ratio of Cover only vs Coverless for Golden Age grail 0

[Spiderturtle]

i say to 10 Coverless vs 1 cover.   when buying a Coverless, do You ever expect to find a front cover FOR it? 

Edited June 23, 2018 by Spiderturtle

[aardvark88]

Perhaps 15 or 20 GA coverless to accidentally finding the front and back covers:

[bluechip]

I think interiors outnumber covers but not necessarily 10 to 1.   Back in the GA day it seems that it was not an unusual thing for kids to save only the portions of comics they liked, which meant several collections I've learned of that contained covers of Actions with only the Supe story.   (Same with detective, etc).    And some people also cut off front covers and saved them (sometimes in scrap books). But when you count in remaindered copies and natural wear and tear, etc it seems clear that interiors should and almost certainly do outnumber covers only copies, which -- if they are all married -- would mean that all copies missing cf should find a donor, leaving lots of coverless missing the cf.   

But, in the last 25 years, or so, if I recall correctly, I have heard of the same 4 Action 1s missing cfs and at the same time I also heard of at least 7 interiors, with two missing the cf, including a nice coverless which ended up being sold off as individual wraps, and the cf being sold separately (I am not counting the coverless copy mentioned by Gator in this thread, since I don't know if it's separate from another I'd already heard of;).  That means at least 5 potential cfs married to 4 known copies missing cf.   But in all that time I have I only heard of one copy getting a donor cf (and I don't know if the donor cf came from one of those I heard of, or another one).    3 of the 4 missing cf copies (which includes the one now at Sparkle City) have not found their donors.

The failure to match indicates that people holding onto the interiors are disinclined to sell at prices which make it worthwhile for those who have the covers.  I think the general tendency with dealers who have interiors or cfs is that they have considered it fairly inevitable that a copy missing a cf was going to come along someday.   But clearly with Action 1 there's been a standoff and the price has gotten so high that perhaps more people holding onto the pieces should consider combining the into co-owned completed books.

Edited June 23, 2018 by bluechip

[Spiderturtle]

If I read your 1st sentence correctly; you’re saying there’s more covers vs interiors?

Edited June 23, 2018 by Spiderturtle

[bluechip]

50 minutes ago, Spiderturtle said:

If I read your 1st sentence correctly; you’re saying there’s more covers vs interiors?

This is why proofreaders are a thing.   Fixed it

[ft88]

 If you count Comics missing a centerfold  or pinup as cover only, 

And if cover less means a complete cover less  

the ratio may be one to one. 

[Spiderturtle]

6 minutes ago, ft88 said:

 If you count Comics missing a centerfold  or pinup as cover only, 

And if cover less means a complete cover less  

the ratio may be one to one. 

Good point, i mean the full cover(front and back) or at the minimal front cover only

[bluechip]

2 hours ago, Spiderturtle said:

Good point, i mean the full cover(front and back) or at the minimal front cover only

That could be.   But if you're talking about books which can be franken-finished by marrying a cf or missing page or panel, then I still think that for most books there are more centerfolds in the wild than there are copies which are missing a centerfold.   And in my experience there nearly always have been more complete interiors existing than complete covers with no interior.  

One exception, and it could be just my experience, has been Captain America 1.   I have seen more complete covers than complete interiors.   Comparing incomplete covers (front only) to incomplete interior, I would say slightly more incomplete interiors, but a smaller ratio than other big keys. 

Among the other big keys I have only heard of one complete cover to Tec 27 while seeing or hearing of a dozen or more coverless.  Have never seen or heard of a complete cover for Action 1 -- just one front cover only, one partial front cover only, and one example of a "cut-out" cover (the maim figures and items cut from the background).   

Have seen a handful or more loose covers for Bat 1, including complete covers, front covers and back cover pin-up, and maybe 6-8X as many complete coverless copies. 

Have seen I am guessing less than 1/5th as many Superman 1 covers as Bat 1, and probably a smaller gap between the number of Supe 1 covers to Supe 1 interiors. 

Edited June 23, 2018 by bluechip