Found old comic rack. Need Help! 0

[Bird]

1 minute ago, Foley said:

Nice rack!

 

[ADAMANTIUM]

42 minutes ago, Bird said:

 

care for a roll in the Hay? roll, roll, roll in the hay  Young Frahnkensteen

[Drewsky]

Thank you for all the help guys! I got there first thing and the guy who runs that booth was also there, so lucky me. He was super nice and we talked about how cool it was, he had researched it and even mentioned the very link from earlier in this thread. He cut me a good deal and it's now at my house. It has some bends, 2 slat holders of the 10 are missing, one weld at the bottom is popped and 6 of the 10 title guard descriptors are gone. However, it's from 1941, its still has 4 title guards that are in good shape and the very fact that it exists at all is amazing. I am an original comic art collector with a modern pull list. I have no golden age books. If anyone wants to trade this for Pre-1990 marvel or DC superhero art, let me know via PM. 

Edited March 19, 2017 by Drewsky

[FineCollector]

No intention of keeping it? 

[shadroch]

Sounds like he picked it up to trade for stuff he wants more. Used to be a lot of that going on in this hobby.

Best of luck to the purchaser. Hope you make out on the deal.   If I were in your shoes, I'd take my time and get something you really, really,  want.

[Drewsky]

I would love to trade it to someone that has more interest in it. I have 2 newer wall racks (one marvel and one magazine periodical) and a wood tiered shelf that hold all my trades and modern pulls. I posted pics of my comic room a few years back, here on the boards. I just got this rack because I didn't want to leave it out in the wild and it was about the same cost and a decent piece of art. I am way more into art than collectible books or racks, but I hunt for them in antique/junk stores and occasional find a gem like this. This is my gallery on CAF. http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=46038

[revat]

very cool

[Doktor]

I would put in the elbow grease & repair this as best as you can before attempting to make a trade. The weld can be fixed easily. Either actually welded or just JB Weld. And it can very easily be refinished well with some washing, sanding, taping-off of the name-plates (or temporarily removing them & bending them back on once you've finished restoring it), and respray with a primer & a fire-engine red paint. Or a matte black. It will look gorgeous if you do that. And someone else can find the missing plates.

Plus, add a little heat before you spray & some effort & you can likely mostly straighten out many of those bends in the wire frame.

Unlike comics where restoration is bad, restoration of metal work is pretty much always a value-added endeavor.

Edited March 20, 2017 by Doktor

[comicwiz]

2 hours ago, Doktor said:

I would put in the elbow grease & repair this as best as you can before attempting to make a trade. The weld can be fixed easily. Either actually welded or just JB Weld. And it can very easily be refinished well with some washing, sanding, taping-off of the name-plates (or temporarily removing them & bending them back on once you've finished restoring it), and respray with a primer & a fire-engine red paint. Or a matte black. It will look gorgeous if you do that. And someone else can find the missing plates.

Plus, add a little heat before you spray & some effort & you can likely mostly straighten out many of those bends in the wire frame.

Unlike comics where restoration is bad, restoration of metal work is pretty much always a value-added endeavor.

I would agree with most of this, except for the part about value add. Unfortunately many of the values mentioned earlier would be on an unrestored example that's man cave ready. Incomplete, in need of work, and/or restored will unfortunately be valued differently. I'm totally with you on the spruce-up idea because this is a display piece, and no one is going to feel comfortable loading it up to have their books/bags marked-up by rust. As someone who collects comic racks, I've handled a few fix'er uppers and they are a labour of love, and even if you are reasonably handy, you would be at a loss if you factor in your time alone. No matter how hard you try, the fabricated tin made to look old will always contrast with the originals.

[Doktor]

37 minutes ago, comicwiz said:

I would agree with most of this, except for the part about value add. Unfortunately many of the values mentioned earlier would be on an unrestored example that's man cave ready. Incomplete, in need of work, and/or restored will unfortunately be valued differently. I'm totally with you on the spruce-up idea because this is a display piece, and no one is going to feel comfortable loading it up to have their books/bags marked-up by rust. As someone who collects comic racks, I've handled a few fix'er uppers and they are a labour of love, and even if you are reasonably handy, you would be at a loss if you factor in your time alone. No matter how hard you try, the fabricated tin made to look old will always contrast with the originals.

I both agree & disagree. I don't think it's really that much work to repair something like this. Spinner racks are a whole different question.

But this? Literally a few hours of labor. Taking off the old plates is a 20 minute job if you take your sweet time. Wash & wet sanding to remove the excess rust is an hour job in the garage. Fixing the worst of the bent wire work is probably another hour. Spraying with a rust neutralizer takes only a few minutes & then the most time is waiting for the 24 hour flash-off period. Use this time to clean up the old plates & get rid of as much of the dirt & grime as you can without damaging the finish. Fixing the weld is a 5 minute job if you know how to weld and a 30 minute job if you're a novice. Then the respraying the whole thing with primer & paint is maybe 2 hours with a lot of waiting between coats. You're probably at maybe 5 hours of actual labor total by the time you're done.

It's not like this is a spinner rack with a lot of layers of wire work. This kind of rack is a much simpler job & less time consuming. The majority of the time spent on this weekend project is on waiting for flash-off and drying. It's basically a $50 of supplies & 5 hours worth of work job & as a display piece in your house or in a shop, it'll definitely sell for at least 2x what the guy paid for it without any problem. Even being refinished/restored.

I have never really noticed a significant difference in "unrestored" price on things like these because the market is so small. The closest market to something like this would be probably the classic car market? And my (admittedly limited) knowledge of it is that condition often trumps "unrestored" and "unrestored" only gets a price bump when it's compared to an equal condition vehicle & even then, only on the most rare & sought after cars does it really add significant value. And that's with things like worrying about if the parts are "numbers matching". It's not like he's adding new metal or unoriginal parts. Just repairing the condition of the existing metal. While the opposite is true with comics, as  the market long ago decided that condition comes secondary to how original it is. But I think the comic rack market is closer to the car market than the comic market, even if it appeals to the same crowd. Maybe I'm wrong?

Also, you talked about the fabricated tin look? I may be wrong, but I thought these came painted & not raw metal originally?

Edited March 20, 2017 by Doktor

[comicwiz]

17 hours ago, Doktor said:

It's not like he's adding new metal or unoriginal parts. Just repairing the condition of the existing metal. While the opposite is true with comics, as  the market long ago decided that condition comes secondary to how original it is. But I think the comic rack market is closer to the car market than the comic market, even if it appeals to the same crowd. Maybe I'm wrong?

Also, you talked about the fabricated tin look? I may be wrong, but I thought these came painted & not raw metal originally?

On the bolded parts, and judging from the pics alone, the rack needs two tin sign brackets fabricated and welded on the pocket frame, and 6 tin signs to complete it. To my knowledge, the wireframe was a red painted finish originally, but the signs were alternating black on yellow backing or yellow on black backing. If these pieces were detached but still with the rack, then it would change things value wise. I would suggest a completely different procedure than painting it. As soon as it's painted, fabricating 6 of the 10 tin signs and 2 sign brackets would still put it into extensive restoration territory, and while I agree a spruce up could help, having restored some display pieces in the past, if this was something I would acquire, I would rather this be left as is and have either someone I know work on it, or work on it using methods that would keep as much of the pieces original patination.

Edited March 21, 2017 by comicwiz

[Drewsky]

I do not have the skills or interest in restoring it. It's sturdy and functional as is. It would be cool to find some original or even fabricated tags to put on it, but I really don't see myself as the forever owner. I am looking to trade this for pre-1990 published Conan or superhero comic art. If anyone is interested, let me know. I can ship UPS anywhere in the USA.  

[Robot Man]

[Doktor]

14 hours ago, comicwiz said:

On the bolded parts, and judging from the pics alone, the rack needs two tin sign brackets fabricated and welded on the pocket frame, and 6 tin signs to complete it. To my knowledge, the wireframe was a black painted finish originally, but the signs were alternating black on yellow backing or yellow on black backing. If these pieces were detached but still with the rack, then it would change things value wise. I would suggest a completely different procedure than painting it. As soon as it's painted, fabricating 6 of the 10 tin signs and 2 sign brackets would still put it into extensive restoration territory, and while I agree a spruce up could help, having restored some display pieces in the past, if this was something I would acquire, I would rather this be left as is and have either someone I know work on it, or work on it using methods that would keep as much of the pieces original patination.

I guess you're right on the brackets. I didn't notice initially that the brackets were missing too until you pointed it out. And I figured the signs could be sourced from someone else that has some but doesn't have a rack. But you're right. There's going to be some fabrication or at least some relatively expensive sourcing of parts from an incomplete or broken rack that someone else has.

Personally, I'd look to source the original signs & fabricate some brackets that they'd mount onto for as many of them as possible & refinish it completely. But as the OP stated, he's not interested in putting in that kind of work. I don't blame him. So it's kind of a moot point.

Maybe the issue of price on unrestored vs refurbished/restored should be its own thread cause I'm really curious about that & don't want to further distract from the OP's original topic here.

[Drewsky]

I have had several people interested in this. Still hoping for a trade for some art (John Buscema anyone?). Let me know if you are interested before I have sell or move to fleebay. Here are some more pics. The paint is pretty good on it. and the tags it does have are in good shape. 59 inches closed, 56 inches open, 16 inches wide, 16 inches deep. 

[FineCollector]

Way to kill the ride, pal.  We were having fun with this, now you're pumping it and dumping it. 

[shadroch]

He's looking for its forever home.

[Fan Boy]

Great read! And to the OP, congrats on the great find! This is one rack not often to see. I see that it is looking for a good home, I noticed there are interests shown. Wish I could go for it and get this rack, I love little projects to put in a little love and bring it up nice. 

I know it is missing some labels but give time and somewhere will find the missing pieces to get. Patience is the way.

[Artboy99]

2 hours ago, Fan Boy said:

Great read! And to the OP, congrats on the great find! This is one rack not often to see. I see that it is looking for a good home, I noticed there are interests shown. Wish I could go for it and get this rack, I love little projects to put in a little love and bring it up nice. 

I know it is missing some labels but give time and somewhere will find the missing pieces to get. Patience is the way.

I am pretty sure new name plates could be created.

My plan was to cut a decent but bendable metal into the correct shapes, then paint on the names.

Perhaps even make names for non DC books so the rack is multi-publisher.

Edited March 22, 2017 by Artboy99

[Comicdey]

Yep it's a buy