Jon Berk collection to be auctioned. 18 18

[batman_fan]

1 hour ago, jbcomicbox said:

 

I have to start here because I have little info of Green Giant.  

 

I know I did it as a partial review:  I’d like to add my two cents to the discussion about which came first Marvel Comics #1 or Motion Picture Funnies Weekly.   In the Submariner story in MPFW the imfamous box with the language “continued next week” appears.   When reproduced in Marvel Comics #1 the language is omitted

 but the box remains.  Does it not make sense since the box blocks artwork in the panel (which does not  appear  in Marvel Comics) and because the box only serves the purpose of telling the reader that the story continues “next week” (not next month), that the story had to have been prepared for the prospective “weekly “ promotional comic?  Regardless which saw the light of day first it is reasonable to conclude that the Submariner story was intended to first appear in this prospective weekly publication.

          It is stated in  the Guide that the “American Ace” appeared in Marvel Mystery #3.  Not so.  Six of the seven pages appearing in MPFW  appeared in Marvel Mystery #2. (December 1939)

         “Spy Ring” featuring “The Wasp”  in MPFW appears (later?!) in Silver Streak Comics #1. (December 1939)  To my knowledge this has not been reported.  It is interesting to note that the Silver Streak  comic has a full page ad for Marvel Mystery #2.  Does all of this indicate some kind of tie between the books, the publishers, the creators?

         “Fun-o-graph” in MPFW appears on the back cover on another promotional comic book, Green Giant Comics. (1940)

         “Kar Toon and his copy Kat” by Filchock in MPFW is also reproduced in Green Giant Comics.

         I have not been able to place “Jolly the Newsie” or the seventh page of “American Ace” yet.

         Finally, although  it may be coincidental the size of MPFW is identical to Little Giant Comics #4 and Little Giant Detective Funnies #4 which was produced earlier in 1939 by Centaur probably with the help of Jacquet and Funnies Inc.

        

OTHER LITTLE ITEMS ON GREEN GIANT

 

I purchased my copy in MAY 1981 from John Snyder.  (Early on, John was my "mentor" to a large extent.  John was fantastic in introducing me to Centaurs and introducing me to certain comics, and, with the input of Steve Geppi, he induced  me to obtain my  first Church books.  Only when you observed a Church copy up close did one realize how special these books ARE.  I cannot say enough about the guidance they showed me.  Certainly, they were special advocates of comic books as comic books and as a hobby and entertainment. The made available at one point or another Church books done by Fine with Quality and Fox publications.  I will always be thankful to them for the opportunities they gave me.

I am sure I must of done a more detail critique of Green Giant somewhere but I do not know now.....It is a special book.   jb

 

Thanks for the info Jon  

[lou_fine]

5 hours ago, jbcomicbox said:

8 hours ago, Gotham Kid said:

Hello Jon,

lou_fine showed me some pics taken of your books in a PM thread (prior to the start of the CC auction) and I noticed one with a Detective 38. I am happy to have won your copy of Detective 29.

As I did not see the 38 go to auction, was wondering if you kept it or if it eventually will go to auction at a later stage.

Thank you.

- Peter

The 29 is special book with a great cover..No I am on the bottom of the barrel with 'Tec books..........

I assume this is the picture of the 'Tec 38 that Peter was talking about:

On 2/27/2017 at 9:02 AM, ciorac said:

 

 

 

Since you are already at the bottom of the barrel with respect to your 'Tec books, I assume you probably sold it off to fund some of your subsequent OA purchases. 

[Gotham Kid]

http://www.wwcomics.com/comicdetail.asp?Product_ID=MysteryMenComics_6_45154

http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=713151

I guess WorldWide must think that the (just ended) auction hammer price wasn't truly reflective of FMV and has adjusted accordingly. I guess it's symptomatic of some dealers.

 

Edited July 15, 2017 by Gotham Kid

[lou_fine]

3 hours ago, Gotham Kid said:

http://www.wwcomics.com/comicdetail.asp?Product_ID=MysteryMenComics_6_45154

http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=713151

I guess WorldWide must think that the (just ended) auction hammer price wasn't truly reflective of FMV and has adjusted accordingly. I guess it's symptomatic of some dealers.

 

The part I don't understand is why he still has it in the CGC Jon Berk designated slab, similar to his still unsold slabbed Church copy of Fantastic Comics 12.   

Especially when virtually all of the Berk books which he has cracked out and listed raw have already resold at huge premiums or even multiples of what he had paid for them.  Even for a formerly restored Amazing-Man which is now an unrestored raw copy since the color touch has since been scrapped off, and yet the grading is still touching on the same condition level and the PQ has also improved at the same time.   

Since virtually everybody here vouches for Ritter's accuracy when it comes to grading raw books, I am starting to think that CGC was most likely leaning a bit towards the tight side when it came to grading Berk's books.  It's probably psychological since it's easy to become a bit jaded when you see so many nice quality books at one time.  I know that my books were certainly nice relative to grade, but I am probably not the best person to ask when it comes to graded books since I really don't have that many. 

Edited July 15, 2017 by lou_fine

[Sqeggs]

2 hours ago, Gotham Kid said:

http://www.wwcomics.com/comicdetail.asp?Product_ID=MysteryMenComics_6_45154

http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=713151

I guess WorldWide must think that the (just ended) auction hammer price wasn't truly reflective of FMV and has adjusted accordingly. I guess it's symptomatic of some dealers.

 

I saw that.  On that one, his price is so high that I find it hard to believe he'll attract any reasonable counters.

Maybe he just wants to have it on his site for the attention it will attract, with the expectation that the market might catch up with his asking price a year or two down the road. 

[rjpb]

On 7/14/2017 at 9:59 AM, lou_fine said:

 

Actually, the one that I was thinking much more about was the All-Select 4:

CC Auction Scan:  http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?referral=EAlist&id=716330&title=ALLSELECT COMICS

World Wide Scan:  http://www.wwcomics.com/comicdetail.asp?Product_ID=AllSelectComics_4_58197

Clear evidence to me that an improperly encased book in one of these new fangled CGC case holders along with a poor scan taken by the auction house at the wrong angle does not stand a chance against a book which has been released from its imprisoned tomb to revert back to its all-natural photogenic self in all its glory and wonder. 

For the life of me, I cannot think of any other explanation as to how an overpriced CGC 0.5 Poor graded book can change into a underpriced Qualified Fine book just like that.   

.5 for books missing centerfolds is a useless grade for evaluating a comic. A beat rag that would barely be a 1.0 complete, will get the same same grade as an otherwise high grade appearing copy for missing the same centerfold. Incomplete with a qualified grade is a more accurate way to describe such books. 

[lou_fine]

On 7/15/2017 at 9:53 AM, Sqeggs said:

On 7/15/2017 at 7:18 AM, Gotham Kid said:

http://www.wwcomics.com/comicdetail.asp?Product_ID=MysteryMenComics_6_45154

http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=713151

I guess WorldWide must think that the (just ended) auction hammer price wasn't truly reflective of FMV and has adjusted accordingly. I guess it's symptomatic of some dealers.

 

I saw that.  On that one, his price is so high that I find it hard to believe he'll attract any reasonable counters.

Maybe he just wants to have it on his site for the attention it will attract, with the expectation that the market might catch up with his asking price a year or two down the road. 

+1

That was also my line of thinking when I saw his $22K price tag on the book.

Have always loved the use of colors on this book here, but it certainly did not help the valuation when they reattributed the cover artwork from Fine to George Tuska for this issue #6, as it used to guide for more than its surrounding issues.  Still, a very beautiful cover for sure and also interesting to note that the detailed line work for the character's feature at the bottom left of the cover sure seems similar to the alien's facial features in the foreground for Fine's cover for Jumbo Comics 11. 

Now, if this was a Church copy of Mystery Men 7 in the same condition grade or even at CGC 9.4, I think it would have no problem at all selling for the $22K asking figure here.  Especially since MM 7 is the first Blue Beetle cover, and along with Mystery Men 11 are the 2 toughest of the early MM books with the more popular style of cover artwork to find in grade.  And as clearly evident by the fact that Berk's Church copies for both of these issues were only graded as CGC 8.0 and CGC 7.0 respectively, when almost every other issue of the Church MM run were well into the 9's in terms of condition grade. 

[lou_fine]

On 7/15/2017 at 10:46 AM, rjpb said:

On 7/14/2017 at 9:59 AM, lou_fine said:

 

Actually, the one that I was thinking much more about was the All-Select 4:

CC Auction Scan:  http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?referral=EAlist&id=716330&title=ALLSELECT COMICS

World Wide Scan:  http://www.wwcomics.com/comicdetail.asp?Product_ID=AllSelectComics_4_58197

 

.5 for books missing centerfolds is a useless grade for evaluating a comic. A beat rag that would barely be a 1.0 complete, will get the same same grade as an otherwise high grade appearing copy for missing the same centerfold. Incomplete with a qualified grade is a more accurate way to describe such books. 

+1

In complete agreement with you here that an 0.5 universal grade is both useless and misleading when it comes to an otherwise high grade book with a missing interior page or a clipped coupon. 

This is the perfect and ideal time when a Qualified grade should be used in conjunction with a label note detailing the missing "piece" since this would impart much more information along with a more relevant and accurate grade to all parties involved. 

In the particular example of the All-Select 4 here, however, it would certainly not appear to be a Qualified Fine condition book in its original state before Ritter "fixed" it up.  Yet, at the same time, it's probably not a 0.5 graded Poor copy either.  

[Point Five]

Just a heads-up, a small handful of Berk books were recently added to Superworld's online inventory. Nothing earth-shattering but a couple of neat ones.

 

[piper]

2 minutes ago, Point Five said:

Just a heads-up, a small handful of Berk books were recently added to Superworld's online inventory. Nothing earth-shattering but a couple of neat ones.

 

I can't believe they are for sale this quickly after the auction.

[Johnny545]

34 minutes ago, piper said:

I can't believe they are for sale this quickly after the auction.

There are a lot of books in that auction I think some of us are wishing we could have taken another swing at.  

There was some petering out at the end of the auction IMHO.

Also a lot of books would have been the focal point in a smaller auction and sold for more, but were drowned out by the volume.

In hindsight I see deals on a lot of books.

Here's to hoping more get listed.

Edited July 17, 2017 by Johnny545

[lou_fine]

4 hours ago, piper said:

4 hours ago, Point Five said:

Just a heads-up, a small handful of Berk books were recently added to Superworld's online inventory. Nothing earth-shattering but a couple of neat ones.

 

I can't believe they are for sale this quickly after the auction.

Don't understand why you would be surprised by this since Ritter's Worldwide Comics website has already have a whole slew of them listed and resold already, even while many of the board members are still waiting to receive their order of Berk books from CC. 

[lou_fine]

4 hours ago, Johnny545 said:

4 hours ago, piper said:

I can't believe they are for sale this quickly after the auction.

There are a lot of books in that auction I think some of us are wishing we could have taken another swing at.  

There was some petering out at the end of the auction IMHO.

Also a lot of books would have been the focal point in a smaller auction and sold for more, but were drowned out by the volume.

In hindsight I see deals on a lot of books.

Here's to hoping more get listed.

As I've said from when this auction was first announced, this result was totally expected due to both the massive quantity and quality of the collection.

As such, dealers have always used these auctions as one of their main sources to acquire books which they believe are possibly flying under the radar and which they hope will sell for more money on their own websites.  Nothing at all different about this auction here, except that the quantity of the quality books being offered probably presented them with many more opportunities to snag what they believe to be under priced books. 

Especially with collectors pockets only so deep that if one book started to go beyond their price range, they probably simply stopped bidding and saved their money for the next book that they wanted since there were just so many of them in this auction here.  I believe in a smaller regular auction, bidders would have gone a lot harder for these books since there was not really that much more if they passed on the current book they were bidding on. 

It should be pointed out that I am not referring to the headlines grabbing highlight books here, but more so to the non-highlight run books of which there were just so many of quality in this auction here.

[MrBedrock]

6 hours ago, lou_fine said:

 

It should be pointed out that I am not referring to the headlines grabbing highlight books here, but more so to the non-highlight run books of which there were just so many of quality in this auction here.

Thanks for pointing that out. 

[Sqeggs]

1 hour ago, MrBedrock said:

7 hours ago, lou_fine said:

It should be pointed out that I am not referring to the headlines grabbing highlight books here, but more so to the non-highlight run books of which there were just so many of quality in this auction here.

Thanks for pointing that out. 

Didn't your mothers teach you guys not to point? 

[AllStar-Comics]

On 7/15/2017 at 0:41 PM, lou_fine said:

I am starting to think that CGC was most likely leaning a bit towards the tight side when it came to grading Berk's books. 

From my small sample size of 6 comics I bought and received I tend to agree.  I'm going to get graders notes because I fail to see why some of the comics have the grades they do.  I tend to bid based on what i can see at least as much as the grade on the label but am pleasantly surprised

[Flex Mentallo]

6 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

Didn't your mothers teach you guys not to point? 

What  a pointless remark.

[lou_fine]

18 minutes ago, Flex Mentallo said:

6 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

Didn't your mothers teach you guys not to point? 

What  a pointless remark.

I thought it was a very pointed remark. 

[lou_fine]

5 hours ago, AllStar-Comics said:

On 7/15/2017 at 9:41 AM, lou_fine said:

I am starting to think that CGC was most likely leaning a bit towards the tight side when it came to grading Berk's books. 

From my small sample size of 6 comics I bought and received I tend to agree.  I'm going to get graders notes because I fail to see why some of the comics have the grades they do.  I tend to bid based on what i can see at least as much as the grade on the label but am pleasantly surprised

From reading many of the comments from other board members who have started to receive their books in the mail, they would also appear to be pleasantly surprised with their books, relative to the assigned CGC grades. 

[G.A.tor]

2 hours ago, lou_fine said:

From reading many of the comments from other board members who have started to receive their books in the mail, they would also appear to be pleasantly surprised with their books, relative to the assigned CGC grades. 

I actually was disappointed in one. Just not a fan of the sun shadows and one was more pronounced in person than the scan. To the point I'm going to keep my under copy (lower grade) bc the higher grade is just not near as visually appealing.