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Okajima pedigree
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Started by miraclemet,

1,544 posts in this topic

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Magickyak

Magickyak

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I really appreciate the contributions everyone has made to this thread over the years. It's been a fascinating read. I've only been seriously collecting comics for a few years, and it's only been this past year that I've decided to focus my own collection on Golden Age books. I collect comics because I enjoy their history and how they can reflect the changes our country has undergone over the decades and can provide an immersive experience into what life was like during different periods. The Promise Collection just recently turned me on to pedigrees and how these books can connect you further not to just a time period but to an individual who collected as these major events were taking place. Of course I wish I had started collecting just a bit earlier as it looks like now there is a ton of interest from buyers with deep pockets on these, but I'd love to add one to my collection some day and I'll be keeping my eye out. Enjoy the hunt everyone!

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path4play

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Is this what they are going for now?  Maybe a ok pick up if you divide by 10?

image.thumb.png.b9e2f13a1816e313bc6deecca2dcb3e6.png

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363666690108?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=8b8f2feaf9984fb4b9bc1e0b5f63f1c1&bu=43211657849&ut=RU&osub=-1~1&crd=20211224072621&segname=11021&sojTags=ch%3Dch%2Cbu%3Dbu%2Cut%3Dut%2Cosub%3Dosub%2Ccrd%3Dcrd%2Csegname%3Dsegname%2Cchnl%3Dmkcid

Edited by path4play
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telerites

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On 12/24/2021 at 9:14 AM, path4play said:

Is this what they are going for now?  Maybe a ok pick up if you divide by 10?

image.thumb.png.b9e2f13a1816e313bc6deecca2dcb3e6.png

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363666690108?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=8b8f2feaf9984fb4b9bc1e0b5f63f1c1&bu=43211657849&ut=RU&osub=-1~1&crd=20211224072621&segname=11021&sojTags=ch%3Dch%2Cbu%3Dbu%2Cut%3Dut%2Cosub%3Dosub%2Ccrd%3Dcrd%2Csegname%3Dsegname%2Cchnl%3Dmkcid

I saw that and I know I have been out of the game for a while but I cannot imagine that is a 20K book.  I guess it got CPRed from an 8.0 to this. I wonder what offer would be considered.

 

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path4play

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On 12/24/2021 at 3:00 PM, telerites said:

I saw that and I know I have been out of the game for a while but I cannot imagine that is a 20K book.  I guess it got CPRed from an 8.0 to this. I wonder what offer would be considered.

 

Ah yea, your right.  Originally slabbed as an 8.0 to boot.  Good catch.  "Squeezed" out one full point.  I'd have to assume its a pie in the sky number tossed out there as some type of marketing strategy.  No doubt (at least I have to assume) seller would accept significantly less.

Edited by path4play
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lou_fine

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On 12/24/2021 at 12:03 PM, path4play said:
On 12/24/2021 at 12:00 PM, telerites said:

I guess it got CPRed from an 8.0 to this. I wonder what offer would be considered.

 

Ah yea, your right.  Originally slabbed as an 8.0 to boot.  Good catch.  "Squeezed" out one full point.  I'd have to assume its a pie in the sky number tossed out there as some type of marketing strategy.  No doubt (at least I have to assume) seller would accept significantly less.

Well, let's hope so as I am going to take a big risk here and step right out of my comfort zone by making him a generous offer of $343 or full OPG condition guide value for this book.  lol  :takeit:

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buttock

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On 3/17/2022 at 8:54 AM, skypinkblu said:

I don't know, the Jungle 157 ending on ComicConnect tonight seems pretty low in comparison to the recent books posted, maybe things are changing?

I don't get the extra demand for any of the books post-WWII.  The camp era books have the unfortunate historical appeal.  The later books are just nice copies.  

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skypinkblu

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On 3/17/2022 at 11:04 AM, buttock said:

I don't get the extra demand for any of the books post-WWII.  The camp era books have the unfortunate historical appeal.  The later books are just nice copies.  

I have a bunch of non camp books..when I started buying them, I didn't even know the difference, just liked the story. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I even have some "Camp" era books with no writing on the outside, but CGC certified them as "Okajima" books. To me, it's about her, not the years...but I agree that the "Camp" ones are different...in an almost creepy kind of way...I kind of like the fact that she was free later.

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path4play

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On 5/7/2022 at 11:39 AM, alexgross.com said:

a really cool okajima catman 24 is coming in the next CL auction~ i love this cover!

 

The Cat-Man Comics #21 Okajima Pedigree (Continental, 1943) is coming up for sale on HA.com

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/cat-man-comics-21-okajima-pedigree-continental-1943-cgc-vg-fn-50-off-white-pages/p/7274-47001.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515#

 

 

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Robot Man

Robot Man

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On 5/7/2022 at 1:40 PM, path4play said:

The Cat-Man Comics #21 Okajima Pedigree (Continental, 1943) is coming up for sale on HA.com

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/cat-man-comics-21-okajima-pedigree-continental-1943-cgc-vg-fn-50-off-white-pages/p/7274-47001.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515#

 

 

Guess I better get someone lined up for a kidney…

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Northwest

Northwest

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On 5/7/2022 at 1:40 PM, path4play said:

The Cat-Man Comics #21 Okajima Pedigree (Continental, 1943) is coming up for sale on HA.com

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/cat-man-comics-21-okajima-pedigree-continental-1943-cgc-vg-fn-50-off-white-pages/p/7274-47001.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515#

 

 

Nice that same book sold 9/21 for $5,760. It will be interesting to see how the market shifted since then 

Screenshot_20220514-162808~2.png

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sfcityduck

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Coming soon to the website run by some of the most prominent and occasionally controversial Japanese-American activists - most notably Nancy Ukai who has gained some fame for stopping auctions of internment camp items - is the Okajima Pedigree story.  The announcement is up on their Facebook (see immediately below) and the article will appear on their website (a fascinating site): https://50objects.org/.  They have gotten some advice from a collector who knows quite a bit about this subject, so it will be very interesting to see what Nancy Ukai has to say:

One thinks of a pedigree as a sanctioned stamp of good breeding. Thoroughbred racehorses. Edwardian landed gentry. But comic books? These aren't just any comics but specimens from the Golden Age of  American comics, 1938-1956, including some purchased in a U.S. concentration camp. A comic book pedigree is the rare designation applied to a collection of vintage material gathered by a single collector at the time of publishing. There are currently 61 pedigrees widely recognized in the comic book world. The Bette Okajima Pedigree is one of them.
 
This pedigree is something of a legend. One theory has it that the collector was a 10-year-old girl at the Manzanar concentration camp in the California high desert. Another speculates that the Okajima signature on the covers was actually by the hand of Bette's brother. Would a girl collect war comics? Would any Japanese American, regardless of gender, avidly consume images that included viciously caricatured depictions of Asians?
 
The World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans must have been tremendously dislocating. Your country of birth is at war, but has rejected you, declared you a martial threat and imprisoned you. American pop culture is in your social DNA. One of the few lifelines you have to this culture as a young person in a concentration camp is the steady stream of comic books available in the camp store. The Okajima Pedigree grew out of this fractured living situation.
 
The 50 Objects project director, Nancy Ukai, with the help of comic book expert Jeff Tom, has researched and written about the Okajima Pedigree. This story, intended to be published on our website next week, (see link to our site in our bio) will help bring legend into the realm of legacy. Stay tuned to this account for more Okajima posts to come.
 

 

Edited by sfcityduck
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JimButlerGA

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I bought this very early 1943 Startling 24 a couple of years ago. It is the third or fourth earliest signed camp book that has been discovered and published. The cover has really perfect subject matter. I wonder what she thought buying this Japanese invasion plan cover looks like it was read often. I missed on the Clink Catman last night despite a bid of $9000. At least I have the very tough non-pedigree.

9EA8C938-923D-4F08-84E4-E128EEB14419.jpeg

1613731B-F909-4836-8DBB-B15A2B976A56.jpeg

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jpepx78

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The Okajima article has been published!

https://50objects.org/

It took much longer than expected and there are still unanswered questions but we have a little more information about Bette Okajima.

Thank you to all of you who shared information and those who gave permission to share their scans of their Okajima books.

Jeff

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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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On 6/3/2022 at 3:06 PM, jpepx78 said:

The Okajima article has been published!

https://50objects.org/

It took much longer than expected and there are still unanswered questions but we have a little more information about Bette Okajima.

Thank you to all of you who shared information and those who gave permission to share their scans of their Okajima books.

Jeff

Jpep,

Just read it.  An interesting read!  I'm glad your contributions were recognized.

My main takeaway is that It is sad that no asked Bette about the books before she sustained her memory loss.  We'll all have to speculate on what the true story was.  

One thing lept out at me: "On Oct. 17, 1943, she left George and her mother behind to reunite with Frances, who had gotten married in camp to Frank Kataoka and been released to Chicago."

Are there any books with so-called camp markings which post-date October 1943?  I've always thought that the collection likely included books bought by or for her brother.  If there are "camp markings" after that date, this may prove it.

 

 

Edited by sfcityduck
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