What are your rarest books?

[surfer99]

Always great to find what you're looking for...

 

I was admiring my copy of Marvel Team-up 4 CGC 9.6 yesterday that I have framed and hanging in my room. Its good to appreciate what you have and I don't think we do that often enough as collectors. This is one of the most treasured books in my collection of Xmen appearances. It got me thinking about how hard it was to find that particular issue, and how gratifying it was to finally own it. For me, those are the triumphs in my collecting journey that I treasure the most- finding those issues that, regardless of age or value, are so elusive. Ive read some journals that talk about this subject and would love to hear more about the books others have added to their collections that were hard to come by.

 

After searching six different web sites on the internet today trying to find another copy of each of the books in my collection, I can honestly say these are the rarest-

 

Avengers 110 CGC 9.6, only found 1 copy for sale graded higher and none in 9.6

Avengers 111 CGC 9.6, only found 1 copy for sale graded higher and none in 9.6

Capt America 172 CGC 9.6, only found 1 copy for sale graded higher, none in 9.6

Champions 17 CGC 9.6, only found 1 copy for sale in same grade, none higher

Daredevil 99 CGC 9.6, only found 1 copy for sale graded higher and none in 9.6

Daredevil 111 CGC 9.6, none found for sale in same grade or higher

Fantastic Four 104 CGC 9.6, only found 1 copy for sale in same grade, none higher

Marvel TeamUp 4 CGC 9.6, none found for sale in same grade or higher

Power Man and Iron Fist 57 CGC 9.6, none found for sale in same grade or higher

 

So a total of 3 books in my collection currently have no other copies for sale at the moment in grade or higher and 6 books only have 1 copy for sale. Glad to see my Marvel TeamUp 4 made the list. That one and the Avengers 111 are really tough to find in high grade because of those black covers.

 

I should point out too that the books above that are for sale are all priced way above market value, making it that much more satisfying to own them. There are still quite a few books I want that are proving near impossible to find, but then if they were easy to find it wouldnt be anywhere near as rewarding. Not that I dont have love for the more common books like my Hulk 181 or the Byrne run on Xmen, those books rock, I dont care how many thousands of high grade copies there are, . There is just something cool about owning the hard to find books that takes it to another level. Does anyone else feel this way, or is it just me?

 

Good luck to all in your collecting journeys.

 

Til next time...

 

***

 

See more journals by surfer99

[MatMarvelV1]

Nice book, nice journal

[bigcoolredhead]

Not to be rude, but, none of these books you listed are very rare to me. Just to the fact no one cares about having any of these books in high grade (in CGC at this time for sale)doesn't make them rare to me. I consider a rare book, one of extremely low print run(ie Detective 27-38, Action Comics 1-10, etc), key issues (Det 58, 66, 121, or Hulk 1), or older than 1950's. Just because I have a free comic book day comic in 10 cgc gem mint, doesn't make it rare or wanted by all. Most of the books you have listed are nice books, but nothing I would look twice or even catch my eye. Just some random books with high grades. I think rare is a relative term, cause if I wanted to I could probably find higher grades of each of these books, but who would want it, would it be worth the time, and would it be worth the money spent? Just a rant.................

[Ronnylama]

Nice....I like this post....I have more but these 2 are the Only SS in existence....Brian Pulido said to me when I had him sign it at EMCC this is the first signature I have done on this book....trying to upload...

[cheetah]

Avengers 111 is very tough to find higher than 9.6. I looked for 4 years and only had one chance to pick one up and was outbid on it.

 

MTU 4 is tough, too, because of the black cover. I've got a 9.8 but a slight miswrap lets the white part of the spine take the damage and not show.

 

And, FWIW, there is always someone who thinks what you collect is dumb because they like something else. To each his own. You gotta collect what you like.

[surfer99]

Not to be rude, but, none of these books you listed are very rare to me. Just to the fact no one cares about having any of these books in high grade (in CGC at this time for sale)doesn't make them rare to me. I consider a rare book, one of extremely low print run(ie Detective 27-38, Action Comics 1-10, etc), key issues (Det 58, 66, 121, or Hulk 1), or older than 1950's. Just because I have a free comic book day comic in 10 cgc gem mint, doesn't make it rare or wanted by all. Most of the books you have listed are nice books, but nothing I would look twice or even catch my eye. Just some random books with high grades. I think rare is a relative term, cause if I wanted to I could probably find higher grades of each of these books, but who would want it, would it be worth the time, and would it be worth the money spent? Just a rant.................

 

Ouch. Well, while I respect that you may not have any interest in the books I collect, to say "no one cares about having any of these books in high grade" is a little extreme. The selling and asking price of these books alone is enough to refute that claim.

 

"Just some random books with high grades." Maybe I should have given more explanation as to why I collect these particular books...I am a big fan of X-men and X-Villain crossover appearances, particularly those from the time between teams when the X-men didn't have a title of their own. Maybe not your thing, but hardly insignificant.

 

I agree with you that some older key books or those with a low print run can be rare as well (such as those you mention), but that is not the focus of my collection, nor is that the sole definition of "rare". This is why I asked what types of rare books others had in their collections because it's cool to see what others collect and hear their stories. Just ask Tnerb or Bagofleas how easy is it to find a high grade copy of New Mutants #58 for example. Not my thing, but I can agree this book is rare in high grade because these guys have been hunting for it like crazy for years, are willing to spend a large some of money to get it, and have been unsuccessful so far (hoping you find one soon guys).

 

Good dialogue, looking forward to hearing more about those elusive books in your collections!

 

 

 

[surfer99]

Avengers 111 is very tough to find higher than 9.6. I looked for 4 years and only had one chance to pick one up and was outbid on it.

 

MTU 4 is tough, too, because of the black cover. I've got a 9.8 but a slight miswrap lets the white part of the spine take the damage and not show.

 

And, FWIW, there is always someone who thinks what you collect is dumb because they like something else. To each his own. You gotta collect what you like.

 

Thanks for the endorsement and kind words cheetah. I've always been in awe of your collection. Can't believe you let your Avengers and X-men sets go, but I know how much you love those high grade Planet Comics. Talk about rare!

 

 

[MatMarvelV1]

Not to be rude, but, none of these books you listed are very rare to me. Just to the fact no one cares about having any of these books in high grade (in CGC at this time for sale)doesn't make them rare to me. I consider a rare book, one of extremely low print run(ie Detective 27-38, Action Comics 1-10, etc), key issues (Det 58, 66, 121, or Hulk 1), or older than 1950's. Just because I have a free comic book day comic in 10 cgc gem mint, doesn't make it rare or wanted by all. Most of the books you have listed are nice books, but nothing I would look twice or even catch my eye. Just some random books with high grades. I think rare is a relative term, cause if I wanted to I could probably find higher grades of each of these books, but who would want it, would it be worth the time, and would it be worth the money spent? Just a rant.................

 

Just because someone qualifies a statement with 'Not to be rude' doesn't excuse you from rudeness and sounding like an elitist toff.

 

Find all those books in higher grade, maybe along the way you rediscover some humility..

[Lost]

Not to be rude, but, none of these books you listed are very rare to me. Just to the fact no one cares about having any of these books in high grade (in CGC at this time for sale)doesn't make them rare to me. I consider a rare book, one of extremely low print run(ie Detective 27-38, Action Comics 1-10, etc), key issues (Det 58, 66, 121, or Hulk 1), or older than 1950's. Just because I have a free comic book day comic in 10 cgc gem mint, doesn't make it rare or wanted by all. Most of the books you have listed are nice books, but nothing I would look twice or even catch my eye. Just some random books with high grades. I think rare is a relative term, cause if I wanted to I could probably find higher grades of each of these books, but who would want it, would it be worth the time, and would it be worth the money spent? Just a rant.................

 

Just because someone qualifies a statement with 'Not to be rude' doesn't excuse you from rudeness and sounding like an elitist toff.

 

Find all those books in higher grade, maybe along the way you rediscover some humility..

 

I'll have to disagree BigRed....these books are highly sought after for the early guest appearances of the X-Men. Just as early appearances of Spider-Man in other comic books are highly sought after...same for Hulk.....Just because you either didn't know about them, or don't collect X-Men, or didn't read very clearly why these are special issues because of the X-Men appearances, does not make it excusable to rant about a very informative well thought out post.

[B. Koski-migration]

Hey Surf, thanks for the kind words. Yeah, that list is impressive. I'm also trying to fined most of those issues on that list. You have great taste surf. You've been very informative and helpful towards my collecting. Just thought I say Thanks buddy!! Some people just seem to rant a little too much.

[surfer99]

You guys rock, thanks for the support. Love this community, but don't be too hard on BigRed, maybe she was just having a bad day.

 

[GamingEtc-migration]

Not to be rude, but, none of these books you listed are very rare to me. Just to the fact no one cares about having any of these books in high grade (in CGC at this time for sale)doesn't make them rare to me. I consider a rare book, one of extremely low print run(ie Detective 27-38, Action Comics 1-10, etc), key issues (Det 58, 66, 121, or Hulk 1), or older than 1950's. Just because I have a free comic book day comic in 10 cgc gem mint, doesn't make it rare or wanted by all. Most of the books you have listed are nice books, but nothing I would look twice or even catch my eye. Just some random books with high grades. I think rare is a relative term, cause if I wanted to I could probably find higher grades of each of these books, but who would want it, would it be worth the time, and would it be worth the money spent? Just a rant.................

 

I'd also like to add that books like Action Comics #1 did not have "extremely low print runs" or even low print runs at all. The first issue had 200,000 copies printed and within a years time had a 1,000,000 issue print run that NO book has now, and this was a time when there was no frame of reference for how successful it might be. Compare that to the new 52 Action Comics number 1 that didn't print much more than 200,000 copies, built around a hyped up gimmick purely to sell as many issues as possible. Not to be rude, but that whole response was quite ignorant.

 

I dig your posts Surfer, keep it up!

[newshane]

I think the Gerber Scarcity Index is appropriate to mention here. It's often used to compare Golden Age books. The scale is listed below..I pasted and copied the info from a website:

 

1. Very common - likely every comic store in the country has copies of this comic.

2. Common - You might have to call around to a few stores to locate this comic book. Generally can be found without trouble.

3. More than Average There are more comics in existance than the average for comics published between 1933 to 1960.

4. Average Scarcity - This index number indicates that there are about 1,000 to 2,000 in existance or about average for comics printed between 1933-1960

5. Less than average in existance. Generally between 200 and 1000 still exist, this one is more difficult to find. Diligence should pay off after several weeks and checking with most dealers and following most ads in comics newspapers.

6. Uncommon. Between 50 to 200 still exist. Clearly we are getting into scarce and difficult issues to find. It is a good comic to hard because demand for this comic book generally exceeds its supply.

7. Scarce. Between 20 to 50 still in existence. You are fortunate to find one of these and it is well worth keepingsince you generally can command the price when ready to sell. A great addition to any collection, you have to be lucky to be able to purchase one.

8. Rare Between 11 to 20 in existence. If you find one of these grab it really quickly because you will likely never get another chance. High premium prices expected and recieved for comic books in this category.

9 Very Rare From 6 to 10 copies exist. These are so rare that they are seldom resold. If you get a chance to buy one,do it!

10 Unique Or close to it. Less than 5 known copies in existence.

11 Non-Existent but known to have been printed.

 

I currently own a few books that would be classified as Gerber 5. Lots of Modern Age comic-con editions and other limited runs fall into this category. A few recent examples would be Revival 1 Third Eye Variant (1,000 copies) and the Spawn 222 Kudranski Variant (limited to 400 copies).

 

The rarest book I've seen for sale fell into the category of Gerber 8.

 

I never use the census to determine the rarity of a book and in my opinion the condition of a book has no bearing on a book's rarity...only its desirability.

 

[surfer99]

Thanks for sharing Newshane, that was very informative and it makes sense. There's a difference between "how rare is that book" and "how rare is that book in that grade". It just depends on which version of rare you're referring to.

 

 

[philippinescomics]

I collect comics few people care about but there are some of us out there. Victorian Age books. Some of them I still haven't found or ever seen a copy of. Condition doesn't even matter. I buy them in any shape when I do manage to find the rare ones. Some listed in Overstreet are common per say. But the majority are very, very hard to find. I just bought the second American Comic book. "The Bachelor's Own Book" by George Cruikshank. The American Edition. It took me 8 years to find a copy and I am pretty good at searching the net. Probably about 20% of the Victorian Age books I have never been able to find.

Well this is a CGC website and people care about grades here mostly. I slab some of the Victorian age books when I can. I just do it for fun. It doesn't increase the value.

 

[newshane]

I know this isn't a comic. It's a pulp science fiction magazine from the 50s. It probably isn't THAT rare, but I remember spending several years looking for it and I haven't found one since. This is a famous cover by Frank Kelly Freas - a simply amazing science-fiction illustrator. It's famous because the cover was redone by Queen for their smash hit album - News of the World. The robot even made an appearance on Family Guy!

 

This book is in solid condition. Have no idea what it's worth and I'm not really concerned about the value. I'm just glad to have it in my collection and thought I'd take the opportunity to share.

 

On a side note of perhaps more relevance, the rarest comics I currently own are various Spawn and Wolverine variants - which can prove quite troublesome to track down in top condition. I also own several "unique" 9.9s...they are the only existing examples in that particular grade. I don't, however, consider these to be "rare" because the issues in question belong to series with relatively high print runs. I'm just happy to have the best existing samples of those particular books.

 

[Doc Joe]

Super cool and of course it was used for

 

 

 

Wonder if a band member read that pulp?

[Doc Joe]

Distinguishing between rare and rare in CGC is important

 

Some very Common books are rarely slabbed, firstly there may be few buyers, secondly if it's 9.4 or. 9.6 it's worth less than the slab cost

[newshane]

Wonder if a band member read that pulp?

 

Hey there Doc! Good to see you in this thread!

 

Roger Taylor, the drummer for Queen, is a huge fan of science-fiction. I mean, the band DID do the soundtrack for Flash Gordon!

 

Anyway, Roger did read that very magazine as a child. He recalled the artwork and contacted Freas, who agreed to re-work his art for the album cover.

 

Visit the following link for the entire story behind the band's decision.

 

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/05/symphony-gets-ready-rock-we-remember-local-artist

 

"His collaboration with Queen began in 1977 when Roger Taylor, the band's drummer, saw Freas' work on the cover of a 1953 science fiction magazine. Taylor went wild over a drawing of a robot holding battered people in the palm of its hand.

 

Queen searched the world for the artist and found Freas at his secluded, cluttered ranch house just south of the Pocaty Creek bridge in Virginia Beach, where he lived for 25 years. It had long been the center of the science-fiction art universe...."

 

[Underground44]

Not to be rude, but, none of these books you listed are very rare to me. Just to the fact no one cares about having any of these books in high grade (in CGC at this time for sale)doesn't make them rare to me. I consider a rare book, one of extremely low print run(ie Detective 27-38, Action Comics 1-10, etc), key issues (Det 58, 66, 121, or Hulk 1), or older than 1950's. Just because I have a free comic book day comic in 10 cgc gem mint, doesn't make it rare or wanted by all. Most of the books you have listed are nice books, but nothing I would look twice or even catch my eye. Just some random books with high grades. I think rare is a relative term, cause if I wanted to I could probably find higher grades of each of these books, but who would want it, would it be worth the time, and would it be worth the money spent? Just a rant.................

 

Ouch. Well, while I respect that you may not have any interest in the books I collect, to say "no one cares about having any of these books in high grade" is a little extreme. The selling and asking price of these books alone is enough to refute that claim.

 

"Just some random books with high grades." Maybe I should have given more explanation as to why I collect these particular books...I am a big fan of X-men and X-Villain crossover appearances, particularly those from the time between teams when the X-men didn't have a title of their own. Maybe not your thing, but hardly insignificant.

 

I agree with you that some older key books or those with a low print run can be rare as well (such as those you mention), but that is not the focus of my collection, nor is that the sole definition of "rare". This is why I asked what types of rare books others had in their collections because it's cool to see what others collect and hear their stories. Just ask Tnerb or Bagofleas how easy is it to find a high grade copy of New Mutants #58 for example. Not my thing, but I can agree this book is rare in high grade because these guys have been hunting for it like crazy for years, are willing to spend a large some of money to get it, and have been unsuccessful so far (hoping you find one soon guys).

 

Good dialogue, looking forward to hearing more about those elusive books in your collections!

 

 

 

Dude, you don't have to justify what you collect to people like that. Collect what you like (thumbs u