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The Allentown thread...
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139 posts in this topic

16 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

I used to own this until I met a collector back in the 90s who wanted to reassemble the entire Allentown collection, minus the big keys.  I eventually sold to him as part of the 30+ copies he eventually accumulated before giving up.

So what are your thoughts on the current status of the collection?  In the hands of 5 or 6 collectors or scattered among 70 or so?  My initial thoughts were that it would be more and more spread out over time but I forgot there were some that had the gumption to try putting it back together.  Kind of like the gentleman that tried to put much of the Church collection back together.  

Edited by Randall Dowling
Grammar
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12 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

So what are your thoughts on the current status of the collection?  In the hands of 5 or 6 collectors or scattered among 70 or so?  My initial thoughts were that it would be more and more spread out over time but I forgot there were some that had the gumption to try putting it back together.

My guess is that they are widely distributed.

Overstreet, for example, owned the Wonderworlds and Mystery Men and those were sold back in 1995.  I ended up with the WW 8 but also sold it to the guy trying to "own them all."  He also owned the MM 3 so I suspect he has let go of much of what he had and they are dispersed among many collectors.

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17 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

Kind of like the gentleman that tried to put much of the Church collection back together.  

That's no gentlemen, that's Steve Geppi.  Wait, that  sounds bad.

There was no real effort to reassemble the collection as Geppi knew at the time where major chunks of it were and, so far as I know, made no move to acquire them.  He did end up boosting the market and bought quite a few Church copies, including one of mine.

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16 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Much more difficult to choose when it came to the early Mystery Men #1 through #11 run though, since they just had so many absolutely gorgeous and colorful covers in there.  :cloud9:

I think it's pretty obvious that MM #3 has the best cover.  By far. 

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10 hours ago, adamstrange said:

That's no gentlemen, that's Steve Geppi.  Wait, that  sounds bad.

There was no real effort to reassemble the collection as Geppi knew at the time where major chunks of it were and, so far as I know, made no move to acquire them.  He did end up boosting the market and bought quite a few Church copies, including one of mine.

Many years ago, John McLaughlin out here on the west coast, put the word out that he would pay 4 times Overstreet for all the Church books he could get. He got a ton of them. I remember them being stacked on his living room floor, un-bagged in large piles. He had hundreds of them. One or more of his assortment of cats peed on some of them...:facepalm:

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13 hours ago, adamstrange said:

Not me but a friend.  When I took this he gave me permission to post but I never found the right time.

Mystery Men 3, 4, 5, 6 and Wonderworld 7 are all Allentowns.  Might be one or two more.

Wonderful Fox Allentowns.jpg

My guess is that this absolutely gorgeous to die for set of books is residing somewhere in the sunny left coast state of California.  :cloud9:  

Man, just look at those stunning eye popping colors on those covers there.  :luhv:   :takeit:

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13 hours ago, adamstrange said:

I used to own this until I met a collector back in the 90s who wanted to reassemble the entire Allentown collection, minus the big keys.  I eventually sold to him as part of the 30+ copies he eventually accumulated before giving up.

 

 

13 hours ago, adamstrange said:

Overstreet, for example, owned the Wonderworlds and Mystery Men and those were sold back in 1995.  I ended up with the WW 8 but also sold it to the guy trying to "own them all."  He also owned the MM 3 so I suspect he has let go of much of what he had and they are dispersed among many collectors.

Well, it sounds as though this collector must have acquire and sold off most of his Allentown books through private transactions, as opposed to public auction, based upon where the Allentown copies of WW 8 and MM3 ended up at.  hm

Definitely another case that shows who you know is still quite important in this hobby place if you want to acquire certain books.  (thumbsu

 

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52 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Well, it sounds as though this collector must have acquire and sold off most of his Allentown books through private transactions, as opposed to public auction, based upon where the Allentown copies of WW 8 and MM3 ended up at.

The MM3 was sold back to the guy who had been "next in line".  He came back to me to sell the WW8 and I steered him to a Boardie.  When he was ready to let it go, I steered him to MrB.

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1 hour ago, adamstrange said:

The MM3 was sold back to the guy who had been "next in line".  He came back to me to sell the WW8 and I steered him to a Boardie.  When he was ready to let it go, I steered him to MrB.

You are a good steerer. 

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9 hours ago, tth2 said:
On 2/18/2020 at 11:52 AM, lou_fine said:

Much more difficult to choose when it came to the early Mystery Men #1 through #11 run though, since they just had so many absolutely gorgeous and colorful covers in there.  :cloud9:

I think it's pretty obvious that MM #3 has the best cover.  By far. 

How far up..............by a Mile High?  lol

From this picture here, there sure are a lot of nice covers here to select a favorite from:

Wonderful Fox Allentowns.jpg

Okay, never did care much for the Wonderworld 6 cover which is probably why I turfed out the Allentown Copy in the Greg Manning Auction when I figure I would never be able to complete a HG set of Wonderworld 3 - 12.  doh!

I would have to say that Mystery Men 6 must be one of the absolute nicest George Tuska cover out there with all of the beautiful color variations in there.  I still remember it was so nice that Overstreet and his gang had considered it to be a Lou Fine cover for the first few decades of the guide.  :luhv:

As for the MM 3, if I had deep pockets like some of the other board members :baiting: here, I probably would have given some serious thought to tossing in a few more thousands and possibly going after the Wonderworld 7 myself.  Of course, that's probably because the grass always looks greener on the other side as I have yet to own a copy of WW 7, and sadly will never ever do given the current price point at which it sells for in today's marketplace.  :frown:  :cry: 

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