Amazing Fantasy #15 Club

[crickets99-migration]

Hello all,

 

I read this board every once in a while though I don't own an Amazing Fantasy 15 (yet). I am actively building a British (pence) variation Amazing Spiderman set, and at some point I'll need to track down a Pence version AF15. Does anyone know how common these are or know of any floating around that might pop up for sale?

Finding pence Spidy's is a tough task in itself (most that I find are Fine- or lesser grtade). I'm sure that locating an AF15 will prove to be a real task, especially here in the states.

 

Cheers.

[Spiderturtle]

Hello all,

 

I read this board every once in a while though I don't own an Amazing Fantasy 15 (yet). I am actively building a British (pence) variation Amazing Spiderman set, and at some point I'll need to track down a Pence version AF15. Does anyone know how common these are or know of any floating around that might pop up for sale?

Finding pence Spidy's is a tough task in itself (most that I find are Fine- or lesser grtade). I'm sure that locating an AF15 will prove to be a real task, especially here in the states.

 

Cheers.

 

i've seen pence copies of af15 every few months. usually about 1/3 of the us version price for af15s

[nmtg9]

Hello all,

 

I read this board every once in a while though I don't own an Amazing Fantasy 15 (yet). I am actively building a British (pence) variation Amazing Spiderman set, and at some point I'll need to track down a Pence version AF15. Does anyone know how common these are or know of any floating around that might pop up for sale?

Finding pence Spidy's is a tough task in itself (most that I find are Fine- or lesser grtade). I'm sure that locating an AF15 will prove to be a real task, especially here in the states.

 

Cheers.

 

There are about 20 or so on the census. It comes up for sale on ebayUK every few months. One restored copy on at the moment. The Comic Shack list one but it's been on their site for years.

 

Some of the dealers over here might have a copy. Silver Acre usually do but he worth avoiding at all costs.

 

I have a 'thing' about this book so please let me know if you find a copy. Good luck.

 

Oh and WTTB

[crickets99-migration]

I see there are 2 copies on Ebay UK.

One copy appears to be beat up badly and the other looks like a nice CGC 7 but the signature kills it for me as does the price at £6,000.

 

I'd be curious to know how many Pence copies there are out there.

 

Cheers all!

[nmtg9]

Difficult to ascertain.

 

We have no way of knowing how many were shipped over here back in the summer of 1962 (when my Dad bought a copy - long gone now).

 

I would say maybe a 100. (Give or take a 100 either way ha).

[MCJ]

I've read that 5% or less of the total print run carried the Pence price. It would be nice to pin that down definitively, but even at 5%, that would place the # of Pence copies over 10,000 (at least 200K total print run)...

 

As to how many survived, who knows? 1490 registered copies in any condition for the 8/62 US edition, vs. 20 registered copies in any condition for the 9/62 UK edition...Ah, to have a time machine!

[rodan57]

I've read that 5% or less of the total print run carried the Pence price. It would be nice to pin that down definitively, but even at 5%, that would place the # of Pence copies over 10,000 (at least 200K total print run)...

 

As to how many survived, who knows? 1490 registered copies in any condition for the 8/62 US edition, vs. 20 registered copies in any condition for the 9/62 UK edition...Ah, to have a time machine!

 

 

Here is the average paid circulation per month of Marvel's best selling titles that printed* a "Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation" in 1962:

 

Ranking among all comics -- Title -- Paid Circulation

44) -- Modeling with Millie -- 143,476

45) -- Patsy & Hedy -- 139,855

46) -- Tales to Astonish -- 139,167

47) -- Strange Tales -- 136,637

48) -- Journey into Mystery -- 132,113

50) -- Gunsmoke Western -- 126,475

51) -- Tales of Suspense -- 126,140

*not all books printed a "Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation"

The other 1962 Marvel titles not represented in the figures above are: Amazing Adult Fantasy/Amazing Fantasy; Fantastic Four; Incredible Hulk; Kathy; Kid Colt Outlaw; Linda Carter, Student Nurse; Love Romances; Millie the Model; Patsy Walker; Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid. Teen-Age Romances was cancelled in January of that year and Amazing Spider-Man #1 was released in December 1962.

 

 

Paid circulation represented roughly just over half of the print run for a book that was selling well. Offered as proof (as the information is at hand) is Millie the Model's The "Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation" for 1963.

 

 

The average number of monthly copies printed during the past year was 315 412.

The number printed in the most recent month was 309 589.

The average number of monthly copies in paid circulation for the last twelve months was 173 700.

The most recent number of monthly copies sold was 180 300.

 

The comic sold 55% of its monthly print run on average during 1963.

It sold 58% of its print run with the issue nearest to filing. These ratios are reflective of the selling patterns of successful Marvel Comics.

 

To provide another example, Journey into Mystery in 1964 (information again which I have at hand) was selling through at a very successful monthly average of 66%.

 

 

 

Amazing Adult Fantasy was a low selling title as it was on the cancellation chopping block.

 

The print run was certainly greater than 200 000 but the paid circulation was probably under half of the print run -- and the number of sold copies was definitely under 126 140 of the better selling Tales of Suspense in 1962.

 

In fact, Marvel had ten other titles (as noted above) that we might logically conclude sold better that Amazing Adult Fantasy.

 

It is difficult to say at what sales level Amazing Adult Fantasy would be considered a failure, but if Tales of Suspense outsold it by twenty-five percent*, then Amazing Adult Fantasy may have had a paid circulation just under the 100 000 mark.

 

*This number is just a conjecture. The difference in reported sales between Tales of Suspense and Modeling with Millie is 13% with 1/3 of Marvel titles reporting. There are roughly three tiers of sales. It is not inconceivable that a couple of the ten unreported books might outsell Modeling with Millie; some would fall in between the numbers reported; and the rest below Tales of Suspense. If Tales of Suspense is a roughly mid-pack book then the difference between the best selling and weakest selling books is about 26%.

 

I am assuming that Amazing Adult Fantasy is selling significantly lower than this 145 000 to 110 000 range.

 

However the sales figures on Amazing Fantasy #15 apparently came in months later at a number high enough to make Martin Goodman reconsider the books cancellation and resulted in Amazing Spider-Man #1.

 

A 10% increase could put sales at 110 000 or 20% would put it up near Tales of Suspense. Though it is a bit of a house of cards, I might suggest that Amazing Fantasy #15 sold between 110 000 and 125 000 copies. Note that these numbers are an estimate based upon an estimate.

 

[VintageComics]

I suppose if it was cleaner it would be a 9.0 and a $150K book.

 

 

My experience is that scanners can sometimes make defects look worse (or better) than they really are when in hand so I'd keep that in mind.

 

(thumbs u

 

Good point. That could be a bad scan and not numerous dirty areas on the BC.

 

 

I saw the book in hand this weekend in Detroit and it is a nice looking book. As i had suspected, the scanner makes those back cover defects look worse in the scan than they actually are on the book.

 

[peewee22]

I suppose if it was cleaner it would be a 9.0 and a $150K book.

 

 

My experience is that scanners can sometimes make defects look worse (or better) than they really are when in hand so I'd keep that in mind.

 

(thumbs u

 

Good point. That could be a bad scan and not numerous dirty areas on the BC.

 

 

I saw the book in hand this weekend in Detroit and it is a nice looking book. As i had suspected, the scanner makes those back cover defects look worse in the scan than they actually are on the book.

 

That's great news for anyone considering taking it....unfortunately anyone is not me...

[nmtg9]

At the end of the Spidey story in AF15 the bottom banner says look out for the next issue.

 

I've never understood this because the legend goes that the title was dying on it's arse. If it was dying that would suggest lower print runs but why put the banner along the bottom?

 

Remember the title changed twice over fifteen issues so something wasn't right with the series.

[MCJ]

Here is the average paid circulation per month of Marvel's best selling titles that printed* a "Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation" in 1962:

 

Ranking among all comics -- Title -- Paid Circulation

44) -- Modeling with Millie -- 143,476

45) -- Patsy & Hedy -- 139,855

46) -- Tales to Astonish -- 139,167

47) -- Strange Tales -- 136,637

48) -- Journey into Mystery -- 132,113

50) -- Gunsmoke Western -- 126,475

51) -- Tales of Suspense -- 126,140

*not all books printed a "Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation"

The other 1962 Marvel titles not represented in the figures above are: Amazing Adult Fantasy/Amazing Fantasy; Fantastic Four; Incredible Hulk; Kathy; Kid Colt Outlaw; Linda Carter, Student Nurse; Love Romances; Millie the Model; Patsy Walker; Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid. Teen-Age Romances was cancelled in January of that year and Amazing Spider-Man #1 was released in December 1962.

 

 

Paid circulation represented roughly just over half of the print run for a book that was selling well. Offered as proof (as the information is at hand) is Millie the Model's The "Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation" for 1963.

 

 

The average number of monthly copies printed during the past year was 315 412.

The number printed in the most recent month was 309 589.

The average number of monthly copies in paid circulation for the last twelve months was 173 700.

The most recent number of monthly copies sold was 180 300.

 

The comic sold 55% of its monthly print run on average during 1963.

It sold 58% of its print run with the issue nearest to filing. These ratios are reflective of the selling patterns of successful Marvel Comics.

 

To provide another example, Journey into Mystery in 1964 (information again which I have at hand) was selling through at a very successful monthly average of 66%.

 

 

 

Amazing Adult Fantasy was a low selling title as it was on the cancellation chopping block.

 

The print run was certainly greater than 200 000 but the paid circulation was probably under half of the print run -- and the number of sold copies was definitely under 126 140 of the better selling Tales of Suspense in 1962.

 

In fact, Marvel had ten other titles (as noted above) that we might logically conclude sold better that Amazing Adult Fantasy.

 

It is difficult to say at what sales level Amazing Adult Fantasy would be considered a failure, but if Tales of Suspense outsold it by twenty-five percent*, then Amazing Adult Fantasy may have had a paid circulation just under the 100 000 mark.

 

*This number is just a conjecture. The difference in reported sales between Tales of Suspense and Modeling with Millie is 13% with 1/3 of Marvel titles reporting. There are roughly three tiers of sales. It is not inconceivable that a couple of the ten unreported books might outsell Modeling with Millie; some would fall in between the numbers reported; and the rest below Tales of Suspense. If Tales of Suspense is a roughly mid-pack book then the difference between the best selling and weakest selling books is about 26%.

 

I am assuming that Amazing Adult Fantasy is selling significantly lower than this 145 000 to 110 000 range.

 

However the sales figures on Amazing Fantasy #15 apparently came in months later at a number high enough to make Martin Goodman reconsider the books cancellation and resulted in Amazing Spider-Man #1.

 

A 10% increase could put sales at 110 000 or 20% would put it up near Tales of Suspense. Though it is a bit of a house of cards, I might suggest that Amazing Fantasy #15 sold between 110 000 and 125 000 copies. Note that these numbers are an estimate based upon an estimate.

 

Excellent post, rodan. The estimate that around 5% of the total print run became pence copies in the UK is just conjecture too, of course. Also, 200,000 is nowhere near accurate, I admit. If a total of 130,000 copies sold of AF 15, and that 65% sell through percentage holds for the UK, approximately 6500 Pence copies were sold via subscription & newsstand sales out of 130,000 total sales.

 

1490 graded U.S. copies and 20 graded U.K. copies to date. What about PGX graded copies, you ask? Well, every time I check their census, the message is: "The census application is in the process of being updated." Oh well.

 

We can also only speculate on how many ungraded copies have survived. Not very many. Highly unlikely at this point that a bushel of near-mint/mint copies will be discovered in a climate controlled vault somewhere...

 

[VintageComics]

At the end of the Spidey story in AF15 the bottom banner says look out for the next issue.

 

I've never understood this because the legend goes that the title was dying on it's arse. If it was dying that would suggest lower print runs but why put the banner along the bottom?

 

Remember the title changed twice over fifteen issues so something wasn't right with the series.

 

The end of the Silver Surfer run also ended with a cliff hanger and it never continued.

 

Probably wishful thinking on the part of Stan the Man that the title would continue but things happen and plans change.

 

 

[Spiderturtle]

"Highly unlikely at this point that a bushel of near-mint/mint copies will be discovered in a climate controlled vault somewhere"

 

 

if we're talking about the us version....accordiing to gator he knows of a guy that has like 20 raw copies of af15s and few of them are high grade. pence copies who knows? but part of the problem of the pence copies is that it doesn't get much respect compared to its us counterpart

[Will Baxton]

Anyone ever look at Craigslist? Allofcraigs is a nifty search engine for CL.

 

Saw a 5.0, and a Hulk 181 for sale there:

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/clt/2377928156.html

 

The price is outrageous, but the offers seem okay.

 

-WB

[rtecbot]

Money plus a watch for a comic book... interesting

[sufunk]

Anyone ever look at Craigslist? Allofcraigs is a nifty search engine for CL.

 

Saw a 5.0, and a Hulk 181 for sale there:

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/clt/2377928156.html

 

The price is outrageous, but the offers seem okay.

 

-WB

 

The AF15 price isnt too bad. Last sale for a 5.0 was for just under 9k. I dont know about watches so i have zero clue what that Tag is worth but if its at least a few hundred dollars, thats not too bad a deal.

 

Definitely odd to be selling a AF15 and a watch as a package deal though

[Dark Knight]

Anyone ever look at Craigslist? Allofcraigs is a nifty search engine for CL.

 

Saw a 5.0, and a Hulk 181 for sale there:

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/clt/2377928156.html

 

The price is outrageous, but the offers seem okay.

 

-WB

 

The AF15 price isnt too bad. Last sale for a 5.0 was for just under 9k. I dont know about watches so i have zero clue what that Tag is worth but if its at least a few hundred dollars, thats not too bad a deal.

 

Definitely odd to be selling a AF15 and a watch as a package deal though

 

Tag Heuer's are not that bad of a watch as they are swiss made. Not sure how much the value of the Tag Heuer watch is, but I'm guessing if brand new around $2k.

[showcase22gr1959]

Anyone ever look at Craigslist? Allofcraigs is a nifty search engine for CL.

 

Saw a 5.0, and a Hulk 181 for sale there:

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/clt/2377928156.html

 

The price is outrageous, but the offers seem okay.

 

-WB

 

The AF15 price isnt too bad. Last sale for a 5.0 was for just under 9k. I dont know about watches so i have zero clue what that Tag is worth but if its at least a few hundred dollars, thats not too bad a deal.

 

Definitely odd to be selling a AF15 and a watch as a package deal though

 

Tag Heuer's are not that bad of a watch as they are swiss made. Not sure how much the value of the Tag Heuer watch is, but I'm guessing if brand new around $2k.

 

Tag Heuer has a poor resale value. Now, if it included a Rolex submariner or a Rolex yacht master, then a good deal.

[MCJ]

That's the best offer to the seller for the AF 15. Maybe the Tag is counterfeit, but the $9500 cash should be enough to win the day, certainly a good price based on that lame photo Hopefully the buyer will receive more photos from the seller before they shlep to the bank and do the exchange...Who wears a watch these days, anyway?

[Dark Knight]

Anyone ever look at Craigslist? Allofcraigs is a nifty search engine for CL.

 

Saw a 5.0, and a Hulk 181 for sale there:

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/clt/2377928156.html

 

The price is outrageous, but the offers seem okay.

 

-WB

 

The AF15 price isnt too bad. Last sale for a 5.0 was for just under 9k. I dont know about watches so i have zero clue what that Tag is worth but if its at least a few hundred dollars, thats not too bad a deal.

 

Definitely odd to be selling a AF15 and a watch as a package deal though

 

Tag Heuer's are not that bad of a watch as they are swiss made. Not sure how much the value of the Tag Heuer watch is, but I'm guessing if brand new around $2k.

 

Tag Heuer has a poor resale value. Now, if it included a Rolex submariner or a Rolex yacht master, then a good deal.

 

That is true! Resale values for Rolex's hold! I prefer the vintage submariner or sea dweller models, but one of those plus the cash would be way too much to offer for a 5.0. Not a big fan of the Yacht Master though