mike Arens art.

On 5/24/2024 at 9:34 PM, Point Five said:

$1K? Even the horse thinks this is effed up.

It looks like Baker... inked by someone else... drawn with his non-drawing hand... on the subway ride to the publisher's.

 

Now you tell me! 

On 5/20/2024 at 7:54 PM, Inaflash said:

I picked up this single highest graded copy not long ago. 
 

Got me beat. 

On 5/20/2024 at 2:38 PM, manetteska said:

Nice looking 5.5.

I am very tempted to send in my raw copy but extremely wary somewhere along the way (shipping, pressing, CGC, etc) it will get muffed up.

Been known to happen. Check out the lower spine on the raw copy and the pressed and graded copy. 

On 5/16/2024 at 2:48 AM, Changer said:

I finally got this graded, didnt press, maybe spine roll out would bump but didnt want to roll the dice. At least it presents ok 

 

I think it looks nice for the grade. I have a feeling that CCS would have passed on pressing it given the spine damage.

On 5/7/2024 at 12:42 AM, Changer said:

she aint leaving me, not lettting her walk out my door, she's mine I say

My copy

On 4/30/2024 at 10:14 PM, thehumantorch said:

I've always thought Canteen Kate is an undervalued run, especially #3.  

I bought this long ago. Surprised when I just checked to find that it's still at the top of the census. 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:45 PM, Dr. Love said:

No x 2

The Quality's are known.  There's disagreement on some Charltons, maybe an Atlas? when Colletta inked.

 

I guess I have the highest-graded copy of this Baker cover, except ... doesn't look like Baker to me. 

On 4/23/2024 at 8:07 PM, Robot Man said:

Here’s mine. I got it a LONG time ago. I bought it because 1.) It was a Giant, 2.) It was a Crime book, 3.) It had a purty dame on the cover and 4.) It was probably cheap. In the days that if it wasn’t a GA Timely, DC, an EC or a Barks book, it had very little interest. In those days, $50-75. bought a large stack of interesting books. Nobody knew who Matt Baker was. Just dumb luck I guess.

Here's mine. I was asleep at the switch in a CLink auction a few years ago in which a much nicer copy (I forget the grade) went cheap--or, at any rate, for much less than I would have been willing to pay. 

On 4/1/2024 at 1:13 PM, Yorick said:

I have a worse St John mis-cut. 

I think I take home the crown on St John miscuts. 

On 3/26/2024 at 11:08 AM, Changer said:

Yup , even this mile high was reasonable back then 

 

 

So was this one. 

On 3/24/2024 at 10:43 PM, Point Five said:

Baker western toughie.

Great Western cover! Looks like the highest graded is an 8.0. Maybe the New Hampshire copy is out there raw?

On 2/24/2024 at 1:16 PM, Changer said:

one of the  nicest covers, partial to the legs! 

 

I used to own a raw copy on which the owner had written her name right along the leg. 

On 2/24/2024 at 9:35 AM, n2wdw said:

I recently added shelves to a small closet that’s normal size except about 1/3th the normal depth.  I’m using the closet to store my Baker collection.  I managed to fit my entire Baker collection into this closet. The door has a lock of course.

A lock seems entirely unnecessary and indicates a lack of faith in your fellow collectors. Still live at the same address? 

On 2/19/2024 at 2:17 PM, Tri-Color Brian said:

Mine is missing the top staple...I found that out when I sold it to a boardie.  He sent it back.  He didn't seem to like that...and it taught me to check the staples...

 

You should have made the sale conditional on his promising never to take it out of the bag. 

On 2/13/2024 at 12:13 PM, Mavrick76 said:

 

Well, looks like I'll be browsing the bargain bin for a bit while the Sqeggs VIPs are sipping champagne while waving around high grade $$$$ copies - “like you just don’t care” 😉 

 

On 2/13/2024 at 9:16 AM, Changer said:

Here’s my only promise 

Nice!

I have the Big Apple copy of that issue, too. Definitely better pq than the Big Apple 7.

On 2/12/2024 at 8:28 PM, Robot Man said:

I love those early Crowns!

#1 has no Baker but what a great cover. I cracked it out of an 8.5 slab

#3 no Baker cover but the cover subject matter really makes up for it. There are, however, 2 Baker stories inside.

#4 I have upgraded twice. If not for that lr corner, it is a stunner.

#5,6 have nice but not Baker’s best work. I can live with the condition.

#7 is by far my favorite cover. Got a very decent copy in a trade for a lower grade Down with Crime  #6. (The awsome GGA blue Sandman issue). This one is far and above the hardest Crown in my opinion. 

I agree about 7 being the scarcest, although it seems as if some copies have surfaced in the past year or two. 

I have the Big Apple copy. Nice but with regrettable pq.

On 2/12/2024 at 6:27 PM, Changer said:

who can resist this temptress?, he couldnt nor I. Love the colors on this one and presents well for the grade.

At first, I thought this one too expensive to justify an upgrade , but than I saw all those recent sales of other Bakers lol.
Anyone know who did the colors for his covers? was it also Matt? 

Nice pick up! One of the three or four scarcest Bakers, leaving aside the 25 cent books.