Fiction house anyone? 27 27

[MrBedrock]

About a week later I got a call from one of my managers that a couple was there with a run of Rangers 2-9 and he had made them an offer which they accepted. A week or so after that the same couple contacted him again and brought in most of the run of Hit Comics from 1 to 40. At this point I started to put 2 and two together and asked them if these had come from Janet Steele. They said that they had done some roof work for her and  that she had given them some comics, some books, and bags full of VHS tapes. They said they thought they had more comics and would let me know. Unfortunately I never heard from them again.

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by MrBedrock

[MrBedrock]

I am hoping to hear from Jim but my guess is that Henry Steele was sending him books prior to his death. I have no doubt that Henry had purchased books over the years from Jim. Mr. Steele obviously never told his wife or kids anything about the value of his collection so when he passed his wife knew nothing about what to do with it. A shame really, as she could have been taken severe advantage of and we may never know the truth.

[Spyder!]

Thanks for sharing. Makes me sad . He had a nice collection and I wish his family could have benefited in the end. 

[Miamiknight3434]

Thanks for sharing @MrBedrock

[lou_fine]

On 5/11/2022 at 1:40 PM, MrBedrock said:

She was offering to pay us to clean out a room of her house. She said there were stack of old newspaper strips and we were welcome to them.

 

On 5/11/2022 at 1:40 PM, MrBedrock said:

As I said, she was planning to pay us to clean the stuff out.

 

On 5/11/2022 at 1:51 PM, MrBedrock said:

They said that they had done some roof work for her and  that she had given them some comics, some books, and bags full of VHS tapes.

Just imagine in this day and age with all of the ongong news stories about collectibles being worth big money, and yet, she had absolutely no idea at all and was actually willing to pay to have it taken away.    

Clearly there must not have been any communication at all between Janet Steele and her husband when it came to his love for his treasured comic books.  

[Robot Man]

My wife and my family have no interest in my collection nor any exact value of it. My wife has been a high end antique dealer and my kids were raised in a house of collectors so they are far from clueless. But I have catalogued it all on spreadsheets. I have also given them specific instructions on who to call when the time to sell comes. Very sad that Mrs Steele had no idea but she obviously had no interest.

Props to Mr. Bedrock and Jim Payette for being fair and honest with the Steeles.

And what an amazing run of Hit! 

[Robot Man]

Planet Stories #2 Spring 1940

[Foxtrot70]

On 5/9/2022 at 12:43 PM, mustang33guy said:

Hey everyone! 

Got this nice low grade copy of one of my favorite issues in the Fight run at Little Giant a couple weeks ago.

I got it from Jim Payette and noticed it had this Certificate of Provenance on the back of it. From an original owner like collection from Dr. Henry Binford Steele. 

Was just wondering if anyone else has any other knowledge on this collection or even have their own copies from it. Thanks! 

Fight Comics #10

 

I have some Steele collection books.  Jumbo 9 and 13.   Some doctor who collected since childhood and held books for years.   The estate asked to have certs made as kind of memorial to him.   Definitely not high grade material 

[Robot Man]

Sometimes the grade is not as important as the love and dedication that is put into  a collection…

[mustang33guy]

On 5/12/2022 at 1:09 PM, Robot Man said:

Sometimes the grade is not as important as the love and dedication that is put into  a collection…

When I was at the Little Giant show in New Hampshire and looking through the boxes at Jim Payette's booth, there were many basket cases of Fiction House books that I could've picked up for a song that belonged to this collection.

A lot of them may not have been up to my own personal standard for acquisition. But one thing was for sure and that was that the collection, whoever it belonged to (I hadn't known about Henry Steele yet) was definitely someone who appreciated and loved these books. I was very happy to own a piece of that and it was just a bonus that one of the books happened to be an issue I had been on the hunt for. Sure it's not Promise Collection condition, but certainly good enough for me given the scarcity and for the price I got it for.

Again if I had known about the collection before hand (the Provenance COA was on the back and I never bothered to look before I purchased ) I would've gotten a few more.

Oh well maybe next time!

[Robot Man]

On 5/12/2022 at 10:33 AM, mustang33guy said:

When I was at the Little Giant show in New Hampshire and looking through the boxes at Jim Payette's booth, there were many basket cases of Fiction House books that I could've picked up for a song that belonged to this collection.

A lot of them may not have been up to my own personal standard for acquisition. But one thing was for sure and that was that the collection, whoever it belonged to (I hadn't known about Henry Steele yet) was definitely someone who appreciated and loved these books. I was very happy to own a piece of that and it was just a bonus that one of the books happened to be an issue I had been on the hunt for. Sure it's not Promise Collection condition, but certainly good enough for me given the scarcity and for the price I got it for.

Again if I had known about the collection before hand (the Provenance COA was on the back and I never bothered to look before I purchased ) I would've gotten a few more.

Oh well maybe next time!

He has quite a few listed on his website and not all are low grade…

[Tri-Color Brian]

I bought 2 of the Steele books from Jim Jum12 on the boards.  He bought them from Payette off the website I assume.  Payette's grading is so strict that I didn't realize how nice the books would look until I got them from Jim Jum...these two were purchased off the stands by Henry Steele.

Dr. Steele...

 

 

 

[MattTheDuck]

On 5/14/2022 at 8:35 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

I bought 2 of the Steele books from Jim Jum12 on the boards.  He bought them from Payette off the website I assume.  Payette's grading is so strict that I didn't realize how nice the books would look until I got them from Jim Jum...these two were purchased off the stands by Henry Steele.

Dr. Steele...

 

 

 

That Wings is stunning!

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 5/14/2022 at 8:41 PM, MattTheDuck said:

That Wings is stunning!

It's a little deceptive...it has several pieces of tape on a couple inside pages...BUT, the tape is authentic, yellowed 1950s scotch tape, so it might actually make the book more valuable... 

[Robot Man]

So happy to greet my mailman today. I have bought very few books this year. I love this issue. Might be my favorite issue. This is my 3rd upgrade and probably my last. Such a tough one.  

[Miamiknight3434]

On 5/19/2022 at 6:05 PM, Robot Man said:

So happy to greet my mailman today. I have bought very few books this year. I love this issue. Might be my favorite issue. This is my 3rd upgrade and probably my last. Such a tough one.  

Great pick up RM. I will gladly take your under copy when you ready to sell. Congratulations again amazing book

[Spyder!]

On 5/19/2022 at 3:05 PM, Robot Man said:

So happy to greet my mailman today. I have bought very few books this year. I love this issue. Might be my favorite issue. This is my 3rd upgrade and probably my last. Such a tough one.  

Very nice! That was been one of the hardest issues to locate in my experience. Love it!

[Electron]

I'm 100% against this thread being on page 3...bumping it with two recent purchases for my Rangers run. 

[Spyder!]

On 6/18/2022 at 2:33 PM, Electron said:

I'm 100% against this thread being on page 3...bumping it with two recent purchases for my Rangers run. 

Bravo! Wonderful books and excellent page quality on both! 

[Electron]

Thanks Jared! Very happy to find them both with nice pages.