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Antiques Roadshow - Action #31

Started by Crimebuster,

21 posts in this topic

Crimebuster

Crimebuster

Posted
Posted

I didn't see another thread about this but on last night's Antiques Roadshow a lady brought in Action #31 and Superman #7.

 

The story is that a friend of the family died and they discovered the comics sitting basically untouched in his childhood bedroom, still sitting on the shelf where he left them.

 

As a result, they were in really nice shape. The Superman #7 had a light dust shadow and appeared to have a few non-color breaking bends on the spine. I think the bottom staple might have also had a little rust. They opened the book to show the page quality; the appraiser called it "bone white" but I would have said Offwhite or possibly Offwhite-White.

 

The Action #31 was beautiful, but it did have about a quarter inch spine split at both the top and bottom. Otherwise it was great, nice corners, gloss, great color.

 

The appraiser graded them both at "very fine or maybe near mint minus." It's kind of hard to grade comics through the TV, but I would have said maybe 6.5-7.0 on the Superman #7. The Action #31 I wasn't sure how to grade with the spine splits, but 9.0 didn't seem impossible without them - again just going from the front cover through my TV screen. With the splits I thought maybe 8.0?

 

Anyone else see this last night? I was drooling like a dog through the whole segment.

 

edit: the episode is available on demand and I think at pbs.org; the comics are around half way through the episode.

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BB-Gun

BB-Gun

Posted
Posted
I didn't see another thread about this but on last night's Antiques Roadshow a lady brought in Action #31 and Superman #7.

 

The story is that a friend of the family died and they discovered the comics sitting basically untouched in his childhood bedroom, still sitting on the shelf where he left them.

 

As a result, they were in really nice shape. The Superman #7 had a light dust shadow and appeared to have a few non-color breaking bends on the spine. I think the bottom staple might have also had a little rust. They opened the book to show the page quality; the appraiser called it "bone white" but I would have said Offwhite or possibly Offwhite-White.

 

The Action #31 was beautiful, but it did have about a quarter inch spine split at both the top and bottom. Otherwise it was great, nice corners, gloss, great color.

 

The appraiser graded them both at "very fine or maybe near mint minus." It's kind of hard to grade comics through the TV, but I would have said maybe 6.5-7.0 on the Superman #7. The Action #31 I wasn't sure how to grade with the spine splits, but 9.0 didn't seem impossible without them - again just going from the front cover through my TV screen. With the splits I thought maybe 8.0?

 

Anyone else see this last night? I was drooling like a dog through the whole segment.

 

edit: the episode is available on demand and I think at pbs.org; the comics are around half way through the episode.

 

What was the value estimate? High grade probably gets a little more than guide I assume.

hm

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Crimebuster

Crimebuster

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I believe it was $7500-12,000 for the pair.

 

He was apparently basing part of his price off a previous auction sale of a high grade Action #31 that went for double guide value. Also, I think this was filmed last summer or spring, so it has been a little while.

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piper

piper

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The estimate was $7,500 to $12,00 for both, I guess depending on wether they are VF or NM- (the range he gave). Obviously not a comic expert if he can't tell the difference.

 

How'd he do on the price estimate?

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rjpb

rjpb

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Okay, so the trick is to look for dead kids with bookshelves?
I used to know a guy that had vintage toy booths at several antique malls around L.A. He had a job that kept him on the road and he would search for old toys and games wherever he went. When I asked him where it was he managed to find toys still sealed in the box from the 1960s, his reply was "there's often a sad story behind that".
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october

october

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His appraisal on the Superman 7 seemed right on the money, but he was over the top on the Action. $5k-8k? That book is no better than an 8.0 with those splits and isn't going to even sniff the range that the Billy Wright 9.2 hit....and a 9.0 sold last year for under $4k.

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SOTIcollector

SOTIcollector

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This was really cool. Thanks for sharing!

 

That link to the archive led me to a couple additional older clips: Perhaps these have already been discussed here, but they were new to me.

 

Jack Kirby art collection on Antiques Roadshow, presented by his granddaughter

 

Mad Magazine art collection on Antiques Roadshow (Norman Mingo, Don Martin, Jack Davis, etc.)

 

 

 

 

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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[font:Times New Roman]I tend to look at Antiques Roadshow appraisals from a broader perspective since the show's intent is both to entertain and educate the general public. Their traveling appraisers are high profile experts in general areas like glassware, toys, furniture, watches, art and fabric antiquities with more modest experience in exoteric items such as paper memorabilia where on-line research is required.

 

If something comes up that is beyond the expertise of the appraiser tapped to give the on-screen appraisal, the appraisers confer off-stage and try to reach a consensus (they often state this publicly during an appraisal of an obscure or rarely seen collectible). Whenever possible, on-line research of noteworthy sales and auctions is used where specific or similar examples can be cited to provide a foundation for an appraisal.

 

Given this scenario, I thought the AR appraisal of Superman #7 and Action #31 was excellent, even if the grades were not quite spot on. What the appraiser did was provide a brief historical description of the books and what to look for condition wise. Before giving an appraised value he recommended that the owner seek out a grading service. He then based his appraisal on current auction values realized for those grades rather than relying on OPG which he clearly felt was not up to date.

 

Perhaps this subject is more suited to discussion in another thread, but this Antiques Roadshow appraisal may have a greater impact on how the annual Overstreet Guide is viewed by the general public. This is the first time that I can recall seeing an AR appraisal of GA comics on camera, but given the briefness of the appraisal he managed to touch on topics discussed in countless threads on these boards. Ergo the relevance of OPG in the face of rapid market changes/trends and the growing value discrepancy between high grade and mid-grade books that the Overstreet Guide fails to address. [/font]

 

 

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catrick339

catrick339

Posted
Posted
Okay, so the trick is to look for dead kids with bookshelves?
I used to know a guy that had vintage toy booths at several antique malls around L.A. He had a job that kept him on the road and he would search for old toys and games wherever he went. When I asked him where it was he managed to find toys still sealed in the box from the 1960s, his reply was "there's often a sad story behind that".

 

Heh, one the best deals on a collection I ever got was when I bought the ex-wife's half of a nice bronze/silver collection. I inspected it, made a low-but-fair offer, and the she accepted....provided that I paid her $200 less than what I offered.

 

One last chance to stick a thumb in her ex-husband's eye, lol

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BB-Gun

BB-Gun

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Okay, so the trick is to look for dead kids with bookshelves?

 

I think that is a silly story. The comics have a dust shadow which means they were stored with something on top and not on display.. Displaying the comic on the shelf would increase exposure to light and oxygen. Breakdown of the paper would increase instead of decrease such that you would still have white pages.

 

It was nice to see the books in good condition. I'll keep my books in boxes with Mylar and not display the original. Posters of key covers would be nice.

bb

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Boba

Boba

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I don't think it was mentioned by anyone here, that was Phil Weiss who runs an auction house in nearby Oceanside Long Island. He often features comic collections for sale in some of his auctions. So he knows a little more about comic books than the average antiques dealer. I've picked up some nice books at his auctions. They recently suffered some damage from hurricane Sandy and have relocated, I think it was to a place in Rockville Centre Lynbrook.

SAW THE EPISODE TOO (thumbs u

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JazzMan

JazzMan

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This was really cool. Thanks for sharing!

 

That link to the archive led me to a couple additional older clips: Perhaps these have already been discussed here, but they were new to me.

 

Jack Kirby art collection on Antiques Roadshow, presented by his granddaughter

 

Mad Magazine art collection on Antiques Roadshow (Norman Mingo, Don Martin, Jack Davis, etc.)

 

 

 

 

I think the appraiser low-balled the Jack Kirby collection. $15K insurance value for two original pieces (not published), a Boy Commando page, an advertisement for Boy Commando with the House ad and an early published joke panel.

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