Baker Romance 43 43

[Sqeggs]

On 7/14/2022 at 10:05 PM, Chief1332 said:

DS 30 is the Baker that got me started.  This is a gorgeous copy.

 

Thanks. Excellent book to start with. My first was the Crippen copy of Teen-Age Romances 1, bought, of course from @Dr. Love.

It occurs to me that apart from Davis Crippen, @Dr. Lovehas almost certainly owned more high-grade romance books than anyone and I think he may have even owned more than Crippen. 

[Chief1332]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:13 PM, Sqeggs said:

Thanks. Excellent book to start with. My first was the Crippen copy of Teen-Age Romances 1, bought, of course from @Dr. Love.

It occurs to me that apart from Davis Crippen, @Dr. Lovehas almost certainly owned more high-grade romance books than anyone and I think he may have even owned more than Crippen. 

I recall an interview, where a man collected every comic made??? and had some super silly number of books?  Televised interview some years ago.  Not sure if he started at a certain date and bought new, or if he was after a copy of every comic he could find.  Would love to see a breakdown of his collection today.

 

[Ltpink2002]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:01 PM, Sqeggs said:

Sure does. I was thinking $500, maybe $1k at most. Shows that book has gone into orbit. I wouldn't be shocked if the 5.0 in the HA auction clears $20K. 

Hopefully not over 20k.

[Sqeggs]

On 7/14/2022 at 10:17 PM, Chief1332 said:

I recall an interview, where a man collected every comic made??? and had some super silly number of books?  Televised interview some years ago.  Not sure if he started at a certain date and bought new, or if he was after a copy of every comic he could find.  Would love to see a breakdown of his collection today.

 

I know that Ira Levine collected every DC comic up until 2010 or whenever it was that he quit. Every comic from every publisher would be a daunting task. I'd need to see an audit! 

[Sqeggs]

On 7/14/2022 at 10:32 PM, Ltpink2002 said:

Hopefully not over 20k.

Be interesting to see how it goes, but $20K wouldn't shock given that it has strong appeal to non-Baker collectors. 

[Dr. Love]

On 7/14/2022 at 6:30 PM, Sqeggs said:

TADS 9 would get my vote. My copy is a wreck that I purchased five years ago. Haven't seen another copy for sale since. 

Diary Secrets nn is also very tough. Here's my 6.5 that I had pressed into a 6.0. Maybe I should have it pressed again to see if I can get it to 5.5. 

That's a dang shame, but not too surprising.  Worth a shot though.

I'd include TADS 7 on that real hard list.  In grade that is.  It's just you and me on that one.

[Sqeggs]

On 7/14/2022 at 11:28 PM, Dr. Love said:

That's a dang shame, but not too surprising.  Worth a shot though.

I'd include TADS 7 on that real hard list.  In grade that is.  It's just you and me on that one.

Is that right? No one else has a higher grade copy? I actually have two copies--an 8.5 and a 3.5. The 3.5 was sold to me on the boards raw (not by you!) as an 8.0. I don't seem to have a scan of either copy. I shrewdly deduce that it seems you must have the 9.2. 

[Sqeggs]

On 7/14/2022 at 11:28 PM, Dr. Love said:

That's a dang shame, but not too surprising.  Worth a shot though.

I'd include TADS 7 on that real hard list.  In grade that is.  It's just you and me on that one.

Wrt the DS nn, it had some rippling along the spine that Joey pretty much pressed out but the grade still went down. Probably worth a straight resub just to see if cooler grading heads would prevail. 

[Changer]

speaking of rare, I was lucky enough to purchase this one recently. 

[OtherEric]

On 7/14/2022 at 6:48 PM, Sqeggs said:

I'm the goof who won the Greek magazine. The Liberty is interesting and I'll probably take a run at it--after searching the web for another copy and failing to find one! The Baker-related image not being on the cover is a drawback. (And that's a pretty lame cover--did people tear it off and hang it on a wall in lieu of a regular calendar?)

 

I suspect they did.  I wonder if the issue is scarcer because of that... first because people removed the cover to use, then because if you didn't use the calendar, it was a particularly dull cover that didn't seem worth saving.

[Dr. Love]

On 7/14/2022 at 8:37 PM, Sqeggs said:

Is that right? No one else has a higher grade copy? I actually have two copies--an 8.5 and a 3.5. The 3.5 was sold to me on the boards raw (not by you!) as an 8.0. I don't seem to have a scan of either copy. I shrewdly deduce that it seems you must have the 9.2. 

It's almost embarrassing to show the diligence I exercised in keeping tabs on the marketplace back then

almost  

You got the 8.5 from amberonyx, a true Baker guy, on 10/4/15.  As he said at the time, "In the fifteen years I've been looking for this issue (along with the #9 that reprints it) I have only seen it once, and I bought it for a lot of money.  I have never seen it on Ebay."

This little book packs a Baker punch - it's got the most original Baker art out of any Baker St. John romance issue.  And yes that includes the big books.

Among others, you beat out these long time romance and Baker collectors:  astrosfan, who has remained extremely active in the Ebay romance space all these years, mocio123, and of course, @Bumble Kittywas in there swinging away!

At this point Tony I think it's undeniable you've got the best complete Baker romance on the planet.  Keep some dry powder for upgrades - there's still the Sixth St and Mile High Bakers somewhere out there.  What a bust the Promise was though for this stuff.  Can't quite figure it out - Junie went for the Young Romance photo covers and passed on the Baker GGA?  Go figger.

 

[comicnoir]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:30 PM, Sqeggs said:

TADS 9 would get my vote. My copy is a wreck that I purchased five years ago. Haven't seen another copy for sale since. 

Diary Secrets nn is also very tough. Here's my 6.5 that I had pressed into a 6.0. Maybe I should have it pressed again to see if I can get it to 5.5. 

This is now a 6.0? I was the underbidder on that Ha auction. Should have won it. It would still be a 6.5.

[sagii]

On 7/15/2022 at 12:27 AM, Changer said:

speaking of rare, I was lucky enough to purchase this one recently. 

Congrats! 

[sagii]

On 7/14/2022 at 10:02 PM, Sqeggs said:

Not sure if I ever showed this one. One of my favorite covers. Tough book, although there's a 6.5 on the census now. 

A real beaut there!

[Dr. Love]

On 7/14/2022 at 10:24 PM, comicnoir said:

This is now a 6.0? I was the underbidder on that Ha auction. Should have won it. It would still be a 6.5.

I didn't know that - or remember it.  Have you told me that in the past?  I've got good records, but your memory is quite remarkable when it comes to these books Ron.

[comicnoir]

On 7/15/2022 at 1:47 AM, Dr. Love said:

I didn't know that - or remember it.  Have you told me that in the past?  I've got good records, but your memory is quite remarkable when it comes to these books Ron.

Andy I wanted you to sell it to me. And you sold it to Tony. This could be the cover of a Baker romance as Sqeegs walks off with my book, me forlorn in the background.

[comicnoir]

BTW that was an overgraded 6.5. With that diagonal crease? Lucky it came back a 6.0 even with pressing.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

On 7/14/2022 at 10:37 PM, Sqeggs said:

Is that right? No one else has a higher grade copy? I actually have two copies--an 8.5 and a 3.5. The 3.5 was sold to me on the boards raw (not by you!) as an 8.0. I don't seem to have a scan of either copy. I shrewdly deduce that it seems you must have the 9.2. 

Wait. The 3.5 was sold raw as an 8.0? Whatever your emotions were when you opened the box, I bet you’re glad you kept it

[BakerFanOne]

On 7/14/2022 at 7:01 PM, Sqeggs said:

Sure does. I was thinking $500, maybe $1k at most. Shows that book has gone into orbit. I wouldn't be shocked if the 5.0 in the HA auction clears $20K. 

As one of the underbidders (I bid to about $3500), I can at least explain my thought process.  I have an extremely low grade copy of this book which I bought in the 1990s.  I have been very actively collecting Baker since the early 1990s.  I initially completed my St. John Romance runs by the mid 1990s.  But I have only encountered a handful (3-4 copies) of this Giant Comics Edition 12 in the past 30 years and saw this as one of the few opportunities to get an upgraded decent looking copy under 10K.  Minimal restoration like color touch on iconic cover golden age books seems fairly immaterial so it was a non-factor in my bidding.  I was really hoping that 2K would get it done, but it kept going up.  When I realized it would hit 4K, I was very torn as the winner might go to 5k+.  For what it's worth, there seemed to be at least three bidders (including me) that were willing to go close to 4K.  With so many silver age keys exploding well over 10 - 20K, this actually seemed reasonable at 3K.  Remember how rare this book is and is a top 5 Baker cover depending on who you ask.  

[BakerFanOne]

On 7/14/2022 at 8:37 PM, Sqeggs said:

Is that right? No one else has a higher grade copy? I actually have two copies--an 8.5 and a 3.5. The 3.5 was sold to me on the boards raw (not by you!) as an 8.0. I don't seem to have a scan of either copy. I shrewdly deduce that it seems you must have the 9.2. 

Amazing that you have two copies and one in such high grade.  I also have a copy but likely around 4.0ish.