What's that 'one that got away' or that 'one you can't believe you did'? 2 2

[dem1138]

Stories are great and I think we all love to read them. SO...share some stories of that one comic book that you thought about getting and before you knew it...it was gone OR in contrast tell us about that one you did get - and still can't believe you acquired...

I'll start. I remember many years ago(in the late 80s), Sparkle City Comics(does ANYONE remember them? The owner was a surly one - whatever happened to them?) in Sewell, NJ had a VF Superman #1 with "snow white pages" for $10,000. I knew that this was a steal but I was probably 16 at the time and knew I'd have no way of buying it. Then again, if you knew Sparkle City, VF meant F-...

Who's next?

[shadroch]

Way back when,I had a chance to veiw the MH2 collection and to bid on it. Seeing that the owners were such scumbags and that there was a world of problems connected to the books,I passed.

Only recently,did I learn that one of the brothers had been selling peices of the accumilation on the side.Had I known that,I would have made some buys.In fact,one lucky person walked of with some 14,000 new X-Men books just about the time Chuckles was negotiating to buy the other two million books.It hasn't done the guy too much good (yet) as he is upstate on an extended vacation.I just hope he's had those books stored properly the last twenty years.

[chrisco37]

Foolkiller nabbed a sweet copy of GL #76 from Ted (Superworld) which I would have certainly bought. It graded out at 8.5 .

 

Oh well, at least it went to a buddy of mine.

[FlyingDonut]

OK, here is my story.

 

I was working at a public relations firm in DC that went tits-up December 31, 2001. So I'm unemployed.

 

There was a long-planned (and paid for) trip to Disneyworld set for the family in January, 2002. We went the week after the Patriots-Raiders "Snow Bowl" game, to give you a timeframe reference.

 

I love Disneyworld, but too much of it with four children can be a pain. So I leave my wife, her brother and his wife with the kids at the Polynesian and go looking at comic shops in Orlando.

 

After a horrible, hideous experience with Greg White in Kissimmee (topic of another story), I end up at All-American Comics in Orlando. Very pleasant store. I purchased DC 100 Page Super Spectacular 5, Super DC Giant S-17 and Super DC Giant S-21 (the Holy Trinity of DC romance books, for those of you not in the know) for a very nice price.

 

I'm talking with the owner, and he says "I have something you might be interested in."

 

He goes into the back room and brings out a copy of Detective Comics 1. It is low grade and stickered at $7500.

 

The owner says "I'll guarantee it is unrestored, and will give you a 20% discount." This makes the book now stickered at $6000.

 

Remember, I'm unemployed.

 

I say, "I'm unemployed, and can't do it."

 

He says "OK, not a problem."

 

That book has since been slabbed as a Blue Label 3.0... and sold for $25,000.

[shadroch]

Donut,

you couldn't come to The National because of YOUR JOB,you can't buy a book because of A LACK OF A JOB.I sense a pattern here. Prioritize,man,prioritize!Remember-its-With great powers come great responsibilities,not- with great responsibilities comes great powers!!!!

[dem1138]

Donut

That is the EXACT type of story I wanted to hear - keep it going guys!

[goldust40]

Donut

That is the EXACT type of story I wanted to hear - keep it going guys!

 

Yep, FD knows how to tell a story. I for one would like to hear the one about Greg White that happened prior to the All-American one (as I may have had a similar experience).

[Norrin_Radd]

OK, here is my story.

 

I was working at a public relations firm in DC that went tits-up December 31, 2001.

 

I didn't think Americans knew that phrase.

[goldust40]

I don't have any stories that play that well when it comes to deals I passed on over the years, partly because there were so many, and partly because it all boiled down to me being short sighted .

 

I remember buying a Hulk 181 in NM from Blazing in '98 for $400 that would've gotten a 9.6 if I'd kept it, but no, I sold it for £400. Clever me. Also Bob had several other Hulk 181s in similar shape, but I left 'em .

 

At the same show Vincent Z (pre - Metro) offered me a NM copy of Green Lantern 1 for OS guide (at the time that would've been $2,200). That book would've graded no worse than 9.2 according to CGC, and I was certain it was unrestored. But I passed on it.

 

In '96 Conrad Eschenburg had a set of JLA 1-20 in NM (they were absolutely spectacular) but wanted double guide. I imagine if I'd bought the set he would've cut a slight deal. But again I passed. At the same show Harley had some tremendous stuff such as an Avengers 9 in NM- for $130. And that was just a random example. And yes, I should've gone crazy, but I'd only be dealing for about a year and half......so I passed again.

 

How things have moved on, and how often do I kick myself for not having the balls then to bite the bullet and spend the bucks. Ya live and learn......

[Metarog]

Well, I have had several expensive (in hindsight) comics slip right through my fingers when I worked at my LCS back in the early eighties. However, my biggest blunder occurred at a comic convention about 12 years ago in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. It was one of those one day shows that would pop every few months in South Florida with few if any artists or actvities except dealing comics. I got in early and attendance was light and in the back corner was a dealer I had never seen before so I rambled over and lo and behold he had a sign saying all comics where 25 cents, 5 for 1 dollar, 30 for 5 dollars, etc. I loved going through cheap comics.

 

Anyway, this guy had whole runs of Marvel and DC from the late 60's to late 70's or so and the vast majority were in immaculate condition. He had them bagged in bunches of 5-10 a bag. There must have been at least 50 long boxes with whole runs like ASM 100-200, Hulk 130-200, Avengers 70-170, Batman 200-300, Detective, House of Mystery, on and on and on. My eyes must have almost popped out at the time. He had multiples of most issues and even some keys like Iron Fist 14, X-Men 94(I think) and Spotlight 5.

 

I only had 20 or 30 bucks on me so did I get those cherry ASM, or Neal Adams covers, DC 100 pagers, New X-Men, Hulk 181, etc? No, I got late silver early bronze age Metal Men, Luke Cage from the teens to the 50's, a few Invaders, Legion of Super-Heroes, a couple MTIO and a complete run of Ms. Marvel.

I probably could have paid off my car or a good chunk of my mortgage if I had bought the right stuff back then since most of these were 9.4s easy and possibly some 9.6s.

 

I later found out that the dealer had bought out some storage containers that people had stopped paying for and that he paid about $75 for all of them. Oh the pain!!!!

 

P.S. I would also like to hear what happened with Greg White as I have seen some strange things occur at his shop back in the early 90's.

[Wally's Comics]

Back in 1979, I had a chance to get a NM copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 for $200 bucks

But my old man wouldn't let me (sob!)

 

His exact words were there is noway in hell you going to spend that for a comic book

I don't care if it is your money or not! He literally had to drag me away from that deal...

 

 

One day when he's old and grey and needs a place to stay,

 

I'll be pointing to the rest home!

 

[Stronguy]

** The Good **

LCS owner made a purchase 10 minutes before I came in the store -- Hulk 181, really sweet. He was looking for a quick flip and sold it to me for $1000. I sent it to CGC and 8 weeks later (boy, those were the days) sold it on eBay (9.4 ow) for $2000.

 

** The OK **

Bought Harbinger #1 and 2 off the stand just to read something different. A year later a friend say them and offered me $30 for them. He flipped them to the LCS for $100. He bought me dinner later that night 'cus he felt bad. Figured it was only appropriate since he had just screwed me.

 

** The Bad **

20 years ago I had a chance to buy 2 copies of ASM #1 and w copies AF15 from a seller -- all in decent shape IIRC -- for $1000. Being only 14 at the time I had to hit up my dad for the money. I know it was a good deal but there was no way in hell to convince him to spend $1000 on funny books.

[Stronguy]

Back in 1979, I had a chance to get a NM copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 for $200 bucks

But my old man wouldn't let me (sob!)

 

His exact words were there is noway in hell you going to spend that for a comic book

I don't care if it is your money or not! He literally had to drag me away from that deal...

 

 

One day when he's old and grey and needs a place to stay,

 

I'll be pointing to the rest home!

 

 

You sure we're not related?

[dem1138]

These are great stories so it makes me want to share more...and speaking of dad's...In the 80s my dad had an office on City Line Ave. that borders Philly and his office was right across the street from Fat Jack's Comic Crypt. My dad's office was on the good side of the street and the LCS was on the bad side. I used to shop there all the time mostly because everything was SO cheap. Why? Since it was in a 'poorer' neighborhood it was explained to me that they had to have lower prices so that the people in the neighborhood could afford the books. I remember going in and buying ASM 3,5, and a few others, JIM 83, FF 8, etc. I never paid more than $40 for a book and they were all in above VG shape. It was great for me because I was able to afford and read these books as a 12 or 13 year old even though they guided for much more. I remember they had an ASM 2 for $25 and thinking 'nah, I don't want to spend that much.' Ofcouse I sold all of those long ago for little profit I'm sure. If anyone remembers - that was a great store! And as a completely random notation, I used to run into Seth Green(of Austin Powers, Buffy fame) there every so often.

[Larryw7]

Back in 1979, I had a chance to get a NM copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 for $200 bucks

But my old man wouldn't let me (sob!)

 

 

Ugh! That brings back an unpleasant memory! I remember going to a LCS with my girlfriend of the time(this was late eighties), and the dealer had just nabbed a bunch of rare GA stuff. He had DETECTIVE #29 for 250 bucks in G/VG. Sure, the grade was nothing to shout about...but it was DETECTIVE #29! The second cover appearance of the Batman, the first Dr. Death story, and just one of the coolest comics ever! I had just enough in my wallet to pay for that book, and I was going to, when my gf pulled me by my arm out of the store. She said I would thank her later.

 

Sure. Thanks, hon.

[Larryw7]

That's a great story, Dem! You're absolutely correct about how cheap the prices were at Fat Jack's. I remember getting an AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #11 for about four bucks in the eighties, a #14 for twenty, a #4 for 15 bucks...

 

They started charging full market price right around when the first Batman movie came out. Up until that time, they had the best prices-and selection(of SA Marvel, anyhow)-in town.

[Wally's Comics]

Back in 1979, I had a chance to get a NM copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 for $200 bucks

But my old man wouldn't let me (sob!)

 

His exact words were there is noway in hell you going to spend that for a comic book

I don't care if it is your money or not! He literally had to drag me away from that deal...

 

 

One day when he's old and grey and needs a place to stay,

 

I'll be pointing to the rest home!

 

 

You sure we're not related?

 

shoot, I couldn't hit my old man up for no loot... period.

If you even mechioned "borrow" around him - his backside would tighten up like a snaredrum.

 

He wouldn't even let me spend my OWN money - never the less his.

 

If your dad is this tight them maybe we are related.

 

 

[Kermit the frog]

i think i (and my young brother) started having comics around the house even before being able to read them. Anyway, when i was around 12 years old i already had a very nice (no, gorgeous) collection (the comics were in fact brazilian translations that i bought every week in Portugal). I think i bought at tops around 2 comics per week, and at that time it was really hard to keep up at having all of them (usually one comic included 3 or 4 stories).

Anyway, the fever of the computers and video games hit us really bad and one day i decided to sell little by little my collection at a market flee...

 

I arrive with my very hard earned collection (around 200 comics, it was huge for a kid) and a nearby seller of junk proposes me to buy everything...at a crazy low price of around 20$ (0.5 cents per comic, when each one costed 0.50cents).

 

i still resent that foolish commodore 64 fever...!!! but that also brought me some great moments playing video games, so...nothing is lost, things just change.

 

but my "new/original" comics collection is a dream come true to me...

 

regards

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Back in 1993, I bought the only true NM unrestored copy of Tales to Astonish # 36 that I have ever seen in 15 years of high grade Silver Age collecting....and I sold it six months later when a new collection came along and I needed the dough to fund my purchase.

 

It was gorgeous, and had a small name stamp ("Murray Whitman") on the first page. I kept thinking I could always replace it, but really have never seen anything comparable....sigh....

 

Maybe one day I'll find it again.

[divad]

Way back when,I had a chance to veiw the MH2 collection and to bid on it. Seeing that the owners were such scumbags and that there was a world of problems connected to the books,I passed.

Only recently,did I learn that one of the brothers had been selling peices of the accumilation on the side.Had I known that,I would have made some buys.In fact,one lucky person walked of with some 14,000 new X-Men books just about the time Chuckles was negotiating to buy the other two million books.It hasn't done the guy too much good (yet) as he is upstate on an extended vacation.I just hope he's had those books stored properly the last twenty years.

 

Tough crowd!