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Do Conan #3 and Marvel Spotlight #5 deserve "scarce"......

Started by currincomics,

14 posts in this topic

currincomics

currincomics

Posted
Posted

..label, I have them also, and those are both high grade books, maybe I should have them slabbed along with Hulk 181. I'm trying to decide on the three I can get done for "free", and thanks for the info and opinions on SS#4 for those who gave it.

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minutekev@50

minutekev@50

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This is from one of Chuck's articles...but take it with a grain of salt...

 

"Just so you don't think I am entirely innocent in this process, I want to tell you a short story about CONAN #3. For the past 25 years, that issue has been listed in the OFFICIAL OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE as having low print runs in some areas. Ummm, I don't think that really true. Back in the early 1970's, CONAN was our best-selling title. A peculiarity about those early days, however, was that the CONAN paperback books were all still in print, and fans really cared about which issue adapted which particular R.E.H. story. Issue #3 contains the adaptation of Grim Gray God, which was especially popular. As result, we were constantly sold out of issue #3, while issue #1 tended to stick around longer because of the higher price. To rectify this problem, all the Denver area dealers started marking #3 as "scarce," and pricing it above #1. To our amazement, this "fact" ended up in Bob Overstreet's price guide soon thereafter. To this day, I can't help but smile whenever I see that notation in the guide. "

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rob_react

rob_react

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..label, I have them also, and those are both high grade books, maybe I should have them slabbed along with Hulk 181. I'm trying to decide on the three I can get done for "free", and thanks for the info and opinions on SS#4 for those who gave it.

 

Neither are "scarce." Then again, not many Marvel Bronze Age books are.

 

Conan #3 doesn't have that designation in the Guide by the way- it's simply "low distribution in some areas."

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OldGuy

OldGuy

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..label, I have them also, and those are both high grade books, maybe I should have them slabbed along with Hulk 181. I'm trying to decide on the three I can get done for "free", and thanks for the info and opinions on SS#4 for those who gave it.

 

Neither are "scarce." Then again, not many Marvel Bronze Age books are.

 

Conan #3 doesn't have that designation in the Guide by the way- it's simply "low distribution in some areas."

 

And with E-bay the term "areas" is meaningless.

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sfilosa

sfilosa

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that data isn't really accurate since #3 is worth nearly twice as much as #2 in guide, hence more copies of #3 submitted.

 

I understand your point (which is valid), but basically #3 SHOULDN"T BE WORTH more than #2 (because it isn't really scarce).

 

 

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garthgantu

garthgantu

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Agreed. I remember comic shops in the mid-'70s designating the book as 'scarce' or 'rare' (probably easier than writing "low distribution in some areas" on the sticker), and charging more for it. I don't think it's unrealistic to view the whole thing as a sort of urban myth. If in fact there are as many copies of Conan 3 as there are Conan 2, you'd expect that eventually the prices realized on eBay for copies in similar grade would be nearly identical. This might take some time (a few years? a decade?) as the Conan collectors out there sort out the situation...

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JohnBull

JohnBull

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What's sillier is that UK price guides used to carry the designation 'Scarce in the US only', but still marked the issue up at 20% more than number 2 anyway. "Well it is rare 3000 miles away, I'm not running a bleedin' charity here".

 

Mind you, the last UK price guide still listed Tales of Suspense 44 with 'Pharaoh mis-spelt on cover'. Generations of English comic collectors hunted high and low for that key and the squeals of orgasmic delight upon locating a copy had to be heard to be believed.

 

It's a great county for 16 year olds though. tongue.gif

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shadroch

shadroch

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What's sillier is that UK price guides used to carry the designation 'Scarce in the US only', but still marked the issue up at 20% more than number 2 anyway. "Well it is rare 3000 miles away, I'm not running a bleedin' charity here".

 

Mind you, the last UK price guide still listed Tales of Suspense 44 with 'Pharaoh mis-spelt on cover'. Generations of English comic collectors hunted high and low for that key and the squeals of orgasmic delight upon locating a copy had to be heard to be believed.

 

It's a great county for 16 year olds though. tongue.gif

 

Spotlights in very hi-grade are far from common.

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