Randall Dowling

I agree. Also, nobody should be collecting all those dumb nurse stories anyway. There's nothing to see there.

All of the early Ace Doubles are getting very, very tough in grade and a few like this one, are getting tough in any grade. I once had hopes of putting together the first 50 but that hope is fading.

None of the things discussed in this thread so far are new or innovative. They've all been done to comics and other ephemera for many decades and the legitimacy of the various methods re: restoration/conservation is also well documented. The trouble some are having is they want to move the goal posts to include things that have always been considered restoration so that they can get blue labels instead of purple labels. That's it and that's all. Trying to conflate pressing with wet cleaning is disingenuous at best (not saying you're doing that, but others clearly are). If you want to restore/conserve books, fine, go ahead. Just don't try to hide that you've done it. And don't get upset when the premiere grading company finds a new way to identify it. Or try to find out how they're detecting it so you can circumvent that. Just accept that it's getting a purple label. Personally, I think the many amateurs thinking they're going to become proficient in one of these methods so they can game the system should keep on walking and find a better way to make extra money (there are far more lucrative alternatives to this). Leave these things to those that spend decades practicing these techniques professionally and stop damaging books.

100% correct. Anyone that says humidity is steam will have the same trouble with animals and mammals. For those unfamiliar, unless the ambient temperature is below freezing, there is humidity in the air. The higher the ambient temperature, the more water the air can hold as a vapor (relative humidity). By contrast, steam is the product of heating liquid water to the boiling point (approx. 212 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on atmospheric pressure) when it changes states from a liquid to a gas. Steam is bad for comics, it's just thermodynamics.

To be fair, it's @Stevemmg that has brought all those nice magazines to sell. I was just there to help him out and give him a chance to walk around and do some shopping of his own. I really missed seeing everybody again this year. It's a great time because of all the incredible collectors and dealers sharing a deep dive on any particular genre. There's so many dealers and collectors and creators that have forgotten more than I'll ever know. Getting to share these discoveries with you and many others is definitely the best part. I'd like to set up again next year, maybe Steve and I can work something out.

Nice score!

I'm sure there's some sort of market and collector base (albeit a relatively small one), but my guess is that the market is extremely undeveloped and thus unstable (prices will vary widely). Outside of comic magazines, most magazines fall into a similar category with immature markets that are still getting established and this includes everything from 1920s Fashion and Home magazines (Hearst's, Collier's, SEP, Life, etc.) to adult magazines and news publications from the 1950s to today. All have some sort of value to the right interested collector but what that value is, would be a toss of the dice on any given day. Even Famous Monsters, Warren's most successful title, falls into this category. It's not to say that they aren't valuable, only that finding the right buyer may be more difficult than comic magazines. Hope that helps.

I like your taste in pulps! I think we'll see a similar push for cover-centered collecting on pulps, much like comics have gone through with the advent of CGC. But as others have said, content will still be a big factor for the keys like Lovecraft, Howard, ERB, etc.

It's usually a standard auction format with the ability to pre-bid. Doug does an excellent job of putting together a very cool assortment of material. I won an early edition Heinlein hardcover last year for a reasonable price. And the crowd at the auction, typical for that show, is a great bunch of fans and dealers. Sad I missed it this year but I'll be back next year.

This is a very nice copy of a very tough book in high grade!

Miss our conversations, pal. Next year, I'll be back down and we can resume that game we came up with!

Very nice, Jay!!!

I think the first GA comic I ever saw was a copy of Terry Toons 5 that my older brother found at an old used bookstore in the late 70s. It was completely brittle and pieces were falling off of it just picking it up. He paid $5 for it and was extremely restrictive about letting me see it (this isn't the actual copy, just a general image taken from internet). He was very confident it would be worth an enormous amount of money some day. The second GA I ever saw was probably a copy of More Fun 52 at Shinder's in downtown Minneapolis, MN. Again in the late 70s, my brothers and I managed to convince our parents to let us have 10 minutes to look at comics and that was inside the bullet proof glass booth where the cashier sat (Hennepin Avenue was a pretty rough place at night, back then especially). I think it was a couple thousand dollars but I could be wrong. That was 45 years ago.

Some very nice magazines in this thread by a very solid board member (buy with confidence).

The trouble with many of these chemical treatments is that some are getting past CGC and ending up in blue labels so the clowns keep doing it to more books. Then they cry when it gets caught some percentage of the time, as if to say "I should be able to cheat all the time without getting caught. This isn't fair! ". I am without compassion or sympathy for all of them. I hope you get caught every single time and lose large quantities of money. And then I hope your girlfriend breaks up with you and starts dating your least favorite person from middle school.

What was in that glass, Jay?

Good to see people finally coming to their senses. Hopefully, this era of flash over substance is nearing it's end.

No. Somebody can feel free to correct me but my understanding is that the "L" marking is from a different source, not Larson.

You're doing great, Charlie. Lots of great books for the money left in that thread.

Apologies, Cat. I didn't see that.

This is worth the few minutes to read. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/opinions/real-captain-america-history-jack-kirby-schwartz-ctrp/index.html It's easy to forget that Jack went and fought in WW2 in Europe after he created Captain America.

Jason's a great guy to work with. Recommended!

There's a fine gentleman that's resurrected his sales thread for those interested:

Alright. Pretty sure I've sent out totals to all who've bought. If I missed anyone, PM and I'll get it sorted. Thanks again, guys!!

Okay, I'm closing up Round 2 and ending all discounts. Thanks again for all those that looked or bought! I'll send total out over the next day.