famous monsters 1 question

[nickwire]

wonder if anyone can help me out. im wondering what a good price for a beater but complete FM 1 might be. most on ebay are 9.0ish and im not looking for the high. there is 1 for 275 but it has loose pages. do you think thats a fair price?

[bronzejunkie]

I'd be careful with loose pages on an old warren magazine. They fall apart a lot easier than most mags of the era for some darn reason. In my years of collecting I have been stuck with plenty of issues under 30 of FM that have obliterated in the bag. They have a tendency to cover split. Also, 275 sounds kind of steep if you ask me. If you're dropping 3 bills for an FM#1, you can dig up a really solid VG+ or even high enough to be a Fine on a good day for that. Just my FYI, but ya know depends on the day your bidding and who might be bidding against you I guess.

[nickwire]

im hoping to find a low grade 1 for around around a hundred but dont know if its realistic

[bronzejunkie]

Never say never, just keep your eyes peeled cause you might dig one up at a con or somthing at the end of the day. Good luck with that.

 

I think if you had 200 to work with you could find a few more options, but still pretty slim. Once again good luck and when you do find your gem, please share it with us on here.

[Wipple]

i am looking for a 1 and a 4 with the ghouls eye sticker. Any clue on difficulty of the 4? a below avg one went for 600 on ebay last week. GPA doesnt differentiate the variations or no ghouls eye cgc has ever had a documented sale.

[bronzejunkie]

The Ghoul eye sticker is a real rarity. I remember it being a sticker that was put on 'I think' only copies circulated in Philly for a local amusement park. But, I could be wrong... Anyway, from my knowledge they are pretty rare and if you find one consider yourself lucky.

 

If your looking for crazy rare FM's, try digging up a copy of issue #6 with the MT Graves Miami TV sticker on it. Now thats rare.

 

The issue #4 sold with the ghoul eye sticker a while back for I think it was $18,200.00 it was also in if my memory is on point... 9.2. So pretty nice copy. Have to admit eighteen grand seems kind of out of hand, but what do I know. To be honest I read about it online so not sure how reliable that number is.

 

Below average copy? If it's a four, with the sticker your looking at a good return due to rarity. I know others have sold for good change in the past few years as well.

 

The #1 is a pretty different story. Keep in mind when these came out they we're pretty instant collector items for people starving for sci-fi and horror items, so a ton of people held on to them. Over the years I have seen piles of number ones in 6.5 and down. Pretty common in fact. In fact I know one collector friend of mine who has roughly 30-40 copies in various grades below 7.5 of FM#1. The guy just couldn't NOT buy one when he saw it. I myself have 3. One in decent shape, the others pretty wrecked. I love them all.

 

Why you can dig one up for a few hundred dollars in low grade tells the tale. In high grade like 9.0 and up, it's a different story. Bad publishing made them easy to damage. Saying that I suspect there are hoards of NM (9.0) and higher copies floating around in collections as we speak. It was very collected.. but the time to buy was the 90's for FM's. Saying that-- They are still a remarkable deal still and hold a ton of history within each issue.

 

Oh I almost forgot-- There is an interesting 'Variant' for issue 7, that back in the day if you bought off the newstand and the next month they announced that if your issue had a 'Lucky 7' stamp within it, you received a lifetime subscription of something like that... These became pretty rare obviously. I have no idea the value of a high grade copy or heck, even if one exists.

 

#7 is an interesting issue as it had other Variants as well... On the covers in different markets they promoted different horror hosts from the era like Zacherly... etc. Again I have no idea the difference in rarity of the 3 different variations or if there is even a real difference in value. I only own one copy, so haven't really looked for the others frankly.

 

Love talking about Famous Monsters. Sorry if I typed your eyes off there. happy collecting.

 

 

[Wipple]

thanks- never saw a number 6 with the sticker.

 

I did read about the lucky 7 stamp issues. pretty cooll history.

 

Tell your friend to sell us a couple of cheap #1's.

 

[nickwire]

bronzejunkimag , please dont appoligize, i wish there were more FM/ warren talk on here

[bronzejunkie]

Wippie-- I have tried to pry a few number ones(along with other issues he has) from his iron grip a few times but it just wasn't going to happen. He is one of those uber collectors who has a house full of crazy stuff and won't let go of anything. I hate saying it but he might even be a candidate for the Hoarders TV show sadly. I have to admit though I love going to see him on occasion just to geek out over his insane oddball monster toys and books then I wake up and go home to my wife and kids and pretend that I don't find it cool. haha

 

Nickewire-- Thanks man. I love talking FM as well, I also love Fangoria(we have another thread going) and basically any horror/ sci-fi/film related mags and books... I don't have many in my area who collect these things and all my friends and family think I am a little on the 'special' side for doing it, so I guess I am used to appoligizing for my sickness--haha

 

Talking FM's... I find another interesting era of collecting FM's is the tail end. 185-193. These can still be found in the odd dollar bin yet some collectors have a heck of time finding them. I know they have a much lower print run in fact I heard 193 was very low, so I always snag a copy if I ever see it in 8.5 or higher.

[nickwire]

no one i hang with collects fm. i agree that you can still grab them for cheap at cons. definately a niche collector thing. i am happy for that though, more for me.

[Batko-migration]

bronzejunkimag , please dont appoligize, i wish there were more FM/ warren talk on here

 

Here's some more FM/Warren talk for you. Which of the three variant covers of FM #7 is the rarest? I always thought it was the Roland cover followed by the WOR-TV variant cover. According to Nostomania and some other sources the "Tommorrow's Monster" variant cover is the rarest and most expensive.

 

I have the WOR-TV and Roland variants, both in 8.5/VF+. Finding a nice copy of "Roland" was like pulling teeth. (Finding any condition "Roland" was not easy!) You don't see the WOR-TV variant around much either. On the other hand, the "Tomorrow's Monster" variant seems to pop up quite frequently in varying conditions.

 

Where do these "sources" get their info, and is it reliable???

 

Mike

P.S. Was the WOR-TV cover only sold in NYC? WOR-TV channel 9 was the local TV station that carried the "Zacharly" show back 1960 when I was a little kid in Brooklyn, NY. I remember that the copy of FM #7 that I bought back then was a WOR-TV variant (although, at the time I didn't know from variants! ).