Price Variant Club 31 31

[fastballspecial]

Hey, I am now a Gold club member of the 30 cent variant club! I recieved my last two westerns this week after more than a year of needing them. Here they are-

 

 

 

Thanks to all of you who have helped me in this quest.

 

 

[Metarog]

Ha Ha, thanks again. I probably have the lowest grade set of the six known as I mostly have mid-grade copies with maybe a half dozen lower grades and about the same number NM or above. I am now concentrating on upgrading those 5 or 6.

[underthebigw]

Hey, I am now a Gold club member of the 30 cent variant club! I recieved my last two westerns this week after more than a year of needing them. Here they are-

 

 

 

Thanks to all of you who have helped me in this quest.

 

 

Fantastic. Congratulations. Those last few are always the most painful to find.

 

So, are there really only 6 complete sets that we know of? I figured a couple of others would have finished by now.

[ShieldAgent]

 

Fantastic. Congratulations. Those last few are always the most painful to find.

 

So, are there really only 6 complete sets that we know of? I figured a couple of others would have finished by now.

 

Terry and Sandro are the only two I am aware of trying to finish the set at this time.

 

Sandro was under 5 two years ago. Terry is closing in faster than anyone in history.

 

I do know one guy who had two or three to go, and gave up, and sold 90% of the set.

 

It is a real feat considering some of the undesireable aspects of the hobby--

 

Congrats again Roger--your hard work paid off.

[ShieldAgent]

hey Paul--

 

any e.t.a. on the special limited edition variant Toon Tumbler?

[Metarog]

 

 

So, are there really only 6 complete sets that we know of? I figured a couple of others would have finished by now.

 

Yep, as far as I know here are the only six (I think this is the order) and like Harry said two more still in progress...

 

FD

S&B

4Gemworks

DD

Shieldagent

Metarog

 

I'd be interested to know how long it took each of you from the first variant to the last. It took me exactly 2 years and 4 months from when I got my MTU #45 to th KC #208. Of course I had many advantages in that I had access to a whole bunch of people that had dupes. I am curious though.

[FlyingDonut]

 

So, are there really only 6 complete sets that we know of? I figured a couple of others would have finished by now.

 

Yep, as far as I know here are the only six (I think this is the order) and like Harry said two more still in progress...

 

FD

S&B

4Gemworks

DD

Shieldagent

Metarog

 

I'd be interested to know how long it took each of you from the first variant to the last. It took me exactly 2 years and 4 months from when I got my MTU #45 to th KC #208. Of course I had many advantages in that I had access to a whole bunch of people that had dupes. I am curious though.

 

Congrats to Roger!

 

I started right after CBM 55 came out, and finished the last one in 2001 some time.

[Metarog]

 

So, are there really only 6 complete sets that we know of? I figured a couple of others would have finished by now.

 

Yep, as far as I know here are the only six (I think this is the order) and like Harry said two more still in progress...

 

FD

S&B

4Gemworks

DD

Shieldagent

Metarog

 

I'd be interested to know how long it took each of you from the first variant to the last. It took me exactly 2 years and 4 months from when I got my MTU #45 to th KC #208. Of course I had many advantages in that I had access to a whole bunch of people that had dupes. I am curious though.

 

Congrats to Roger!

 

I started right after CBM 55 came out, and finished the last one in 2001 some time.

 

Thanks FD, I know I got at least one variant off you and I know you were looking for my last two as well. I really appreciate it. So based on the above it took about 4 years. Pretty impressive since at that time I don't think much of anybody listed these as variants on E-Bay.

[underthebigw]

 

So, are there really only 6 complete sets that we know of? I figured a couple of others would have finished by now.

 

Yep, as far as I know here are the only six (I think this is the order) and like Harry said two more still in progress...

 

FD

S&B

4Gemworks

DD

Shieldagent

Metarog

 

I'd be interested to know how long it took each of you from the first variant to the last. It took me exactly 2 years and 4 months from when I got my MTU #45 to th KC #208. Of course I had many advantages in that I had access to a whole bunch of people that had dupes. I am curious though.

 

It took me just over 5 years (this is really depressing--never thought of it this way).

 

One of the best things is that, by forcing me to go through 1000's of neglected long-boxes in dozens of small, often-failing stores, I found some of the biggest bargains of my collecting life, and it really rekindled my love of BA books.

[Metarog]

 

So, are there really only 6 complete sets that we know of? I figured a couple of others would have finished by now.

 

Yep, as far as I know here are the only six (I think this is the order) and like Harry said two more still in progress...

 

FD

S&B

4Gemworks

DD

Shieldagent

Metarog

 

I'd be interested to know how long it took each of you from the first variant to the last. It took me exactly 2 years and 4 months from when I got my MTU #45 to th KC #208. Of course I had many advantages in that I had access to a whole bunch of people that had dupes. I am curious though.

 

It took me just over 5 years (this is really depressing--never thought of it this way).

 

One of the best things is that, by forcing me to go through 1000's of neglected long-boxes in dozens of small, often-failing stores, I found some of the biggest bargains of my collecting life, and it really rekindled my love of BA books.

 

Wow, that must have been fun and I am sure sometimes frustrating. I personally love going through cheap back-issue long boxes but those are a thing of the distant past here in Miami. It must be nearly 10 years since we had a convention down here too. I think I only found two 30 cent variants in comic shops... all the rest came through deals with dealers/collectors or via E-Bay.

[underthebigw]

 

So, are there really only 6 complete sets that we know of? I figured a couple of others would have finished by now.

 

Yep, as far as I know here are the only six (I think this is the order) and like Harry said two more still in progress...

 

FD

S&B

4Gemworks

DD

Shieldagent

Metarog

 

I'd be interested to know how long it took each of you from the first variant to the last. It took me exactly 2 years and 4 months from when I got my MTU #45 to th KC #208. Of course I had many advantages in that I had access to a whole bunch of people that had dupes. I am curious though.

 

It took me just over 5 years (this is really depressing--never thought of it this way).

 

One of the best things is that, by forcing me to go through 1000's of neglected long-boxes in dozens of small, often-failing stores, I found some of the biggest bargains of my collecting life, and it really rekindled my love of BA books.

 

Wow, that must have been fun and I am sure sometimes frustrating. I personally love going through cheap back-issue long boxes but those are a thing of the distant past here in Miami. It must be nearly 10 years since we had a convention down here too. I think I only found two 30 cent variants in comic shops... all the rest came through deals with dealers/collectors or via E-Bay.

 

It was a pretty funny ritual I had--I would write my dissertation for 3-4 hours every morning, then grab whatever I had in the house to eat, jump in the car, and drive to a new area of MD, PA, VA, Delaware, or WV. My wife was ready to kill me. And she knew if I woke up early, that I had no intention of writing that day because I had a long trip in the works.

 

There really was no alternative to doing this. FD, Stronguy, and another collector in the DC area were the only ones I knew who were collecting them. Most ebay listings still didn't have scans for the 1st 3 years of my search, so there was little opportunity to find those unrecognized treasures. I'd guess about 10-15% of mine came off the internet. And, of course, I was down to the last 10 for at least 2 years.

[ShieldAgent]

one jerk single handedly added an entire year to my quest--

 

greedy friendless loser bite me

[comiconxion]

I think I'm the other "DC area collector" that Paul was talking about... I had helped Jon McClure write some of those now infamous CBM articles on the variants and may be considered the "grandfather of variant collecting."

 

Growing up, the 30 cent vairants seemed pretty common place to me. People didn't make a big stink about them becuase at every DC area comic show you'd find them (with Baltimore being one of the test markets). My quest for 35 centers started with a cross-country trip during the 80's on which I passed through a comic shop in Ohio. When I was looking through a stack of X-Men, I thought it was strange that a copy of X-Men #106 had a 35 cent cover price. It got me thinking that Star Wars #1 may not be the only book with a 35 cent variant. I then ran across an Iron Fist #15 at a local show and later an X-Men #105. That's when my theory started that there was one for each book published around that time.

 

It was fun in the early days because no one else was looking for them. When others started looking for them at the shows and people started asking crazy money for them - that's where it ended for me.

 

At this point, I've sold off most of my collection (to the benefit of other collectors out there). I still look for them at shows when I get a chance, but it isn't an obsession anymore. Glad I got it out of my system when I did.

 

Good luck to those out there trying to put together runs. The good thing about collecting variants is that you know it will take you many years to put together the run. Sometimes the quest is more than half the fun!

 

-Chuck Costas

[cosmic-spider-man]

I think I'm the other "DC area collector" that Paul was talking about... I had helped Jon McClure write some of those now infamous CBM articles on the variants and may be considered the "grandfather of variant collecting."

 

Growing up, the 30 cent vairants seemed pretty common place to me. People didn't make a big stink about them becuase at every DC area comic show you'd find them (with Baltimore being one of the test markets). My quest for 35 centers started with a cross-country trip during the 80's on which I passed through a comic shop in Ohio. When I was looking through a stack of X-Men, I thought it was strange that a copy of X-Men #106 had a 35 cent cover price. It got me thinking that Star Wars #1 may not be the only book with a 35 cent variant. I then ran across an Iron Fist #15 at a local show and later an X-Men #105. That's when my theory started that there was one for each book published around that time.

 

It was fun in the early days because no one else was looking for them. When others started looking for them at the shows and people started asking crazy money for them - that's where it ended for me.

 

At this point, I've sold off most of my collection (to the benefit of other collectors out there). I still look for them at shows when I get a chance, but it isn't an obsession anymore. Glad I got it out of my system when I did.

 

Good luck to those out there trying to put together runs. The good thing about collecting variants is that you know it will take you many years to put together the run. Sometimes the quest is more than half the fun!

 

-Chuck Costas

 

Hi; Chuck great to hear from you, I do consider you the "grandfather of variant collecting." and it is all your fault that I got into this variant collecting thing . Those variant auctions you ran on ebay a few years back where you sent out copies of those CBM articles to anyone interested were some of my first variants and is where I first learned that variants might exist for every Marvel comic printed during that time period. Soon after those auctions I was contacted by Darth with offers of trades on variants he needed and he pointed me to this Message Board with all kinds of cool stuff on Marvel Price Variants and I was hooked

Well I did spend crazy money on the 35 cent set and still need some of the 30 centers but I will wait these out and will not spend crazy money on those so I think I have finally gotten over my obsession . I still want to finish the 30's some day and I am still obsessed with finding out where all the Test Markets were for the 35 centers, you wouldn't have any knowledge on this would you?

 

You say you found a X-Men #106 in the 80's and then a Iron Fist #15 and then a X-Men #105 how earily in the 80's did you find these? Reason I ask is that these three were some of the first 35 cent variants to appear in to Overstreet price guide after the Star Wars #1 that is, did you have anything to do with that? And funny thing is that after Overstreet listed those in their price guide the next years guide they were gone .

 

And yes it was always about the hunt for comics that might not even exist that fasinated me and where all the fun was in chasing the set .

[comiconxion]

Wow- It's hard to believe that providing those articles impacted people so much...

 

As far as the early listings of the IF #15 and X-Men #106... I don't think I had anything to do with that directly. If memory serves me correctly, I saw the X-Men #106 in the late 80's (somewhere between '87 and '89) and I found the IF #15 a year or two later. I think the IF #15 reference in the price guide was published slightly before I found my copy - so someone else out there must have found one as well. I had told people in the local area about the X-Men #106, but I didn't know anyone who worked for the Price Guide that I could have told to include information about its existence. It was a strange coincidence however when it appeared. It proved to people that I wasn't crazy.

 

In 1993, Overstreet listed the existence of the Iron Fist #14. That was one I searched for, but never found (until many years later). Many people thought it might have been a typo as no one else had heard of one.

 

There still is a variant that I would like to get listed in the Price Guide (Tom Gordon - if you're listenting, please write this one down). Back in the 90's, I "discovered" the existence of the very first price variant - a copy of New Book of Comics #1 (1937) with a 10 cent price on the cover. Every other copy that had surfaced did not have a price on the cover. The copy I had seen was owned by Dave Anderson (Oklahoma Dave, not the one in VA). For one of the CBM articles, Jon McClure published a copy of the cover. The copy that Dave owned copy was restored and I'm not sure how much more valuable that copy would have been because of the Price Variant, but it probably should be noted in case there is another copy out there.

 

As far as helping fill people's 30 cent variant holes... I still do have a small box full of 30 cent variants lying around. I don't have any of the super rare ones anymore, but if there are particular issues you are looking for, I can see if I have them. Also, if anyone is interested in buying all of them from me, I'd be open to offers. Just drop me a private message.

[Darthdiesel]

dead, yes, but I miss this thread

 

 

Me too!

 

 

Ditto!

[Darthdiesel]

To keep the fires burning, here are a few more I recently got in:

 

Kudos to you Joe. You've been at it (picking up variants on the sly) for as long as I can remember you. Nice finds. Makes me want to go back on my resolve. I don't think I've picked up anything in 06 like this.

[Darthdiesel]

Why would someone slab those two books in those grades?

 

Because they are virtually impossible to find in any condition?

 

I remember them being bought that way. I think they were slabbed by the person who posted them on ebay for parity's sake. No questions about grade and the players shooting for them were also into the slabbing, from my recollection

[Darthdiesel]

Why would someone slab those two books in those grades?

 

Because they are virtually impossible to find in any condition?

 

I think originally to get them on the census as existing.....

 

Yes and Ill add to that. Probably to give the books a little more credibility when selling. Everyone here I guess seems to bid much higher on a book slabbed 5.5 versus a ebay seller selling a raw copy in the same grade. I can understand why too as it catches most restoration, defects most average sellers/buyers wont catch or dont know to look for, and the average ebay seller just doesnt grade that well. Not saying its perfect, but do the math you have a very rare book that there are only 2 or 3 existing copies of.(One of them only has 1) You have a pool of say 50 buyers(For argument's sake it mayb higher/lower) who are all looking to complete their 35 variant set. You sell one unslabbed and you sell the other copy slabbed you are probably looking at a sizable difference money wise.

 

[Darthdiesel]

Hey, I am now a Gold club member of the 30 cent variant club! I recieved my last two westerns this week after more than a year of needing them. Here they are-

 

Congrats Roger! Glad you're quest has ended.