Guys,
There are two discussion points within this thread. One relates to the existence of Marvel US originals with ‘L Miller’ distribution lines on the indicias, the other relates to Marvel Price vs Font vs Indicia Variants.
This post summarises my findings for Marvel Price vs Font vs Indicia Variants
Since I started this thread, I’ve been compiling examples using images from the web and placing them in summary tables in an attempt to establish patterns and answers. So far I have posted three summary tables:
1. Journey Into Mystery #58 to #69
2. Tales To Astonish #9 to #20
3. Strange Tales #75 to 86
The titles cover the dates May 1960 to Jul 1961.
It is very difficult to find images online of indicia data, so there are many blanks, but when I place the tables side by side, there are some reasonable observations that can be made.
Observation 1 – 10c Price Format Variants (No T&P Indicia) May to Dec 1960
I have found no 10c copies with a Thorpe & Porter indicia line for any issue dated up to and including December 1960. 10c issues exist during this period with Price Format Variations (White Price Box / no White Price Box), but in each example I have found neither version carries the T&P line.
Question – Why do US priced issues dated up to and including December 1960 have Price Format Variants?
Observation 2 - 10c Price Format Variants (With T&P Indicia) Jan to Mar 1961
For the period January 1961 to March 1961, every 10c issue I have found as a ‘White Price Box’ variant carries the Thorpe & Porter distribution line on its indicia. I have found only two examples of a ‘No White Box’ issue during this date range (both TTA #16 font variants) and these also carry the T&P line.
Question – Does every US original, Pence or Cents, carry the T&P distribution indicia line for the period January 1961 to March 1961? If so, why?
Question – Why does TTA #16 have two different ‘No White Box’ 10c price fonts?
Question – Why do JIM #64 & 65, and ST #81 have two different ‘White Box’ 10c price fonts?
Observation 3 – Apr 1961 to Jul 1961
For all three titles, I have found only one type of US cents copy for the months April to Jul 1961. None of the examples carry the T&P indicia line. The current indication is that the cents variations cease from April 1961. Only one Pence and one Cents type has been found
Conclusion:
As I see it, the variations are likely to have been all printed in the US as there is no evidence to suggest that copies were printed anywhere else. For 10c priced copies, I have not been able to find an example for the same issue number where one variation has the T&P line and one doesn’t. So the likelihood is that we remain with only two ‘destination’ variants – one for the US and one for the UK, as it has always been.
As I have not been able to link the existence of cent priced variations to another country that used cents and dollars, the assumption is that both were intended for the US market. The only logical conclusion I can come up with as to why there are cent variations for the US is that one of them is a subsequent printing.
Hope this has made sense – if you’re interested, print off the summaries and compare them to the above conclusions. It brings it to life.
Meanwhile, I’m going to continue to try to get someone in ‘authority’ to recognise the variations exist and, hopefully, help explain them.
Over to you guys!