How often does THIS happen?

[shrunkenhead]

Hey guys, just happened to notice that there are not one, but TWO copies of All-Negro #1 currently for sale on line. Metro's got one for over 7k and comiclink's got an overpriced low grader. How weird is that, two copies of one of the toughest to get GA books??

[TomG]

Currently there are 7 copies noted on the CGC Census and of those 1 is restored.

The census notes 1 7.5 and 2 6.5.

 

Tom

[shrunkenhead]

True, there are a few slabbed copies floating around...but I was under the impression this book is something of a "keeper" among collectors...not one that usually gets flipped around all that much. Hey, it's got zip to do with my primary collecting interests, but if I had 7k under my mattress, I'd grab that Metro book

[sfilosa]

True, there are a few slabbed copies floating around...but I was under the impression this book is something of a "keeper" among collectors...not one that usually gets flipped around all that much. Hey, it's got zip to do with my primary collecting interests, but if I had 7k under my mattress, I'd grab that Metro book

 

Would you really?

 

Assume you won a contest from Metro and you got to get $7K of free books, would that be the book you would take?

[shrunkenhead]

Hmmm....well, if I won a contest, I'd probably want to put 2 or 3k towards my primary interests, but yes, I'd give some serious thought to grabbing that book and floating the balance on the credit card. It's an irreplaceable museum piece of sincere historical import, IMO.

 

So Vince, got any contests that need winning??

[Silver Surfer]

True, there are a few slabbed copies floating around...but I was under the impression this book is something of a "keeper" among collectors...not one that usually gets flipped around all that much. Hey, it's got zip to do with my primary collecting interests, but if I had 7k under my mattress, I'd grab that Metro book

 

Would you really?

 

Assume you won a contest from Metro and you got to get $7K of free books, would that be the book you would take?

 

Such a tough call. Pick up 3 or four mid grade SA keys or one or two GA beauties. Or maybe $5,000 on a half a dozen super books and then a ton of raw $20 high grade back issues. Oh what fun that would be.

[Aman619]

I dont want to deaden the enthusuasm for this book further, but Ive got a pretty nice raw copy too. So Im not too happy to see these other copies either... I always thought it was "VERY SCARCE".... sigh

[sfilosa]

These are the types of books that I'm not sure it they are dealer driven or collector driven in the market place.

 

There are lots of Golden Age books that REALLY don't fit into anyones collecting goals, but seem to have been hyped as IMPORTANT books or SCARCE books (similar to all the hype back in the late 70's regarding chatholic publications or communist publications from the 50's). DID anyone really collect these books or were they collected because they were suppose to be important / scarce?

 

Thoughts?

[shrunkenhead]

I think it's a little unfair to say that such unusual books don't fit into anyone's collecting goals, when the primary reason that these books don't "fit in" is because there's so few to go around. I own two anti-communist giveaways from the 50s (America Menaced! and Is This Tomorrow), and I think they're wonderful. Among GA collectors, I don't think I'm reaching to say that they certainly qualify as very desirable books. They're unusual, and they're tough to locate (let alone in high grade..both my books are vf/nm or better!). Furthermore, they carry historical significance, and that crosses over to more than just comic collectors (americana buffs, for example, are big on that sort of thing). More importantly, preserving these books keeps an eye-opening version of an important American story alive when it might otherwise get lost in the shuffle.

 

So no, I'd have to respectfully disagree with the notion that these books are fueled solely on dealer/collector hype. There's real merit in these offbeat GA oddities, merit that I dare say eclipses the importance of yet another SA superhero key in high grade or some other such dominant collecting interest.

[shrunkenhead]

And Aman, if I were you, I wouldn't despair about owning an All-Negro #1!! But if yer really bummed out about it, send it my way...only if it'll make you feel better.

[shrunkenhead]

So Sfilosa, you've got me thinking about this whole contest thing. If the boyz at Metro are listening, here's an idea:

 

Anyone who spends 1k or more within a 6-month period is automatically entered into a contest for a 10k shopping spree. My guess is that this would encourage a lot of "on the fence" buyers to kick in that 1k and try their luck. Surely this could qualify as some sort of tax write-off, and Vincent could even announce the winner on his radio show in order to jack up the ratings. What do you guys think???

[sfilosa]

I think its a great idea. Actually Metro gave away (I think) a DD #1 in CGC 8.5 in a contest about a year ago.

 

So this would encourage buyers. Plus, it should be for every $1K you spend you get a lottery type number. Then they randomly pick out the number and email the winner. Therefore, someone who buys $5K of books would have a greater chance than someone who bought only $1K.

[Forbush-Man]

I dont want to deaden the enthusuasm for this book further, but Ive got a pretty nice raw copy too. So Im not too happy to see these other copies either... I always thought it was "VERY SCARCE".... sigh

 

Don't dispare, it's still very scarce & collectible! I'd be happy to have a copy of that book!

 

How's the page quality? I understand the paper quality on this issue is usually fairly low, browning and sometimes brittle. Planet Comics tend to suffer from the same page quality problems, most Fiction House books do.