Post your San Francisco/Tom Reilly books 4 4

[ciorac]

I think this is one of the best DC Simon & Kirby covers.

 

 

It definitely is a precursor of things to come for Jack Kirby 10-12 years later at Marvel

[RareHighGrade]

I think this is one of the best DC Simon & Kirby covers.

 

I agree, I've always liked that cover too. Nice copy!

[Bunky Brian]

I think this is one of the best DC Simon & Kirby covers.

 

I agree, I've always liked that cover too. Nice copy!

 

Its only a 9.4? looks like a gem 9.8

[BLBcomics-migration]

I think this is one of the best DC Simon & Kirby covers.

 

Its only a 9.4? looks like a gem 9.8

 

There is a teeny binery clip lower left corner, is what what brings this down in CGC eyes? There is nary a blemish any where else. Colors remain bright, it has been taken care of over the decades by loving owners, to be sure.

 

My latest batch of Reillys, ones with out the anchor, with out the distributor markings, and MOST of the vast majority never had any thing on them can be accessed typing in Reilly in the search box clicking on to my web site URL below.

 

The crying shame of it all looking back is we never made up a list. We had so many early books floating in and out there never was time and/or need to for a long time.

 

The neat thing is it did exist just as I say it was in all its massive high grade glory, and I got to have quite a few thousand fun mid 39 thru 1945 comic books all looking this Adventure come thru my fingers, grading & pricing out each one, finding homes for them as we were in expansion mode moving towards having four stores by the end of that summer.

 

There were always more collections walking in the door those first years as we gained more and more publicity. Thousands of original owner collections came in.

 

Like the day a lady from a church bizarre came in on a Sunday afternoon with a complete high grade replete with cover overlaps untorn white type paper Frank Robinson went ape mess over run of Weird Tales mid 1925 thru late 1937. Every issue, Asked me if a buck apiece was too much for them.

 

The Reilly one was simply the largest neatest one.

 

There have been many large batches of nice books show up obviously. People get carried away with "pedigree" mystique. A few are worth the effort. Reilly copies are part of that small true club.

 

There were neater collections surface out of LA which Leonard Brown and his first partner Richard Olson PhD partner were vacuum cleaning startin in 1959 being comic book dealers. Later Rich went on to university earnign his PhD and Malcolm Willits became Leonard's partner.

 

Their move in 1965 to becoming Collector's Book Store soon made them the best comic book store ever existed.

 

There was a Feb 1966 newspaper article on them replete with leonard holding a Superman #1 and Batman #1 which i saw in the in Omaha World Herald which made me want to become a comic book dealer collector. This article went "viral" in the media back then. The collections which came in were enormous in size and scope.

 

Larger than anybody even today. They were the bench mark we were striving to attain with that first Berkeley store.

 

After talking with Leonard's first partner Richard Olsen once again today, who also co-wrote the articles on the origins of the comics with me and others which have run in Overstreet for many years now, who refreshed some details for me, circa 1970 they moved to inside that old BofA bank in Hollywood replete with a walk in time lock vault.

 

I know how huge their inventory became because Leonard let me in the time lock vault and i saw what was in there. I had come to him with a "deal" he paid out $20,000 on that year circa 1971 which he paid me a ten percent finders fee.

 

One could measure almost half a foot of high grade Superman #1, almost foot of high grade #2, etc. This was mainly just the high grade stuff. The comics were on the left, rare movie stuff on the right as one walked in. The comics were sorted out and on the shelves "library style" ie standing up spine out. One could tell from the spine "color codes" as the numbers progressed.

 

That said, Reillys are still pretty cool. Wish i had the bucks to collect some of them back.

 

Maybe one day, but right now, in the here and now, being all healed up working my comics business again, my oldest daughter Katy needs my help recovering from this insidious thing the doctors call Stevens Johnson Syndrome. There is some neat stuff one can click on to scroll thru out of my web site address below in the sig line. if you have a moment and the spirit moves you this week end if you have a spare moment, I would be appreciative helping her back. Thank you.

Edited March 29, 2013 by BLBcomics

[tb]

Very interesting to hear your comments about Piedmont. I've lived in Berkeley and sure have a hard time connecting the dots between San Francisco and Piedmont - yikes.

 

Do you have any recollections about whether there were Disney or funny animal books in the "San Francisco" collection? It sounds like a a considerable fraction of the collection could have been locked up by the original buyers and never seen daylight since then?

 

In any case, thanks a lot for sharing your recollections in such detail.

[jimbo_707]

Very interesting to hear your comments about Piedmont. I've lived in Berkeley and sure have a hard time connecting the dots between San Francisco and Piedmont - yikes.

 

Do you have any recollections about whether there were Disney or funny animal books in the "San Francisco" collection? It sounds like a a considerable fraction of the collection could have been locked up by the original buyers and never seen daylight since then?

 

In any case, thanks a lot for sharing your recollections in such detail.

 

I've often wondered how many high-grade books have been "locked up" by 2nd owners since before the CGC census days. I have a feeling that one day we're going to discover that some issues are not as rare as we think.

[Straw-Man]

how many high grade supe 1's would it take to get half a foot tall?

[ciorac]

how many high grade supe 1's would it take to get half a foot tall?

 

30~

[Straw-Man]

kinda tells me how to read the rest of his ramblings.

[Timely]

how many high grade supe 1's would it take to get half a foot tall?

 

umm tree-fiddy?

[Transplant]

how many high grade supe 1's would it take to get half a foot tall?

I don't know, but is that how deep it's getting in here?

[Straw-Man]

how many high grade supe 1's would it take to get half a foot tall?

I don't know, but is that how deep it's getting in here?

 

are you suggesting you wouldn't buy a 'frisco from him with no g-marks, no tom reilly stamp, no date stamp, but it's a book he knows he held all those years ago, hence it IS a 'frisco? you cynical bastiche.

[Sqeggs]

I don't know, guys. It was a very different time back then. I knew a guy who had 20-25 high grade copies each of March of Comics 4 and 20. Granted, those books are hardly Superman 1, but they were considered much more important books then than they are now. It wasn't impossible if you had a moderate amount of dough to accumulate a stash of books you were either in love with or thought were going to rise in value.

[Bronty]

I think its been pretty well established in many threads that collectors bookstore really did have that kind of inventory

[Straw-Man]

it's been established they had a 6" stack of high grade supe 1's? point me to the data.

[Straw-Man]

I don't know, guys. It was a very different time back then. I knew a guy who had 20-25 high grade copies each of March of Comics 4 and 20. Granted, those books are hardly Superman 1, but they were considered much more important books then than they are now. It wasn't impossible if you had a moderate amount of dough to accumulate a stash of books you were either in love with or thought were going to rise in value.

 

well, none of us "know." but the fact that only 1 supe has ever been slabbed at the "8" level makes me think this is probably b.s. even if i don't "know" it.

[Straw-Man]

here's a nice "cuz i say so" frisco y'all can jump out there to get.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BATMAN-21-4-5-VG-1944-DC-WP-TOM-REILLY-SAN-FRANCISCO-/390557318192?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item5aef07bc30

 

now, be aware, the book below, from the same month, shows what kind of markings a reilly of that vintage should have, but, hey, knock yourselves out.

 

 

 

[Bronty]

I don't know, guys. It was a very different time back then. I knew a guy who had 20-25 high grade copies each of March of Comics 4 and 20. Granted, those books are hardly Superman 1, but they were considered much more important books then than they are now. It wasn't impossible if you had a moderate amount of dough to accumulate a stash of books you were either in love with or thought were going to rise in value.

 

well, none of us "know." but the fact that only 1 supe has ever been slabbed at the "8" level makes me think this is probably b.s. even if i don't "know" it.

 

I took the hg part with a grain of salt and so do you I think. I was just talking about whether they had a bunch of them, and I have no reason to doubt that.

[Bronty]

here's a nice "cuz i say so" frisco y'all can jump out there to get.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BATMAN-21-4-5-VG-1944-DC-WP-TOM-REILLY-SAN-FRANCISCO-/390557318192?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item5aef07bc30

 

now, be aware, the book below, from the same month, shows what kind of markings a reilly of that vintage should have, but, hey, knock

 

 

I hear you but Im not going to call Bob a liar either. He could be right, he could be wrong. I cant see valuing that batman very high either way esp given that I dont agree with the grade

[BLBcomics-migration]

Very interesting to hear your comments about Piedmont. I've lived in Berkeley and sure have a hard time connecting the dots between San Francisco and Piedmont - yikes.

 

Do you have any recollections about whether there were Disney or funny animal books in the "San Francisco" collection? It sounds like a a considerable fraction of the collection could have been locked up by the original buyers and never seen daylight since then?

 

In any case, thanks a lot for sharing your recollections in such detail.

 

Beginning with cover dated late 1941 issues, virtually every thing seemed to be in this collection. There were also9 comic books then not yet in Overstreet.

 

There is also the concept which i continue to gently stress that MOST of the comic books in this collection did not have any sort of markings on them front or back covers ie most likely will never be inventoried classified as Reilly copies.

 

There is a lot of stuff still locked up in private collections which have not seen the light of dealer day for many decades. As the population which collected in the 60s 70s 80s continues to progress towards getting older, we shall see more people selling, and more estates continue to offer up their treasures from grand kids inheriting, etc

 

I have no dog in this mind game some wish to persue re the Reilly collection. The selling prices of NM/M 1939-1945 comic books are beyond my ability to score under my present circumstances. All I am seeking is to establish the historical record as best is possible as there are a lot of misconceptionsabout it when honest folk ponder the BS in places like Gerber's Photo Journal guides, Dark Horse's Between the Panels article titled San Francisco Collection, etc

 

Did I stop as a 21 year old busy with partners of equal age back in 1973 to do geneology study concepts on this guy Reilly and/or his relatives? Nope, there was no need until years later when Gerber did that splash on Edgar Church in his Photo Journal Guide.

 

Gerber stuck in a few other pedigree mentions almost as an after thought running off what he thought in his head with less than zero actual research. More like a space filler than anything else.

 

I know I quizzed Gerber at the time re his data on the Reilly collection being so wrong. He sort of shrugged at the time, he had tried to do good. He also simply wanted the project he had invested so much in to to be over and get it printed

 

He was struck at how much brighter the colors photographed off Church and Reilly copies than other comics - or so it seemed to him with his early 1980s technology at his disposal.

 

I also think his Scarcity Ratio Index, predicated on the less than 300 names, of which I am listed therein, of the collections he photographed the covers on. Once upon a time some collectors took that data to heart trying to figure out what was "rarest" out there to collect. But I digress.....

 

Between the Panel's article sez around 1000+ Reilly comic books based on Mike Manyak's statement. I do not have my BtheP book handy right this sec. This is consistant with him only being privy to seeing, and approximating in the late 1990s, the first batch which showed up at Berkeleycon 73 ASUC building in the last couple hours on the last day of the first Bay Area comicon.

 

Gerber on page A-12 in Vol One doubles that to 2000, and the actual count, factoring three separate batches is around double that again.