Western Pa Fact or Fiction

[deathlok]

[Aces]

That's a pretty unbelievable story allright!

 

 

Not the Hawkman, I meant the whole "Western Pa Fact or Fiction" story...

 

 

I must have blinked and missed it.

[tth2]

That's a pretty unbelievable story allright!

 

 

Not the Hawkman, I meant the whole "Western Pa Fact or Fiction" story...

 

 

I must have blinked and missed it.

 

Same here.

[drbanner]

That's a pretty unbelievable story allright!

 

 

Not the Hawkman, I meant the whole "Western Pa Fact or Fiction" story...

 

 

I must have blinked and missed it.

 

Same here.

 

Hmmm...maybe this blast from the past will hold us over until linmoth spills the beans on the Western PA collection, but this is a goodie!

 

Twenty five years ago an elderly lady in North Dakota passed away leaving her children so utterly devastated that they immediately and completely shut down her entire home as it was. It was boarded up and the entire contents of the house went untouched for the next quarter century. Then, in early September of this year, a local resident of Devil's Lake who owned a restaurant but doubled as a demolitionist, was called to tear down the home.

 

Enough time had passed and the family of the women wanted to take the dilapidated old house down and sell the property. After cracking the rickety boards off the entrance, the two children (now in their forties), and the gentleman entered the home to take out the contents that had been left behind. The family members went to the upstairs and began filling garbage bags with old clothes and family albums. The demolition expert decided to take a look in the basement. To do this he had to walk across the creaking floor of the living room and dining room, where he stumbled across two large depression era glass candy bowls filled with candies that had been sitting untouched for over 25 years. Next he entered the kitchen, where he found neatly placed on a table a plate, fork, knife, coffee mug and what seemed to be a small dirty yellow brick. He thought it odd and then realized it was the woman's butter she must have been using the morning of the day she passed away.

 

He carefully made his way to the basement moving through the cobwebs and layers and layers of dust on the floor. After turning on his flashlight, he moved about the room and quite literally stumbled upon three large stacks of what he thought were old newspapers. Upon further inspection, he realized they were comic books. He carefully gathered up the books and placed them in a few milk crates and brought them upstairs. When he asked the siblings if they would like the comics, they said they were not interested and he could have them. After cataloguing the books, he emailed the offices of Metropolis Collectibles in New York City.

 

"When I heard the story, I was completely and happily surprised. When I began dealing comics these types of stories were common, but nowadays so many great collections have already been uncovered that stories like this one are seldom heard," states Metropolis' COO, Vincent Zurzolo. "What was equally surprising and a welcome relief was that the gentleman had accurately graded and priced the collection, even though he had no previous grading experience."

[Aman619]

states Metropolis' COO, Vincent Zurzolo. "What was equally surprising and a welcome relief was that the gentleman had accurately graded and priced the collection, even though he had no previous grading experience."

 

thats my favorite part!!

I can Imagine the "surprise and welcome relief" when the guy (with absolutely NO EXPERIENCE mind you!!!) accurately graded all the books as solid Gs and VGs!!! And happily accepted a dealers top offer of 50% of condition Guide!!

 

 

Is this where th ebutter thing came from? Or was that in an attic?

[drbanner]

states Metropolis' COO, Vincent Zurzolo. "What was equally surprising and a welcome relief was that the gentleman had accurately graded and priced the collection, even though he had no previous grading experience."

thats my favorite part!!

I can Imagine the "surprise and welcome relief" when the guy (with absolutely NO EXPERIENCE mind you!!!) accurately graded all the books as solid Gs and VGs!!! And happily accepted a dealers top offer of 50% of condition Guide!!

 

 

Is this where th ebutter thing came from? Or was that in an attic?

 

 

Sort of - the story above is essentially the prequel to the whole Bitter Butter Fiasco (BBF) of '02. As I recall, JC had a "scientist friend" of some sort that he relied on to uh, energetically refute Vinnie's account of the discovery of the collection. And then, as usual, things got out of hand...

[burntboy]

states Metropolis' COO, Vincent Zurzolo. "What was equally surprising and a welcome relief was that the gentleman had accurately graded and priced the collection, even though he had no previous grading experience."

thats my favorite part!!

I can Imagine the "surprise and welcome relief" when the guy (with absolutely NO EXPERIENCE mind you!!!) accurately graded all the books as solid Gs and VGs!!! And happily accepted a dealers top offer of 50% of condition Guide!!

 

 

Is this where th ebutter thing came from? Or was that in an attic?

 

 

Sort of - the story above is essentially the prequel to the whole Bitter Butter Fiasco (BBF) of '02. As I recall, JC had a "scientist friend" of some sort that he relied on to uh, energetically refute Vinnie's account of the discovery of the collection. And then, as usual, things got out of hand...

 

dr banner; thanks for the rehash. i'd often heard reference to the "butter" incident but had never heard the story before.

 

and, yes, that comment about the gentleman having accurately graded and priced the comics is classic............

[drbanner]

Too bad I don't have JC's parody of the story...the posts were coming fast and furious and I believe it eventually led to JC quitting the boards? Or was that Comicinvestor??

[drbanner]

Too bad I don't have JC's parody of the story...the posts were coming fast and furious and I believe it eventually led to JC quitting the boards? Or was that Comicinvestor??

 

Wow, I found it!

[PUNYHUMAN]

Linmoth, when are you going to fill us in ?? We've been waiting long enough!!!

Details , my man, Details!!

[Mr. Zipper]

dr banner; thanks for the rehash. i'd often heard reference to the "butter" incident but had never heard the story before.

 

and, yes, that comment about the gentleman having accurately graded and priced the comics is classic............

 

Brick o'butter aside, who the heck pays taxes on a house that is not being used for 25 years?!?

 

[sfilosa]

Buy this Western Penn book before the real story comes out and prices skyrocket.

 

Actually it is a hard to find issue in grade. (2) 9.6's (1) 9.4's and just a few 9.2's

 

 

Tales to Astonish #66

[Silver Surfer]

dr banner; thanks for the rehash. i'd often heard reference to the "butter" incident but had never heard the story before.

 

and, yes, that comment about the gentleman having accurately graded and priced the comics is classic............

 

Brick o'butter aside, who the heck pays taxes on a house that is not being used for 25 years?!?

 

 

Well I'm not sure how it works in the States but I believe in Canada that if you do not pay your property taxes for 3 consecutive years the municipality can apply for a tax sale of your home to recover their funds. What I don't understand about this fishy story, is how can you board up a house and not take a look see inside first then ignore it for 25 years. What about her personal belongings, family pictures, etc? Sounds like a pile of cr@p to me.

[Mr. Zipper]

What I don't understand about this fishy story, is how can you board up a house and not take a look see inside first then ignore it for 25 years. What about her personal belongings, family pictures, etc? Sounds like a pile of cr@p to me.

 

Yup. It's slightly better than the run-of-the-mill, "I'm selling this for my friend's Dad who was a collector and died" song and dance we see on eBay.

 

As far as comic collection discovery stories go, I give this one a 2.0 (A) [Good minus - apparent]

[burntboy]

What I don't understand about this fishy story, is how can you board up a house and not take a look see inside first then ignore it for 25 years. What about her personal belongings, family pictures, etc? Sounds like a pile of cr@p to me.

 

Yup. It's slightly better than the run-of-the-mill, "I'm selling this for my friend's Dad who was a collector and died" song and dance we see on eBay.

 

As far as comic collection discovery stories go, I give this one a 2.0 (A) [Good minus - apparent]

 

[drdonaldblake]

heres what little info i know about the western penn collection

 

i dont know if its true, its hearsay and passed on from collector to collector in hushed whispers in dark corners of smoky , seedy comic conventions

 

a guy named chris or mike friedlander bought the entire marvel silver and bronze portion of the collection int he late 70s or early 80's, i dont know if he bought the dc's

 

the guy he bought them off was a guy called george whose life was devoted to comics- george never married, geroges dad actually also collected comics and started back in the 1950's so the whole collection does include golden age- it is the first 2nd generation pedigree collection passed down from father to son that im aware of

 

i dont knwo what happened to the golden age books

 

i dont know who bought the dc's

 

i do know linmoth had a shot @ buying the entire collection at one point in time but he passed

 

it is probably, in its entirety, golden and silver and bronze, the largest and best pedigree collection after the Church collection

 

cmon linmoth..........tell us MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[colmoreman]

heres what little info i know about the western penn collection

 

i dont know if its true, its hearsay and passed on from collector to collector in hushed whispers in dark corners of smoky , seedy comic conventions

 

a guy named chris or mike friedlander bought the entire marvel silver and bronze portion of the collection int he late 70s or early 80's, i dont know if he bought the dc's

 

the guy he bought them off was a guy called george whose life was devoted to comics- george never married, geroges dad actually also collected comics and started back in the 1950's so the whole collection does include golden age- it is the first 2nd generation pedigree collection passed down from father to son that im aware of

 

i dont knwo what happened to the golden age books

 

i dont know who bought the dc's

 

i do know linmoth had a shot @ buying the entire collection at one point in time but he passed

 

it is probably, in its entirety, golden and silver and bronze, the largest and best pedigree collection after the Church collection

 

cmon linmoth..........tell us MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Now that's a more likely story! I bought some Western Penn books (from Chris Cole - a lady) before Vincent moved to Metropolis so the Metropolis story seems like it's about another collection

[drdonaldblake]

where r u linmoth

tell us the story!

[lou_fine]

Buy this Western Penn book before the real story comes out and prices skyrocket.

 

Actually it is a hard to find issue in grade. (2) 9.6's (1) 9.4's and just a few 9.2's

 

 

Tales to Astonish #66

 

Sfilosa;

 

Just read this posting here and noticed that your auction has just ended.

 

I am absolutely shocked that a SA Western Penn Marvel book would go for less than OS guide even though it is "only" in 9.2 condition. Also surprised that there was only one bidder for this pedigree book.

 

If I had seen this thread earlier, I would have placed a higher bid since I still do not have any Western Penn books in my collection. Especially when the cover is not too bad and the winning bid was only for $125 which is nothing more than loose change when it comes to pedigree books.

 

Any idea as to why the book went for so low? I am sure that it would have done a lot better on Doug's site. Sometimes placing a book on eBay is not the best strategy since a lot of people just never bother going onto that site. Way too much garbage to filter through in order to search for a possible nugget. Personally, I haven't gone directly onto eBay in over a year.

 

If you have anymore early to mid SA Western Penns (either Marvel or DC) for sale for less than OS, just let me know in a PM and you can avoid the eBay listing and selling fees.

[Aman619]

me too! Im often too cavalier about remembering ebay auctions sometimes... tonight was one.