Mark Jewelers inserts... 19 19

[icp004]

On 4/4/2022 at 7:52 PM, trademarkcomics said:

One oddity I always keep my eyes out for is the Double Cover/Mark Jeweler combo. I have 4. A raw Silver Surfer(second series) #20 I picked up from my local comic shop(!), Amazing Spider-Man #281 CGC 9.4(My baby), and two I currently have up for sale on eBay: Tomb of Dracula #8 CGC 8.0 and a grail-ish book: G.I. Joe ARAH #21 CGC 7.5.

 

While I once thought there could only be a handful of these in existence, after seeing multiple posted to eBay recently including two of two specific issues(Rom #52 and ASM #315*), I've come to the conclusion that while still very rare, they aren't the one-of-kind unicorns I once believed they might be.

 

*One thing I've also found in my travels is that multiple covers are definitely more common for certain issues(Iron Man #55 and Amazing Spider-Man #361 immediately spring to mind). Obviously the errors happened intermittently and then were caught and fixed so that you simply won't ever find a multiple cover for many(if not most) specific issue numbers.

An eBay purchase from 2018.  I had it graded at Baltimore Comicon.  The seller had another just like it and also two iron man.  He was the OO and said he got all four at the same time from the base where he was serving. 
 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by icp004
Spelling error

[trademarkcomics]

On 4/4/2022 at 7:23 PM, grendelbo said:

That's disturbing.

But then just below it you look at the blurb for the back story: "The Runaway SuperBABY". Comics were a bit schizophrenic in the early 70s...maybe the editors did a little too much LDS.

 

[trademarkcomics]

On 4/5/2022 at 5:19 AM, icp004 said:

An eBay purchase from 2018.  I had it graded at Baltimore Comicon.  The seller had another just like it and also two iron man.  He was the OO and said he got all four at the same time from the base where he was serving. 
 

 

 

 

That's awesome. More proof they aren't as rare as I first believed. A book from my childhood, if you ever want to sell it, let me know...

[icp004]

On 4/5/2022 at 8:00 PM, trademarkcomics said:

That's awesome. More proof they aren't as rare as I first believed. A book from my childhood, if you ever want to sell it, let me know...

Sorry but parted with this one soon after getting it graded. It was a sharp copy though!

[ganni]

What are my chances that a MJI is in this copy?  Is it too thin ? Is the MJI a glossy version ?

 

[steveinthecity]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:24 PM, ganni said:

What are my chances that a MJI is in this copy?  Is it too thin ? Is the MJI a glossy version ?

 

The glossy MJI’s began with May ‘78 cover dates.

[trademarkcomics]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:24 PM, ganni said:

What are my chances that a MJI is in this copy?  Is it too thin ? Is the MJI a glossy version ?

 

Be very careful with late 70's books. I have found that with some it is better to look at the top staple(you want it closer to the bottom of the character box than most of the run is) to discern if it may be a MJI than the bottom staple as a lot of the issues had high bottom staples. Like I said, there a many exceptions to the general rule of high bottom staples. What I do is run through the books available of the specific issue I'm hunting to get a general feel for where staple placement usually is, then when I see a staple is a different spot(or, better yet, compare to an actual Mark Jeweler issue), then I go for it. My percentage for being right is running about 80%.

[trademarkcomics]

I finally found one of the tougher ASMs: #134.

I hadn’t seen one since I started this endeavor back in 2019.  My friend who had recently opened his own shop came by a huge collection with Mark Jeweler inserts and he held all of the Amazings for me. It started me on this journey and now I’m only 14 issues away…

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 4/11/2022 at 9:22 PM, trademarkcomics said:

I finally found one of the tougher ASMs: #134.

I hadn’t seen one since I started this endeavor back in 2019.  My friend who had recently opened his own shop came by a huge collection with Mark Jeweler inserts and he held all of the Amazings for me. It started me on this journey and now I’m only 14 issues away…

Interesting! Congrats!

Early on back in 2016, I out together a run of ASM #129, 134 &135 mark jewelers, but

I was so knew I didnt really care about grade

#129 is a 3.0

#134 is a 7.5

& #135 is only a 6.5

It came together cause they seemed less scarce, as the prices hadn't rocketed....

Glad to see it gone after now

I was going to try to do a run of the punisher, since I I had the first "3"

But next up was giant size spider-man 4 and those with that kind of wrap of a book, don't have mark jewelers to my knowledge  so I stopped after three

[Cpt Kirk]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:22 PM, trademarkcomics said:

I finally found one of the tougher ASMs: #134.

I hadn’t seen one since I started this endeavor back in 2019.  My friend who had recently opened his own shop came by a huge collection with Mark Jeweler inserts and he held all of the Amazings for me. It started me on this journey and now I’m only 14 issues away…

That is a great looking copy and also "amazing" that you are only missing 14 of the ASMs..  If you friend has any jeweler variants in the title of Batman, Superman, Detective, Action or Justice League of America, I would love to get in touch with him.   In those 5 titles, there's approximately 690 jewelers variants and I've managed to get all but 10 of them.  I would gladly pay a hefty premium if anyone could find the following for me:  Batman 245, 247, 390; Superman 255, 291, 292;  Detective 470, 548; Action 579; and JLA 107.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Cpt Kirk

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/12/2022 at 3:22 AM, trademarkcomics said:

I finally found one of the tougher ASMs: #134.

I hadn’t seen one since I started this endeavor back in 2019.  My friend who had recently opened his own shop came by a huge collection with Mark Jeweler inserts and he held all of the Amazings for me. It started me on this journey and now I’m only 14 issues away…

Niiiice. I wish I'd kept mine now, which I deslabbed:

 

What are the ones you are missing, TM? We could keep an eye out for you...

[trademarkcomics]

On 4/13/2022 at 8:46 AM, Cpt Kirk said:

That is a great looking copy and also "amazing" that you are only missing 14 of the ASMs..  If you friend has any jeweler variants in the title of Batman, Superman, Detective, Action or Justice League of America, I would love to get in touch with him.   In those 5 titles, there's approximately 690 jewelers variants and I've managed to get all but 10 of them.  I would gladly pay a hefty premium if anyone could find the following for me:  Batman 245, 247, 390; Superman 255, 291, 292;  Detective 470, 548; Action 579; and JLA 107.

Make that 11. I just found 187, 190 and 192.  I think he’s sold through most of them but I’ll see if he has those the next time I go in there. 

[trademarkcomics]

On 4/14/2022 at 5:47 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Niiiice. I wish I'd kept mine now, which I deslabbed:

 

What are the ones you are missing, TM? We could keep an eye out for you...

That was a nice one! That issue is important to me because Tarantula was the villain in the very first ASM I ever bought at ten years old: #235. Plus it’s got Punisher’s second appearance at the end. 
 

Most of what I’m missing is right in that tough late 70s era when the staple positions are hard to read. #160, 167, 170, 171, 173, 174, 178, 181, 189. Other than those I need #124(which I mentioned above) and 220(which is hot right now due to Moon Knight). But yeah, 227 out of 238 now, or 95%. Not too shabby. I really appreciate you guys making me aware of the issues I needn’t search for, made things a lot easier. That was one reason I let you all in on my staple discovery. My wife was like “you let them know your trade secrets?”.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/17/2022 at 4:43 AM, trademarkcomics said:

Not too shabby. I really appreciate you guys making me aware of the issues I needn’t search for, made things a lot easier. That was one reason I let you all in on my staple discovery. My wife was like “you let them know your trade secrets?”.

I know what she means, and it's a personal choice, but I find it's fun to share sometimes. Sharing with like minded collectors can be as much fun as collecting the comics themselves. Good luck - I'll keep an eye open for the missing issues and PM you if I spot any in the UK. It's amazing how many turn up over here 

[trademarkcomics]

Now down to 10! Just got:

 

Thanks to Marwood for the heads up!

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/17/2022 at 11:52 PM, trademarkcomics said:

Thanks to Marwood for the heads up!

Well done!

Not sure if it has been mentioned already, but ASM #262 has copies with a Bose wrap (newsstand only). I had one copy with a MJI, and one without:

When you've finished the NDS and MJIs, maybe go for all the other insert types (if you haven't already)?

Pizzazz is in ASM #176-179:

 

#179 has a different one to the other three.

And some ASM #245 copies have the Maxwell/Bubblicious ad - unusually, it can be found in both newsstand and direct copies:

There are inserts in other issues too, but these are mostly generic / in all copies - well, all of whichever type I listed - but there are some different configurations to collect (e.g. #389):

And if you really want to tear the arse out of it, you can go for variations like these (click to enlarge):

There are so many 'variations' in the Spidey ASM run.

They'll keep you going for a while, if you complete the MJI set 

[ganni]

My 80s copy,  bought it and read it ....

 

[trademarkcomics]

On 4/18/2022 at 2:21 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Well done!

Not sure if it has been mentioned already, but ASM #262 has copies with a Bose wrap (newsstand only). I had one copy with a MJI, and one without:

When you've finished the NDS and MJIs, maybe go for all the other insert types (if you haven't already)?

Pizzazz is in ASM #176-179:

 

#179 has a different one to the other three.

And some ASM #245 copies have the Maxwell/Bubblicious ad - unusually, it can be found in both newsstand and direct copies:

There are inserts in other issues too, but these are mostly generic / in all copies - well, all of whichever type I listed - but there are some different configurations to collect (e.g. #389):

And if you really want to tear the arse out of it, you can go for variations like these (click to enlarge):

There are so many 'variations' in the Spidey ASM run.

They'll keep you going for a while, if you complete the MJI set 

I have all of the Pizzazz variants, 30 cent & 35 cent price variants, I have a Bose wrap in my 262 and I have a CGC 9.8 of the #245 Bubblicious variant, but once you get past the MJI era, all I look for is newsstands(which I have an extensive collection of, including Australian price variants of 361-363). But inserts post-1992 just don't thrill me.

[trademarkcomics]

On 4/18/2022 at 5:27 PM, ganni said:

My 80s copy,  bought it and read it ....

 

You will give it to me now...

[ganni]

Miscut???

Bought this new back in the 80s.

Spoiler