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Western Penn Pedigree, what's the background story?

Started by Jaylam,

60 posts in this topic

Logan510

Logan510

Posted
Posted

I have several raw Western Penn's. Among the most impressive ( IMHO ) are the 70's Charlton issues. Anyone who collects Charlton's from the 1970's knows how krappy their printing was. The WP Charlton's I have are probably the most beautiful examples of those books I've ever seen.

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COI

COI

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Posted
PENNSYLVANIA - The Pennsylvania collection surfaced about 15 years ago and was bought by Steve Geppi. Pennsylvania copies are well-known in the market, but very few collectors are familiar with its origin. Unfortunately, Geppi does not recall many of the specifics surrounding the discovery of the collection due to the length of time that has passed. According to Geppi, a woman came to a convention in Philadelphia in the late 70's to sell some Golden Age comics. Word got back to Geppi, who tracked her down. He bought the collection, which consisted of several hundred comics from the early 1940's (1941-1945). Because the collection began after 1940 many of the prime Golden Age keys were not present, but the grade was extremely high. The books also had a characteristic smell to their pages. The collection was split up and sold later. Bob Overstreet purchased a rather sizable chunk of the collection, where it remained until recently when his comics were put up for sale.

 

IDENTIFICATION-Identifying a Pennsylvania involves simply locating a "P" written on the cover. The "P" sometimes looks more like an "R", probably from the quick handwriting of the distributor. Another way to identify Pennsylvanias is by their pages' characteristic smell. If ever in doubt of a Pennsylvania's authenticity, Steve Geppi is one collector who can probably identify it.

 

DESIRABILITY-Pennsylvanias are structurally NM to Mint copies with white pages. They originally fetched slightly above guide, but now can command prices as high as 3x to 5x guide.

:facepalm:

 

lol

 

Your custom title is beyond perfect.

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conditionfreak

conditionfreak

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Posted

Here is a story about the Western Penn collection. I do not know if it is true. Maybe someone here can shed light on this "story".

 

Years ago. Maybe around 1998, I met a man named Stewart (or possibly "Stuart") Friedlander. He was Jewish, and a jeweler by trade. He had a fantastic comic book collection. I mean, he had a rented warehouse full of comic books. I never got to visit the warehouse. I was only told about it by him. So maybe it was a "story". I don't know. He lived in Cleveland, but had grown up in New York. The warehouse full of comic books was allegedly in Pa.

 

I would go to his home in Cleveland every once in awhile and he would have some primo books there for me to go through and see if there were any I was interested in. I bought many from him. He had books I could not afford (such as an All Flash #1 CGC 7.5, etc.). He had multiple copies of many books. For instance, I purchased three copies of Mad #24 from him.

 

At the time, I was interested in Gerber 7's and above. I purchased books like Bang Up #1, The Atomic Thunderbolt #1, Best Comics #1, Buck Rogers #1, Crown Comics #14, Dickie Dare #1, Gasoline Alley #1 and #2, Is This Tomorrow #nn no price blank circle variant, True Comics 80, 81, 82, 83 and 84, and on and on. Too many to list. The only book I got from him that was a disappointment, was a Kid Colt #1 that came back from CGC as restored. I was really disappointed about that, as Kid Colt #1 is my personal grail.

 

Anyway. This gentleman told me that many years prior, he had purchased hundreds of books from the Western Penn collection original owner, prior to it becoming famous and well known. He told me that he had them in his warehouse.

 

Stu also had a vast collection of pulps and paper back books. I don't know if those were included in the Western Penn collection though.

 

I don't know if this is true or not. Just telling what he told me. I have no reason to not believe his story, as he was the most knowledgeable comic book person I have ever met, and he always had awesome books when I went to his home to go through them. He was a little paranoid about the location of his "warehouse" and his collection. Allowing me to only view thirty or so books at a time.

 

I was not into pedigrees at that time, and didn't even own a CGC'd book. So I did not seek out any Western Penn books specifically. I might have some raw. I don't know

 

Does anyone know this person, and know if the story about his having a chunk of the Western Penn's, is "possibly true"?

 

 

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conditionfreak

conditionfreak

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Friedlander is indeed the discoverer of the Western Penn collection.

 

hmmm...then I may have some of that collection in my collection. I will have to check for "P's". Even though it appears that all do not contain that annotation.

 

Thanks.

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jaybuck43

jaybuck43

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Conditionfreak there are no P's on the Western Penn collection. Kav screwed everything up. That is a DIFFERENT collection. If you bought books from Friedlander then you most likely have some Western Penn's in your collection. When I go home I will scan my cert for you and send you a copy via PM.

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telerites

telerites

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Conditionfreak there are no P's on the Western Penn collection. Kav screwed everything up. That is a DIFFERENT collection. If you bought books from Friedlander then you most likely have some Western Penn's in your collection. When I go home I will scan my cert for you and send you a copy via PM.

 

 

:o

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