Show Us Your Atlas Books - Have A Cigar 26 26

[Pat Calhoun]

[Pat Calhoun]

[Pat Calhoun]

[Jayman]

Just one from Harry:

 

 

A great one Johnny!

[Jayman]

 

A very Lovecraftian splash there Pat!

[*Bronze age fan*]

Just one from Harry:

 

 

A great one Johnny!

 

Yeah great cover! Everyone has posted some great stuff! Amazing looking conditions on most of them also! Most times if I am buying this stuff....I am grabbing lower grade stuff. Because of price and not being about to find copes this nice.

[Johnny545]

[Jayman]

That looks like it was printed yesterday...

[zzutak]

Very impressive! A fitting way to commemorate the 300th page of my very favorite thread.

[goldust40]

 

 

A highly underrated cover.

[vaultkeeper]

 

Nice one Johnny545.

[monsterbento]

 

Love this cover. I was here first!

[Johnny545]

Approx. 300 pre-code Strange Tales have been graded (Issues 1-34).

 

Of those 300, 16 are graded 9.0 or higher.

 

Of those 16, 3 graded 9.4.

 

No pre-code Strange Tales has graded higher than 9.4.

 

In the Strange Tales run 1-99, approx. 1,800 books have been graded.

 

Of those 1,800, 10 have graded 9.4.

 

Not one of those 1,800 books graded higher than 9.4.

 

Gives you an indication how difficult it is to get an Atlas PCH book in 9.0 or higher.

 

By comparison a very popular PCH book, Black Cat Mystery 50, shows 10 books graded 9.0 or higher with 3 as high as 9.6!!

 

Obviously, this has to do with production process, materials used, but it is incredible how few high grade examples of Atlas PCH books survived as compared to other popular titles/issues.

 

Which leads to an interesting question. Forget how many copies of any particular Atlas PCH issue survived in high grade, I think we know the answer - it is a handful.

 

How many copies of any particular issue survived at all, in a complete un-restored form?

 

I have wrestled with this question.

 

Part of the problem is not knowing the original circulation numbers for these titles. I have looked for that information, but have come up empty.

 

Regardless, I can't believe there are more than 100-200 surviving copies of any given pre-code Atlas horror book and I lean toward the low end of my estimate. My opinion is based more on anecdotal evidence, my own hunt for issues, monitoring of dealer listings, auctions and reviewing auction archives and not hard data.

 

I would welcome other opinions on the issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[goldust40]

Don't forget that there were file copies of Black Cat 50, so there are many more high grade examples of that than other pre-code books. Due to its long-term classic status the file copies were quickly absorbed by the market into private collections...

 

 

[jimjum12]

While I do agree about the scarcity of the Atlas books, I am reluctant to place a lot of weight on the CGC Census...... PARTICULARLY in regard to these Atlas PCH's that we've all grown to love. Most of these books, especially the high grades, are buried in several different private collections of individuals who aren't particularly motivated to slab. The Atlas books are still likely some of the more scarce comics out there outside of Centaurs and such..... but I doubt if the census reflects even a tenth of the high grades extant GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

P.S. Not to sound like the elitist snob...... but many, many, many, PCH enthusiasts really do like to slide them out of a mylar and thumb through the fantastic interiors....

Edited January 31, 2014 by jimjum12

[adamstrange]

johnny and I PM'd last night about this topic. He's aware that there are more books out there than are reflected in the census and posed his question to the Boards to see what Boardies might be able to offer about the population of unslabbed copies.

[Johnny545]

Jim-

 

I hope you are right, I hope there are 10x as many high grade Atlas PCH book as are represented in the census. I would be happy with 5x.

 

I think there probably are a good deal of raw books in private collections (this is a big unknown).

 

The 'relatively' recent surge in prices/demand for the books may draw some out only time can tell.

 

In the meantime I will keep my fingers crossed!

 

Also, Jim what in your estimation is the total number of of any particular Atlas PCH book, that is still out there floating around, complete and un-restored?

 

 

 

 

[vaultkeeper]

I just added a 9.0 Atlas pre-code to the census.

[jimjum12]

I have a great curiousity about that too. Finding the answer may be tricky, though. Atlas has always been such a niche item that very few dealers ever seemed to have any significant depth of inventory. I'm not trying to come off as the wise old toothless one...... my experience limited..... mainly sporadic periods of interaction primarily along the Mid-Atlantic coast. I would imagine the published print runs that Atlas/ Marvel began documenting around '60 or '61 would give you a good ballpark. I've seen those range from 110,000 to around 160,000..... which works out to around 3000 copies for each of the 50 States..... not that many to begin with if you think about it. A great deal of these would have been thrown away at the first oppurtunity by the typical 50's Mom.... who wasn't nearly as "cool" as the Mom of today. I grew up in the 60's and even then, I had to be VERY crafty to keep "those funny books" from the scrap pile.... where almost all of mine ended up. For what it's worth, I know a couple of fellows that may have a dozen or so (each) of 50's PCH in 9.0 or so that aren't slabbed.... and that's just who I know in this metropolitan area. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple thousand copies across the country in 9.0 or better. 9.4 would be another story however. GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Johnny545]

I just added a 9.0 Atlas pre-code to the census.

 

Don't hold out on us...details!?!?!