Highlights of the London mart - Sunday 1st Feb

[EwanUK]

Highlights of the London mart - Sunday 1st Feb

 

1. The general sunny disposition of my fellow collectors and dealers

2. Masses of expensively priced CGC stock

3. Purchasing an extremely rare Ditko covered fanzine in VF+ (the dinosaur and Captain Atom one)

4. Meeting Harley Yee with his impressive books

 

5. But the key moment for me was, just as I'd bought another stack of near-mint Buzzy no.70's from Silveracre's bargain box, I overhead the immortal words from a stall near by...

 

"I've 30,000 DC's!"

 

And there he was, in all his CGC-board-celebrity, the one and only IAN LEVINE live and in person - embroiled in his quest!

Wow!

 

And, yes folks, it's all true!

[comicmankev]

[Ian_Levine]

Highlights of the London mart - Sunday 1st Feb

4. Meeting Harley Yee with his impressive books

5. But the key moment for me was, just as I'd bought another stack of near-mint Buzzy no.70's from Silveracre's bargain box, I overhead the immortal words from a stall near by...

"I've 30,000 DC's!"

And there he was, in all his CGC-board-celebrity, the one and only IAN LEVINE live and in person - embroiled in his quest!

Wow!

And, yes folks, it's all true!

 

Harley knew to look out for someone called Ewan. We wanted to see who you were, but you never identified yourself to anyone. I wanted to meet both you and gpcove but never found out who you were. I kept going back to Harley and asked "has anyone asked you to point me out" but no-one had.

[Ian_Levine]

But the key moment for me was, just as I'd bought another stack of near-mint Buzzy no.70's from Silveracre's bargain box

 

You've got about as much chance of Darryl putting a Buzzy 70 in his bargain box as you have of me giving my Action 1 to the local Oxfam shop.

[EwanUK]

I prefer to remain totally anonymous in person - otherwise I couldn't offer my impartial and hilarious commentary on these boards without fear of future comeback. To be honest, there's also a lot of weirdo's at marts - present company excluded of course.

 

I wondered yesterday though, do dealers actually make much money from marts - or is it more along the lines of it being a necessary evil? (i.e getting their name known). I mean all those boxes of stock - what percentage actually sells during the day?

 

Does anyone in the UK ever actually buy a £1000 plus book on impulse? I never have done - though have spent hundreds on eBay.

 

Saying that though, Harley certainly had a sizeable wad of cash. Perhaps that was just his float for the day?

 

Anyway, Ian, did you find any of your remaining books?

 

[Ian_Levine]

Anyway, Ian, did you find any of your remaining books?

 

No of course not.

 

I love to buy all the obscure trashy DC related stuff like Greek issues of Mystery In Space, or Australian Supacomics, or 1950s UK Superboy Annuals.

All peripheral Dc stuff that's wonderful to acquire but that isn't part of the actual wants list. I bought loads yesterday.

 

I also upgraded several early Detectives and Supermans.

 

But NOTHING off the list - there couldn't have been.

 

I did however (nothing to do with the mart) very recently acquire a beat up Detective 27 which Matt Nelson is restoring for me.

 

[Flaming_Telepath]

Marts can actually be good for shifting stock that doesn't sell anywhere else, believe it or not.

 

No, you're not likely to have many people drop £1000+ on impulse on the one book (although a total sale to a mart customer can often top £1000), but what you do get is someone suddenly deciding to take 27 issues of Thor from the late 60s to the mid-70s.

 

What I don't get is those people who only, and always, sell all stock at 50p. How many frickin' books do they have to sell to cover tables, petrol, stock purchase, sandwiches, etc, etc?

 

How many dozens of boxes do they have to empty before they can say they've made a penny profit?

[JohnBull]

Harley knew to look out for someone called Ewan. We wanted to see who you were, but you never identified yourself to anyone. I wanted to meet both you and gpcove but never found out who you were. I kept going back to Harley and asked "has anyone asked you to point me out" but no-one had.

 

I was in Bath for my anniversary spending an amount on a meal that would probably have got me a serious down payment on a Tec 27 instead. When is the next show ?

[Flaming_Telepath]

Camden on 7th March

[Arty]

I did however (nothing to do with the mart) very recently acquire a beat up Detective 27 which Matt Nelson is restoring for me.