Good thread about variant price stickers 0

[George0001]

Solved...not getting rich today

Edited August 26, 2018 by George0001

[George0001]

:)

Edited August 26, 2018 by George0001

[RockMyAmadeus]

The books aren't worth the prices you're asking. The stickers mean they're damaged.

Marvel already had their own test price program in place, and stickers was not part of that. 

Even if the stickers are legitimate...even if they were printed by Marvel, which is almost certainly not the case...they don't add value to these REGULAR COPIES because they are stickers....added to the book after the fact, and damaging them. Are they "real"? Of course they are; they're right there. But are they Marvel products? No. of course not. Marvel had the resources of the largest magazine printer in the world...World Color in Sparta...why would they need to make stickers?

As interesting as they are, the likeliest explanation is that they were back issues that some store had and wanted to sell for the then-current cover price a few months later.

[George0001]

:)

Edited August 26, 2018 by George0001

[Lazyboy]

1 hour ago, George0001 said:

No retail store would have had these stickers on hand, I've seen a lot of toys and collectables in my day and NEVER have seen anything other than a cheep price gun sticker with small numbering, even on some of the larger retail stores stickers like Ames, Kmart, Toys R Us etc.  These stickers were professionally printed and back in the 70's that would have cost a lot of money to do.  For a few years now researching stuff on ebay I couldn't find one example of a boxed toy, cereal box or any packaging from the 50's-80's that had something close to what these numbers look like?

I'm confident they were printed and applied by the distributor for Marvel, but that's the question I'm asking is why?  I don't agree with you that they devalue these at all, both these comics are common issues the stickers are the value.  But I'm not locked into this price I just raised it for the time being with hope that this thread may finally lead to an answer.  If they are proven to be real I would like to know what you guys think there actually worth.

Well, I now agree 100% with the bolded:

18 hours ago, George0001 said:

Well I hung them out there on ebay for a few years now, listing them from $2,500 now to $10K trying to sell them with no luck, most people just said I was trying to dupe people or know nothing about comics.

Anybody can add any kind of sticker at any time. [/thread]

 

 

[Red_Hood]

These are aftermarket stickers applied by a retailer or reseller after distribution and have nothing to do with the 35¢ test markets.  As RMA stated, they are an artifact that adds damage to a regular, common issue and they are possibly worth the FN price in the Oversteet Price Guide, and that might be too generous of a valuation.

[revat]

19 hours ago, George0001 said:

Hi this is my first post here but I am not a newb to collecting, I have been collecting comics all my life.  I've been fortunate to have come across some killer stuff in my day and these are no acceptation.  When I moved to Front Royal, Va here I started noticing a bunch of regional price variants for the first time that was about 10 years ago so I naturally scooped them up and listed them on flebay.  They were some of the first comics I started selling through my account (see my feedback as a seller).  I have been running a vintage toy shop (The Toy Exchange) in Wheaton, MD for the last 20 years and we were pretty much like a pawn shop for toys.  I saw stuff come in there that would make a toy collector cry.  Some of the rarest toys like the Mego secret identities heads and clothes, MIB vintage transformers, carded vintage Star Wars figures etc.  My boss never liked to dabble in comics or cards so he almost always never picked them up unless they were obviously valuable and old.  One day a guy came in with a large Rubbermaid tub filled with 70's posters and comics mostly Dell and Marvel but all from the mid 70's, we actually found a series 6 or 7 (the last series I cant remember) wacky pack sealed wax pack in there.  As I was going through the comics I came across these two and they pretty much jumped right out at me because of the stickers.  I researched them and came up with nothing, took them to a local comic book shop here in Winchester, Va and asked him what he thought.  The owner who is a seasoned vet in comics running his shop since 1986 and moved down here from NY (no yokel) has been a serious collector since the ate 60's made a killer observation.  These stickers obviously had been on the comics for a long time but are printed on the sticker not stamped like a price gun would do.  He verified what I already suspected that these may actually be real!  Well I hung them out there on ebay for a few years now, listing them from $2,500 now to $10K trying to sell them with no luck, most people just said I was trying to dupe people or know nothing about comics. Totally understandable there just crappy stickers but I know there real.  So I've pretty much now given up and I'm trying to do some serious research here to verify these now, does anybody have a pipeline to the distributor for Marvel in 1977?  Or someone they could contact for me please?  I'm at the end of my rope I know that these are real but just don't know who to talk to?  Here's a link to my Ebay Listing https://www.ebay.com/itm/292693349459

I'm not sure what the claim is?  That the stickers are real?  That the stickers were stuck on FIRST and then the price was stamped on, by the original printer no less? Or that there's some extremely small print run where the Marvel or their printer did a price variant but chose to do this sticker thing rather than the 30 cent variant ACTUAL PRINT THING.  And what did you have the store owner verify?  And what makes him qualified to verify it?  I hope you can see how implausible your story is. 

I understand you have a theory and you're looking for information, but its so implausible and unproveable you're honestly coming off as bit of a kook. Isn't it more likely someone just put the sticker on themselves then stamped on the price, and that that could have been done by literally anyone? 

Like think about the evidence you would need to corroborate your story to justify the price your asking. If you had a video of Stan Lee saying "I asked the printer to put stickers on these 22 comics", that would still not be enough.  How would we know its those two? What kind of evidence would you need from the printer? If you were like, hey these might be rare and worth a bit more and charged like 20% more than guide, I could see it.  But WHY would anyone ELSE not see them just as price stickers which lower the grade?

[bababooey]

Since this thread is about variants, does anyone knowthe going rate for an ASM 238 Cdn price variant in VF/NM ?

 

 

[JollyComics]

Please check Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. It will tell you the prices.

[Red_Hood]

30 minutes ago, bababooey said:

Since this thread is about variants, does anyone knowthe going rate for an ASM 238 Cdn price variant in VF/NM ?

 

 

Lately, the realized prices on raw copies of the 75¢ variant have exploded.  A FN+ copy went for 242 USD and a VF copy went for about 350 USD.  A CGC copy of 8.5 (I believe) went for over $600 USD.

Not sure if you were being serious about your inquiry or just making a joke as that is a 75¢ sticker on your copy of what is likely the 60¢ cover.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Red_Hood

[RockMyAmadeus]

Hopefully, you won't be offended by what has been said here, but will learn from the collected wisdom of these boards, which is substantial. 

It would be like me talking about some aspect of a 1953 Corvette to a message board of Corvette collectors and dealers. I know *just enough* to know that I have no clue what I'm talking about, and I would look a little silly trying to insist something that wasn't even remotely the case.

These are after market stickers. There were multiple distributors at the time they were distributed, and even if one of them did apply the stickers, it wouldn't matter...they aren't Marvel, so it's not official. An exception from the same era?

This:

So what's different between the two?

Besides a giant sticker stuck to the front cover of the bottom copy?

The second copy has no price in the price box. They were PRINTED, at Marvel's direction, at the PRINTER...World Color in Sparta, IL...on purpose. 

If the bottom copy was just a regular printing with the All sticker added to it, it would be worth very little. After all, anyone can just add a sticker to anything they want after the fact, regardless of why, regardless of how professionally that sticker was made.

But because there's a PRINTING difference, all those copies are worth substantially more than the "regular copies." But ONLY because they have a PRINTED (not just stickered) difference.

If your copies had a blank price in the price box....THEN we'd be talking, and you'd have found something incredibly interesting. Sadly, you have common copies of common books with a defacing sticker on them...worth maybe $1-$2 each.

Sorry.

[George0001]

:)

Edited August 26, 2018 by George0001

[Brock]

8 hours ago, Red_Hood said:

These are aftermarket stickers applied by a retailer or reseller after distribution and have nothing to do with the 35¢ test markets.  As RMA stated, they are an artifact that adds damage to a regular, common issue and they are possibly worth the FN price in the Oversteet Price Guide, and that might be too generous of a valuation.

This makes sense to me.

[PeterPark]

I have a few of these 35 cent sticker comics. I know I have an Eternals 12 offhand. I thought it was an interesting curiosity. I have some similar appearance 30 cent sticker comics too. They're really not worth more than the regular ones because anyone can add a sticker. I pick them up when I see them because I think they're cool and I believe they were altered around the time they came out. Beyond that, literally any contemporary book could have a sticker added to be one of these price variants. A cool thing that is not very common and not very valuable. I bought a lot with a two gun kid 128 with a 30 cent sticker and when I got it, the sticker had fallen off. The appeal had quite literally rubbed off to reveal a not very desirable midgrade western reprint. They're just regular books.

Edited August 24, 2018 by PeterPark

[ShieldAgent]

I know that stickers ruin the book, but that doesn't stop me from picking them up.  I like them, and have examples of 35, 30, 20, 19, and 15 cents.  Anyone else besides PeterPark and I pick them up?  Here is one example:

 

[George0001]

:)

Edited August 26, 2018 by George0001

[ShieldAgent]

Don't get me wrong, I think they are cool, but I am in the same camp as RMA and the others - I don't believe they have any added value, and I also believe they were put on by whatever outlet was selling them.  I keep these on my spinner rack organized by sticker.  Here is another:

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 8/23/2018 at 5:07 PM, George0001 said:

Look no offense but I'm not asking you guys what you think of these if there real or not, you're speculations are no better than mine.  Let's just agree to disagree, if they are real (which I believe) they deserve to go down in Marvel's history.  If there just retail junk I'll ship them to the 1st person who commented here (Rockmyamadeus) for free.

I'm asking for someone who may have some real connections to help me research them properly please?

Sweet. Free comics!

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 8/23/2018 at 5:07 PM, George0001 said:

Look no offense but I'm not asking you guys what you think of these if there real or not, you're speculations are no better than mine. 

This is not true. Several people here specialize in these sorts of comics oddballs, especially the aforementioned ShieldAgent, Metarog, and Cosmic-Spiderman. 

There used to be an entire website....stl comics...devoted to these 70s anomalies. 

So...yeah, the speculations of people who have spent a couple of decades seeking out and documenting these books are much better than yours.

No offense.

[RockMyAmadeus]

By the way...my interest in stickers is with the early 70s undergrounds, like this:

These were, as I understand it, copies that the publisher, in this case, Apex Novelties, had leftover, but the price for new books had risen, so they made/bought these stickers, and slapped them on over the original price.

There are $1 stickers, 75c stickers, 50c stickers...all sorts of price stickers.

 

Edited August 26, 2018 by RockMyAmadeus