Accuracy of Gerber and Overstreet Scarcity Designations 8 8

[Larryw7]

I believe these are both Gerber 7's:

 

 

Excuse the Heritage stuff, I've never gotten around to making my own scan!

[nearmint]

No, I took a look at the Church copy in San Diego last year, but I was about $8500 short of the $9500 price tag.

 

In my opinion, that book is much easier to find than the three books posted above.

[Larryw7]

.

 

This book was undergraded, IMHO. It's really nice.

[ghoulaid]

Would be great if we could add to this thread any images of books from our collections that are listed as Gerber 8 and above. Ok, if its a really, really great book, we'll allow a 7.

 

But ... but ... if I show my Gerber 7's and above, then everyone will know they exist and they might lose some of their mystique. None of my books have been CGC'd by the way. and they've all been off the market for 25 years or more.

[Scrooge]

No kidding. I'd buy books in G- all day long if they'd have as much eye appeal.

 

Gorgeous classic GA cover. Thanks for sharing.

[Forbush-Man]

do a search, the gerber high scarcity books have been shown before (also i believe there to be a thread for the no shows as well!!!!)

 

Well I don't want to repeat what has already been done. We can just keep this thread to discussion. My relative inexperience with the boards has been revealed!

 

Here you go, Mark! Gerber No-Shows Thread

[Silver Surfer]

A topic I am fascinated about. Do the Gerber Photo Journals go into scarcity ratings or is that covered in a different book?

[Forbush-Man]

A topic I am fascinated about. Do the Gerber Photo Journals go into scarcity ratings or is that covered in a different book?

 

They rate relative scarcity on a scale of 1-10, 1 being extremley common (Spawn #1, for example) to 10 being "Does it even exist?"

[esquirecomics]

Here you go, Mark! Gerber No-Shows Thread

 

Nice thread. Did anyone find the thread for the scarce books?

[batman_fan]

I personnally don't think anyone should consider the Gerber or Overstreet to be the ultimate source on book scarcity. I look at Gerber as a snapshot in time with estimates based on extremely limited data. Overstreet is more of a "living" document, but it is very slow to update the data as more information comes to light. I personally think it will take many more years to gain a reasonable picture of the true rarity of many books. There are a lot of collectors out there who are never counted in any concensus so they will have to sell off their collections for their books to be counted. I also think "cool" cover books appear to be scarcer than they really are because collectors buy the books and keep them, giving the illusion they are scarce. I bought my Wonderworld 7 in 1989 and I still have it. I think over time CGC will give the collecting community a much better snapshot, but it does have an added skew since books must be deemed "Slab Worthy", so maybe lower dollar, low grade books will not be counted in the concensus.

 

Actually, I was AMAZED when CGC released the Concensus info for FREE. I expected a monthly fee for accessing it since that info is VERY valuable.

 

Personally, I would never collect based on the rarity information listed in Gerber or Overstreet. Still go for what I like not what someone claims is scarce.

[RareHighGrade]

Nice thread. Did anyone find the thread for the scarce books?

 

This is probably the thread that you are looking for:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=539491&an=0&page=2#539491

[*paull*]

Here's a Gerber 7.... Voodoo Annual in about VG- condition. I've seen a few in VG-, but nothing for sale that was better. This book is _scarce_ in high grade.

 

Edited February 11, 2005 by paull

[esquirecomics]

Feel free to shamlessly post your rare goodies..

 

Actually, I am more ashamed to admit I don't have many really, really rare books, i.e., Gerber 8-10.

 

As far as I know, I have the following Gerber 8s (happy to post any if someone requests):

 

Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics 1 CGC 9.0

More Fun Comics 52 CGC 5.5

More Fun Comics 56 CGC 8.0

New Book of Comics 1 CGC 8.0

 

And I have the following Gerber 7s (also happy to post if requested):

 

Adventure 42 CGC 6.0

All American 16 CGC 4.5

Circus the Comic Riot 1 CGC 8.5

Green Lantern 1 CGC 9.0

New York Worlds Fair 1940 CGC 7.0

Star Spangled 1 CGC 8.5 Rockford

 

I used to have Mystery Comics #4 (William Wise & Co, 1944), which Gerber does not even give a SI #. I traded it though. Anyone have an idea as to its scarcity? Will I be kicking myself?

[rjpb]

I used to have Mystery Comics #4 (William Wise & Co, 1944), which Gerber does not even give a SI #. I traded it though. Anyone have an idea as to its scarcity? Will I be kicking myself?

 

 

Don't worry, it's pretty common as far as GA go.

[Forbush-Man]

I used to have Mystery Comics #4 (William Wise & Co, 1944), which Gerber does not even give a SI #. I traded it though. Anyone have an idea as to its scarcity? Will I be kicking myself?

 

I'd start kicking myself, if I were you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tb]

The one area I feel qualified to comment on is Disney comics. As far as I've been able to determine, there is a total of three Gerber 8s and one 9 within this category. I have posted scans of two of the 8s and the special edition of WDC&S #4 (a CGC 2.0 copy of which sold on eBay for around $2,100 this past week) recently, so I'd like to talk about up the last, Mickey Mouse Magazine Series I, V1#1 from 1933.

 

This book is actually so rare that I can't provide a scan of an original copy. There are a few low quality pictures of later reprints floating around on the web, but here's a V1#5 from the same series:

 

 

Series I ran nine issues before it was replaced by the much more common Series II. Both these runs were dairy giveaways and so completely different from the later "Series III", which began in 1935, that they really only have the title in common. I don't collect the first two series myself since I don't consider them to be comic books.

 

In my career as a collector, I have seen a total of 10 Series I copies offered for sale. One V1#1 failed to sell the week before I first looked at eBay in 1999 (sigh), I purchased a V1#3 in 1991, and a set of 7 copies (most low-grade or incomplete) sold on eBay in 2001 for $5,000. The 10th is shown above. Gerber managed to round up one (1) issue from Series I for his book - the first eight spaces are blank.

 

Aside from pure scarcity, the one remarkable thing about Series I, which in my mind is by far the most embarrassing Disney publication ever to see the light of day, is the bizarre cover art. The contents of these books appears to be targeted at 4-7 year-old kids. If any experts in marketing can explain what the editors might have been thinking when they selected the V1#5 cover, I'd be very curious to hear about it? The covers became much more streamlined from Series II. The moire pattern on the chair is not a scanning artifact; it is a result of the printing process and lack of quality control.

 

While Gerber's scarcity index generally appears somewhat arbitrary to me, I think the 8s and 9s are right on for Disneys. The only change I'd make would be to give all 9 issues from MM Mag Series I an 8 or 9.

[Crowzilla]

Here's a Gerber 7.... Voodoo Annual in about VG- condition. I've seen a few in VG-, but nothing for sale that was better. This book is _scarce_ in high grade.

 

I used to own the CGC high copy of this (7.5), sold it to Metropolis a few years back.

Very nice book and it was the best copy I saw in nearly 15 years.

[Harvey Dude]

And I have the following Gerber 7s (also happy to post if requested):

 

Adventure 42 CGC 6.0

All American 16 CGC 4.5

Circus the Comic Riot 1 CGC 8.5

Green Lantern 1 CGC 9.0

New York Worlds Fair 1940 CGC 7.0

Star Spangled 1 CGC 8.5 Rockford

 

I would love to see some of your books. Post away.

[skybolt]

And I have the following Gerber 7s (also happy to post if requested):

 

Adventure 42 CGC 6.0

All American 16 CGC 4.5

Circus the Comic Riot 1 CGC 8.5

Green Lantern 1 CGC 9.0

New York Worlds Fair 1940 CGC 7.0

Star Spangled 1 CGC 8.5 Rockford

 

I would love to see some of your books. Post away.

 

Me too.

 

I doubt if any of my GA collection would even receive a 6 Gerber rating.

[Larryw7]

Here's a Gerber 7.... Voodoo Annual in about VG- condition. I've seen a few in VG-, but nothing for sale that was better. This book is _scarce_ in high grade.

 

 

That's a great book! The other VOODOO annual seems to be a bit more plentiful, this one is very hard to get!