L.B. Cole cover thread! Post your favorites by the master! 39 39

[Point Five]

Here's a new pickup I'm real pleased with. Another one of those LB Cole covers that never really grabbed me until I saw a handful of nicer copies with vibrant color strikes. Now I've got one too!

[pmpknface]

On 2/6/2024 at 10:59 PM, Point Five said:

Here's a new pickup I'm real pleased with. Another one of those LB Cole covers that never really grabbed me until I saw a handful of nicer copies with vibrant color strikes. Now I've got one too!

Excellent pickup!  I was looking up my copy to share and saw something interesting on this book.  I don't know how many of you play on the registry, but for some reason this book is more "valued" - meaning gets a ton more points - than others in the run.  I'm not sure how the points are calculated as it's a CGC algorithm, but I have many in this run in the same grade and this one outshines the rest by a lot.  

In any case, I'll play!

 

[*paull*]

On 2/6/2024 at 10:59 PM, Point Five said:

Here's a new pickup I'm real pleased with. Another one of those LB Cole covers that never really grabbed me until I saw a handful of nicer copies with vibrant color strikes. Now I've got one too!

 

Great color!  I don't see this book very often.

[Robot Man]

Calcon box dive purchase. Have wanted a nice, presenting copy of this Christmas classic. 

[pmpknface]

On 2/8/2024 at 10:55 AM, Robot Man said:

Calcon box dive purchase. Have wanted a nice, presenting copy of this Christmas classic. 

Excellent!  Mine is getting graded in my next box to Florida.  

[vaultkeeper]

 

On 2/6/2024 at 10:59 PM, Point Five said:

Here's a new pickup I'm real pleased with. Another one of those LB Cole covers that never really grabbed me until I saw a handful of nicer copies with vibrant color strikes. Now I've got one too!

Here's a CGC 7.5 copy.

 

Edited February 8 by vaultkeeper

[Professor K]

My latest L.B. 

[Jayman]

On 2/10/2024 at 7:01 PM, Professor K said:

My latest L.B. 

Nice colors on your copy! 

[Professor K]

On 2/10/2024 at 7:20 PM, Jayman said:

Nice colors on your copy! 

Thanks J. I have to give some credit to my 20 year old hp scanner. Colors are real nice but I raise the brightness and contrast a little otherwise they come out duller than they really are. 

I've seen this book so many times but never noticed until I had it in hand that she is about to be saved by who I assume is her brother. 

[Jayman]

On 2/10/2024 at 8:02 PM, Professor K said:

Thanks J. I have to give some credit to my 20 year old hp scanner. Colors are real nice but I raise the brightness and contrast a little otherwise they come out duller than they really are. 

I've seen this book so many times but never noticed until I had it in hand that she is about to be saved by who I assume is her brother. 

I do the same after I scan my books. Some scanners capture book colors spot on while other cover colors are way off. After I scan a book, I actually look at the book in hand and try to best match the hue, contrast, saturation and brightness as it looks to me.

BTW, this cover has it all. Skulls, shrunken heads, damsel in distress, 4 witch doctors and fire! Like the grade you have too, just like mine! 

[pmpknface]

Excellent copies guys!  I had mine pre-graded at a 3.5, and was right.  FYI - in classic Star fashion this is a #17 that is a #1.  I think it took over from Jungle Thrills #16 (the 1-shot) that I think took over from Sport Thrills that ended at #15.  It goes to #21 before it starts over again at #4.  So odd...

(Also, no brightness added as far as I know.  Just scanned and posted.) 

 

[Professor K]

On 2/10/2024 at 8:19 PM, Jayman said:

I do the same after I scan my books. Some scanners capture book colors spot on while other cover colors are way off. After I scan a book, I actually look at the book in hand and try to best match the hue, contrast, saturation and brightness as it looks to me.

BTW, this cover has it all. Skulls, shrunken heads, damsel in distress, 4 witch doctors and fire! Like the grade you have too, just like mine! 

Oh wow look at that. Yours is nicer, should be a 6.0 or better. Yes I try to get it close to realistic as possible as well but I admit I bump up the color a little more than I should sometimes. Mine looks like yours colorwise. Nice scan. 

I don't like to talk about books that are "coming soon" unless it's something huge like an AC 1 or something. But there is an 8.5 coming soon to an auction near you. Nick Cage book. 

[Professor K]

On 2/10/2024 at 8:39 PM, pmpknface said:

Excellent copies guys!  I had mine pre-graded at a 3.5, and was right.  FYI - in classic Star fashion this is a #17 that is a #1.  I think it took over from Jungle Thrills #16 (the 1-shot) that I think took over from Sport Thrills that ended at #15.  It goes to #21 before it starts over again at #4.  So odd...

(Also, no brightness added as far as I know.  Just scanned and posted.) 

 

Hey! I know you've spent hours, days, weeks scanning your books and maybe I mentioned this to you before but aren't you tempted to bump up the color just a little? I respect your not doing that , shows you're honest for one, but I bet in hand that books color is much brighter than the scan shows. Looks great for the grade too. 

[pmpknface]

On 2/10/2024 at 8:43 PM, Professor K said:

Hey! I know you've spent hours, days, weeks scanning your books and maybe I mentioned this to you before but aren't you tempted to bump up the color just a little? I respect your not doing that , shows you're honest for one, but I bet in hand that books color is much brighter than the scan shows. Looks great for the grade too. 

Thanks!  Yea, I spent some time scanning.  I even added all the back covers to my registry.  I dunno, I just scan and move on.  Yea, most are a bit brighter in person as a pic / scan can only capture so much but I know the difference.    

Edited February 11 by pmpknface

[Jayman]

This book has some closely related themes as the TotJ.

Edited February 11 by Jayman

[pmpknface]

While on the Terrors of the Jungle title...   I think the last one in the run I got was the #5.  It wasn't one of the harder ones to find, but for some reason this was one of those books were the right side was always cut off into the story title and it just aggravated me to see that.  Eventually I got one that I was happy with:

To give you and idea of what I'm referring to, here's a pair of books on HA now and it has this issue, although it isn't as bad as most copies:

There are a few Star books that have this "issue." I know there are a few like this in the romance category.  If I can recall them I'll post 'em. 

[Jayman]

On 2/10/2024 at 8:56 PM, pmpknface said:

but for some reason this was one of those books were the right side was always cut off into the story title and it just aggravated me to see that. 

I’m the same way with the BBW run. I talked about this with another boardie and I hate when the two bats at the top are cut off.

this is as close as I’d care to get that I consider acceptable…

[pmpknface]

On 2/10/2024 at 9:03 PM, Jayman said:

I’m the same way with the BBW run. I talked about this with another boardie and I hate when the two bats at the top are cut off.

this is as close as I’d care to get that I consider acceptable…

I feel ya.  Thankfully I don't have much of that cut-off issue.  This is as close as I've gotten, and apparently it has another issue anyway.  No conserving for me...  

 

[pmpknface]

Ok.. I remembered what issue with right cut-off issues I was thinking of.  It's an issue of Top Love.  Here's some images from MCS.  I don't know where they got this one from, it's so perfect it looks like a cover proof:

And here's an issue they have for sale (I know it's beat, but you get my point) and many are like this.  It's a tough one to find in decent shape (2 on census, highest in 5.5):

 

[Darwination]

On 2/10/2024 at 7:43 PM, Professor K said:

Hey! I know you've spent hours, days, weeks scanning your books and maybe I mentioned this to you before but aren't you tempted to bump up the color just a little? I respect your not doing that , shows you're honest for one, but I bet in hand that books color is much brighter than the scan shows. Looks great for the grade too. 

So, I spend a lot of time working with scans and have also recently been taking many photos for eBay.

When it comes to scans, most digital archivists like to have a "raw" scan that matches the color of the book so that any processing can get done via photoshop where you have all sorts subtle and not so subtle tools for tweaking an image.  Most people that want a simple way to make their scans pop (or to more closely resemble their books if they are getting "dull" scans or washed out blacks from an older or not so great machine) will make pre-scan adjustments through their scanner software (often limited to contrast/brightness/saturation tweaks or maybe some sort of rough levels adjustment).  If I'm working with a lower grade copy of a book, I can pick the right tools in photoshop and come closer to matching the colors on a high grade copy.  I'd note here that when I work with images from either Heritage or MCS, two eminently trusted sellers fwiw, the images are almost always very close to where I'd tweak them to in terms of optimizing the final color.  I *personally* leave my eBay scans in their raw state very purposely (since people know I do digital restoration), and my photos tend to show much more color than my scans.  All this to say - it's pretty damn hard to be sure what the colors on a book in hand are going to look like compared to a scan.  I've seen eBay sellers get called out for color manipulation on these boards before, but make no doubt about it HA and MCS have that angle on lock   And I'm not knocking either for this, cause in fact MCS garners much trust from me, just stating facts.

And photos, too, don't always tell the tale.  Collectors here know that finding the guy that took a bad picture for his sweet comic's eBay listing is a godsend.  Nothing kills an auction's potential like poorly lit and out of focus pictures.  Otoh, soft lighting can hide all sorts of defects and minimize the appearance of waviness, creases, etc.  A bright side lighting from an LED lamp can similarly "wash out" defects that might be seen better from light from an overhead source.   For my auctions, if possible, I like to get nice, natural light of a certain angle which I can only get on sunny days at certain hours of the day because the color can't be beat, and it's natural.  Like the photos you see in the please grade my comic section at CGC, close ups of reflective light can show all sorts of stuff you don't see in a scan.  But how many eBay sellers take these types of photos?  Often you get front cover and back cover and a grade that may or may not be ballpark.  I think most amateur sellers want their buyers to be happy and recognize that having good pictures protects the seller, too, but often a dealer is just gonna give you a front cover and a back cover and their grade.

The L.B. Cole thread's a great place for this little topic, btw, since his colors are what we're all fiending after...

BTW, Pumpkin, I'd guess that blue Top Love Stories is from a proof, too ;)