AJD: It would be interesting to hear which Rosa stories are considered as classics? For Barks, most fans would probably agree that "Only a Poor Old Man", "Lost in the Andes", "Christmas on Bear Mountain" etc. are keys and that the original art would have been the most desirable if it had existed. Any thoughts on Rosa?
ciorac: Thanks for the increcible CC photo. As for the V5#4, few people probably realize just how difficult it is to find some of these larger sized issues in nice condition. For several of them, I have never seen a copy better than FN which makes them far more challenging than any issue from V3 and V4. Luckily for my own run, I picked up two nice copies of #4 around 2001 (one of them from moondog, who told me it was the nicest he had seen). Nothing high grade since then.
There was a complete high grade set of MMM's that was a precursor to the CC batch. I did not get a chance to buy it, but I did see them and they were all incredible. They looked brand new.
Mid and low grades are fine by me these days. This one is pretty solid. The scan makes it look more rough than it really is
I almost landed it. Back in the early 90's an accountant for Western was given the opportunity to clean out some sheds and keep anything he found. He had multiples (unread) of MMM from the first color issue through WDC&S around 24 or so.
We met in Kansas City for an auction. Fishler was on the phone. So was Geppi. Bob Cook was there representing him. I knew I didn't have a shot at the entire lot with this big hitters, so I tried a little end run. I hand-picked the best copies of MMM and tried to buy them separately from all the stuff there. I offered double guide for just this run, but the buyer didn't want to change the rules.
Needless to say, Bob brought the books back to Baltimore...
The colors were unbelievable. Deep and rich. The books were flat and beautiful.
Oh, well...