rakehell

Nice. Not quite equal, though. The best guess proportion of the print run given over to UK Pence Price Variants is anywhere between 2 & 10%. So yours is between 10 and 50 times scarcer than the regular cents copies. 4530 cents copies in the census versus 77 pence. Prices for these, especially keys like yours, are starting to creep up. Well done. I agree.

Ok. Figured it out. Like I said, they're tiny. I google-translated a couple of the words & they came back Norwegian. Not sure of age, but they've got to be pre-digital at least. Probably 80's, maybe late 70's. I thought it was worth a punt for £7.

Greetings All, Don't know if anyone is interested, but there are a few of these up now on eBay UK. - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284315198541?hash=item423281a44d:g:gEcAAOSwOOlgtQeI I think they're Norwegian. I bought one last week & it landed the other day. They're very small, like, sub-digest size. Maybe from a Norwegian pocket book, or something. Had a quick scan of GCD & found nuttin'. I'll post pictures of mine when I can figure out my new phone.

Good man. Bring coffee. And a Stadium-Buddy.

I'll use any link, no matter how tenuous, as an excuse to post that one. I just love the cut & paste quality of it. It looks like they were seriously behind in the editorial office at Kabanas Hellas & someone just grabbed a page off someone else's desk & said "Here's your cover!" just in time to meet the deadline.

I just got that.

I maybe should have used a better example, but Marwood already used La Masa 4. The closest I could get from my own collection is this - & it ain't what it looks like. That's not Wolverine's hand & this isn't a 'Greek Edition' of Hulk 181. I forget which issue it does contain, but it's definitely not 181.

Nitpicking alert! UK Pence Price Variant, thank you very much. Interesting note about rarity - the UK pence portion of the original print runs are estimated at anywhere between 2 & 10%. Title Avengers Issue No. 1 Issue Date 9/63 Year 1963 Publisher Marvel Comics Country Key Comments Origin & 1st appearance of the Avengers., Fantastic Four, Loki &, Teen Brigade appearance. Art Comments Stan Lee story, Jack Kirby & Ayers cover & art Country/Variant - Grade Universal Qualified Signature Series Restored See Detail Total Mint 10.0 0 0 0 0 0 Mint 9.9 0 0 0 0 0 Near Mint/Mint 9.8 0 0 0 0 0 Near Mint + 9.6 5 0 0 1 6 Near Mint 9.4 11 0 0 0 11 Near Mint - 9.2 14 0 0 4 18 Very Fine/Near Mint 9.0 20 0 2 9 31 Very Fine + 8.5 45 0 3 16 64 Very Fine 8.0 49 1 5 16 71 Very Fine - 7.5 76 0 10 25 111 Fine/Very Fine 7.0 124 4 8 23 159 Fine + 6.5 143 0 6 38 187 Fine 6.0 149 3 18 47 217 Fine - 5.5 152 3 21 33 209 Very Good/Fine 5.0 248 6 26 56 336 Very Good + 4.5 289 7 43 47 386 Very Good 4.0 357 7 50 66 480 Very Good - 3.5 319 8 55 61 443 Good/Very Good 3.0 384 6 59 66 515 Good + 2.5 260 3 51 44 358 Good 2.0 201 1 40 36 278 Good - 1.8 117 1 28 18 164 Fair/Good 1.5 138 1 27 22 188 Fair 1.0 90 5 23 19 137 Poor 0.5 96 4 26 27 153 Total 3287 60 501 674 4522 Country/Variant United Kingdom - U.K. Price Variant Grade Universal Qualified Signature Series Restored See Detail Total Mint 10.0 0 0 0 0 0 Mint 9.9 0 0 0 0 0 Near Mint/Mint 9.8 0 0 0 0 0 Near Mint + 9.6 0 0 0 0 0 Near Mint 9.4 0 0 0 0 0 Near Mint - 9.2 0 0 0 0 0 Very Fine/Near Mint 9.0 0 0 0 0 0 Very Fine + 8.5 1 0 0 0 1 Very Fine 8.0 1 0 0 0 1 Very Fine - 7.5 4 0 0 0 4 Fine/Very Fine 7.0 3 0 0 0 3 Fine + 6.5 3 0 0 0 3 Fine 6.0 1 0 0 0 1 Fine - 5.5 5 0 0 0 5 Very Good/Fine 5.0 0 0 2 0 2 Very Good + 4.5 5 1 0 0 6 Very Good 4.0 8 1 1 2 12 Very Good - 3.5 12 0 0 0 12 Good/Very Good 3.0 1 0 0 1 2 Good + 2.5 7 0 2 0 9 Good 2.0 5 0 1 0 6 Good - 1.8 2 0 0 2 4 Fair/Good 1.5 2 0 0 1 3 Fair 1.0 0 0 1 0 1 Poor 0.5 1 0 0 1 2 Total 61 2 7 7 77 Based on the census, the UK Pence Price Variant represents 1.7% of the total graded by CGC. Value-wise, you're pretty close - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AVENGERS-1-CGC-3-5-Marvel-Comic-1st-Avengers-Thor-Hulk-Iron-Man-Ant-Man-Wasp-/254970782140?hash=item3b5d7161bc%3Ag%3Agz8AAOSwPudglPil&nma=true&si=BqRvFTFTGUyQCg1bZmm4xe58ydk%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 £1995 x 1.4 current exchange rate = $2793. Based on the scarcity of the UKPPV compared to the US cents standard, this should have a 0 on the end. But the market doesn't value this particular scarcity. It's starting to, but... Loads of market discussion nearer to the end of this thread. Still, good video. Very thorough & entertaining.

But that prevents me adding it to my MWM registry set... That is a ...CatDog! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CatDog

Good.

Just stumbled across this thread yesterday. Still reading through. I agree with your approach, Linda, not least for the sake of continuity. If I were trying to slab a full run of Might World of Marvel, why does my 198 have a slab that doesn't match the rest of the run? Pedantic, yes, but then I collect comics. Plus, also, I'll just interject this here - I'm disappointed nobody else spotted that.

I'm usually nodding, you just can't see me. Assume that the nod is always implied, at least from me.

I love 'em, me. But you're right, they're as rare as rocking horse poop. I wouldn't say I check for Archie UKPPVs every day, but I'm looking at least twice a week. Can't remember the last time I saw one. Still, thanks to you, Loretta, we at least mostly know what's out there. I don't always have time to jump in with a comment, but I'm usually watching from some dark corner somewhere & I'm indebted to you (not financially, of course, don't get your hopes up) for your tireless and meticulous research. Thanks for keeping on top of things. Chin, chin.

A guy I used to work with liked to tell a story of a find he almost made when he was a kid in Santa Cruz. A local family in the 40's/50's had an only child with a disability. Because the kid was largely confined to home, the parents went to the local newsstand every week and bought 1 each of every issue on the stand. In the mid-60's, the kid died & the parents cleared out the garage (now filled with fruit crates full of comics). The guy I knew had been out surfing and on his way back up the beach, spotted this elderly couple raking the ashes of what had been a huge bonfire... I didn't want to believe him, but he swore it was a true story.

I used to live there. Only missed that one by...20 years!

Ah. Thank you Dolores. I stand/sit/recline (delete as appropriate) corrected.

FYI, all UK Pence Price Variants were printed in the US with a US cents priced indicia. If the price is missing from the cover, there is literally no way to know for certain what price was originally on the cover. The inside pages of the comics all came from the same print run, so are identical. The only change, especially with the earlier Silver Age books was the price slug on the cover. A few UKPPV books were printed with L. Miller or Thorpe & Porter distribution blurbs above or below the indicia, but the price in the indicia was still cents. Interestingly, a couple of early SA cents books were also printed with the L. Miller blurb, but I can't recall which ones off the top of my mildly throbbing brain. Marwood's done some sterling research on this topic.

Thanks for tagging me in. Don't know about anyone else, but I want that stand.

Ditto to that. They are all from the same run. The difference only exists when the cover wrap is added.

I've noticed a lot of this lately. An example dear to my heart: just try to get a decent copy of Star Wars #2 UKPPV for less than £30. It makes it very tough to be a chintzy bugger. I'll have to start collecting Richie Rich or something. Good bit of research, btw.

This is an old debate & one that we won't resolve here. It is valid to hold the opinion that UK priced (& CAD & AUD), US produced comics are foreign editions, because they are produced for a foreign market. However, it is also valid to hold the opinion that, because they were part of the same print run as the US cents copies and have a common US price indicia, they are true price variants; the price they vary from is the same US cents price that the test market variants vary from. Not sure about this one either. Marwood is the expert (or an expert). Read through this if you have time - I think I said that. Surely that makes them even more rare in the US. Another note on rarity: It's worth mentioning that the UK pence price variants began in the early sixties and included most of the key Silver Age Marvel books. They are arguably the first true variants produced on a large scale & some of them are very rare indeed. My Girl Pearl #7 anyone? One copy known to exist. Of course, now that I've mentioned it another one will pop up somewhere. I've looked back through the earlier pages of this thread & I can't find any mention of it only being for test market variants. I'm not the only one to post UKPPVs in the thread, nor was I the first. Most of what I have posted has gotten several likes. Anyway, thanks again for the discussion.

Sorry for the delay. Broadband problems. Anyway, the main qualifier for me has always been the indicia. All of the Marvel price experiment variants that were also printed as UK pence price variants were printed with three different price points. For example, Star Wars #2 was printed with a standard 30c, a price experiment 35c & a UK 12p. The inside pages of these books were all run off the press at the same time, and, crucially, all of them (including the UK 12p) have a 30c indicia. Now, if I'm being pedantic, it follows that the 35c & the 12p have a different price on the cover than they have on the indicia. This means that the cover price varies from the price stated, hence they are price variants. The fact that they were intended for distribution in a foreign country is secondary to the facts of their origin (to me at least). With reference to foreign editions in general, these UK & Canadian (& later Australian) priced comics are another thing altogether. Other foreign editions (EH, La Prensa, Lug, Marvel UK, what have you) were printed in whatever country they were intended for, in whatever format they were used to printing their comics & sold domestically. They have no US pedigree other than a transfer of content through a licensing agreement, while the CAD, UKP & AUD were all part of the initial USD print run. It's worth noting here as well, that Marvel (Atlas) were the first to do this in the early 60's, but these variants were also printed by DC, Charlton, Dell/Gold Key, Archie & Key (did I forget one? Sorry Marwood). OPG lists Star Wars #1, 35c variant as "1500? copies printed". Not sure how many 30c were printed in total (no UKPPV for #1), but if you take an easy math guess at 300,000 copies, that would put the % for the 35c variant at 0.5%. There is no question that these are the rarest variants out there, but if you extend the analogy to Star Wars #2, a 5% average would put the total for UK pence price variants of #2 at 15,000. Still pretty rare. In fact, I just looked at the census. Standard 30c - total 1427. 35c variant - total 124. Reprint - total 145. UK 12p - total 1. Looks like I need to get a couple of mine graded. Thanks for the discussion.

Have to correct you there. The UK Pence Price Variants are true price variants because they were printed with the regular (& price experiment) cents copies. The inside pages are from the same print run & they all have US cents indicia. The only differences are on the cover. There are a dozen or so threads on this & they all agree on this point. True, but only just. The pence variants were printed at an estimated 2-10% of the original print run. 5% is the accepted average.

I agree. I'll admit that when I first arrived in the UK, nearly 30 years ago, I didn't know what to make of them & leaned towards the reprint side of things. Of course, I know better now, but I've lived here for so long I've developed interests in loads of other foreign & UK editions anyway. The real issue is with awareness; most American collectors have no knowledge or interest in domestically printed comic books intended for foreign markets. To a significant percentage of collectors it just doesn't register. +1 on this.

Teepee, not wigwam. See what they did there?