How do you know if a book is a "warehouse" find?

ChasingKingKirby · September 7, 2009

Seems like several SA books are much more common in high-grade than others. I've heard other dealers comment that this is because of major warehouse finds. Examples of this would be Thor 132 and FF 48. My question is, how is this known? Is it just through word of mouth? I'd be curious to know what other books were part of major warehouse finds. What other major books were warehouse finds?

Earl Davis · September 7, 2009

Some of this was been made known over the years. For example Mile High Chuck has been very vocal about his finds and has been being giving some issues away for free recently from the Mile High 2 warehouse find. For example a few weeks ago any customer who placed an order that week got the same issue of a Captain Marvel issue for free so he must have been holding onto a large stack of them for years.

fantastic_four · September 7, 2009

Is it just through word of mouth?

Yes. It's pretty easy to spot them too via the CGC Census.

The best resource is these boards, using the search function. I recall several threads where people compiled lists of popular warehouse find issues. Here's a good one from the Silver Comics forum--but I highly recommend doing a search on the term "warehouse" in title threads from the last decade on a few forums around here, it has been discussed many times before, and I remember better lists than this.

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=16&Number=65193

dekeuk · September 7, 2009

Seems like several SA books are much more common in high-grade than others. I've heard other dealers comment that this is because of major warehouse finds. Examples of this would be Thor 132 and FF 48. My question is, how is this known? Is it just through word of mouth? I'd be curious to know what other books were part of major warehouse finds. What other major books were warehouse finds?

Good thing FF #48 was a warehouse find or it might be an expensive book. :insane:

fantastic_four · September 7, 2009

Good thing FF #48 was a warehouse find or it might be an expensive book?

Good lord no, FF 48 is SOOOO cheap. I'm sure $3500 - $5000 may seem high, but it's an absolute steal when you realize that #49 and #50 go for $5K to $25K more in equivalent 9.4/9.6 shape, and those aren't even the first appearance issue.

ChasingKingKirby · September 7, 2009

Good thing FF #48 was a warehouse find or it might be an expensive book?

Good lord no, FF 48 is SOOOO cheap. I'm sure $3500 - $5000 may seem high, but it's an absolute steal when you realize that #49 and #50 go for $5K to $25K more in equivalent 9.4/9.6 shape, and those aren't even the first appearance issue.

Absolutely. If the situation was reversed, and FF48 wasn't part of a warehouse find, it would probably be damn near six figures in 9.8. lol

comicwiz · September 7, 2009

I don't put any stock in this type of speculation. I have heard this used across the board with so many books I could fill a long box of comics, especially with many of the keys that attract a fair bit of attention. I've also heard the hoarder angle, where someone knew a collector who knew someone that hoarded a long box of... :blahblah:

When I bought my first Plymell Zap, there had been a long-standing rumour that someone had purchased a large quantity of these books directly from Don Donahue, even before they were distributed. How large the quantity, and how many actually were preserved in high-grade was never brought up in those conversations. No one ever knows who the buyer is for any of the warehouse claims I've ever heard. The logic I have used to inform my collecting choices on this specific book is to find copies with good production qualities, no smudging and no rust on staples (keep in mind, this comic was printed on a WWII hand-cranked Multilith press, and the cover and pages were manually assembled and stapled out of the creators apartment). After spending the better part of the last decade looking for high-grade copies, I've only ever seen 3 copies surface in a 9.0 grade or higher (7 in total on the census), and I've owned two of those copies.

Lets look at this from another angle. I hand-picked a warehouse-like stock of comics many years ago and came out with long boxes of specific issues. I've gone through these books over the years with more careful scrutiny each time, and I'd say that less than 2% of the total are contenders for NM+ or higher grades. Warehouse stock isn't bagged and boarded, and the environmental influences, storage conditions and passage of time are HUGE factors in one's ability to haul away prized keys in hyper high-grades. Even at 1000 copies (which is absolutely astonishing for a single issue find), 2% of that would translate to 20 copies. There are just too many books crowding the census to pin down with any degree of certainty which books would fit the bill of warehouse find, and IMHO you have to factor in overall popularity and value as being a far more logical (and more believable) explanation for higher submissions.