TREASURE CHEST

[Harvey Dude]

Let me know if you plan on selling any. And what was the grade of that graded one. Nice looking book. How's the inside?

 

I am a collector so I believe I will hold onto them for now. Regarding the last posting (vol 17, issue 16),

I would put it in the 9.4-9.6 range. The only graded copy I have (vol 17, issue 2) grades at a CGG 9.0.

 

I found these pictures on the internet and they relate to the Treasure Chest Godless Communism

series (Volume 17), which I collect.

 

I believe this is all Crandall art.

 

 

 

 

[Harvey Dude]

Welcome to the boards Kaz.

[Jeffreykli]

Here are a few more from Mister_Comics:

 

 

 

[Jeffreykli]

A couple more...these are great covers!

 

 

[Harvey Dude]

Great book. I never saw that vol. 24/4 before. Like all the TCs, no problem finding the books

in low to mid grade but I suspect it will take some time to locate a high grade copy.

[Harvey Dude]

I seem to be running out of high grade books to post. I believe this one makes the cut.

 

 

[Harvey Dude]

 

I found another beauty.

 

 

[Larryw7]

May I ask how you came about them?

 

I too went to Catholic school and remember stacks of these books in the library. I never kept any

from those days. I acquired mine from a seller when I inquired if they had any of the TCs with

anti-communist themes. Since I corresponded through email, I don't know what other TC books he had.

I also went to Catholic school, but we never got any comic books that I can remember. I was in 1st grade in 1971, so perhaps they stopped distributing TC's around then.

[Mister_Comics]

I also went to Catholic school, but we never got any comic books that I can remember. I was in 1st grade in 1971, so perhaps they stopped distributing TC's around then.

 

That was the last year for TC.

I believe you couldn't get TC's until you were in 3rd or 4th grade.

 

They probably didn't want some little kid that couldn't read, writing and cutting out pictures out of these TREASURES. Ya gotta keep um in perfect shape, don't ya know.

 

On that Vol. 24 #4, the one with the puzzle on the cover. I like how it says on the bottom to open the cover flat to do the puzzle. WHY? The kids were writing all over the cover anyway.

[Scrooge]

Here's another Graham Hunter from 10 year's prior: March 1952. Picked it up for $2 at an antique store.

 

[ecfanman]

I am surprised no one has mentioned the Sept 12, 1968 issue. There is a two page article in it about collecting comics. "There's Treasure in Old Comics". The back cover is a full page "ad" offering $15 to the first person to send in a copy of the first issue of Treasure Chest. (That was a pretty significant award at that time - way more than the book was worth to collectors.)

 

I'm posting a scan of the back cover.

 

[Mister_Comics]

I am surprised no one has mentioned the Sept 12, 1968 issue. There is a two page article in it about collecting comics. "There's Treasure in Old Comics". The back cover is a full page "ad" offering $15 to the first person to send in a copy of the first issue of Treasure Chest. (That was a pretty significant award at that time - way more than the book was worth to collectors.)

 

I'm posting a scan of the back cover.

 

 

Actually I was going to get to this. You beat me to it, but thats ok. Thanks for posting that back cover. Here's a little interesting thing about that.

 

It was common practice that PFLAUM PUBLISHERS would only print the amount of comics that were subscribed to. If, forinstance, only 1000 comics had been subscribed to. They would only print the 1000. PFLAUM didn't want to have any more printed that were needed. PFLAUM didn't even have extras for their own business. Now the funny thing is during the early volumes, they printed bunches. Probably because TC were new and every kid wanted them. During the 50's they kind of boomed again, increased sales. As the 70's approched subscriptions started to die out. So in all actuality the last few volumes are more scarce then the older volumes. There really isn't as many comics out there of the last two volumes as you would think. You can really see this by the lack of sales of the last few volumes on ebay. Maybe someday the OS guide will reflect this. But since they are not aware, I doubt they will make the corrections.

 

BTW; the 1st issue that PFLAUM was offering the reward for. Well they never did get a copy. At least that is what is believed. The reason is because if they did get a copy from someone, they were going to print in TC the persons name and about the book. They never did print anything more about this 1st issue. It was a gallent try that didn't work for them. Too bad.

[Harvey Dude]

It was common practice that PFLAUM PUBLISHERS would only print the amount of comics that

were subscribed to. ... So in all actuality the last few volumes are more scarce then the older volumes.

There really isn't as many comics out there of the last two volumes as you would think. You

can really see this by the lack of sales of the last few volumes on ebay. Maybe someday the OS

guide will reflect this. But since they are not aware, I doubt they will make the corrections.

 

To keep costs down, the covers were initially printed on the same stock as the contents.

They changed to slick format in 1948. Another way the publisher kept costs down was to issue

subscriptions at the Catholic Schools. The last issues were being published by T.S. Denison and Company

 

There are probably an abundance of TC books stuffed in Catholic homes but I still believe they do

not surface too often in high grade. The one-shot Catechetical Guild material, such as

"Is This Tomorrow" were distributed in the Catholic school system (circa 4 million printed)

and this book is seldom seen in high grade.

 

 

Here is a good site about Treasure Chest Comics.

 

 

 

American Catholic History Research Center

[ComicBookGuy]

BTW; the 1st issue that PFLAUM was offering the reward for. Well they never did get a copy. At least that is what is believed. The reason is because if they did get a copy from someone, they were going to print in TC the persons name and about the book. They never did print anything more about this 1st issue. It was a gallent try that didn't work for them. Too bad.

 

How hard is the first issue to find now? For example, has anyone seen one up for sale? If so, what kind of shape was it in and what kind of price did it command? I noticed that a total of ten copies of Treasure Chest have been slabbed to date. Surely this is evidence of their scarcity in high grade.

Joe

[Harvey Dude]

Great book Scrooge.

[Larryw7]

one-shot Catechetical Guild material, such as

"Is This Tomorrow" were distributed in the Catholic school system (circa 4 million printed)

and this book is seldom seen in high grade

 

My father remembers getting Is This Tomorrow and some of the other Catechetical Guild books, such as the one about Cardinal Mindzenty, when he was in grade school.

[ComicBookGuy]

Here is a good site about Treasure Chest Comics.

American Catholic History Research Center

 

Thanks for sharing that, Harvey Dude.

Here is an article from that site that I found informative:

 

The Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact was a Catholic comic book fondly remembered by generations of parochial school students. It was not a prominent comic book nor distinguished by special quality but it was perhaps the longest running American comic book to make extensive use of non-fiction. Comics have generally been criticized as vulgar and violent and by the mid Twentieth century they were being blamed for everything from juvenile delinquency to poor vision. One response was to create a wholesome comic book from a source, publisher George A. Pflaum, that would never be suspected of publishing anything else. He was well known to Catholics for producing religiously inspired reading material for the entire family. He began to publish Treasure Chest on a bi-weekly schedule, starting with a cover date of March 12, 1946. It was not distributed on newsstands but available by subscription only through the Catholic school system. Mailing costs were kept down by distributing subscription copies in the classroom. It was not published during vacation months, except in 1966 and 1967, when there were six issue Summer editions. An early cost saver was printing the cover on the same grade of paper as the inside, so the whole package could be done in one press run rather than two, though slick covers were added in 1948.

 

Treasure Chest presented a wide range of mainstream talent, including Bernard Baily, Bob Powell, Joe Sinnott, Frank Borth, and Reed Crandall. Even Graham Ingels, known for his grisly artwork in horror comics, did some stories. Despite its clean image, Treasure Chest contained a fair amount of sensational material, such as its "Godless Communism" series loaded with death and destruction. However, there were few complaints since these unsavory elements supported a popular viewpoint. Most of its contents though, were as innocent as the comic's reputation, with the bulk consisting of stories relating to sports, school, Saints, and other harmless entertainment. Eventually, Treasure Chest began to fade as, in the 1960s, the summer editions ended after only two years, and the overall publication became monthly though the size of issues doubled. By the time it ceased publication with Volume 27, No. 8, July 1972, it was being published by T.S. Denison and Company in Minnesota. Pflaum changed it name to Pflaum Standard but no publications under this name after 1974 have been located. T.S. Denison became part of Instructional Fair to form Instructional Fair/T.S. Denison Publishing, which is currently part of McGraw Hill Childrens' Division. With about 500 issues overall, the Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact ranks within the top percentile of American comic books, despite the fact that today most comics readers have never heard of it.

[Harvey Dude]

How hard is the first issue to find now? For example, has anyone seen one up for sale?

If so, what kind of shape was it in and what kind of price did it command?

Joe

 

The slabbed CGC 8.0 was up for sale several years ago. I want to say it was sold on eBay

but I don't recollect. At that time, I really never thought the book was hard to find so I did not bid.

With circa 500 issues of TC Comics published, I am surprised so few copies have been slabbed.

[Scrooge]

Harvey Dude and all,

 

is it really this surprising? According to Valiantman's website, there are only a total 11 CGCed copies from Pflaum (Thanks Greg). Honestly, where's / who's the demand for these books? I am not trying to be glib but who cares? Just the few of us here discussing these books?

 

Going back to the difficulty in finding copies, last year at the Wizard Chicago Con, there was a booth where on one side there was nothing but Treasure Chests, boxes and boxes in chronoligical order (Can't remember whose booth but I was quite surprised to see it there to be honest!). I stopped as I am still looking for a copy of v.7 #14 (Early March 1952) for my collection. It did seem that most of the 60's and above years were in the boxes and far less earlier, certainly no to few early copies from the early fifties. I mention this because it contradicts what you knowledgeable (sp?) guys are saying. I love that kind of tidbit information. Thanks for the enlightment on this run's scarcity.

 

Going back to the "Who cares?" comment, I think that TCs suffer from a severe lack of coverage. This thread is showing us the gems hidden in this 500 long run: anti-communist (I esp. love that striking red cover), industry "in-joke" cover, ... + it is hard for us to know who worked on what issues. TCs need a book like W.B. Jones' on Classics Illustrated that include a blow by blow account of who worked (or re-worked) on which story. Then, I can see a renewed interest in them. Thoughts anyone?

[Harvey Dude]

Honestly, where's / who's the demand for these books? I am not trying to be glib but who cares?

 

Going back to the difficulty in finding copies, ... It did seem that most of the 60's and above years

were in the boxes and far less earlier, certainly no to few early copies from the early fifties.

I mention this because it contradicts what you knowledgeable (sp?) guys are saying. I love

that kind of tidbit information. Thanks for the enlightment on this run's scarcity.

 

I think what you are saying is consistent with all of the aforementioned comments.

There are a plethora of Treasure Chest issues out there but do you really see an overabundance

in VF or better grade? Regarding demand, it is not just limited to TC comics.

I still pick up HG (9.0 or above) unslabbed Dagwood comics for less than guide. That is just the

nature of supply and demand. Personally, I hope the demand does stay low

so I can still pick up high grade examples within the price I am willing to pay.