Rudolph...the rarest bronze-age comic?

[underthebigw]

The Archie Christmas Treasury is much more scarce than the DC Rudolph.

 

Yep. Much cooler too. Here's my sweet, sweet NM- copy (I never tire of showing it off. Wish I had a bigger pic).

 

This is without a doubt one of the hardest BA books in any grade. It's really amazing how many books are difficult, although I'd have to say there are very few DC's, and almost no Marvels that should be considered scarce (maybe some scarce in grade). There's probably a bunch of March of Comics, maybe a few Gold Keys now the file copies continue to flow, very few Harvey's, probably a bunch of Archies, and a ton of Charltons.

[Silver]

Anytime someone says a bronze age DC is rare, and word gets out, we find out that it is more common than people thought.

 

They said 100 Pager 5 was rare...it isn't

They said Laurel and Hardy 1 was obscure...not by a longshot

They said DC Super Giant 17 and 21 were hard to get...not really

They said Young Love 69 is tough...see em on eBay frequently

They said Rudolph Treasury was rare...nope (and no, it isn't DC 20 like the price guide wants to call it....I think the indicia actually reads something like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer 1972, or something like that)

 

The reality is, if there is a rare DC bronze age book it's probably a obscure romance or something, but even then I doubt it.

 

How many Date With Debbie 20's have you seen?

How many Leave it to Binky 82's?

How many Young Love 126's?

 

Those are all some pretty hard to find last issues you never hear about that would probably be tougher to find that any of the above named books

 

And please, let's not confuse "tough in high grade" with rare! Scarcity without consideration to grade is real scarcity.

 

 

Just my

[joe_collector]

That's the thing, any book from that era must be out there, but without hype, promotion and big $$$ sales, who's going to be looking for it, or actively selling it?

[awe4one]

They said Young Love 69 is tough...see em on eBay frequently

 

Really? I haven't seen that. They do show up but pretty infrequently...

 

How many Young Love 126's?

 

I actually found two of these pretty quickly a couple months ago...

 

Jim

[bronze_rules]

 

And please, let's not confuse "tough in high grade" with rare! Scarcity without consideration to grade is real scarcity.

 

http://howrareismycomic.blogspot.com/

 

yeah. Although, hard to find is more significant to me personally. One person could hoard 5,000 copies of HOM 175 in high grade (ok, hypothetically), and while it may not be rare per se, it is tougher for me to find what I want.

 

So, I would prefer to see a list of hardest to find from the experienced veterans who have spent countless years trying to track down their prey to no avail.

 

I would nominate a high grade HOM 206, for example. Should not be rare, but darn hard to locate in UHG. I'd be scared to imagine how much a 9.8 of this beauty would go for (especially with some of our more lucrative board members adding to the competition).

[Silver]

They said Young Love 69 is tough...see em on eBay frequently

 

Really? I haven't seen that. They do show up but pretty infrequently...

 

How many Young Love 126's?

 

I actually found two of these pretty quickly a couple months ago...

 

Jim

 

Bet I have seen 3 YL 69's on eBay in the last six months. The fact that you found two 126's may go along with the point "is anything from DC really rare?"

[awe4one]

Bet I have seen 3 YL 69's on eBay in the last six months.

 

I wouldn't call that frequent...

 

The fact that you found two 126's may go along with the point "is anything from DC really rare?"

 

I was surprised also...but then again I had been looking for nice copy for almost two years...

 

Jim

[Silver]

Bet I have seen 3 YL 69's on eBay in the last six months.

 

I wouldn't call that frequent...

 

The fact that you found two 126's may go along with the point "is anything from DC really rare?"

 

I was surprised also...but then again I had been looking for nice copy for almost two years...

 

Jim

 

3 in six months on eBay shows it's not rare...that's one every two months...bimonthly frequency!

 

[awe4one]

Bet I have seen 3 YL 69's on eBay in the last six months.

 

I wouldn't call that frequent...

 

The fact that you found two 126's may go along with the point "is anything from DC really rare?"

 

I was surprised also...but then again I had been looking for nice copy for almost two years...

 

Jim

 

3 in six months on eBay shows it's not rare...that's one every two months...bimonthly frequency!

 

Maybe more are coming out because I can tell you about 4 years ago when I was looking on eBay for ANY copy, I saw a total of 2 come up in two years...and one of those was buried in a SA Romance lot...

 

Jim

[Stronguy]

This is without a doubt one of the hardest BA books in any grade. It's really amazing how many books are difficult, although I'd have to say there are very few DC's, and almost no Marvels that should be considered scarce (maybe some scarce in grade).

 

See a My Love #23 lately? It took me over 3 years of daily looking to find a single copy in any grade. I think Frank (BronzeAgeFan) had just about as hard of a time finding a ML 25.

[ComicBookGuy]

Paul, you're on the right track with regard to where the *truly* rarest bronze age books are: on the road of less-traveled publishers. There was a thread years ago where we were debating what the absolute toughest books of the bronze age were and Doug Sulipa was called in. He knows more about bronze comics than anybody - and he knows all the titles. Doug's answer was that either Super Goof #61 or Dennis the Menace and the Bible Kids #10 were the rarest. He'd never even SEEN the latter - in ANY condition - and was not even sure if it really existed. That's truly rare. Fortunately, hardly any collectors seek these books out so nobody's losing sleep over not finding them.

I would add two more books to the list - neither of which are in Overstreet or the Grand Comic Database and are rarer than an honest politician:

 

1974 Spider-man Colorforms Giveaway

1975 The Spider-man Comic Book Reader

 

On the last one, the only three in the CGC census are ones I submitted a while back.

What's rare in high grade is a-whole-nother issue.

 

[HouseofComics.Com]

I was thinking that Soap Opera Romances might be more rare because let's face it, how many copies of a Charlton newsstand 60-cent comic could have sold? That's got to be about the last romance title ever, along with Soap Opera Love.

 

No copies on eBay. Not on Metropolis. However, the biggest warehouse dealers have copies. Mile High, Lone Star, and Koch. I'm sure Sulipa does too.

 

Not that I thought it could compare with something like Super Goof 61 or other pre-pack books.

 

But you'd think it would compare well to any DC romance issues.

[shiverbones]

I have owned both Charlton Soap Opera #1's, but not some of the others mentioned. could be luck.

[underthebigw]

This is without a doubt one of the hardest BA books in any grade. It's really amazing how many books are difficult, although I'd have to say there are very few DC's, and almost no Marvels that should be considered scarce (maybe some scarce in grade).

 

See a My Love #23 lately? It took me over 3 years of daily looking to find a single copy in any grade. I think Frank (BronzeAgeFan) had just about as hard of a time finding a ML 25.

 

I've seen low grade copies of both in the last year--had no idea you guys were having a hard time with them or that they might be worthwhile place-holders until I find a better copy. I still might be able to grab one of them at a LCS.

[awe4one]

I have owned both Charlton Soap Opera #1's, but not some of the others mentioned. could be luck.

 

I have both series as well. Mile High has had these for many many years. I wouldn't be surprised if they were part of some warehouse buy by Chuck in the past. In fact Chuck has always had alot of the 60 cent Charltons in stock...

 

Jim

[HouseofComics.Com]

That's very possible but you'd think some would be on ebay in stores too.

 

Maybe if you have eight million comics you end up with 100 Charlton 80s romance comics and since demand is low, you're always in-stock.

 

Or maybe 60-cent cover price books were just late enough that coimc book stores ended up with some and they sit in the back room until someone buys out the backstock. I know when I did that with HiJinx Comics they had lots of 60-cent Charlton war books. Surprised me.

[FlyingDonut]

I have had a Dennis and the Bible Kids 10, so I know it exists. I'm still going with Supergear 1, until somebody tells me otherwise.

[Silver]

I think we are mostly referring to on the stands kind of books

[awe4one]

That's very possible but you'd think some would be on ebay in stores too.

 

Maybe if you have eight million comics you end up with 100 Charlton 80s romance comics and since demand is low, you're always in-stock.

 

Or maybe 60-cent cover price books were just late enough that coimc book stores ended up with some and they sit in the back room until someone buys out the backstock. I know when I did that with HiJinx Comics they had lots of 60-cent Charlton war books. Surprised me.

 

I think it's a case where the ones on eBay are reasonably priced so they move quicker vs. sitting in eBay stores. Both the series I have were from eBay and for relatively cheap.

 

Chuck's copies on the otherhand are stupidly overpriced so they sit. Though I noticed when I checked today that most his "NM" copies are now gone. That wasn't the case a year ago...

 

Jim

[awe4one]

I have had a Dennis and the Bible Kids 10, so I know it exists. I'm still going with Supergear 1, until somebody tells me otherwise.

 

I think we were pretty clear before when you brought it up that we were referring to comics that actually made it to the newsstands...not some promo comic...

 

Jim