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Anyone know who this is?

Started by sufunk,

70 posts in this topic

sufunk

sufunk

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Thank you guys!

 

I really got extremely lucky with this!

 

I've had this book for at least 15-17 years sitting in my comic room in a Fortress. It sat at my LCS, Tropic Comics East, in their display case for at least 2 years in the early 90's and noone ever bought it. I cant remember exactly but it was either $450 or $500 back then. I always wanted to buy it but couldnt really afford it back then. They would have a 50% off back issues sale twice a year but this book would always disappear the night before the sale and come back after the sale. One time around 94-95 they left it out for the sale and i got it for 50% off.

 

Since i originally posted this a few weeks ago, other people have told me about their attempts to locate previous owners from date stamps with VERY little success. I never really thought of contacting him until i got it back from CGC and was looking at it right before i started this thread.

 

I posted this thread, cloudofwit gave me the google info and i called the number on the parish website. The 1st time i called was right after this thread and they were closed so i just left a message. I didnt get a call back but was too busy at work last week and forgot about it. Yesterday i called again and talked to someone and asked them to have Father Maher call me which he did a few hours later. It was a shockingly small amount of work that i did and like i said, just got really, REALLY lucky.

 

I've always loved this book since it was the oldest and 1 of the more valuable books in my collection up until very recently. It always seemed really cool to me being a WWII era book with only 1 staple. For a LONG time, it was probably my 2nd favorite book in my collection but had gotten pushed WAY back with some of the books ive purchased recently. After this though, it's definitely shot back up my rankings to its original #2 spot behind my Xmen1.

 

I was actually planning on probably selling it to buy some more SA Marvels in my next sales thread but after contacting him and hearing the story, it's definitely a keeper for me. When he gets a little older and can appreciate it a little better, i'll tell my son the story and 1 day pass it onto him with the rest of my collection (thumbs u

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sufunk

sufunk

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That is a fantastic story. It's too bad that a company gave out their customer list though.

Edit: Does anyone know if that was a fair offer for those books back then?

 

I didnt see this post before but i'm curious as well. Like 15 years ago or so, one of the Overstreets i bought came with a reprint of the 1970 guide and i looked thru it A LOT dreaming of buying books at that price. Father Maher said he had about 500 books so thats $10 a book he got paid. Probably not guide but i'll guess it was about on par with the % a dealer would usually pay for a collection?

 

I'm no GA expert for sure so hopefully 1 of the GA guys will respond but i'd guess it was a decently fair deal no?

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rjpb

rjpb

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$10 bucks a book in 1970 for a bulk lot of Golden Age superhero books may have have been a reasonable (if not exactly generous) price if the collection wasn't loaded with keys. I recall paying about $20 apiece for non-key war and post-war era Timelys in 1972-73, buying from dealers. Condition varied - low to mid - but that was much less a factor in price back then, and that was probably twice what they would have sold for just a couple three years earlier.

 

While Father Maher may well have had a copy of Action #1 and other keys still in his collection, I can't tell you how many people in my parent's generation that I met as a kid, swore they had a copy of the first appearance of Batman or Superman as part of their childhood collection that was later thrown out. I don't think they were lying, but they may have just become confused over the years as to what exactly they had. Recalling the cover isn't that surprising, given that every article in the last forty years about the value of GA comics has usually been accompanied by a picture of Action #1.

 

An excellent story nonetheless, and the Father shouldn't regret the sale. $5K was no small sum of money in 1970, and I'm sure it was well appreciated at the time. He'd held those books for 25-30 years before selling them, and that was 40 years ago.

 

I'd happily sell the books I bought between 1980-85 in bulk for 100 times cover price, and wouldn't worry too much about what they'd be worth in another 40.

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