mosconi

What a gorgeous book!!  The spine wrap and centering look flawless 

On 7/3/2023 at 9:58 AM, october said:

A few people have asked about comics with a cursive "B" on them from the Silver Age. If you are curious, your comic likely came from one of these two sources. I'll summarize what I know, but maybe @Retroheavy can add some more. 

Retroheavy's dad amassed a high grade Silver Age collection as a kid, primarily from a drug store chain called Briscoe's in Ottowa, Kansas. It's possible the "B" stands for "Briscoe", an easy way for the distributor to mark copies bound for those shops. Anyway, his dad and uncle would pick up new comics from that local chain and race another kid to the new comics each week. His uncle would sometimes have to buy comics off the other kid that he missed out on. That "other kid" was almost certainly the OO of a collection I bought about 12 years ago with the exact same "B" markings and distributor overspray. The other kid was cousin of a famous sci-fi writer (Harlan Ellison maybe?). Both Retroheavy's dad and the other OO were meticulous about condition. I got a bunch of super high grade books out of the collection I bought, including Thor 126 9.8, Batman 171 9.6, ASM 51 9.8, FF 52 9.6, Flash 139 9.6, etc. They were all sold off to fund some Gold purchases, but I have some left (and a few from Retro). A few were so fresh (like the Metamorpho 1 that came back 9.8) that the distributor overspray was uncracked...he had never read them. I think every book came back at least OW/W, with most coming back White. 

Pretty neat that there are two "B" collections out there, both kept beautifully by two kids pedaling furiously to the stores to beat the other to the new comics. I think it's a great story anyway and figured others (especially people who have these) would like to hear it. 

Retroheavy found a book written by the drug store owner's kid. 

https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Back-Store-Gerald-Briscoe/dp/1532910983

I'll post a few from my collection, would love others to do the same. 

It's really interesting to read and learn the history of these letters and codes! So your thoughts are these were written by the distributor and not the drug store employees who put them out for sale at the store?  All the "B's" appear to be written by different hands, so there was definitely some type of classification system in place for the books.  But if the distributor was writing a letter "B" for the Briscoe store, would they not also have been writing other letters on books for the various stores they shipped to besides Briscoe?  You would then have a different letter written on every book for every store in the distribution area.  Or maybe it's a distributor code written by the drug store employees representing the name of the distributor that unsold copies would be returned to?  It would be a fun mystery to solve and maybe Retroheavy can add more thoughts.  Very cool collecting story! 

I feel once he completely analyzes and understands the amount of color touch and significant bleeding throughout this cover, and the subsequent amount of hacking and damage that will need to be administered to remove it, he will have wished he never cracked open this book  

On 4/8/2023 at 6:59 PM, Spyderfan said:

I might not be in the know, but any idea to the letter "B" that's in the upper left hand corner of these two books?  I've seen it in other books too over the years, but these two stand out at the moment.  Might it be an original owner collection/pedigree of some type?  Just an observation.  https://www.comiclink.com/itemdetail.asp?back=%2Fsearch.asp%3Fwhere%3Dsell%26title%3Damazing%2Bspiderman%2B1%26GO2%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB&id=1679213

From what I've learned over the years, the "B" may very likely represent the distributor code for a specific national or local Distributor which unsold books could be returned to by the newsstand dealer.  I've seen handwritten books with "ON" and "PB" on the cover which represent Omaha News and Publishers News.  It's a very interesting topic with a lot of information still to be discovered 

On 4/7/2023 at 4:36 PM, alexgross.com said:

i finally picked up the last key book in my ditko spidey white page collection (not including my af15 which is owwp) from @machone79 and it's a great looking copy!

very stoked to have all the big books in this run now, and with the white pages to boot. i don't normally care for the cva stickers but i can see why this book got one. 

Fantastic eye appeal and no marvel chipping!  Congrats 

On 4/9/2023 at 9:17 AM, Frisco Larson said:

Anyone who knows me, knows I collect La Prensa Publications comics of many different titles, one of which is Amazing Spider-Man. I was VERY happy to add two new books to my collection this week! This copy is the highest graded copy ... actually, it's the only graded copy! 

Very cool and interesting books  Wonder how many serious collectors in Mexico were keeping these in nice condition back in the day?

Just like those ComicLink stickers and their sticky residue on slabs, it could have been easily cleaned off with a little Goo Gone adhesive remover 

On 4/1/2023 at 1:37 PM, DST said:

Not the nicest looking 5.0s I have (especially the chipping on each), but this arc is among the best I've ever read

 

Lovely  33 is a classic cover

To my understanding, PP can also place a hold on the funds in the sellers account and once proof of shipment (tracking #) is entered in the system by the seller and proof of delivery is confirmed via the tracking #, then the funds get released into the PP sellers account.

Yeah, that was an interesting and informative article. Confirms many of my thoughts regarding CGC 9.6 and higher grades in "normal distribution" Newsstand vs Direct.

I'm not as interested in the print run information, although that can be a factor.  I'm more interested in the survival rate of high grade CGC 9.6 copies or higher, between the two methods.  For example, you could have 100 Direct Edition copies printed that have all "100 graded CGC 9.6" or higher due to the better handling/storage methods employed, while a 100,000 Newsstand print of the same issue where only "10 have graded CGC 9.6" or higher.  Therefore, I'm not as concerned about rarity of print run, but rather rarity of high grade survival in CGC 9.6 or better...

To me, the most important question is when did "high grade" Newsstand copies begin to become more difficult to find in CGC 9.6 or higher grade in comparison to Direct Edition copies?  Can we pinpoint a specific year that this began to occur?  Or can we just say that Newsstand copies will always be considered harder to find in 9.6 or higher when compared to Direct just because of the fact that they were more poorly handled and many times stored on spinner racks, haphazardly in convenience/book/drug stores, thereby easily bent and manhandled, and just generally not treated as well as the Direct copies in comic stores?   

On 1/20/2023 at 12:42 PM, MattTheDuck said:

I think someone said this issue was a "warehouse" find.  Here are my original copy from the early 70s and an upgrade copy I picked up here on the Boards from @Jginsberg79

 

I recall there was a topic called "Warehouse List" many years ago but I can't seem to find it anymore.  I don't remember all the books on the list but I do know ASM #33 was definitely on it...

On 1/20/2023 at 11:25 AM, Frisco Larson said:

I've passed on several 9.8s and a ped or two that just wasn't as white as my copy, so I just decided this'un will have to do. 

The color strike and whiteness of that book is stunning! Looks like it was just plucked off the newsstand 

Fantastic Spidey pedigree books!!   

And @Frisco Larson, you are absolutely right, these peds do come at a premium that makes them quite expensive to collect!! 

On 1/17/2023 at 11:28 AM, Frisco Larson said:

I do love the Spidey pedigrees 

On 1/17/2023 at 1:27 PM, alexgross.com said:

just arrived from CC today. very happy with the presentation considering the grade-