HOLY COW Yard sale find!!!!!

[Aman619]

This brings up an interesting question:

Have you heard any information about the find from anyone close to the source, or is your opinion based primarily on what you've read third or fourth-hand?

Have you ever met Chuck, or personally talked to him for a period of time necessary to formulate a decent judgment of his character?

 

yes.

yes.

yes.

 

sorry, you asked.

Ive spoken to him about the collection itself...

 

so yeah, my mind is made up.

[PedigreeMan]

This brings up an interesting question:

Have you heard any information about the find from anyone close to the source, or is your opinion based primarily on what you've read third or fourth-hand?

Have you ever met Chuck, or personally talked to him for a period of time necessary to formulate a decent judgment of his character?

 

yes.

yes.

yes.

 

sorry, you asked.

Ive spoken to him about the collection itself...

 

so yeah, my mind is made up.

 

Cool. Asked and answered. Sometimes it really can be that simple.

 

In any event, care to elaborate any? I know I would love to hear whatever stories you may have.

 

Alan

[Aman619]

yknow, not really.... I dont know what you collect, who you buy from, who you know etc etc.. but Chuck is not, lets say, universally admired or loved by many of the other dealers whom he has dealt with, including those who he originally sold the MHs to over the years. I dont know everyone and that is not to say that he has no friends and admirers. He is a fixture in this business.

 

But compare his accomplishments with, say Steve Geppi. And more importantly. contrast the business and personal styles of these two men. Steve is and has always been a gentleman. A tough businessman, but a smart, nice guy. You dont see him writing a self-important weekly columns to boost his stature and ego. He does write, or has written for him (just a guess) a monthly sales report/industry booster column in his Diamond Dialogues magazine. But it's never a soapbox for HIM and HIS achievements, or HIS 'Amazing Adventures' And he never rants on and on about his personal buying -- whether its mexican pottery or Barks paintings or GIJoe prototypes, or his organic farm, or his great kids, etc etc etc. And Steve Geppi is 50 times more successful than Chuck. I mean cmon - - Chuck is a certifiable nut.

 

And Steve isnt a ridiculous OVER grader and over pricer. Have you shopped Chucks Online store? Have you seen the prices? If they werent bad enough, those who have ordered books can attest to his blind graders! He has 5 grades: FairPoor, G, VG, F, NM/M. If you want high grade - - good luck in that NM/M category: covers quite a bit of ground, including rips and tape! (believe me)!

 

Also, check out Chuck's prices.. Not only way over Guide - - but over the moon! But dont worry, every week there is a "special" 50% off sale. And right now, hes got a special "secret password" sale that takes an ADDITIONAL 30% off the 50% off price. Now, I dont know what business YOU are in, but if you could take 65% off your prices you'd have to admit that the list prices were pretty fukkin inflated, huh??? I pity the poor collector who doesnt livenear a comic store (the same customer profile Chuck likes to say his website serves) who assumes Chuck, the paragon dealer of the Universe and Collector's friend, is to be trusted with his grading and prices.

 

well, I wasnt going to say much, but, oh well. You must know all this.

 

What do YOU admire about this guy???

 

 

[silveragejedi]

i was just re-reading all this,and realized that most people bashing must think that EVERYONE gives a [!@#%^&^] about comics.aside from us collectors,who in the general population would give a rats [!@#%^&^] if they have a book that SOMEONE would be willing to pay 100+bucks for,so they need to find the time to put the book up for sale on ebay(if they have a computer,dude was old remember)or drive to a shop where a dealer would rape him and give him"half"of what its"worth"to him so he can profit from the buy which is ok because he is a dealer.BUT if they list it themselves they can open the ebay acct if they dont have one,list it for a few days,hope they put key words in the title so everyone can view it amongst the thousands of books listed on ebay any given day,and make sure they list it at a time where everyone will see it end so they can attempt to snipe a VG condition book.now they get to wait for payment,or get an email from paypal saying they received an instant payment even though they dont have a paypal acct.so they get to open one of those also,or wait 2 weeks for a check.lets not forget about the fees they have now incurred,ebay,paypal,AND They get to drive to the post office to ship the book out.then they get to wait on a reply from the buyer who may be displeased with the book and want a refund.all that for a book that MAY sell for full book value??i doubt many people want that hassle,even over a possibe 100 bucks.isnt the unwritten rule dont spent more than 50-60% BV on non key,ungraded books?

 

cliff note on preceeding rant:not everyone cares about comics!the guy wanted them gone,he sold them for a price he was comfortable with,and had 0 hassles to worry about.

[RussTT-migration]

not everyone cares about comics!the guy wanted them gone,he sold them for a price he was comfortable with,and had 0 hassles to worry about.

 

I agree with this 100%.

 

I purchased 326 late silver/early broze from a garage sale for $100. The guy wanted them gone. He set the sale price. The ASM# 95-100 are VF- to VF+ or better. Plus lots more in F/VF shape.

 

Russell

[RussTT-migration]

BTW - Who here doesn't search the 30 cent boxes for 35 cent variants or some book they can get and flip for a profit. I read that all the time in the threads here.

 

How much profit is too much. I don't know the story about Church but if he was consulted on price that different than someone setting a price for you. Consulting on Price/Value an undervaluing in that case is bad business.

 

Russell

 

 

[ghoulaid]

I'm always fascinated by these discussions regarding the Edgar Church collection. It's good to see not everyone believes Chuck "scammed" the collection. I think he was simply the recipient of unimaginable good luck. Fate smiled on him that day. There are many misconceptions that arise when reading/hearing about the circumstances third or fourth hand. The main one I have a problem with is the purported $2,000 paid. If taken as gospel (and it seems to be), that could cause many people to instantly think of Chuck as a "rip-off scam artist". Anyone is free to think of him in that way if they wish, but don't base it on $2,000 paid because that is erroneous. He paid more.

 

I've said before the Church heirs had other options for disposing of those comics (besides dumping them, which was a very REAL possibility) if they were interested in maximizing the value. They weren't interested. There were other comic shops they could have called. I can't believe Jim Payne would have failed to go see the collection if he had been called. They didn't call me either (darn)! I do know the dealer who WAS called (a friend of mine) and couldn't be bothered to take a short, 3 mile trip to see the books (poor schmuck). How was he to know??

 

I saw part of the collection within days of it being found and was able to add to my collection from it with books you won't find in the original Mile High catalog. They were breathtaking but with hindsight, I didn't appreciate them as much then as I do now. I wish I had my camera with me so more photos could have been taken. At the time we thought there was a strong possiblity other collections like that could

appear. We had no clue we were surrounded by history.

 

Oh, I'm the one who went with Chuck to D-Con in '73 and I've been a friend of his since '70 when we co-founded the Colorado Springs Comic Club. I know a little about the Edgar Church collection.

 

 

[joe_collector]

Anyone is free to think of him in that way if they wish, but don't base it on $2,000 paid because that is erroneous. He paid more.

 

I keep seeing references to "he paid more", but never an amount. I believe this is a crafty play on words, since Chuck did cut a larger check, but he also bought what was essentially the Edgar Church Estate, including magazines, artwork and other items.

 

I've heard a few numbers (from dealers who should know) bandied about on the negotiated price, and based on the number of comics, this amounts to between $1,800 and $2,000 at the time of purchase. No inflation-corrected dollars, no add-ons for other anciliary Church items, just the comics.

 

If you have another number, I'd love to hear it.

 

Oh, I'm the one who went with Chuck to D-Con in '73 and I've been a friend of his since '70 when we co-founded the Colorado Springs Comic Club. I know a little about the Edgar Church collection.

 

Of this I have no doubt. Did Chuck almost kill you while falling asleep at the wheel? Did he plant drugs under your car seat and almost get you put away when the cop pulled you over? Did you pay his fare to a Con while he scammed the ride for free?

 

Being a *friend* of Chuck's must be like carrying a live grenade strapped to your chest.

[nochips]

The only things we really now for sure about the MH collection is that Chuck was lucky enought to get the call. From what I heard he was not the first person they contacted. He was the first to show up.

 

I have never heard he was asked to appraise the books? In all honesty people did not regularly appraise collections of comics back in 1977. I was collecting back then and my collection had no real dollar value, especially one that could be appraised. It was not a common practice to appraise comics like that back then. Most people wanted them out of the garage, basement or attic. Like the Church family did. According to the story they set the price, we may never know if that's true or false, we were not there.

 

Chuck has done a lot for comics over the years, he used the MH money to run his business and although nobody there can grade worth a darn, he has helped keep comics moving forward. I don't buy from him anymore, I have returned too many books that were way overgraded.

 

I don't know him at all, I just know that he didn't keep the books for himself, he sold them off over the years and made sure people knew the books were special, which they are to this day.

 

Some people like him, some hate him. I have the same things going on in my life.

 

 

A few years ago a Colorado dealer put an ad in the Comic Buyers Guide. He advertised a large collection of Sensation Comics, most in VF+ or NM. I called him on the phone, paid his price and received my books in the mail. Over 30 Mile High Sensations. He had no clue they were MH books, he didn't really care, he wanted my money. I wanted some NM books. Did I rip him off? He owned a comic store at the time, in Colorado no less, home of the MH collection snad he didnlt know they were pedigrees??

 

Should I have called him up and told him the books were much nicer than NM and paid him more?

 

If Chuck did something wrong than so did I. We ripped off nobody. We bought something, paid the seller their price and left. The deal is done.

 

When was the last time you sent a seller extra money because the book you bought was nicer than expected? It does not happen that often.

 

 

[rob_react]

He didn't happen to also have the Mile High Wonder Woman #1 lying around did he?

[jonnydouble]

He didn't happen to also have the Mile High Wonder Woman #1 lying around did he?

 

I wasn't aware that there was a Mile High Wonder Woman #1...the highest grade I know of is that 9.0 that just sold on Mastro-net.

 

J.D.

[rob_react]

The Mile High WW#1 "disappeared" in 1977.

[PedigreeMan]

yknow, not really.... I dont know what you collect, who you buy from, who you know etc etc.. but Chuck is not, lets say, universally admired or loved by many of the other dealers whom he has dealt with, including those who he originally sold the MHs to over the years. I dont know everyone and that is not to say that he has no friends and admirers. He is a fixture in this business.

....

snippage 'cause my name ain't Greggy or Bug!

....

What do YOU admire about this guy???

 

I was more looking for the subject matter of the discussions you've had with Chuck and others about the Edgar Church find, but you do bring up some interesting points.

 

(Just for the record, I'm not trying to be a Chuck apologist ... let's just say I can see both sides of the issue.)

 

First and foremost, Chuck is a businessman. This is why he "sells" himself in his columns and newsletters ... to ultimately draw more people to his store. It's also why he'll typically answer an email from you -- to build goodwill. Geppi, on the other hand, has a monopoly and doesn't need to draw customers to Diamond. Old Mamanook is so far above us all that we can't even begin to speculate as to his motives.

 

Second, Mile High Comics has taken the "7-11" approach to selling comics. When you absolutely, positively need to fill that last hole in your collection, you can go there and more than likely find it. You'll lay down some coin for it, but you'll have what you want. Instant gratification and all that jazz. Yeah, they can't grade by our standards, but we're an obsessive anomaly. A lot of people must be satisfied buying from Mile High, otherwise the company would have gone out of business by now. Who knows, it still might, if a majority of collectors adopt our standard of grading. On the other side of the fence you have Geppi's Diamond, which is a monoply and doesn't have to worry about a lot of these issues.

 

As for the finding of the Edgar Church collection, or Chuck's character, or whether or not he sacrifices young children in his spare time...? I dunno But I'm trying to find out here.

 

Alan

[jonnydouble]

The Mile High WW#1 "disappeared" in 1977.

Disappeared as in.....(A) sold to someone he doesn't remember and has been in a private collection ever since?....(B) Sold and changed hands so many times that it is probably one of the few top grade copies graded?...© Or disappeared like "Scooby I smell a mystery here" ?

 

J.D.

[rob_react]

The Mile High WW#1 "disappeared" in 1977.

Disappeared as in.....(A) sold to someone he doesn't remember and has been in a private collection ever since?....(B) Sold and changed hands so many times that it is probably one of the few top grade copies graded?...© Or disappeared like "Scooby I smell a mystery here" ?

 

I think it's (a), but I'm not sure. zillatoy mentioned it here before, which is where my knowledge of the book begins and ends.

 

[joe_collector]

If Chuck did something wrong than so did I. We ripped off nobody..

 

Of course not, in your world.

 

When was the last time you sent a seller extra money because the book you bought was nicer than expected? It does not happen that often.

 

Of course I have, but my statements have been greeted with derision by the aggressive board faithless, so I won't repeat the exact cases here. It's a dicey subject to be sure, and for some reason if I gave a seller $100 back or saved an old guy from being taken at a Con, this somehow raises the antagonism level quite significantly.

 

My usual procedure when I buy an undervalued collection is to sell some of the issues off and then reimburse the seller later. I've done that on a few occasions back when I used to buy stuff in flea markets, yard sales, etc. I've never been so greedy that I couldn't share some of my bounty with the original owner. A couple wouldn't even take it, so I just bought a pile of [!@#%^&^] off their table and gave it to Salvation Army.

 

I'll tell you one thing, and I stake my life on it. If I had purchased the Church collection, you can bet there would be something recognizing Edgar for his contribution to the hobby. Some prestigious art scholarships, funds, etc.

 

Just one Church Key issue sold could bring so much to so many, but of course this assumes you WANT to recognize Edgar Church or have the desire to give anything back.

 

Chuck naming the Church Collection as Mile High tells me I shouldn't hold my breath waiting.

[nochips]

I did buy the MH Wonder Woman # 2 from him. I sold it years ago.

[nochips]

" In my World", what does that mean??

 

Becasue I don't stand out on the street and hand out cash I am some sort of thief?

 

In your world, you share your winnings, that's great.

 

You need my address to send me my share??

 

 

[joe_collector]

In your world, you share your winnings, that's great.

 

You need my address to send me my share??

 

No problem, mail me some key issues, I'll sell them and give you a piece of the action. I GIVE BACK, I don't GIVE AWAY my money to gladhands.

[nochips]

That's the best you got?

 

I should mail some books to you??

 

I challenge your opinion that Chuck or any other lucky person should share their new found wealth with the world and that's your best response?

 

 

I have no time for this anymore.

 

Save the world, it's OK with me.