tb

Unbelievable #5! Impossible act to follow, but I want to pitch in too.

I posted my "A" copy of the book below before, but here is the file copy

that I upgraded from. The stickers were on the mylar and the signature is by

the editor. Print run for the March 1937 issue was 94,782.

Segment of original art from Carl Barks' "Land Beneath the Ground", Uncle Scrooge 13, 1956. Given to the previous owner by Barks in 1961; I bought it from him some 40 years later.

Early inked art by Barks is extremely rare. The few examples that do exist have been extensively published and studied by European Donaldists. Here are a few articles that deal with this particular example:

http://www.seriesam.com/barks/detc_ccus_us0013-02.html

http://ksacomics.com/uncle-scrooge/29.htm

If anyone knows of other pre-1960 Barks originals I'd be very interested in making an offer.

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Completely unrelated, here's another WDC&S file copy.

Unrestored file copy; latest addition to my WDC&S set.

Also, just had a CGC submission make it to the gallery for the first time: "Kite Fun Book" (CGC 9.6 - yay!).

Looks like I never posted this classic cover before (Jeff Lotman copy). My scanner tends to make light dents look a lot worse than they are; I'd grade this book around 8.5. Never seen another copy above VG 4.0 (Overstreet does not list values above 8.0).

A couple of my favorite books, both with great cover art and both exceptionally tough to find this nice. I'd be surprised if the MM V1#6 is not the nicest copy in existence - the print run was less than 100,000. Sniped the WDC&S 10 from mamanook a couple of years ago. $2,500 seemed expensive then but suddenly looks like a bargain after the Just Kids Nostalgia auction. Wouldn't sell this book for $10,000 since I'd never be able to replace it.

I'd love to buy the #85 except that a CGC 9.X Barks run of

WDC&S 40-100 probably would cost at least $75K in today's

market. I'd rather spend that kind of money in an area with

less competition. You're not going to have any problems finding

a buyer for this book.

Yesterday's Just Kids Nostalgia auction raised the bar further for top notch duck books. Some results:

WDC&S 22 CGC 9.2: $4,591

WDC&S 23 CGC 8.5: $1,265

WDC&S 43 CGC 9.0: $2,778

WDC&S 48 CGC 9.2: $3,019

FC 29 CGC 7.0: $3,870

FC 62 CGC 9.0: $6,401

FC 199 CGC 9.2: $5,439

FC 263 CGC 9.0: $2,745

If prices like these might inspire anyone to sell their early high grade WDC&S or Barks Four Colors, please send me a note.

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Below is another file copy I bought last month.

Every serious duck fan knows what this book looks like. It's the label that's interesting.

Four Color 62 is my favorite Golden Age comic of all time. In terms

of giant leaps in art, storytelling, and character development only

FC 386 comes close. I am just negotiating a deal on a copy for my

own collection.

Here is another recently arrived WDC&S file copy. Another vastly

underrated patriotic cover and one of my favorites among the pre-Barks

issues. Can't wait for my file copy of #31 to arrive.

Seeing garth's VP1 makes me wish I had copy of this great story to read. I'm looking forward to the new 30 volume Scandinavian Carl Barks Library that's to be released over the next year - the quality supposedly will be far superior to the US editions.

I've posted my "A" copy of MM Mag V1#8 previously. Here is another nice copy of this great cover (which I unfortunately had to sell).

> Metropolis Acquires Over 7,000 Dell, Gold Key File Copies

I bought all the early WDCS immediately - the #22 was the only one

with the stamp. Most of these had been sold already (same day they

were listed) but the Metro team managed to get them back for me.

Beautiful squarebounds, HD!

First early WDCS with the file copy stamp I've ever seen. Paying 4x guide up

if anyone out there has other examples.

Those nm Tecs are absolutely incredible. Your interests in the pre-hero copies seem almost parallel to, although even harder than, my own impossible quest of putting together a high grade pre-Barks WDC&S run. I actually managed to add 5 new books to my set over the past few weeks. Wish you the same luck .

Here's a closeup of a copy I sold last year. Until I saw your scan, I had always thought the white streaks were flaws. Curiously, there are other copies that were printed without these.

The nicest copy I've ever seen of one of my all-time favorite Disney covers. This once belonged in Jeff Lotman's collection.

I just renewed my subscription for the next 4 years. I've been reading CBG since the early 90s and wish to support them. Also, I some of my favorite books were bought through CBG ads. Most of the hard core US collectors I know subscribe to it.

I should have bought that WDC&S 41 myself . Here's a recently arrived file copy of #23.

rarehighgrade's March of Comics 20 has to be one of the nicest (and most valuable) duck books ever posted here. A friend of mine owns another near mint copy that he had Barks sign during his visit to Scandinavia in 1994.

Another Four Color for the gallery.

> I had the chance to get the original art for the censored panel in this story

Which page were you offered? I bought the splash panel a couple of years ago; it is incredible and one of my favorite possessions. Has the honor spot on my wall right next to my censored "Silent Night" page. Nice to see someone else showing interest in this area.

> Do you have the original or revised version?

The original one. As far as I know the revised splash was destroyed along with all the other published art?

The picture doesn't do this piece justice - the art is in incredible condition and looks like it was drawn yesterday.

> hkp do you know any originals missing from that book? Any new finds after it was published?

Last I asked Carsten Laqua, he mentioned a few covers and later (60s) art. The most interesting new discovery (and the only one of pre-1960 art) that I know of is the "Pipsqueeks"(sp?) daily pilot strip (1953-4?) that was offered at a Heritage preview a while back but pulled before the auction. The second most important has to be a 1962 inked Magica drawing that Barks mailed to a fan (I think you notified me about this in a PM). So, as far as I know new finds since Eeronen's book have been very limited.

Those early Uncle Scrooges have some of the best Barks covers and are impossible to find in grade despite the huge circulation. I am a bit biased towards the #8 since I own some of the original art from the story.

ajaxfarrell: that's one beautiful WDCS #31! Congratulations on beating he-who-must-not-be-named to it.

tth2's Four Colors are incredible. I don't compete for the uber-grades for various political reasons but here's a pretty decent copy of #203:

adamstrange (below):

> post a pic of the ORIGINAL freakin Carl Barks art

I'd be glad to post it but unfortunately can't for practical reasons right now.

ajaxfarrell (below):

> but it went for only 77.00....was that a good deal ??

I paid 60 times that for a FN/FN+ copy a few months ago and couldn't have been happier about it.

> WDC&S # 1 ... "fresh and supple" ... 9.4 ... plopping ... horror ... ding.

Gary,

Although noone appreciates early high grade WDC&S more than I (Steve can probably attest to that after a deal we agreed to last week), I got a good laugh out of this story. Just sorry you felt bad about it. When I bought your Mickey Mouse Magazines, it was obvious that you were into these for all the right reasons so you are easily forgiven .

The closest I've ever come to a mishap was right before Christmas when I shipped $2,000 worth of early mid-grade WDC&S to a European collector. I realize it must sound like a bad joke, but the box actually got mixed up with a shipment of "Christmas nuts". Fortunately, he is a good friend and managed to trade in the nuts for his books a few days later.

37, but started collecting seriously in my early 30s. All connected

to income: I would have started collecting GA in my 20s if I'd been

able to afford it.

I think getting new collectors interested is entirely a matter of

providing information. By following the boards, I have learned a lot

about comics that I never saw the appeal in (or even knew existed)

before. As a direct result, I am looking to expand my collection into

these new areas. I have heard many other board members express similiar

experiences.

I think the internet is going to play a huge role attracting a new

generation of GA collectors and can only see interest and prices

picking up substantially as information becomes more readily available.

I personally feel an obligation to share the best books in my collection

(along with the stories behind them) with anyone interested, and I've

been extremely excited to see people like timely, jb, esquire, centaurman,

nearmint, buttocks, pedigreeman, and many others joining in and

sharing with the rest of us. Thanks to all of them, a whole new world of

collecting challenges has opened up to me. As a direct result of people

posting here, prices for certain early DCs are soon going to go up a bit

further because of me, just as I suspect they will for many other GA

titles that collectors are becoming aware of.

I think the future of GA collecting is looking very promising indeed, and

this trend can be accellerated by current collectors/experts helping the

new and coming generations.

The one area I feel qualified to comment on is Disney comics. As far as I've been able to determine, there is a total of three Gerber 8s and one 9 within this category. I have posted scans of two of the 8s and the special edition of WDC&S #4 (a CGC 2.0 copy of which sold on eBay for around $2,100 this past week) recently, so I'd like to talk about up the last, Mickey Mouse Magazine Series I, V1#1 from 1933.

This book is actually so rare that I can't provide a scan of an original copy. There are a few low quality pictures of later reprints floating around on the web, but here's a V1#5 from the same series:

Series I ran nine issues before it was replaced by the much more common Series II. Both these runs were dairy giveaways and so completely different from the later "Series III", which began in 1935, that they really only have the title in common. I don't collect the first two series myself since I don't consider them to be comic books.

In my career as a collector, I have seen a total of 10 Series I copies offered for sale. One V1#1 failed to sell the week before I first looked at eBay in 1999 (sigh), I purchased a V1#3 in 1991, and a set of 7 copies (most low-grade or incomplete) sold on eBay in 2001 for $5,000. The 10th is shown above. Gerber managed to round up one (1) issue from Series I for his book - the first eight spaces are blank.

Aside from pure scarcity, the one remarkable thing about Series I, which in my mind is by far the most embarrassing Disney publication ever to see the light of day, is the bizarre cover art. The contents of these books appears to be targeted at 4-7 year-old kids. If any experts in marketing can explain what the editors might have been thinking when they selected the V1#5 cover, I'd be very curious to hear about it? The covers became much more streamlined from Series II. The moire pattern on the chair is not a scanning artifact; it is a result of the printing process and lack of quality control.

While Gerber's scarcity index generally appears somewhat arbitrary to me, I think the 8s and 9s are right on for Disneys. The only change I'd make would be to give all 9 issues from MM Mag Series I an 8 or 9.

Just received this in the mail.

Jon, fantastic stuff as usual!