Badger

I wonder how Schomburg came to sign this one? Around 1980 he signed at a show in the Pacific Northwest (Portland or Seattle). A collector named Mike Manyak had him sign this. Mike either traded or sold it too The American Comic Book Company and I bought it from Terry Stroud at a San Diego show not much after that, I think '81. Wow, everyone is posting such great books it just makes my jaw drop. Thanks to everyone for sharing! I know there are people who truly get angry at the thought of a signed pedigree but I would jump on this one in a heart-beat.

Wow! Its good to have friends! Nice Detectives!

Very nice, my friend! 13 does not get enough love and it is a tough issue. I would put it as tough as 14.

you sleep with your Timelys?

For me, the nine is my favorite of the group but I wouldn't kick any of 'em out of bed!

Here's mine.

Simply fantastic!

I know what you mean... before CGC it was more difficult to determine the scarcity of some books. I regretted selling those as well... I need the 11 now.. PreCGC I used the Metro site to gauge rarity. Didn't really work because Metro's weight kinda warps reality. At one point they had two USA #6 listed on their site and I passed them both by thinking, "How rare can they be?" Now I have a rule that I do not sell a Timely unless I have an upgrade in hand. I know what you mean... but sometimes sacrifices are made... Yes USA 6 is one I'm looking for as well, I was out bid on a restored copy at an extravagant price and I never buy restored...It's way harder than issue 11 which has the reputation for hard...CGC and the internet give clarity to rarity, and we collectors do not have to rely on anyone else to tell us anymore... we just know the 8 is tougher then both of them. Yeah, I know. I had two #8s pass through my hands in one year. The highest grade was a 4.0 and, again, I thought, "How rare could it be?" I'll sell these and wait for an upgrade. Actually issue 14 IMO is the toughest USA especially in grade, I would put the 6 and 8 on par... interesting. In 22 years, I've seen more 6s than 8s pass by. They are all tough. Yeah, it is interesting. I've personally owned three different copies of 14, one 7, and two of 8. I've never owned an 11 or a 6 (although the 11 is about to change. ) Maybe its a regional thing? More copies of some on the East Coast and more copies of others on the West? I do agree, "They are all tough." the USAs were the lowest distributed/printed of all the Timely titles from what I have gathered. I favor the #s 6-10 books only and have only tracked these mainly the past twenty years. I've owned two 6s, four 7s, two 8s, one 9, and three 10s in my time. The 9 is the least favorite of mine in that little run. The 8 my favorite. I have the longest history with the 10. The 7 has the highest demand. I think 10 is the most common of the 6-10 run. All great covers. Speaking as a mid-grade collector, USAs are tough in any grade. 15 through 17 are the easiest though. Yeah, I wish the Dentist would let everyone have a peek at his Mile High Timely collection.

That is a nice set and one I had not considered. By the way, 9.2?

I know what you mean... before CGC it was more difficult to determine the scarcity of some books. I regretted selling those as well... I need the 11 now.. PreCGC I used the Metro site to gauge rarity. Didn't really work because Metro's weight kinda warps reality. At one point they had two USA #6 listed on their site and I passed them both by thinking, "How rare can they be?" Now I have a rule that I do not sell a Timely unless I have an upgrade in hand. I know what you mean... but sometimes sacrifices are made... Yes USA 6 is one I'm looking for as well, I was out bid on a restored copy at an extravagant price and I never buy restored...It's way harder than issue 11 which has the reputation for hard...CGC and the internet give clarity to rarity, and we collectors do not have to rely on anyone else to tell us anymore... we just know the 8 is tougher then both of them. Yeah, I know. I had two #8s pass through my hands in one year. The highest grade was a 4.0 and, again, I thought, "How rare could it be?" I'll sell these and wait for an upgrade. Actually issue 14 IMO is the toughest USA especially in grade, I would put the 6 and 8 on par... interesting. In 22 years, I've seen more 6s than 8s pass by. They are all tough. Yeah, it is interesting. I've personally owned three different copies of 14, one 7, and two of 8. I've never owned an 11 or a 6 (although the 11 is about to change. ) Maybe its a regional thing? More copies of some on the East Coast and more copies of others on the West? I do agree, "They are all tough." the USAs were the lowest distributed/printed of all the Timely titles from what I have gathered. I favor the #s 6-10 books only and have only tracked these mainly the past twenty years. I've owned two 6s, four 7s, two 8s, one 9, and three 10s in my time. The 9 is the least favorite of mine in that little run. The 8 my favorite. I have the longest history with the 10. The 7 has the highest demand. I think 10 is the most common of the 6-10 run. All great covers. I've never had a 6,10,11, or 12. 11 is my least favorite while 8, 14, 17 probably swap places in my top 3 depending upon my mod the day i"m asked. I love 17; i mean, come on, bloody spear through the chest!

Picked this one up on the boards shortly after I joined. I thought it presented very nicely: Very pretty copy!

I know what you mean... before CGC it was more difficult to determine the scarcity of some books. I regretted selling those as well... I need the 11 now.. PreCGC I used the Metro site to gauge rarity. Didn't really work because Metro's weight kinda warps reality. At one point they had two USA #6 listed on their site and I passed them both by thinking, "How rare can they be?" Now I have a rule that I do not sell a Timely unless I have an upgrade in hand. I know what you mean... but sometimes sacrifices are made... Yes USA 6 is one I'm looking for as well, I was out bid on a restored copy at an extravagant price and I never buy restored...It's way harder than issue 11 which has the reputation for hard...CGC and the internet give clarity to rarity, and we collectors do not have to rely on anyone else to tell us anymore... we just know the 8 is tougher then both of them. Yeah, I know. I had two #8s pass through my hands in one year. The highest grade was a 4.0 and, again, I thought, "How rare could it be?" I'll sell these and wait for an upgrade. Actually issue 14 IMO is the toughest USA especially in grade, I would put the 6 and 8 on par... interesting. In 22 years, I've seen more 6s than 8s pass by. They are all tough. Here are my USA 8 and 14... copies I am missing are the 5 and 6...issue 5 always seems to be over priced IMO... if there are any nice issue 6's out there would love to see.... Lots of love for #8 but I much prefer #14. I seem to see it a lot less than the #8 Sartre, your copies are always to die for! I really love the #14 and here is mine.

Love them all, Cat! That CA #7 though. WhoooEEEE!

I know what you mean... before CGC it was more difficult to determine the scarcity of some books. I regretted selling those as well... I need the 11 now.. PreCGC I used the Metro site to gauge rarity. Didn't really work because Metro's weight kinda warps reality. At one point they had two USA #6 listed on their site and I passed them both by thinking, "How rare can they be?" Now I have a rule that I do not sell a Timely unless I have an upgrade in hand. I know what you mean... but sometimes sacrifices are made... Yes USA 6 is one I'm looking for as well, I was out bid on a restored copy at an extravagant price and I never buy restored...It's way harder than issue 11 which has the reputation for hard...CGC and the internet give clarity to rarity, and we collectors do not have to rely on anyone else to tell us anymore... we just know the 8 is tougher then both of them. Yeah, I know. I had two #8s pass through my hands in one year. The highest grade was a 4.0 and, again, I thought, "How rare could it be?" I'll sell these and wait for an upgrade. Actually issue 14 IMO is the toughest USA especially in grade, I would put the 6 and 8 on par... interesting. In 22 years, I've seen more 6s than 8s pass by. They are all tough. Yeah, it is interesting. I've personally owned three different copies of 14, one 7, and two of 8. I've never owned an 11 or a 6 (although the 11 is about to change. ) Maybe its a regional thing? More copies of some on the East Coast and more copies of others on the West? I do agree, "They are all tough."

I know what you mean... before CGC it was more difficult to determine the scarcity of some books. I regretted selling those as well... I need the 11 now.. PreCGC I used the Metro site to gauge rarity. Didn't really work because Metro's weight kinda warps reality. At one point they had two USA #6 listed on their site and I passed them both by thinking, "How rare can they be?" Now I have a rule that I do not sell a Timely unless I have an upgrade in hand. I know what you mean... but sometimes sacrifices are made... Yes USA 6 is one I'm looking for as well, I was out bid on a restored copy at an extravagant price and I never buy restored...It's way harder than issue 11 which has the reputation for hard...CGC and the internet give clarity to rarity, and we collectors do not have to rely on anyone else to tell us anymore... we just know the 8 is tougher then both of them. Yeah, I know. I had two #8s pass through my hands in one year. The highest grade was a 4.0 and, again, I thought, "How rare could it be?" I'll sell these and wait for an upgrade.

Great article, Cat! Thanks for posting it. And the books, well...

I know what you mean... before CGC it was more difficult to determine the scarcity of some books. I regretted selling those as well... I need the 11 now.. PreCGC I used the Metro site to gauge rarity. Didn't really work because Metro's weight kinda warps reality. At one point they had two USA #6 listed on their site and I passed them both by thinking, "How rare can they be?" Now I have a rule that I do not sell a Timely unless I have an upgrade in hand.

Great copy! Definitely in my Top 5 covers list. Here's mine.

Daring #9 is tough! I mistakenly sold mine a few years ago, along with the D copy #11, thinking I would never get a #10. Now I have a #10 and I've replaced the #11 but I cannot find a #9! So goes the life of an impatient Timely completest.

As always Straw! When my collection grows up it hopes to be half as awesome as yours.

That is a tough book to get and definitely in my top 10 most wanted!

That is a NICE looking Torch!

Point well taken. But on the talking point about it not appearing to be a huge difference, I find GA books tend to play by a different set of rules anyway. CGC giving glue on covers a blue pass was probably my earliest introduction to this grey area of collecting. The most recent though was being told by some well-heeled dealers and collectors that ads being cut out from a GA book barely effects the grade and value, even though I consider them to be incomplete. I've certainly seen the rarity factor push a GA books value above guide price, even in low grades. Maybe when they are selling, but not when they are buying. I've owned a few GA books with clipped coupons that didn't effect story pages, and had to sell them at at least 50% below what they would have realized complete, and that's for VG-F books, I imagine its worse for higher grade. I could see it having minimal effect on 1.5-2.0 books, as all sorts of factors come into play when pricing those. Yeah, a clipped coupon -- much less a missing ad page -- gets a big hit from CGC (except maybe, as you note, at the lowest grade levels) or gets you a qualified label if it's otherwise a high grade book. The value would be much lower than for an intact copy of the same book. Maybe what the dealer was saying was something along the lines of: "This is a very scarce book, so even though it has a clipped coupon, I can still get guide price for it." I can see that happening. I would very seriously consider not doing business with any dealer who tried "clipped coupon does not affect grade" with me. Now, the dealer is welcome to price in whatever range they think they will find a buyer; I do not have to buy at their asking price. Of course, I'm not known for walking away form books that I want. I've sold a couple of Timelys at significantly above guide value even with slight restoration. It all depends upon rarity and demand.