Rarest Golden Age Books

[Point Five]

Rarest Fox books? Probably the ones circa 1942, at the end of the various superhero runs. My guesses --

 

The Eagle 4

Weird Comics 20

Wonderworld 32, 33

 

 

[Mutie Fan]

Man JB, you have everything!

 

That is true except for what I don't have.

 

What is on your current want list?

[Moondog]

What about the rarest books by other publishers like Fox, Centaur, MLJ and Timely?

 

Thank You for resurrecting this thread, Peter. (thumbs u

 

The Centaurs that jump to my mind are:

 

1) Little Giant Detective Funnies 1/4 (digest sized)

 

2) Keen Komics 1 (oversized)

 

3) Little Giant Comics (pick 'em)

 

4) Little Giant Detective Funnies 1/1 (small sized) Funny Pages #40 (or others have said Keen Detective Funnies #10).

 

5) Amazing-Man 26

 

Not to disparage the book, but over the years I've seen more copies of Amazing-Man 5 than all of the five books above combined.

 

I'd love to hear what Fox and MLJ books that boardies consider rare.

 

Steve, you have more experience than I with Centaurs and their rarity, but I've made one small change based on my experience. I've seen a number of Little Giant Detective Funnies #1, so not as rare to me as the above. One interesting observation is all the books in list are Centaur, not earlier incarnations of Comics Magazine, Ultem or Chesler - though a couple of the Cheslers are tough.

 

Don't have an Aman #5, but it will be easier to find than afford! Looking forward to the lists for Fox, MLJ and Timely.

 

On second thought, you very well may be correct.

 

Yes, I tried to stick with 'true' Centaurs for the list.

 

Moondog recently had two coverless copies of the same Little Giant, but I can't recall what issue it was.

 

Little Giant Comics 3 and Little Giant Detective Funnies 1. I still have coverless copies for sale...

[PreHero]

What about the rarest books by other publishers like Fox, Centaur, MLJ and Timely?

 

Thank You for resurrecting this thread, Peter. (thumbs u

 

The Centaurs that jump to my mind are:

 

1) Little Giant Detective Funnies 1/4 (digest sized)

 

2) Keen Komics 1 (oversized)

 

3) Little Giant Comics (pick 'em)

 

4) Little Giant Detective Funnies 1/1 (small sized) Funny Pages #40 (or others have said Keen Detective Funnies #10).

 

5) Amazing-Man 26

 

Not to disparage the book, but over the years I've seen more copies of Amazing-Man 5 than all of the five books above combined.

 

I'd love to hear what Fox and MLJ books that boardies consider rare.

 

Steve, you have more experience than I with Centaurs and their rarity, but I've made one small change based on my experience. I've seen a number of Little Giant Detective Funnies #1, so not as rare to me as the above. One interesting observation is all the books in list are Centaur, not earlier incarnations of Comics Magazine, Ultem or Chesler - though a couple of the Cheslers are tough.

 

Don't have an Aman #5, but it will be easier to find than afford! Looking forward to the lists for Fox, MLJ and Timely.

 

On second thought, you very well may be correct.

 

Yes, I tried to stick with 'true' Centaurs for the list.

 

Moondog recently had two coverless copies of the same Little Giant, but I can't recall what issue it was.

 

The books in both your original list and my updated list are among the toughest (JB's unique complete collection aside). I agree, of all the interations of the books that eventually became Centaur, the true Centaurs have some of the rarest issues - just look at Keen Komics and Little Giants alone!

[G.A.tor]

of that list, 4 escaped me...I had the Keen Komics 1 (the jacquet copy)...and after having 23 of 24 kdf, I finally found a KDF 1/10 in cruddy shape (but it completed the run)...funny pages 40 I had 2 opps to buy, but had since started selling off, so passed on both...aman 26 I have (still) a coverless copy, but there was one available in the last clink auction...

a couple of the little giant comics (1-3) are not "that" bad, but 4 is a bear ...only seen one in person, this past Chicago con, and it went into Win's collection...

 

aman 5 is downright "common" when we are talking centaurs (thumbs u

[johnenock]

How rare do you guys figure Air Ace Vol.2 No. 2 is...I have looked on and off for years...finally found a VG+ or so and notice there is a PGX 8.5 on eBay right now. How difficult a book is this?

[G.A.tor]

How rare do you guys figure Air Ace Vol.2 No. 2 is...I have looked on and off for years...finally found a VG+ or so and notice there is a PGX 8.5 on eBay right now. How difficult a book is this?

rarely have I seen for sale (thumbs u

[johnenock]

How rare do you guys figure Air Ace Vol.2 No. 2 is...I have looked on and off for years...finally found a VG+ or so and notice there is a PGX 8.5 on eBay right now. How difficult a book is this?

rarely have I seen for sale (thumbs u

 

Thanks. Admittedly, I do not look around to upgrade all that often, but finding the VG copy took me about 10 years even though Beerbohlm had a nice copy in 1995 that I passed on(when Overstreet pricing meant too much to me). I am hesitant to purchase the PGX 8.5 copy due to their shoddy resto detection.

[G.A.tor]

How rare do you guys figure Air Ace Vol.2 No. 2 is...I have looked on and off for years...finally found a VG+ or so and notice there is a PGX 8.5 on eBay right now. How difficult a book is this?

rarely have I seen for sale (thumbs u

 

Thanks. Admittedly, I do not look around to upgrade all that often, but finding the VG copy took me about 10 years even though Beerbohlm had a nice copy in 1995 that I passed on(when Overstreet pricing meant too much to me). I am hesitant to purchase the PGX 8.5 copy due to their shoddy resto detection.

no doubt their resto detection is carp...

[rjpb]

Air Ace 2/2 is probably one of those books that isn't scarce in absolute terms, but rather is not generally available for sale, making it hard to find as opposed to rare. A 3.0 PGX copy recently sold on ebay for $200 with just one bid. If frustrated buyers started driving the price higher, other copies would likely surface pretty quickly. The contrast with surrounding issues is even greater than usual as interest in the title is otherwise limited and falls far short of available copies

 

The prime example of perceived scarcity was Captain America #74 about 15 years ago. A book that at one point it was believed there were only about 20 copies of, but once it started selling for four figures in low grade, it seemed as if it was constantly available, and has continued to remain so since.

 

 

Here's a copy of AA2/2 I picked up years ago from a CBG ad when it was still under the radar.

 

 

[johnenock]

Air Ace 2/2 is probably one of those books that isn't scarce in absolute terms, but rather is not generally available for sale, making it hard to find as opposed to rare. A 3.0 PGX copy recently sold on ebay for $200 with just one bid. If frustrated buyers started driving the price higher, other copies would likely surface pretty quickly. The contrast with surrounding issues is even greater than usual as interest in the title is otherwise limited and falls far short of available copies

 

The prime example of perceived scarcity was Captain America #74 about 15 years ago. A book that at one point it was believed there were only about 20 copies of, but once it started selling for four figures in low grade, it seemed as if it was constantly available, and has continued to remain so since.

 

 

Here's a copy of AA2/2 I picked up years ago from a CBG ad when it was still under the radar.

 

 

I always fealt the book, once purchased, tended to stay in people's collections. The cover, between the colors and the racism, is very interesting, to say the least.

[Blind Owl]

What about the rarest books by other publishers like Fox, Centaur, MLJ and Timely?

 

Thank You for resurrecting this thread, Peter. (thumbs u

 

The Centaurs that jump to my mind are:

 

1) Little Giant Detective Funnies 1/4 (digest sized)

 

2) Keen Komics 1 (oversized)

 

3) Little Giant Comics (pick 'em)

 

4) Little Giant Detective Funnies 1/1 (small sized) Funny Pages #40 (or others have said Keen Detective Funnies #10).

 

5) Amazing-Man 26

 

Not to disparage the book, but over the years I've seen more copies of Amazing-Man 5 than all of the five books above combined.

 

I'd love to hear what Fox and MLJ books that boardies consider rare.

 

Steve, you have more experience than I with Centaurs and their rarity, but I've made one small change based on my experience. I've seen a number of Little Giant Detective Funnies #1, so not as rare to me as the above. One interesting observation is all the books in list are Centaur, not earlier incarnations of Comics Magazine, Ultem or Chesler - though a couple of the Cheslers are tough.

 

Don't have an Aman #5, but it will be easier to find than afford! Looking forward to the lists for Fox, MLJ and Timely.

 

Good list. Hard to pick 5 the toughest Centaurs, but I'd say that KDF #10 needs to be included somewhere in this mix too. I've never seen a copy for sale.

[G.A.tor]

What about the rarest books by other publishers like Fox, Centaur, MLJ and Timely?

 

Thank You for resurrecting this thread, Peter. (thumbs u

 

The Centaurs that jump to my mind are:

 

1) Little Giant Detective Funnies 1/4 (digest sized)

 

2) Keen Komics 1 (oversized)

 

3) Little Giant Comics (pick 'em)

 

4) Little Giant Detective Funnies 1/1 (small sized) Funny Pages #40 (or others have said Keen Detective Funnies #10).

 

5) Amazing-Man 26

 

Not to disparage the book, but over the years I've seen more copies of Amazing-Man 5 than all of the five books above combined.

 

I'd love to hear what Fox and MLJ books that boardies consider rare.

 

Steve, you have more experience than I with Centaurs and their rarity, but I've made one small change based on my experience. I've seen a number of Little Giant Detective Funnies #1, so not as rare to me as the above. One interesting observation is all the books in list are Centaur, not earlier incarnations of Comics Magazine, Ultem or Chesler - though a couple of the Cheslers are tough.

 

Don't have an Aman #5, but it will be easier to find than afford! Looking forward to the lists for Fox, MLJ and Timely.

 

Good list. Hard to pick 5 the toughest Centaurs, but I'd say that KDF #10 needs to be included somewhere in this mix too. I've never seen a copy for sale.

I snagged my copy off ebay, and sold it when I sold most of my kdfs (so it was a private)... but given I have seen multipl 1/8, 1/9 and 1/11's, I don't know why 1/10 is so "tough", but they really are all "tough" in that era

[Blind Owl]

I guess it's being at the right place at the right time....If I saw KDF 10 on E-bay I would have have gone for it too...but knowing you...I would have been wasting my bid...and it just would have ended up costing you a little more scratch!!!

[lou_fine]

Rarest Fox books? Probably the ones circa 1942, at the end of the various superhero runs. My guesses --

 

The Eagle 4

Weird Comics 20

Wonderworld 32, 33

 

 

With respect to the Fox books, I would say that none of them are truly that rare, although the issues at the end of the runs are most probably relatively tougher to find. (thumbs u

 

I certainly wouldn't say that the early Fox books are rare........more in demand and more expensive for sure, but definitely not that hard to find.

[jbcomicbox]

Rarest Fox books? Probably the ones circa 1942, at the end of the various superhero runs. My guesses --

 

The Eagle 4

Weird Comics 20

Wonderworld 32, 33

 

 

With respect to the Fox books, I would say that none of them are truly that rare, although the issues at the end of the runs are most probably relatively tougher to find. (thumbs u

 

I certainly wouldn't say that the early Fox books are rare........more in demand and more expensive for sure, but definitely not that hard to find.

 

I beside these that some of the numbers in the period of Fantastic 17 and 18 are tougher.....I have the pre-war run of them, and they are just a neat little title at this time. jb

[buttock]

Rarest Fox books? Probably the ones circa 1942, at the end of the various superhero runs. My guesses --

 

The Eagle 4

Weird Comics 20

Wonderworld 32, 33

 

 

With respect to the Fox books, I would say that none of them are truly that rare, although the issues at the end of the runs are most probably relatively tougher to find. (thumbs u

 

I certainly wouldn't say that the early Fox books are rare........more in demand and more expensive for sure, but definitely not that hard to find.

 

Weird 20 is genuinely rare. I haven't looked enough for the others to say.

 

As far as the early Foxes go, Weird 2 seems pretty tough to come across.

[BB-Gun]

Air Ace 2/2 is probably one of those books that isn't scarce in absolute terms, but rather is not generally available for sale, making it hard to find as opposed to rare. A 3.0 PGX copy recently sold on ebay for $200 with just one bid. If frustrated buyers started driving the price higher, other copies would likely surface pretty quickly. The contrast with surrounding issues is even greater than usual as interest in the title is otherwise limited and falls far short of available copies

 

The prime example of perceived scarcity was Captain America #74 about 15 years ago. A book that at one point it was believed there were only about 20 copies of, but once it started selling for four figures in low grade, it seemed as if it was constantly available, and has continued to remain so since.

 

 

Here's a copy of AA2/2 I picked up years ago from a CBG ad when it was still under the radar.

 

 

I don't know if I still have this one. It might have disappeared during the move but it has great color, mostly orange and bright.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/3150999756_26caeba693.jpg' alt='3150999756_26caeba693.jpg'>

Just checked and found it in the box, now if I can find the Magnus collection and Captain Marvel Jr. 4...

[walclark]

I agree. Probably not that rare, just lots of copies hidden in collections. I got this one 20 or 30 years ago and have never really looked for another copy.

 

 

 

[G.A.tor]

I agree. Probably not that rare, just lots of copies hidden in collections. I got this one 20 or 30 years ago and have never really looked for another copy.

 

 

I have seen a few over the years, and many seem to have this miscut