Inaflash Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Hi, CGC requires a complete list of every book in a collection prior to issuing a pedigree and I could not give them that list because of the way the collection was being sold to me. The books came to the shop in groups of 30 to 50 or so books at a time, sometimes two times a day, 7 days a week (my wife loved me having to run in on my days off) in boxes or Walmart bags or just carried in by one of the family members starting in May and not ending until the beginning of November. Sometimes it would be comics, sometimes pulps or paperbacks or movie magazines from the 20's and 30's. My intention was to wait until I got all the comics and try the pedigree route but I was paying out so much money every day and the family refused to let me make an offer on the entire estate as they decided that they were making more money parceling it out to me that I was put in a position of having to sell some of the books to get more money to funnel back to the family to buy more of the books which killed the idea of a pedigree. Quite a run on sentence huh? I was also in a position of paying a lot more than I normally would have for a collection because I really didnt want them to take the books anywhere else. I couldnt say much about the collection either as it was still coming in and I was worried about someone coming into the area to try and track it down. Sound paranoid? When I did make a couple of minor announcements some of the people who contacted me within 24 hours gave me the royal creeps and I wouldnt have put it past them to get on a plane if they sniffed any opportunity to ferret out the books. There were about 100 books that went to another dealer early on and those were resold very quickly out of the area. I told them to hold on to them and I would try for the pedigree but they just flipped them the next day. The family was very nice and they wanted to do the deal their way and thats the way they did it which was their prerogative. I wish it had played out a bit differently and quicker but in the end I got some amazing books but no official pedigree. Craig Craig, Great story. I would also love to hear more about the person who originally bought the books and how they were stored, etc. if you are so inclined. Would you consider having certificates printed to accompany each book? Seems worthy for a collection like this. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the comic book shop spokane Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I think so - CGC was pretty receptive when I talked to them which was probably by the end of May. If I remember right they had something like 4 initial criteria for recognizing a pedigree and I was able to hit 3 of them with no problem even by that time but I just couldnt give them a list. It was frustrating but I understand the reasoning - someone wouldnt be able to tack on additional books after the fact and claim they were part of the collection. They told me to note Sixth Street on the CGC forms when I submitted books in case anything changed in the future so they could track them but thats where it ended. I think at this point I have submitted well over 400 books (I am too scared to add it all up and times it by the submission charges...). I have 180 or so in my possession and another 130 still at CGC. There are another 36 magazine boxes full which are all bagged and boarded and still waiting for me to put them in order. Which of course means.... I still dont have a list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the comic book shop spokane Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I dont know a whole lot about the original owner. I know he was is construction and built at least one of the three houses that this collection sat in. All I have is speculation - I got bits and pieces from the family but thats about it. They were very nice but not overly forthcoming but that may be due to them just not really knowing - I dealt primarily with a granddaughter who didnt have much interest other than the money aspect. I am not sure that she really knew her grandfather very well and her mother who would have had the most information pretty much just dealt with me through her daughters. The books were stored in the basement with the coal fire furnace. There were shelves built along the walls and the books and pulps and magazines were just stacked floor to ceiling around the perimeter of the room. When the books would arrive at the shop any that were at the top of a pile were black with coal dust. Literally. We had to use a feather duster just to see the covers. I think they may have kept the comics upstairs until they got in the way and then just added them to a shelf as there were varying degrees of coal dust in the piles but the ones that ended up on the top when they moved to start another pile were the worst. If you have seen any of the pulps from this collection you can still see strings of coal dust on the uncut sides that couldnt be brushed off. They were filthy but the dust did protect them to a degree. When we swiffered it off, the colors were fantastic and many of the covers looked like the day they were made. You are right about the certificates - I did it for the original Green River Collection but was always worried that someone would just copy them but as far as I know that didnt happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICK STARR Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 I dont know a whole lot about the original owner. I know he was is construction and built at least one of the three houses that this collection sat in. All I have is speculation - I got bits and pieces from the family but thats about it. They were very nice but not overly forthcoming but that may be due to them just not really knowing - I dealt primarily with a granddaughter who didnt have much interest other than the money aspect. I am not sure that she really knew her grandfather very well and her mother who would have had the most information pretty much just dealt with me through her daughters. The books were stored in the basement with the coal fire furnace. There were shelves built along the walls and the books and pulps and magazines were just stacked floor to ceiling around the perimeter of the room. When the books would arrive at the shop any that were at the top of a pile were black with coal dust. Literally. We had to use a feather duster just to see the covers. I think they may have kept the comics upstairs until they got in the way and then just added them to a shelf as there were varying degrees of coal dust in the piles but the ones that ended up on the top when they moved to start another pile were the worst. If you have seen any of the pulps from this collection you can still see strings of coal dust on the uncut sides that couldnt be brushed off. They were filthy but the dust did protect them to a degree. When we swiffered it off, the colors were fantastic and many of the covers looked like the day they were made. You are right about the certificates - I did it for the original Green River Collection but was always worried that someone would just copy them but as far as I know that didnt happen. Thanks for sharing all the info about what seems to be just a terrific collection. Just when we think almost all the significant OO collections have been sniffed out, a find like this comes along. Are there more Matt Baker St.John romance books still to come, Craig? Look forward to viewing more of the collection as they become available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOOT Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Thought I would post a few we do not see often on the boards. I used to not see what all the fuss was about Matt Baker... Seeing covers like these completely opened my eyes. Thanks for posting these! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Many thanks to Stephen for parting with this toughie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlee Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Took me a while to find it, but here is my copy of Teen-Age Romances 9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlee Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Many thanks to Stephen for parting with this toughie. I actually never saw a copy of this in the 90s and only recently picked one up from Heritage. This is a very cool giant with another great Baker cover. Congrats on the copy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlee Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Thought I would post a few we do not see often on the boards. I used to not see what all the fuss was about Matt Baker... Seeing covers like these completely opened my eyes. Thanks for posting these! I find it interesting that on a lot of these later Romance covers, Baker starting adding additional facial lines near the cheekbones that gave a more realistic and older appearance on many of the people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Took me a while to find it, but here is my copy of Teen-Age Romances 9. WOW! What a copy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Took me a while to find it, but here is my copy of Teen-Age Romances 9. Sensational! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spillred Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 From the Sixth Street collection True Love Pictorial #10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inaflash Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 From the Sixth Street collection True Love Pictorial #10 Very pretty. Almost bought that one too. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlee Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 From the Sixth Street collection True Love Pictorial #10 Great pick-up! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 From the Sixth Street collection True Love Pictorial #10 One of my favorite covers. Great pickup at a great price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICK STARR Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 From the Sixth Street collection True Love Pictorial #10 Beautiful colors, what a great copy!!! The GCE # 13 just came in. This from the Sixth St. collection. The only thing is the BC is kind of dirty. Do any of you with SS books see this too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inaflash Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 My TR 33 from that collection is pretty clean. I think the grade was hammered because of a very light moisture stain on the interior back cover. That being said, I would rather have back cover issues than front. Beautiful book John. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 From the Sixth Street collection True Love Pictorial #10 Beautiful colors, what a great copy!!! The GCE # 13 just came in. This from the Sixth St. collection. The only thing is the BC is kind of dirty. Do any of you with SS books see this too? That might be from the coal dust that reportedly got in with some of the books. My SS Pictorial Romances 21 has a few tiny black specks here and there that look like they might be little granules of coal stuck to the paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 From the Sixth Street collection True Love Pictorial #10 Beautiful colors, what a great copy!!! The GCE # 13 just came in. This from the Sixth St. collection. The only thing is the BC is kind of dirty. Do any of you with SS books see this too? That might be from the coal dust that reportedly got in with some of the books. My SS Pictorial Romances 21 has a few tiny black specks here and there that look like they might be little granules of coal stuck to the paper. I wonder if some of these books would grade higher if the covers were carefully cleaned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICK STARR Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 From the Sixth Street collection True Love Pictorial #10 Beautiful colors, what a great copy!!! The GCE # 13 just came in. This from the Sixth St. collection. The only thing is the BC is kind of dirty. Do any of you with SS books see this too? That might be from the coal dust that reportedly got in with some of the books. My SS Pictorial Romances 21 has a few tiny black specks here and there that look like they might be little granules of coal stuck to the paper. I wonder if some of these books would grade higher if the covers were carefully cleaned? I am tempted. Structurally it is very sharp. The spine, which usually shows chipping and paper loss on the St.John giant size issues, is just beautiful. I'm thinking 8.0-8.5 with the BC cleaned up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
