Bumble Kitty

10 hours ago, electricprune said:

Our Love Story #33 CGC 9.6 OW/W, lone highest graded by far (ahead of 1 8.0), this was one of the toughest reprint issues to find in gradable shape. $119 Priced very fairly I believe.

I'm sitting here at the airport in CA with too much time on my hands waiting on my flight back home to Boston, so what better way to utilize it than to shout out to Terry and anyone wanting to know how the show was how simply fantastic it really was. The site was perfect for the show and parking was easy and close as I arrived right at the opening bell of 9:30 and the crowd of approx 300 + breezed right in, I'm sure more arrived later. The show was busy from beginning to end and there was never really a die down. I highly recommend both dealers and buyers add this show for next year. Well worth my 3000 mile trip.

 

So who did I get the chance to meet? Let me see if I can recall: (sorry if I missed your name or spelled it wrong) and not in any order of favorites,but Oakman29 did not disappoint as he represented the whole entire state of California the night before at a boardie dinner that was MCed kinda by the ever loving Columbia Comics, yes he did pick up the tab on all the grub we could shovel down, what a sport. The legendary Ciorac was set up and keeping himself relevant. He knows everyone, and has more stories than Stan Lee. MikesRack impressed me with his abilities to stack golden age piles of books on a budget with great speed. He was there the whole day and I guess he my be taking tomorrow off after that long ride back to AZ. GAflash was representing Atlanta, nicest guy you'd ever meet. At the show, you know it's a little work trying to figure out who's on the boards and then trying to remember. But I did meet Gregg, RMA, Dr Love, Bumblekitty whom I did buy a slabbed Untamed Love #1, I met buttock and shook his hand, I met Robotman who was taking pics of boardies so I'm sure he's planning on posing mug shots at some point. There was more and I'm sure I'll remember, just can't right now.

So what did I buy? Well my buying style was just wrong for this style of show. I like to take my once around scan of all the walls first before making any serious buys. This was poor planning on my behalf as books were being vacuumed up in that meantime. Next time I need to move a whole lot faster. Nevertheless I found books that I liked at prices I was happy to pay. These are them

 

I undoubtedly will go back next year as it was a buyers dream to be at a show that cared about how it used to be and how it should be with books you'd hope to find. No joke this show. Just good mojo all around and all day long.

Terry, thank you for the great show! This is slowly replacing SDCC in my book. But the one negative of the show is the parking. If you got there around 10:30, there was no parking! That never happened before. That is how well attended the show is! Parking did become available by about 2 PM.

I can't wait until next year!

It is obviously hard to determine the tone of this quote, but given its placement I don't think it was said awe and respect. Probably something more along the lines of questioning amusement along with a head scratch. It got me thinking about what is the least desirable genre of the golden age? Some of the old standbys, like teen humor, are now highly sought after. Crime is on the rise. Romance is starting to pick up. Westerns are still slow for the most part, though some publishers are picking up (EC, Atlas, Ajax). I would say Classics Illustrated but there is a very rabid base of Classics collectors which exist outside of the normal comic collecting community. Heck, someone said there were bidding wars for Dell Four Colors on Ebay! So what is it that nobody is collecting these days?

 

I started considering cross genres or subsets and I think I've come up with the least desirable type of golden age comic - Photo Cover Western Romance!

 

I find them desirable, but as it is with everything, money is always in limited supply. Or maybe it's too little money chasing too many books.

Ben can buy books from me any time. Thank you sir!

Nice set of Bakers!

 

There has certainly been a substantial run up in prices in recent years -- I've played my part in helping cause it!

 

But it's nothing we haven't seen in other collecting niches, such as PCH.

 

I guess I would say that for Baker collectors, a book like CL 25 or GCE 12 is a real key. Granted many fewer people chase those books than chase IH 181, but there are thousands of graded copies of IH 181 and fewer than 20 graded copies of either CL 25 or GCE 12.

 

From a collecting viewpoint, that's what makes Baker so interesting -- many of the books are difficult to very difficult to next door to impossible to find, especially in mid-grade or above. In contrast, if you would like a copy of IH 181 in any given grade, you can instantly find one. It's just a question of paying the price. So far as I know, not a single copy of CL 25 or CGE 12 is currently available for sale, at least not publicly.

 

Will Baker prices fall back to where they were five years ago? As with any other area of comic book pricing, the true answer is "Who knows?" I'll venture a guess that enough people have been attracted to collecting him the past few years that it will be a while before they fill out their collections and drop out of the bidding when his books come up at auction.

I kind of feel the same way.

Speaking of gay - as in happy - this is without a doubt the best comic related purchasing decision I've ever made. Sorry guys can't help it, gotta gush like it's a pic of my first born.

 

 

 

Blue eyes!! Thank you Ryan!

 

These Baker books should be called banker books lately for the prices they are getting

Ain't that the truth!

 

Boy, sometimes it gets tempting to unload the pile of Baker books, but then the wife gives me that stern look, and the temptation quickly fades away.

 

Really? So, your wife is the one who says, "Be patient and hang onto the books because they'll be worth a lot more in the future?"

 

That's great. More often than not, it seems, it's the wife or girl friend who's... well, let's say, more in favor of liquidating the collection.

Well, she actually says, "you will never be able to buy them again, so why do you want to sell them?" Plus one book is her favorite, and if I ever kick the bucket, she would sell the collection, but keep that one book.

 

Which one is that

This one...

These Baker books should be called banker books lately for the prices they are getting

Ain't that the truth!

 

Boy, sometimes it gets tempting to unload the pile of Baker books, but then the wife gives me that stern look, and the temptation quickly fades away.

 

Really? So, your wife is the one who says, "Be patient and hang onto the books because they'll be worth a lot more in the future?"

 

That's great. More often than not, it seems, it's the wife or girl friend who's... well, let's say, more in favor of liquidating the collection.

Well, she actually says, "you will never be able to buy them again, so why do you want to sell them?" Plus one book is her favorite, and if I ever kick the bucket, she would sell the collection, but keep that one book.

These Baker books should be called banker books lately for the prices they are getting

Ain't that the truth!

Boy, sometimes it gets tempting to unload the pile of Baker books, but then the wife gives me that stern look, and the temptation quickly fades away.

I don't think the atmosphere has changed at all. You will always hear the whining that it sucks on Easter weekend or that it was better in San Francisco or Anahiem. I used to love it in SF but it's gone and ain't coming back. Next year it's back in Anahiem and not on Easter.

 

I am equal distance from LA or Anahiem so it doesn't matter to me. It did seem a little 'edgier" in LA which is cool. It was a good, tight show that you could almost do in one day if you were real focused. I would have liked a few more comic dealers but I managed to spend more than I should have with the ones that were there.

 

I heard a lot of people say that they are done with San Diego and this was it for them. Was a great alternative for me to and I would go to any of the 3 locations.

I "heard" that one dealer won't do a show in LA. Hopefully he will be back for the Anaheim show. I also "heard" that one or two will be back next year now that the Con is the weekend after Easter.

Me, I enjoy Anaheim a little bit more.

Thanks for the report Bob, it was a lot of fun.

 

I heard several people refer to WonderCon as a "mini-San Diego". They either got boxed out for SDCC tickets or just don't want the hassle anymore.

 

Boardies were indeed everywhere - I enjoy the chats, meals, and deals so much.

 

Traffic and parking were better and easier than I expected.

 

Hot vintage books? Had to be Matt Baker covers (St. John) along with Bill Everett covers (Atlas). Wonder Woman SA books were flying out of the boxes. Bedrock had an entire wall of Gaines copies, otherwise nice EC's were in short supply.

 

Several dealers got stuck with poor locations that were too far off the beaten path, including Sal Zimmerman and Greg Reece - hopefully they can get better locations next year.

 

Overall, a very enjoyable show!

 

Here's my meager haul:

 

 

There's a CGC 8.0 copy of GCE 12 out there that would presumably blow through the $10K barrier if it were auctioned. The Seven Seas 4 CGC 9.0 might do the same. There are probably some high-grade copies of other issues as well that would sell above $10K. I wish I owned them!

I wonder if I own any like these. With these prices, I am almost tempted to sell some of mine...almost, but not quite willing.

I was very surprised at the final price -- maybe I am a little out of touch with the going rate on Baker books.

Also a shout out to my friend Bumble Kitty who rarely posts but believe me has put together a fantastic collection as well.

Hi Andy!

Quick payer. You can always buy from me!

Harley's latest tactic seems to be only give the buyer a few moments to decide. The panic, the rush. You won out on getting a copy that was fixed and graded and cheaper than than the hallucinogenic price he originally asked.

I hope I didn't give the impression that Harley held a gun to my head. He honored his promise by giving me the first crack at it. He told me the grade and the price and asked if I wanted it. I felt if I didn't buy it, he had other potential buyers lined up. It would not have been fair to Harley if I asked him to hold the book for a bit while I tried to make up my mind. So I made a decision quickly and bought it.

A few years back he called me out of the blue and said he had two Baker books for sale and asked if I was interested. Again, I felt he was shopping the books around for a quick sale. I asked if he could give me one day to decide, as I was not home at the moment and I had to check my collection when I got home. I got the impression I was not the first person he called.

The next day I called him back and bought both books. I could have easily passed on them, but I would have probably regretted it afterwards. Harley's prices may be aggressive, but he has books for sale most others do not. He can continue to sell me books and I will probably buy most of them!

Bumble Kitty, I think it's a great book and whatever you paid, I would probably have paid at least as much if I didn't own a copy.

 

Harley did indeed offer me this copy when it was raw. He said he thought it might grade at 8.0. I was skeptical and since I already have the 7.0 copy, I passed. I can't quite remember what price he was asking. The book is definitely improved relative to how it looked when I saw it. Then it was in desperate need of a press and had some pencil marks that seem to have been removed.

 

A somewhat puzzling aspect of the story is that someone who is looking for a copy asked me to follow up with Harley and he told me it had graded at 6.5 and that he had sold it. That was more than a month ago.

 

Perhaps he meant that a deal had been agreed to and the person would pick the book up at SDCC. Maybe this other potential buyer was the reason he only gave you a brief time to make up your mind.

Harley told me about it at Wondercon after it had gone for grading, and he told me the original price.

He asked if I was interested and I said "yeah, let me know when it comes back". At that point, the worst that can happen is I say no. Plus, it will be a few months down the road. Well, he calls me in one month with the grade and price.

That is when I had two or three seconds to decide. After I said yes, we struck a deal or he struck me (I don't know how to describe it). I sent him a hefty down payment and we agreed to complete the deal at SDCC.

Here is my copy that I picked up at SDCC 2015. It was a little expensive.

 

 

Nice! From Harley?

Yup!

 

I saw this when he first got it raw. Called it a 7.5. Then came the sticker shock.

Yeah, he told me that he just threw a number out there to see what would happen. He had the book CGC'd and he lowered the price from "outer space" to the "earth's atmosphere". I basically had two or three seconds to think about it -- and my thought was when will I have another opportunity to buy a good looking copy? So I bought it. I was in shock that I did it, but right now I am very happy I bought it!

Here is my copy that I picked up at SDCC 2015. It was a little expensive.

 

 

Nice! From Harley?

Yup!

Here is my copy that I picked up at SDCC 2015. It was a little expensive.

Phillip bought three books from me and paid quickly. He is a welcomed to buy more from me.

This is low grade but you rarely see it up for auction. Anyone have a high grade copy of TR44?

 

Anyone have another copy of TR 44? (I do- it's about 5.0. As scarce as TR 45, IMO.)

 

Maybe it's fitting that as the Teen-Age Romances run drew to a close, that couple -- with his receding hairline and her hints of gray -- appear to be engaged in a Middle-Age Romance.

OMG. That auction was really something.

 

I almost went for the TLP 5, but just...couldn't. Who knows what it would have taken. Rick Starr, congrats.

 

Recap

 

Diary Secrets 18 F- $406

Dairy Secrets 24 VG/F $323

Pictorial Romances 6 F+ $203

Teen-Age Romances 14 VG $261

Teen-Age Romances 34 VG+ $478

Teen-Age Temptations 7 VG/F $149

True Love Pictorial 2 VG $137

True Love Pictorial 5 6.5 $741

True Love Pictorial 8 6.0Q $103

True Love Pictorial 10 6.0 $299

Wartime Romances 3 F- $980

This auction had me scratching my head. I only went after one book (which I didn't win), but the prices on the other ones, were, well, surprising. Maybe I'm under estimating the value of what I have. Here's my WR 3...

Hopefully I can come back to this thread this weekend.

Whoa! That TAR 36 just went for a strong price. eBay auction

I was also surprised at the price. I bought this one a while ago, so perhaps that is why I didn't think it was it that desirable.