comicnoir

I just went to Heritage's archives to look over the Toronto collection. A lot of great hard to find books. And a lot of DC's. The Detective Comics 225 is a 7.0. Filled with obscure gems.

The CGC label doesn't mention Toronto. It never got a pedigree.

So tell us more about the Toronto collection. Well it should be called the Belleville collection after the small town east of Toronto where the collection originated. A man purchased them in the 50's, mostly Atlas, and kept them in very nice condition. Present were every issue of the hero revival, Young Men, Human Torch, etc. the only collection to boast this. Upon his death the wife and daughter promptly brought them down to the bottom of the driveway to be picked up with the other trash, as women have done through the ages. The son-in-law saw this and put the treasues in his trunk, telling them he was off to do something. He drove to Toronto and landed at Paradise Comics, owned by Pete Dixon. Pete wanted to buy the collection, but couldn't come up with the money, so he suggested slabbing and auctioning them off on Heritage. Pete brokered the deal and received a handsome fee. They tried for a pedigree, but CGC refused citing not enough keys and the grades weren't high enough. Most were mid-grade, but a number were high, highest in the census- sometimes only in census- since a lot of Atlas' are uncommon, even rare. I saw and held a number of these books and can attest to their beauty. Fresh, glossy and with great pages. CGC missed the boat on this one. If the horde came to market now, they might think differently. I wanted to purchase some before they went away, but was denied. Bid with everybody else. When I commented that the women folk must be happy with the outcome, I was told it was doubtful they even knew. ...it's been a while, but I believe I recall that HA added in their catalog that the OO was an immigrant who utilized comics to learn the language and that he was a printer by trade. This is my only Toronto, it was top census but is no longer slabbed. It was a CGC 8.0... 8 years later, it is still top census.GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) A perfect example of why this collection should be tracked. Probably best copy in existence. Did yours come with a certificate? Mine didn't.

My one Toronto comic, only one on census,

So tell us more about the Toronto collection. Well it should be called the Belleville collection after the small town east of Toronto where the collection originated. A man purchased them in the 50's, mostly Atlas, and kept them in very nice condition. Present were every issue of the hero revival, Young Men, Human Torch, etc. the only collection to boast this. Upon his death the wife and daughter promptly brought them down to the bottom of the driveway to be picked up with the other trash, as women have done through the ages. The son-in-law saw this and put the treasues in his trunk, telling them he was off to do something. He drove to Toronto and landed at Paradise Comics, owned by Pete Dixon. Pete wanted to buy the collection, but couldn't come up with the money, so he suggested slabbing and auctioning them off on Heritage. Pete brokered the deal and received a handsome fee. They tried for a pedigree, but CGC refused citing not enough keys and the grades weren't high enough. Most were mid-grade, but a number were high, highest in the census- sometimes only in census- since a lot of Atlas' are uncommon, even rare. I saw and held a number of these books and can attest to their beauty. Fresh, glossy and with great pages. CGC missed the boat on this one. If the horde came to market now, they might think differently. I wanted to purchase some before they went away, but was denied. Bid with everybody else. When I commented that the women folk must be happy with the outcome, I was told it was doubtful they even knew.

I have fond memories of the Toronto collection, being from Toronto. The only collection to surface with all the Atlas "hero revival" issues.

Congrats. Always liked this cover.

It's come to this has it? Oh well...

There are so many good things going for this book... Great cover Colors pop Nice grade Its a # 1 It's Fiction House White pages It's a Jerry Grandenetti cover... Jackpot Actually it's a Maurice Whitman cover. Jerry did interiors.

Crazy, crazy price. Probably went to a guy who has been looking for 5+ years for the right copy, loves pre-code horror and Maurice Whitman art and was tired of this particular hole in his collection. Betting this guy saw the book and decided that, just this one time, he was going to bid to win even though it goes against his somewhat cheap nature because he knows he hasn't had many (any) shots at similar copies despite looking hard. Just guessing. Pure speculation. Even Hollywood wouldn't fall for that story. Must be some billionaire who has now entered the precode horror market. What about the billionaire who underbid him? Maybe he wants my copy.

A copy of Ghost Comics 6 in raw fine sold on the ha weekly for, ready?, $1912.00. https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/horror/ghost-6-fiction-house-1953-condition-fn/a/121638-13304.s?type=bidnotice-tracked-dailystatus Here's my copy.

Nice copy!

Swift payment from Aaron. Good communication.

Picked this up for 60 bucks last year. Never seen one before.

Nice copy Will. thanks Ron graded 6.5 offwhite to white pgs. not pressed trying to offer it here after buying some OA. maybe here before the bay. Oh. Please post some of your OA.

Nice copy Will.

It looks like prices may be settling in grades around the 4.0 range. When more come out that happens. Certain books will always command premium regardless of the grade. You picked up some nice copies for all not that much. That TaR 35 is hard to get in nice.

Great acquisition.

I guess the guy left the window open.

Indeed. Very collectible, but not for everyone. Me, I like any attempt by Baker to do something different. But this shading/inking technique was tried out by others, much more successfully. It can be striking. And re: grey tone - there were none in romance. Not surprisingly, a couple of DC's came close. What Baker was using was a textured board that when applied with ink on dry brush gave a stiple tone. Grey tone is a wash painting, i.e. watered down ink applied on board. eg Cindy 37.

Bakerfan rolling out the slabs, you gotta love that. He picked up a lot of romance over the years, a lot of everything actually. Somebody here knows him right? I thought he was a Californian - am I thinking of the wrong guy? his star spangleds were great If he starts bringing out the big guns, there's going to be a lot green blood flowing on ebay.

Quite nice.

Incredible!