ageofsilver

Rest in peace, Mike. You have given people so much, with the monumental work that is the Newsstand.

Occam’s razor also suggests that the most likely possibilities for the sequence of Action 14 adds in the first issue of Superman have now been enumerated. However, in the absence of percentages of issues with each not yet being determined, I’d like to propose an imaginative alternative. Suppose the first run erroneously did say Action 14 was on sale contemporaneously with Sup 1, and the press supervisor noticing that for whatever reason an error had been made said, “Stop the press” The offending red plate is altered reflecting the June 2nd date and the press run then continued. Now you would have two first prints, with one first state (the error) and one corrected second state. I know; highly unlikely.

I feel your pain, RM and Mr. Zipper. As for me, most everything I own has a cost basis of cover price…

Buy a humidity and temperature monitor. I use ThermoPro, which can be set to display fluctuations over 24 hours or perpetually. Fourteen bucks including free shipping from Amazon. Plus or minus 3 percent accuracy. Backlit and powered by 2 aaa batteries, which last a year or so. Bought a bunch of them for the gun safe, bookshelf areas; even the garage. Good for checking out bank safe deposite box conditions, as well. About 3 inches square. Set them up side by side to check for an errant unit.

Thanks, BZ, and all the other board members who have contributed to this thread. It has been a spectacular read. Best wishes.

Jon Berk shared a lot of information and pleasure in those treasured issues of the Carters’ wonderful CBM. Rest in peace.

Nice work Andrew

This is a fine idea. You love something enough to pay over your comfort zone, but later can pick up a copy for significantly less. You buy that copy too, which yields a better average. Of course, now you have two copies, so I don’t make a habit of doing this. Both copies of the 12/37 Weird Tales in my collection are vg plus in grade, but with different defects. I love taking them out and viewing them together.

Jim was a great friend from my youth, with an amazing talent for art identification and a voracious interest in collecting Atlas. He just loved comic and illustration art, producing scholarly books and magazines. Somehow, we fell out of touch in the seventies, but I’ve always thought of him fondly. Rest in peace, man.

I don’t combine books and firearms in my safe, so can’t speak to chemical interaction. Some say fire resistant materials can cause rust issues. My suggestion is to purchase some of the inexpensive recording temp/relative humidity gauges, and install them anywhere you have collection; on a bookshelf, in safety deposit boxes or any safe. Opening door for regular “airing out “ has been recommended, as well. Good luck.

Sorry to hear of your mother’s passing. May the Lord bless and keep her soul and bring peace to yours. Take care Mike

He took Ditko’s masterpiece and made it his own. Rest in peace.

Quite an accomplishment! My suggestion is to pause and curate your collection. Do you like the Ditko and Romita runs the best, for example? What do you see yourself keeping, long term? Is investment value important to you? What other stuff did you read in the silver age? Ever consider dipping a toe into golden age? EC reprints are cheap, if you want to get an idea. Collecting Warren’s magazines could be fun. Let us know what you pursue next.

Oh, dear! You are all so very young. A sock hop was a dance gathering typically done in the school gymnasium. The floor was a varnished maple, upon which basketball was played. To keep the floor finish nice, we youngsters took off our shoes to dance. It made doing The Twist easier, as well.

A lot of good thinking in this thread. I would like to add a few thoughts concerning why some Boomers’ comics may not be flooding the marketplace, any time soon. I agree that many collections are being held by people in their middle and late years. At least for those who are knowledgeable in the graded comics world, serious consideration for timing sales of some or all one’s funny books would seem wise. However, there are obstacles aplenty. Start with the incredible costs and effort associated with pressing and grading. You know you are going to want to maximize potential, even if you find the process somewhat disagreeable. Just thinking about photographing or scanning the raw books, seems daunting, let alone deciding what should come next. So, a kind of entropy may exist for many of us. Then, negotiations for selling all of part of the hoard seems like quite the task. I suspect that I am not alone in these feelings. Of course, just because I don’t want to make progress on these matters doesn’t mean I should leave it for my family to clean up, after my demise. Speaking of stepping over to the other side; as long as the collection is graded and detailed instructions are left, a posthumous sale could provide enormous tax savings for one’s intended beneficiaries. Since we tend to have longer lifespans these days, perhaps the deluge will be further postponed.