Great Stories of comic book collection finds!

[johny myman-migration]

Do any of you have some great finds.A friend of mine about 14 years ago found a add in the paper saying comics for sale it turned out the guy owned a newsstand back in 1948-1968 and had thousands of comics put away all stored in perfect condition.He only paid $1,000 for the collection it turned out to be worth around 100,000.I , wish I could find something like this

[towards2112]

I walked down the hallway of my house, turned the corner into

the play room, flipped on the light switch and found 120,000 comics

 

worth about a buck 75

[jim1968]

Well the best was a few years back.

My business partner and I were on vacation in Hawaii and we saw an ad in the local free paper of "comics for sale". We call the number and go to the guys house. He prices everything at "double guide", but he was using OS #8 (1978). So we bought 2 longboxes of stuff from him, all hi grade. Then he mentions some other "older" books he had bought from Camelot comics in 1978. He brings out Amazing Man #5-12, 6-12 we the Larson Copies, and Detective Comics #8, 10, and 18, these all turned out to be the "Church/Mile High" copies.

All he wanted was 2x OS #8!

Does that qualify as good?!?

ps Steve Geppi confirmed the "Mile High's" and Steve Fischler (Metro) bought the #8.

[Bronze_Age_Fan]

Does that qualify as good?!?

 

Hell yes!

[MK Ultra]

I was at a local flea market. Didn't find much of anything until I'm on the way out. Some couple had a bunch of moderns on the table. I asked if they had any others. She mentioned they had these and pulled out a small plastic mesh like basket. I start looking through them and it's all 50's stuff. I thought they were all superhero b/c that's what was on the top. They're low to mid grade copies. I asked the price and she said $2 each. I asked about a lower price if I took them all. She got her husband. I asked the price he said $3 each. I commented that the wife said $2, but I was interested in buying them all. I asked if he had bought them and he gave me some vague answer about father/grandfather. I asked if he had taken them to a store thinking there might be some sort of problem. He said he had avoided that because he wanted a lot of money for them. When he starts counting he trips up at 15 or so, so he starts again. Again he trips up around 15. I mention there's probably about 100 in there, he thinks for a second and say $100. I got back into collecting with this. I don't really collect golden age though and sold them all on here to Flying Donut.

[FlyingDonut]

I was at a local flea market. Didn't find much of anything until I'm on the way out. Some couple had a bunch of moderns on the table. I asked if they had any others. She mentioned they had these and pulled out a small plastic mesh like basket. I start looking through them and it's all 50's stuff. I thought they were all superhero b/c that's what was on the top. They're low to mid grade copies. I asked the price and she said $2 each. I asked about a lower price if I took them all. She got her husband. I asked the price he said $3 each. I commented that the wife said $2, but I was interested in buying them all. I asked if he had bought them and he gave me some vague answer about father/grandfather. I asked if he had taken them to a store thinking there might be some sort of problem. He said he had avoided that because he wanted a lot of money for them. When he starts counting he trips up at 15 or so, so he starts again. Again he trips up around 15. I mention there's probably about 100 in there, he thinks for a second and say $100. I got back into collecting with this. I don't really collect golden age though and sold them all on here to Flying Donut.

 

This is what was in the lot (94 books total). Lets just say that everybody was happy.

 

Action Comics 163

Action Comics 189

Adventure Comics 199

Adventures Into Terror 3

Adventures Into Weird Worlds 26

Airboy Comics 95

All American Men of War 9

All Star Western 66

All Star Western 67

All-Famous Police Cases 13

Authentic Police Cases 33

Batman 75

Battle 23

Beyond 3

Big Town 2

Big Town 3

Black Diamond Western 44

Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders 15

Boy Comics 62

Boy Comics 65

Boy Loves Girl 32

Casey Crime Photographer 3

Cinderella Love 4

Comics on Parade 88

Detective Comics 170

Detective Comics 204

Detective Comics 204

Detective Comics 207

Detective Comics 220

Tracy Comic Monthly 77

Donald Duck 32

Famous Stars 2

Famous Western Badmen 14

Forbidden Worlds 27

Gang Busters 15

Gang Busters 38

Giggle Comics 94

Girl Confessions 19

Hector Comics 2

House of Mystery 25

Intimate Love 10

Journey Into Mystery 16

Journey Into Unknown Worlds 26

Journey Into Unknown Worlds 27

Jungle Comics 135

Little Al of the FBI 10

Little Dot 3

Lone Ranger 54

Looney Tunes 123

Love Adventures 2

Love at First Sight 21

Love Letters 38

Lovelorn 38

Man Comics 20

Marvel Family 52

Marvel Tales 100

Marvel Tales 123

Men Against Crime 4

Millie the Model 27

My Own Romance 27

Mystic 29

Oh, Brother 1

Our Army At War 17

Out of the Shadows 13

Police Against Crime 1

Racket Squad in Action 5

Romantic Secrets 24

Romantic Story 21

Secret Hearts 14

Sensation Comics 102

Sheena 14

Shock Suspenstories 14

Spellbound 21

Spy Hunters 20

Spy Hunters 22

Stories By Famous Authors Ill 5

Superman 87

Suspense 27

Tales from the Crypt 42

Tales from the Crypt 42

The Westerner 34

Three Stooges 4

T-Man 16

TV Teens v2,3

Two Gun Kid 13

Uncanny Tales 19

Weird Mysteries 9

Weird Terror 7

Western Fighters v4,6

Wilbur 47

Wild 1

Witchcraft 5

Wonder Woman 55

Young Love 56

[swordsandrockets]

I think that the best one that I found was from a classified ad. A widow had a collection of Mad comics/magazines that were her husbands from issue 4 to about 220, none in high grade but all solid VG/F to F/VF with a couple a little better, a couple a little worse. Also in the collection was a good run of Cracked, a whole bunch of Mad Giants with premiums still attached and some other assorted satire magazines. Another person had looked at them and offered well below her asking price of $400, which was roughly 25% of guide at the time based on condition and she passed.

While I was looking at them, however, I noticed another 3 copy paper sized boxes of 'stuff' and asked her about it. She said that they were just junky magazines and that if I wanted them I could take em because they were just going to get thrown out on trash day. I said great and then paid her asking price for the Mads (and the other magazines) and was on my way.

When I got home and started to go through the boxes of "junk", they were full of every kind of comic and pulp fanzine you could imagine from the late 60's and early 70's. Whizzbang, early TBG (back before it became CBG), Rocket Blast, several different mimeo and photocopied zines and probably 100 or so catalogs and price lists from Rex Miller, Robert Bell, Howard Rogofsky, David Belmont and several others that I can't remember. It was really a treat to look at the beginnings of fandom!

As far as return, I ended up selling all of the comic size Mads and covering my cost. All of the other junk was some of the best selling material I ever listed on Ebay and I was amazed everyday at the prices i was getting for them!

[Sharkey]

My best story isn't as impressive as those, but it's a good one.

 

I was doing a show in Peoria Illinois in the mid-90s -- a small show at a place like a Signature Inn. I was the only dealer with any appreciable Silver Age. Everyone else was selling Spawn and Jim Lee X-Men. A guy walks in, looks around and sees my display. He asks if I buy comics and I say yes. He pulls out a nice copy of Green Lantern #1. I buy it a price we're both happy with, and ask him if he has more stuff for sale. He says he does and I set up a meeting at his house.

 

I took a guide and went to his house where he pulled out a box of late 50s and early 60s 10-cent DCs. All the keys: Flash 105, 106, 108, 109, 110 and assorted others, B&B 23 and up including 28 and 29, Showcases including the early Flash issues (no #4 though) and the GLs, etc etc etc. I was blown away. They were all low grade (the GL 1 he brought me was the nicest one) but still, lots of huge keys!

 

We start talking about the books. They were his brothers and his brother asked him to sell them and get him some cash. But he told me he has something even better than that stuff. He pulls out a box of Silver Age Daredevils, pretty solid from about issue #20 - 60. He says they are much better comics than his brothers DCs and asks if I want to buy them. I ask him how much and he says he knows they are worth at least $1,000. Besides, he says, Daredevil was the best comic Marvel ever put out.

 

So I ask him about his brothers comics. He says his brother wanted $500 for them. I said I'd buy his brothers comics on this trip, and I'd be back in touch with him on those excellent Daredevils.....

 

And that was my best collection find.

[FFB]

Well the best was a few years back.

My business partner and I were on vacation in Hawaii and we saw an ad in the local free paper of "comics for sale". We call the number and go to the guys house. He prices everything at "double guide", but he was using OS #8 (1978). So we bought 2 longboxes of stuff from him, all hi grade. Then he mentions some other "older" books he had bought from Camelot comics in 1978. He brings out Amazing Man #5-12, 6-12 we the Larson Copies, and Detective Comics #8, 10, and 18, these all turned out to be the "Church/Mile High" copies.

All he wanted was 2x OS #8!

Does that qualify as good?!?

ps Steve Geppi confirmed the "Mile High's" and Steve Fischler (Metro) bought the #8.

 

Where and when did he say he got the Church Detectives?

[RareHighGrade]

Well the best was a few years back.

My business partner and I were on vacation in Hawaii and we saw an ad in the local free paper of "comics for sale". We call the number and go to the guys house. He prices everything at "double guide", but he was using OS #8 (1978). So we bought 2 longboxes of stuff from him, all hi grade. Then he mentions some other "older" books he had bought from Camelot comics in 1978. He brings out Amazing Man #5-12, 6-12 we the Larson Copies, and Detective Comics #8, 10, and 18, these all turned out to be the "Church/Mile High" copies.

All he wanted was 2x OS #8!

Does that qualify as good?!?

ps Steve Geppi confirmed the "Mile High's" and Steve Fischler (Metro) bought the #8.

 

The Church Detective 18 used to be in the CGC gallery. Is that the one that you bought?

[Timely]

Well the best was a few years back.

My business partner and I were on vacation in Hawaii and we saw an ad in the local free paper of "comics for sale". We call the number and go to the guys house. He prices everything at "double guide", but he was using OS #8 (1978). So we bought 2 longboxes of stuff from him, all hi grade. Then he mentions some other "older" books he had bought from Camelot comics in 1978. He brings out Amazing Man #5-12, 6-12 we the Larson Copies, and Detective Comics #8, 10, and 18, these all turned out to be the "Church/Mile High" copies.

All he wanted was 2x OS #8!

Does that qualify as good?!?

ps Steve Geppi confirmed the "Mile High's" and Steve Fischler (Metro) bought the #8.

 

If the guy bought them in 1978 and sold them to you a few years ago this story seems kind of impossible since the Detective Mile Highs you mention were owned by Gary Carter at the time and sold in 1990 by Sotheby's.

 

West

[MK Ultra]

Wow, that's some memory!

[ComicSupply]

Years ago I had went to visit some of my family in St Joseph Michigan and stopped at a comic and card shop. Pretty much the whole store was a bunch of cards except for 3 short boxes on the table. I asked the manager where all the comics were and he said the guy who was running the comic section was retiring and he had taken everything home except these 3 boxes.

 

I look at the 3 boxes and see that they are priced $1 each. I rummage through the boxes and pull out a slew of Silver and Bronze age X-mens, ASM's among others. I end up buying around $100 worth. I asked the card guy what the comic guy was going to do with all his comics and he told me he was going to be having a huge sale on labor day and would be moving to Florida the day after the sale was over.

 

So, this was in about 2 months so I got his phone number and called him. I got the details of the sale and waited for what seemed to be forever. Labor day rolls around and I make the trip again. The sale starts on Saturday but I have the address so I drive by on Friday night.

 

They are setting up the sale and I noticed about 15 long boxes in the garage. I end up looking through them and see a bunch of Golden age, Silver age and a mix of about everything from 1955-1995. I asked him what he wanted for the comics and he said $1 each. I did the math in my head and I really didn't want to hand the guy $5000 or so because 1.) I only have $4k and 2.) I didn't really want a lot of it.

 

He asks me if I fish and need a boat. I told him no and he went on to say that he had a 17ft fishing boat with a brand new Mercury 15hp motor on it. I looked and said, wow real nice (but I don't fish). He goes on to say that I can have all the comics for $2500 alone, or the boat and the comics for $3k.

 

So, I loaded all the comics up in my car that night, but had to wait for the boat. I needed to buy a hitch. Went back the next day, got the hitch, got the boat and took it all home.

 

I ended up selling the boat to my dad a few days later, and the majority of the collection over the next 3 years. In the end, I only kept a few books for myself being Atomic Bomb #1, World War 3 and a few others.

[Norrin_Radd]

That has to be the most unusual story I've heard.

[ComicSupply]

That has to be the most unusual story I've heard.

 

Yep, and all true.

[Black Hawk]

 

In 1989 I was going into the local comic book store, when I saw an older couple out in front with the trunk of their car open. I looked in and saw about 200 comics. I asked them if they were going to sell them and asked if I could have a look. The let me look at them because they were leaving. It appears that the person working at the comic store had been very rude to them so they decided to not sell them to them. Well I looked at what they had and in the stacks they had a series of about 40 Photo Cover TV comics all in VF - NM condition. I purchased them for $40. At the time I was low on funds and had to take the money out of my savings account. I brought the books home and my wife had a fit. To prove to her that I had made a great deal, I sold them that week for $1,000. She still wasn't pleased.

 

To make matters worse I had gotten the phone # of the people and told them that I would be calling them to buy more comics from them. My wife refused to let me call them and purchase more books. I fought with my wife for 2 weeks trying to get her to let me buy more books from them. Her answer was a definative NO.

 

I ended up giving their number to a friend of mine that owned a comic book store. Here is where it gets really ugly.

 

Their collection amounted to about 3,000 comics that started in the Golden Age and went through the Silver Age. Amongst the books they had were the following.

1. Batman #3 in VG

2. Complete run of Mystery in Space.

3. Complete run of Planet Comics.

4. Complete run of SA Hulk including 1-6

5. Complete run of SA FF

6. Complete run of SA Capt America

7. Complete run of SA DareDevil

8. Complete run of Silver Surfer

9. Almost every key Marvel Silver Age book you could imagine.

10. Numerous Golden Age comics of all kinds.

11. Tons & Tons of Gold Key & Dell comics.

The list went on and on. To make matters worse many of these books were in FN - NM condition. The only thing missing from the collection were EC books.

 

Their story was that a friend of theirs passed away and he had stored all of these comics in boxes that he kept out in a Chicken Coop. Their job was to get rid of them. Because of this some books were in very bad condition but others were packed so tight in these boxes that the ones stored under others never had any air get to them. Their pages were white and their covers perfect. This was a find that everyone dreams of. I missed out on this but my friend made thousands off of these books.

I still get upset when I think about this.

[Forbush-Man]

I wonder if they would have possibly made pedigree statis?

[october]

I would have divorced my wife.

[Black Hawk]

I wonder if they would have possibly made pedigree statis?

At the time I told my friend that he should inventory, grade and document the collection. Instead he just sold them to other dealers he knew in northern California. He still made a lot of money, but I think he could have made a lot more.

The Planet Comics alone were unbelievable.

[*paull*]

Divorce isn't enough punishment.