Tom Reilly Collection Master List

[BLBcomics-migration]

 

 

Geez i am with you Bob.....names would be nice....of course, we won't share with "them" our secret handshake.....Jon Berk

 

hi Jon,

 

yeah, no secret hand shake info is shared with "others",

nor will the decoder info be given out without the proper manual

 

and Paul Karasik's book on Fletcher Hanks is shaping up to be a must have winner, me thinks - and we both will be getting free copies -

 

and if i never said it at the time, many thanks for the scans for my Overtreet articles you sent directly into Timonium in a time of need for the piece to be as best as i can make it

 

I have been meaning to take a drive up north about half an hour just outside Norfolk (Johnny Carson country) to check out the barn where the Larsen books lived - you got directions?

 

best

 

bob beerbohm

[skybolt]

Just to be clear...

 

nearmint=Jeff Delaney

 

Just to be clear...

 

skybolt = skybolt ..... seriously, that's what my mom named me.

[BLBcomics-migration]

Bob,

 

This stuff is great and is the shot in the arm these boards needed as almost every single topic regarding SA books has been covered at least a dozen times over. I have always been an SA fan and never bothered to venture over to the GA forum but over the last year it has become my favorite by far. However, I do need to get up to speed on the history.

 

The comics industry and hobby is something i have lived & breathed for 37 years now ever since i got RBCC 45 and began advertising with #47 while still in Jr High school. The SA is fun, the GA is fun and so are the earlier eras i have been figuring out for almost a decade now back to 1842 - what we are presently calling the Plat era and the Victorian Era

 

- I thank Bob Overstreet, John Snyder and Steve Geppi for providing Rich Olsen and myself (and many of my researcher friends) for the space to tell the tale of our true history.

 

I view the Victorian, Platinum and "modern" comics articles as one long seemless tale of our national popular culture heritage - and suggest anyone interested in all this stuff to check them out - and the new Overstreet 35 has comic strips shown dating to 1610 - blow yer socks off with that one

 

 

and i am outta here for a while as i head out for Wondercon - long drive, many old friends do i have in the area

 

best

 

robert beerbohm

[BLBcomics-migration]

Just to be clear...

 

nearmint=Jeff Delaney

 

thanks Jeff - now i remember the name - we had a good chat at ChiWizardCon 04

 

i hope every one reading this post and the related Tom Reilly posts realize i have nothing to gain financially from all which has transpired this past week or so.

 

 

This collection in the main passed out of my control many moons ago - but i still to the day get some goose bumps as only collectors can get when i remember back on those days or yore - back when most people collecting knew what was inside the books

 

so, i hope i can teach a but here, when i have the time and inclination, some of the comics knowledge i have built up over several decades.

 

and this is my last post until next week end when i am in San Fran and my oldest daughter brings her lap top which can access hot spots

 

best

 

robert beerbohm

[Forbush-Man]

Geez i am with you Bob.....names would be nice....of course, we won't share with "them" our secret handshake.....Jon Berk

 

 

Let me start:

 

 

I'm Sparticus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jbcomicbox]

Just to be clear...

 

nearmint=Jeff Delaney

 

nice to 'meet' you, Jeff

[BLBcomics-migration]

Hello

 

I am back from Wondercon, gone 3 weeks

 

any further inquiries re The Tom Reilly collection?

 

I will be in town until March 12 when i head back to Los Angeles for the Long Beach Wizard show

 

best

 

robert beerbohm

[nearmint]

Maybe this has already been asked and answered, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Is the collection made up completely of books that his parents purchased for him while he was overseas, or is part of the collection books that Tom purchased himself prior to entering the war?

 

If so, how does the condition of the earlier, probably read books compare to the issues that his folks purchased and saved?

[1962]

Part of the collection was purchased by Tom before he went into the service. The early books are nice, but are generally not as nice as the ones purchased by his parents after he went into the service. Most likely the later books are nicer simply because Tom never had a chance to read and handle them.

[nearmint]

Thanks!

[FFB]

Hello

 

I am back from Wondercon, gone 3 weeks

 

any further inquiries re The Tom Reilly collection?

 

I will be in town until March 12 when i head back to Los Angeles for the Long Beach Wizard show

 

best

 

robert beerbohm

 

How was WonderCon for you, Bob?

[BLBcomics-migration]

Maybe this has already been asked and answered, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Is the collection made up completely of books that his parents purchased for him while he was overseas, or is part of the collection books that Tom purchased himself prior to entering the war?

 

If so, how does the condition of the earlier, probably read books compare to the issues that his folks purchased and saved?

 

The collection began with some stuff missing mid 1939 with Detective 27 in there, but not the first two Supermans, for example. The Tec 27 was still nice at a VF level and was sold for $2200 to Burl Rowe, then of Houston Texas and became the very first comic book sold to go over the two grand level.

 

Tom Reilly entered the service in early 1942 shortly after Pearl Harbor, and that is when the books took on a surreal over-powering high grade effect which we had never seen before, which is what prompted me to initially ask Mr Arnheim why so many were in unread, unhandled, super glossy "blinded by the light" reflectivity condition.

 

Twas then he related the story of how Tom died in late summer 1945, his parents sealing the room till their death in late 1972, etc. I still get goose bumps.............

 

The Superman 3 and 4, as examples, looked like they had been read. Jamie Graham bought them from Mark Edmonds a few years back, who had bought them from me out of our Golden Age room in the Berkeley store on Telegraph Ave when he first got to the Bay Area over 30 years ago. The Superman #4 had some weakness to the bottom stape from having been read and handled. They are part of the CGC inventory lists.

 

Vinnie from Metropolis told me at the Wondercon that people have asked him to interview me on his radio show reagarding the Tom Reilly collection. Maybe soon. I am up for it.

 

best

 

robert beerbohm

[BLBcomics-migration]

Part of the collection was purchased by Tom before he went into the service. The early books are nice, but are generally not as nice as the ones purchased by his parents after he went into the service. Most likely the later books are nicer simply because Tom never had a chance to read and handle them.

 

I would venture an educated guess that maybe Tom never even saw the books his parents were purchasing for him. I know my own father volunteered for the Navy age 17.5 and was out in the Pacific on the destroyer USS Black by 1943. He never saw America again until he was mustered out in 1947. Came back with a wife from Australia.

[BLBcomics-migration]

]How was WonderCon for you, Bob?

 

I had a very good show, sold a lot of stuff. Did better than i anticipated.

 

I am making a lot of my books from the 1960s-1970s half off Overstreet as i view the competition actually to be eBay. Made for decent cash flow and i plan to keep up these great discounts at the upcoming Los Angeles area Wizard show in Long Beach March 18 19 20.

 

I set up with seven tables: 5 were half off, the other two tables of stuff were 20 percent off

 

I find it difficult to compete with deep pocket dealers as well as Heritage etc auction houses for the good old stuff, so i am evolving again in the comics business in order to stay competitive.

 

I co-hosted the very first Bay Area comic book show back in 1973, so i have a lot of old friends in the area. I had a bunch of guys come up who used to work for me when they were young, now grown up with families, etc. I had a swell time and will be back again next year.

 

robert

[tth2]

The Tec 27 was still nice at a VF level and was sold for $2200 to Burl Rowe, then of Houston Texas and became the very first comic book sold to go over the two grand level.

 

Burl Rowe was also involved in some of the early purchases from the Church/MH collection too, wasn't he? Is he still alive? What has happened to his collection?

[rob_react]

 

The collection began with some stuff missing mid 1939 with Detective 27 in there, but not the first two Supermans, for example. The Tec 27 was still nice at a VF level and was sold for $2200 to Burl Rowe, then of Houston Texas and became the very first comic book sold to go over the two grand level.

 

Would you be comfortable giving ballpark grades on a few more keys from the collection?

 

I'm looking for info on the following books:

 

Batman #1

Captain America Comics #1

Flash Comics #1

More Fun #52

More Fun #53

[lou_fine]

The Tec 27 was still nice at a VF level and was sold for $2200 to Burl Rowe, then of Houston Texas and became the very first comic book sold to go over the two grand level.

 

Burl Rowe was also involved in some of the early purchases from the Church/MH collection too, wasn't he? Is he still alive? What has happened to his collection?

 

tth2;

 

I believe the scenario was that Chuck didn't have the $2 grand to purchase the Church collection. As a result, he got in contact with Burl who was a major comic shop owner in Texas at the time. I believe the deal was that Burl would fund Chuck's purchase on the condition that he was compensated in the form of having first dibs at cherry-picking $10 grand of Church books based upon current OS guide prices.

 

I believe he ended up picking up complete runs of some GA books with nicer covers such as the Planets and Fox books.

 

I believe Burl is now long gone from the comic book field.

 

Any other rumours out there?

[*paull*]

Planets and Fox books? Boy, that was a wise choice.

[Forbush-Man]

Planets and Fox books? Boy, that was a wise choice.

 

Hindsight is everything, but these books are notorius for poor paper quality. He probably has the best examples of these books you could now find.

[BLBcomics-migration]

 

The collection began with some stuff missing mid 1939 with Detective 27 in there, but not the first two Supermans, for example. The Tec 27 was still nice at a VF level and was sold for $2200 to Burl Rowe, then of Houston Texas and became the very first comic book sold to go over the two grand level.

 

Would you be comfortable giving ballpark grades on a few more keys from the collection?

 

I'm looking for info on the following books:

 

Batman #1

Captain America Comics #1

Flash Comics #1

More Fun #52

More Fun #53

 

Hello

 

the ball park on the above books is VF/NM or better

 

It was basicly the 1939 books which showed reading stress marks

 

- by 1940 and especially by 1941, Tom Reilly was older by then, the books were consequently is better condition.

 

We never got the CA #1 - that was part of the original Timely Marvel batch gleaned out by Nick Marcus and Mike Manyak prior to any other dealings which went down.

 

Their small batch is notated in Matt Nelson's article in CBM 32 - those books i never got to know, nor the portions picked up by David Belmont and the other guy who was there that night which accounts for 2/3rds of the first batch.

 

We got the other 2/3rds all to our selves which contained the Tec 27 and Whiz #1 which Burl Rowe paid us $2200 and $2000 respectively at the time the world's record for comic book purchases. He bought the Whiz first, and then when we got the 3rd batch, he bought the Tec 27.

 

I have always estimated Tom was maybe 15 in mid 1939 and by 1942 he was 18, old enough to enlist following Pearl Harbor. I based this on the reading wear on the 1939 books as he learned to take care of them.

 

I never put any energy into re-locating the heirs once we handed over checks for the books back in 1973 in those 3 separate batches spread out over 3 months. Looking back now with the hind sight of 30 plus years and the interest in the collection, i wish i had.

 

best

 

robert beerbohm