adamstrange Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Nope, this isn't even remotely spamming. Please continue . . . Agreed. Would be wonderful to see them posted gradually in this thread. Lots of good history being provided in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moondog Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 AJD: Thanks for the info on Walter and Wal Granger. Fun how you can get a little dose of history here every day. I can't help but wonder if there are many more of the Australian editions circulating without anyone being aware of their origin. I'd love to find one of these copies from my own collection. Sometime in the mid to latter part of the nineties, Busted Flush and I went to a San Diego Con on a Friday. This is when you could still park within walking distance of the hall for ten dollars for the day and no one was at the show on a Friday. We wandered around the quiet hall and ran into a dealer selling a complete collection of MMM that had come out of the Disney Archives. They were amazing! Based on the timing and your description, I wonder if what you saw might have been Malcolm Willits' collection, especially if the books had no markings... Do you remember the dealer? I would like to find out the story of the Western Editorial copies someday. I actually visited Racine about five or six years ago while on a vacation in the area. I stopped by and tried to locate the old plant but couldn't. I saw a postman and asked him where it was and he pointed me in the correct direction. While no longer the home of Western Publishing the logo was still in view on the building entrance! That building was full of beautiful copies of great books for many years. This reminds me that I need to post the 1981 "Barks Collector" article that YellowKid gave me, describing possibly the best Disney comics collection I have ever heard of. Today, I was scanning the book below and thought I'd share one more. If anyone were to give me 30 seconds to explain why I collect MMMs, I'd hand them this copy and let that do the talking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Here's the Australian reprint of Uncle $crooge 21: and the indicia W.G. is Walter Granger, referenced earlier. The building at 149 Castlereagh St Sydney is still there, but the publishing of Australian Disney comics is long gone. Incidentally, the comment that early issues of MMM were exported to Australia is interesting. I've been poking through archives on and off the last few months and now know that American Comics were coming to Australia until the late 1930s until their importation was effectively banned (strictly speaking, the importers weren't allowed to purchase US dollars to buy them) as a protectionist move to support the local printing industry. Then WWII intervened and the regular publishing of new titles was banned, resulting in a slew of odd one shots and odd formats. I really must write the full story up and post it in the Australian GA thread. I still don't have a definitive date for the stopping of US imports - I'd love to know if it was before or after Action 1 and Tec 27. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Kid Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 There must have been a considerable number of file copies from various sources. Some have characteristic markings, including the Western stamp, but most of my best file copies are completely unmarked. The V2#1 above is also a file copy, it was just not designated as such by CGC. From my meetings with Yellow Kid, Malcolm Willits (I recorded several hours of our conversation on video), and collectors who were around in the 1970s, I've learned that Willits and Leonard Brown made a number of deals and trades with Disney after they founded Collector's Book Store in 1965. For example, Willits mentioned that they traded an extra copy of the "Mickey Mouse and the Mad Doctor" poster to Dave Smith, who started the Disney Archives around that time, in a lopsided deal where they received large amounts of quality material. In one or more of these deals, they received multiple file copies of Mickey Mouse Magazine. Willits picked some of the best of these for his personal collection, but many of the books I've been posting were duplicates that were for sale in CBS. All of these books were absorbed by long term collectors 30-40 years ago and did not surface again until 1. Willits' run was sold around 1995 and 2. I purchased the parallel run from CBS in 2003-04. The file copy run that sold at Sotheby's (or Christie's?) around 1994 must have been an entirely different collection, and the find you described was probably yet another. I would not be surprised if there are 10 or more runs of file copies floating around. This is of course the only reason that books like the one above exist at all. Sometime in the mid to latter part of the nineties, Busted Flush and I went to a San Diego Con on a Friday. This is when you could still park within walking distance of the hall for ten dollars for the day and no one was at the show on a Friday. We wandered around the quiet hall and ran into a dealer selling a complete collection of MMM that had come out of the Disney Archives. They were amazing! Dave Smith ran the Disney archives for many years before it became what it is today. Storage was pretty informal in the old days but that is no longer the case with archival storage the norm today. I don't think you would be able to make the kinds of deals that were made in the seventies anymore! I would like to find out the story of the Western Editorial copies someday. I actually visited Racine about five or six years ago while on a vacation in the area. I stopped by and tried to locate the old plant but couldn't. I saw a postman and asked him where it was and he pointed me in the correct direction. While no longer the home of Western Publishing the logo was still in view on the building entrance! That building was full of beautiful copies of great books for many years. As a favor to Malcolm Willits, I sold his MMM collection to Rob Rogovin, who in turn sold it to Bill Hughes. I later heard that Hughes was selling part, if not all, of the run and he might well be the one you saw in San Diego--the timing sounds about right. When I first received the set from Mal, I looked through it in awe as it was the nicest run I had ever seen. In fact, I came very close to buying it for myself and today wish that I had. However, I have to admit that with patience and purpose, tb has put together a nicer set. In fact, as he continues to upgrade issues whenever he gets the chance, which isn't often, it will get better all the time. Regarding the Western copies, I think those are the books that Dale Manesis brought into the hobby. There had been a rumor that Dale died a few years ago, but I heard from him a couple of months ago and I can confirm that he is still with us. Maybe someday he will share the complete story of that great find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Was / is Dale out of Wisconsin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 As a favor to Malcolm Willits, I sold his MMM collection to Rob Rogovin, who in turn sold it to Bill Hughes. I later heard that Hughes was selling part, if not all, of the run and he might well be the one you saw in San Diego--the timing sounds about right. When mention was made of MMMs at SD Con my mind instantly thought of Bill Hughes as I recall going through MMMs that he had and thought that it was at SD Con. I can't be completely confident because MMMs are not a primary focus and I remember better those comics that are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moondog Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Was / is Dale out of Wisconsin? That's Dale. He had connections at the Racine plant. His BLB collection is said to be the finest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Was / is Dale out of Wisconsin? That's Dale. He had connections at the Racine plant. His BLB collection is said to be the finest. OK :thumbsup: Does he still have his BLBs? I hear he has mostly no comics left. The guy whose collection I posted pics of a couple of years ago was essentially Dale's disciple / sidekick (though they are close in age) at Dale's store before going it alone. When Dale would pick the Timelys and DCs out of books coming in, the other guy would pick the esoteric books and continue to buy such at the Chicago shows. In the end, Dale has sold most / all while this guy has kept it all and his collection was fun to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moondog Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) Was / is Dale out of Wisconsin? That's Dale. He had connections at the Racine plant. His BLB collection is said to be the finest. OK :thumbsup: Does he still have his BLBs? I hear he has mostly no comics left. The guy whose collection I posted pics of a couple of years ago was essentially Dale's disciple / sidekick (though they are close in age) at Dale's store before going it alone. When Dale would pick the Timelys and DCs out of books coming in, the other guy would pick the esoteric books and continue to buy such at the Chicago shows. In the end, Dale has sold most / all while this guy has kept it all and his collection was fun to see. Ah! That's where I remember that fellow from, Michael. He worked with Dale! It's been bugging me since you posted those photos. I sold him a couple of books back in the old days of the Chicago Con. I haven't spoken to Dale in 10 years and have no idea what he has left. Glad to hear he's still alive. Is he still living here in Illinois? Edited February 8, 2012 by Moondog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 From "The Barks Collector" #18, July 1981, courtesy of YellowKid's amazing reference library. Worth a read if you are interested in the Dell file copies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pooroldman Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Thanks for the article, TB. I wasn't aware that there were file copies of Large Feature 16 & 20. I've never seen a copy of either in anything approaching high grade. The copies shown in the photo appear to be very nice indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Neat story, tb. The use of the term "Pristine Mint" really takes me back. Do you know if the collection in whole or part has moved on from Peter Sidelow? If he's still around, judging by the picture, he'd have to be getting on, if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moondog Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Thanks, tb. I haven't read that story in 30 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfcityduck Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Neat story, tb. The use of the term "Pristine Mint" really takes me back. Do you know if the collection in whole or part has moved on from Peter Sidelow? If he's still around, judging by the picture, he'd have to be getting on, if you know what I mean. I think that article misspells his name. I think it is Peter Sidlow of VCA Auctions. Perhaps Mitch would know, as my guess is that Theo knows him since he deals in those old coin-ops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Great article, I wish it had talked more about how Richard Foster obtained the file copies. Additionally, this wasn't the only trove of file copies to come out of Western; makes you wonder how the other sets ended up outside the gates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) What I took away from it is an example of how collections can be absorbed by a single owner for generations if he/she has no financial motivation to sell. As pooroldman pointed out, some of these issues have likely not surfaced in high grade since the article was printed. Edit: might as well add a pretty pic. Edited February 15, 2012 by tb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfcityduck Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 What I took away from it is an example of how collections can be absorbed by a single owner for generations if he/she has no financial motivation to sell. As pooroldman pointed out, some of these issues have likely not surfaced in high grade since the article was printed. Yep. I was talking to a guy who is only now beginning to liquidate his personnal collection as he prepares for retirement. He was telling me about the books he's only now bringing back into the light of day. One book he mentioned he bought was a high grade GA key obtained from Bruce Hamilton back in 1972 for $200 or so that he's held onto since then and is now a six figure book. It has not been CGC graded, but if it grades out as he evaluates it, and he's a good grader I think, than it will be tied for the top of census for that book. I would suspect that just given the demographics of the hobby, there are going to be lots of books like that emerging as the long time dealers/collectors finally started unloading their personal collections. We see it happening now even with some posters on this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50 CENT LONG BOX Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Here is one of mine: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 That is a great example of how the eye appeal of a book can be much better if the (in this case minute) flaws fall in areas outside the flow of the artwork. I'd always pick a copy like this over another copy with the same technical grade. My own scanning is going slowly, but here's another Mickey Mouse Mag. The white lower right corner is actually part of the artwork; it's cool when a beautiful book also happens to be strong technically. I hope to have some more back from CGC soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tth2 Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Gorgeous colors, gorgeous book! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
