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What is the rarest comic in your collection?

Started by Bo_Hogg,

571 posts in this topic

tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
Personally, I don't think Rangers #2 is the rarest. My dad had three copies many years ago and sold them to various collectors. He also had four copies of Planet Comics #15.

 

He had one of the finest Fiction House runs in the world before selling the whole thing in the early 90s.

 

He says without question the two hardest FH books to obtain are Jumbo 9 and Jumbo 31. He even had FN+ to VF+ copies of Jumbo 1-8

 

 

Having owned all of the FH books, it's hard to say any of them are rare. I've seen multiple copies of the ones I used to consider rare

Yeah, wasn`t there a pretty funny thread some months ago where the OP was talking about how incredibly rare Jumbo 9 was, and within hours over a dozen boardies had posted their copies?

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tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
New adventure 26? Exceedingly rare. Kicking myself for selling mine. I'm sure swapto is bummed as well!
I know Ian had a tough time finding one...but truthfully, I have seen like 5-6 copies available since then...rare, yes (as are all copies in that era), but maybe not "as" rare as we think (shrug)

 

5 or 6 copies? Seriously?? Methinks you're blowing swamp gas up my arse. Unless you're counting the copy Ben and I have flip flopped back and forth 3 times....

no swamp gas...5 copies I know for sure, but it might be 6 (thumbs u

Yup, that`s correct. I remember doing a count on these boards of all the known copies a few years ago. Ian`s quest definitely shook a few loose.

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Comicdey

Comicdey

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This seems to be rare based on the feedback I got on the Aces topic.. Owned it anyone? Seen it? jb

 

not yet...but wouldn't mind having one...the cover with the girl fits my collecting habits well.

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PreHero

PreHero

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Posted
A lot of people here are discussing the Gerber Photo Journals. I've always heard them referenced, but never seen a copy. I looked them up on Amazon and they sell for a pretty penny -- $50 to $75 for each of the two volumes. Eventually I'll go for it, but I'm wondering if these books are easy to obtain for a better price. I can't believe I've gone this long without them.

 

i haven't checked for a while but I think Bud Plant used to have them cheaper than that. It seems some dealer or another would have enough sets that they would sell them for $75 or less for the set - but maybe those days are gone - check ebay.

 

Quick story..... I was proud to make it to the upper paragraphs of the Gerber Photo Journal "thank yous". Why did I get there? Centaurs....always have, always will be tough.

 

ernie lost a pant load on this book doing individual color separations for each cover (he saved money by doing color separations for each page for the Marvel Photo Journal)

 

 

heat sealing for mylar.....the revolutionary Photo Journals....the Hobby will always owe him a big tip of the cap......jon

 

 

Definitely a "must have" reference. It was obviously a labor of love for the Gerbers (then again, who wouldn't enjoy digging thru some of the best collections in the world!).

 

He was also the first to provide a comprehensive detailed analysis of the scarcity of individual issues in a time before the Internet or CGC. Yes, some of the ratings are off, but they're spot on for thousands and thousands books.

 

I think the Gerber books changed comic collecting as much as Overstreet's guide before and the Internet or CGC after!

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JvR11

JvR11

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Posted
Well, technically this is not a comic, and it's not Golden Age. But it's one of the rarest comic-related books in my collection. Actually, I have two of them:

 

shock-illustrated-3.jpg

 

It's Shock Illustrated #3, from EC Comics, 1956. According to Overstreet, only 100 copies were ever released. The pages had been printed when William Gaines abruptly pulled the plug. The Picto-Fiction mags had been losing money and, as the story goes, Gaines couldn't afford to pay to have them bound. So he took 100 copies of Shock Illustrated #3 and had them hand-bound and "given out at the E.C. offices."

 

If the 100 figure is correct, I can't imagine more than half of those surviving. It's likely many of the people who obtained the magazine didn't realize how rare it was, or think to save it for its future value. So my guess is there are only a couple dozen copies out there, probably tied up in the collections of die-hard EC fans.

 

I'm happy with both my copies. The CGC Universal 6.0 has a detached centerfold -- I figure if it didn't, it would be closer to an 8.0. My ungraded copy would be a 9.0 or higher except for one problem: The entire Reed Crandall story has been either carefully sliced out, or was never bound into the magazine to begin with. I've looked as closely as possible, even using a magnifying glass, and I can't figure out why the whole story is missing.

 

One other curiosity: Overstreet only values this at $116 in GD, with increases of about $100 every two points. It seems strange to me that this would be considered so low in value, given its rarity.

 

Anyway, I love them. Love the art (by Rudy Nappi), love the GGA, love the publisher, love the rarity factor, and love the story behind it.

 

Double your pleasure, double your fun. :applause: (thumbs u

 

Did you find them at deals? I noticed some in the Heritage archives. They are pretty expensive.

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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That #2 is bright! :cool:

 

Both are classic 50s Atomic Age classics!

 

Here are scans of two of the "rarer" books in my collection:

 

Atomic War 2

 

AtomicWar2.jpg

 

Atomic War 4

 

AtomicWar4.jpg

 

:cloud9:

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RareHighGrade

RareHighGrade

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My rarest mainstream book would probably be one of these:

I don't think I own anything I'd call rare but if I could, it would be books like these! :cloud9:

Peter and Jon always "win" threads like this. (worship)

 

 

Peter, should we discuss Jumbo 2?

I think that #7 is the toughest of the large size Jumbos.

 

#5 is the bane of Christmas cover collectors. It's virtually impossible to find in decent grade.

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tth2

tth2

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Posted
My rarest mainstream book would probably be one of these:

I don't think I own anything I'd call rare but if I could, it would be books like these! :cloud9:

Peter and Jon always "win" threads like this. (worship)

 

 

Peter, should we discuss Jumbo 2?

I think that #7 is the toughest of the large size Jumbos.

 

#5 is the bane of Christmas cover collectors. It's virtually impossible to find in decent grade.

This conversation is useless without scans. :baiting:

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RareHighGrade

RareHighGrade

Posted
Posted
My rarest mainstream book would probably be one of these:

I don't think I own anything I'd call rare but if I could, it would be books like these! :cloud9:

Peter and Jon always "win" threads like this. (worship)

 

 

Peter, should we discuss Jumbo 2?

I think that #7 is the toughest of the large size Jumbos.

 

#5 is the bane of Christmas cover collectors. It's virtually impossible to find in decent grade.

This conversation is useless without scans. :baiting:

I only have the group shot that I've previously posted because the individual books are too big for my scanner.

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