Harry Lime

Straw-Man, you have the best collection of FF books I've ever seen. Stunning copies. And to every other comic posted since my meagre effort, all beautiful copies. I would be delighted with any of 'em. Congratulations!!!

Wow, thanks for all the replies and support. You guys are the best! Living in the UK most really old comics only seem to be available in pence versions. Double edged really as even though they are rarer globally, they are deemed less desirable than their cents counterpart but because of this they command a lesser price and thus become more affordable (to me!). It's certainly better loved now, already in a Mylite with Gerber archival board supporting it's ancient frame. As a kid FF#13 was always my favourite story. Something about that setting on the Moon and the Watcher spoke of galactic awesomeness that I had never seen in any other book. Loved it. I would probably get a nicer copy than I would usually settle for just to get that pale blue (or even a hint of it) sky on the cover. Someone posted one in this thread fairly recently and it was wonderful to see. Thanks! I didn't know that, another reason to celebrate! , that made me chuckle. Thank you very much for considering that. I am certainly very interested. It's almost impossible to find FF's of that age here.

Woohoo! Just got my oldest FF, a #14 and it's a real beaut as you can see. Not only my oldest FF but tied with my JIM #92 (although that is a higher grade) as my oldest comic book. Now, who has a FF#13 they really can't stand the look of any more?

All those #18's look wonderful to me.

Agreed. I only have 6 books left to get in my run from 1-145, and the delight in the covers, characters, and stories in this series is second to none for me. Thanks to both of you for your encouragement, it's appreciated. Can I ask how long it took to complete (or nearly) your Silver Age run? I've always loved the cover of #24, so spacey and crazy. It took me a while to finally get one at a price I was willing to pay. You can only imagine how dreamy it was when, as an italian collector without much income, I first got an issue under #20. I think I stared at my #16 for years… That and the #8 which I purchased for $60 when I visited Los Angeles. And had it signed by Jack Kirby in his own home! – Still unbelievable, but it happened. That's incredible, an #8 for $60 and signed by Kirby himself! Well done!

I've always loved the cover of #24, so spacey and crazy. It took me a while to finally get one at a price I was willing to pay. I bought a #17 recently but sadly had to return it. The pictures on the listing were very deceiving. It was by far the brownest comic I've ever seen. Ugh! I have a single digit Avengers & X-Men but I think it's going to be a long time before I land a really early FF.

Here are my four oldest FF's. They're nothing special, low to mid grade at best but I love 'em and very happy to have them. A couple might be rarely spotted specimens (and that's not a disease or a book defect).

The OWL cards are not that helpful, I wouldn't bother with them. It's better to get experience from looking at books you own to judge what white, off-white, cream pages look like. Especially in silver age books white does not mean white as in a sheet of paper or backing board. Try to stay away from brown pages, the darker the colour the more brittle the paper. UK issues (pence copies) have lower values than US (cents issues) generally but especially in high grade, high value comics. For example I have a Silver Surfer #8 (pence copy) in Very Fine condition (8.0) that's worth approx £39; the cent version for the same grade is £110. This is only an example and different books can have an increased or decreased value in respect to their American counterparts. Also, welcome to the boards, I'm a newbie here myself.

Got my oldest DD yesterday. I love those crazy Ani-Men. Look at Cat-Man, he's sooooo cute.

Hi everyone! Just noticed this thread and as I live in a little corner of the UK (Isle of Thanet) thought it would be appropiate to introduce myself. I collect mainly Silver Age Marvel but have a few Bronze as well and a lot of Copper Silver Surfers. Had a few periods when I collected comics. As a lad I had some very precious to me Marvels. American comics were almost impossible to find in the provinces in the early/mid 70's. I also had 2000AD #1-100, collected from new, which I then sold for a fiver in the early 80's upon moving down south. !!

Thanks MM! I only collect raw books as well, I like to read my books. Even though I probably overgraded these going by the scans I had, I still paid way less than GP for them so very happy.

And these from the same seller on the same night. Previously my oldest Avengers was #21 so very happy to have got these.

Got these raw on ebay a few weeks back.

Very happy to get these Silver Surfers at an incredibly low BIN from Ebay this week.. And finally in the lot my first ever CGC slab and according to the census the highest graded (along with another) pence SS #14!

Do no dealers in the UK stock comic boxes? Yes, they do. Not sure if I'm allowed to link to e-bay pages so I shall err on the side of caution and advise zonk to search for Silver Age Comic Boxes there.