Heritage pulp auctions 9 9

[Darwination]

I think if we each throw in 50 bucks we can just share custody

[waaaghboss]

[Surfing Alien]

Pretty staggering . Some of them old time pulp collectors got some amazing goodies stashed away and i'm sure, especially if they (the collector) are of a certain age, will want to be testing the waters on HA with them.

[jimjum12]

On 7/14/2024 at 7:03 PM, TheGeneral said:

Is there a thread on this book yet? Anyone know more of the backstory on it/the collection it came from? Amazing Stories #29 August 1928 CGC 9.8:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/pulps/science-fiction/amazing-stories-29-august-1928-gernsback-cgc-nm-mt-98-off-white-to-white-pages/p/7379-155001.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

@tth2

..this should be worth coming down from the Tower. GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[tth2]

On 7/15/2024 at 7:03 AM, TheGeneral said:

Is there a thread on this book yet? Anyone know more of the backstory on it/the collection it came from? Amazing Stories #29 August 1928 CGC 9.8:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/pulps/science-fiction/amazing-stories-29-august-1928-gernsback-cgc-nm-mt-98-off-white-to-white-pages/p/7379-155001.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

The more pre-1940 pulps that CGC slabs in grades above 8.0, the more I'm starting to believe that collectors have been sold a bill of goods about pre-1940 pulps being supposedly impossible to find above 8.0.

It's starting to remind me of many years ago when a major dealer tried to convince me to buy mid-grade GA because mid-grade was the best that could be found.  As it turns out, I think what he really meant was that mid-grade GA was the best that could be found in his inventory. 

[tth2]

On 7/15/2024 at 7:30 PM, jimjum12 said:

On 7/15/2024 at 7:03 AM, TheGeneral said:

Is there a thread on this book yet? Anyone know more of the backstory on it/the collection it came from? Amazing Stories #29 August 1928 CGC 9.8:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/pulps/science-fiction/amazing-stories-29-august-1928-gernsback-cgc-nm-mt-98-off-white-to-white-pages/p/7379-155001.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

@tth2

..this should be worth coming down from the Tower. GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

I'd be too scared that a 9.9 or 10 will then emerge!  

But I'm certainly happy now that I've held back on pulling the trigger on 6.0's and 7.0's.

[Darwination]

Any estimates of value?  I've seen plenty of copies of that book, but the condition is staggering -

[waaaghboss]

On 7/15/2024 at 9:04 AM, tth2 said:

I'd be too scared that a 9.9 or 10 will then emerge!  

But I'm certainly happy now that I've held back on pulling the trigger on 6.0's and 7.0's.

This is bait for the 10 pre-screen 😆 

[Bookery]

On 7/14/2024 at 10:59 AM, RedFury said:

That's my fault.  I did the notes for Weird Tales for CGC.  I meant to mark this as a Classic Cover but simply missed it.  

I had a lot of problem doing the notes due to limited space.  So many issues of Weird Tales have notable authors and stories, and there is not enough space in their notes fields (3 fields of 40 characters, IIRC).  But in the case of the Apr 1933 issue there was room, I just forgot.  I'll see if I can get it changed.  

I listed it as a classic cover in the guide out of respect for tradition and to try not to let personal preferences color my notes... but to be perfectly honest, I never quite got the fuss about this one.  It's a fine St. John cover to be sure... but then so are most of them.  Aside from a big tiger, there's nothing unusual going on, and there's even other tiger covers I like as well if not better.  But I know I'm in the minority. 

[Darwination]

A solid result for a low grade Lone Ranger Sunday Night

Strong results for a couple of lower mid-grade comic-style pbs.  Imagine if they'd put them in the right size box

And in the hmm, maybe I shouldn't have slabbed this category, a low grade Jungle Stories (just one of a number of similar issues with similar performance)

And one more, this Belarski sold for $252, not surprising as the Overboard paperback cover is much chased by pb freaks.  I'd like a copy.  Just not this copy. 5.0? Staple sticking out?  I'm not a condition freak by any means but this one just doesn't do it for me.  Big pic -

 

[Surfing Alien]

On 7/17/2024 at 4:42 PM, Darwination said:

A solid result for a low grade Lone Ranger Sunday Night

Strong results for a couple of lower mid-grade comic-style pbs.  Imagine if they'd put them in the right size box

And in the hmm, maybe I shouldn't have slabbed this category, a low grade Jungle Stories (just one of a number of similar issues with similar performance)

And one more, this Belarski sold for $252, not surprising as the Overboard paperback cover is much chased by pb freaks.  I'd like a copy.  Just not this copy. 5.0? Staple sticking out?  I'm not a condition freak by any means but this one just doesn't do it for me.  Big pic -

 

Maybe I need to get this slabbed 

[Darwination]

A total sleeper auction last night.  I didn't watch, and it doesn't look like there was much interest, some surprisingly low prices for slabbed books:

A cool slabbed doc with but with slight resto, a number of others went for 31 dollars each.

Mid-grade slabbed Planets didn't exactly set the world on fire

An REH Weird Tales with a Brundage cover coming in well below Bookery's value??? (trimmed and yet)

This group of 3 had all sorts of issues with spine splits and brittleness as well as glue to the spine, but still REH,Brundage,Doctor Satan, etc

 

Maybe all the collectors were spent out from the big Baker auction earlier in the week...

[Surfing Alien]

It's been pretty clear to me from the first slab to hit the market that, the slabs have a value, a great value maybe, for top line material and very high grade lower value books.

This is not a time, though,  like free Covid money days, that newbs are rushing into the market, uneducated and willing to throw easy money at the "hot thing"

I think many potential pulp buyers right now are collectors who have been around the block and are not gonna open up their wallets to clear money hustle pricing at "everything is 10x what it was last summer" and are bidding accordingly. 

[Darwination]

Peeked in at the results of the Sunday night auction at HA.  Not real pretty results for mid-grade Planets, Startlings, or Thrillings.  Maybe these aren't worth the fuss of slabbing and sending to an auction house...Meanwhile, all sorts of raw rare birds sit likely overpriced and unexamined by the prying eyes of CGC on eBay  

It seems like a couple of funky week for sales in general.  On the other hand, the GA romance comics I watched seemed to do pretty darn well...

[comicjack]

On 8/12/2024 at 3:38 AM, Darwination said:

Peeked in at the results of the Sunday night auction at HA.  Not real pretty results for mid-grade Planets, Startlings, or Thrillings.  Maybe these aren't worth the fuss of slabbing and sending to an auction house...Meanwhile, all sorts of raw rare birds sit likely overpriced and unexamined by the prying eyes of CGC on eBay  

It seems like a couple of funky week for sales in general.  On the other hand, the GA romance comics I watched seemed to do pretty darn well...

overload on the pulps 

[Darwination]

I sometimes don't mention an auction-in-progress to keep the competition at bay, but I obviously can't compete in the September Showcase auction going on right now

So far, the big book (and Black Mask generally doing very well, per usual):

Hammer 16,800.

Some cool books in this auction, maybe I'll pick some out to display here when it's all said and done.

[Readcomix]

On 7/15/2024 at 12:01 PM, tth2 said:

As it turns out, I think what he really meant was that mid-grade GA was the best that could be found in his inventory. 

Reminds me of an antiques dealer I knew. His motto: “If I don’t have it, you don’t need it!”

[Darwination]

After spending about 6 mind numbing hours pressure washing the driveway today (and the last 3 days) I fell asleep watching football, so now I'm up again at the midnight hour.  Time to take a look at this auction and grab some covers for my files.  If it's a cover I really like, I'll probably crop out the CGC box (BECAUSE THEY ARE UGLY AF) otherwise I'll leave it in.  I'm not much of a market/pricing guy but may comment on the mercenary aspects, too.

The big dog from the first day ended up being the big dog.  There are Black Mask covers I like more and other Dashiell Hammett novels I like more, but this might just be the most iconic of all Black Mask covers because it of the image and putting Hammett's most famous novel front and center. Getting blasted first person by a thug through the paper is a pretty direct metaphor for what the reader should expect from this fiction. 4.5 $16,800, respect due to this killer pulp. 

In second, maybe a surprise

A pet peeve, where's the artist credit to Joseph Szokoli?  Put in on the box, CGC. Put it in the auction description, Heritage.  I guess you can call it a variant.  The white box covers April and May has been put there and there's also a star in the E of a title.  Second printing or just stamped?  I dunno.  In my mind less desirable than April, but I guess it might be scarcer.  They are all scarce, but this issue is one that shows up more than any of the others by far.  I'm still figuring out the grading.  Big crease at the left.  Big shadow at the right  Some tears, but I guess 6.5 it is.  Hammer price: $15,600.  Whoa, nellie. Somebody (or a couple people) really liked this one.

Other "big books" I'll include for "key" chasers

Solid result here, for ESG's "Dead Men's Shoes", 5.0 $10,200

The CGC box gets the artist wrong on that one, dunno how you look at Fred Craft and get J.W. Schlaikjer but such details seem to be the least of CGC's woes right now

Six grand for this one, which I like.  Not because I want to not be able to afford All-Story but just cuz I like to see appreciation for a beautiful cover matching neat content, raw VG/FN. How about a hand for keeping a beauty raw, eh?

There were a number of 5 grand Black Masks of varying grades.  I'm not sure how much weight grade carries there.  If you're collecting runs of Black Mask, they are hard af to get any given issue of and the fiction is a bigger draw than the covers, so I dunno how that works. 

Another key, this is a personal fave art wise as far as Brundage goes. Second highest graded (makes me laugh to say this stuff with muh pulps)

8.5, yet I didn't grab the image for my files, so...Debris on the case? In the case?  Just not solid blacks? Can't tell here.

Pretty good for The Spider:

Some mid to high grade Ward Spicy/Private Detectives did well.

Very HG but with a little CT on the weird menace, wonder what it would fetch minus the resto:

A couple more in-demand books, the Marvel Tales doesn't do anything for me, but I definitely would like to have the Saunders

 

1,020, 5.5 WP.  See, this is one I'm grabbing the image for my files. White pages? Mid-grade?? I guess.  I still feel like there's some grading I'm not trusting cuz this one is damn nice at 5.5, and I'm seeing 7s and up with more problems.

Running out of steam here, so just ones I like and am grabbing images of from here on out.

Heritage called this raw book FN+ despite the chipping to the right, and I'm good with that.  A cool one to be signed by Walter Gibson, a classic Shadow cover imo $960

$900, 6.5 CR/OW.  I cringe a little cuz these terrorized Ward girls and the bastards that are brutalizing them are growing on me

The sleeper of the entire auction in my world.  I wish I'd bid on this.  See, you're just not likely to see another copy of this up for sale any time soon much less one so nice.  Early Tom Lovell, $720.  Great story titles, great gun moll

$500 bucks for a Headquarters Detective true crime mag? Must be that high grade appeal (some sweats did well, too)

Learn something new every day.  I didn't realize Cornell Woolrich's Marihuana (most famous for the paperback as William Irish) first appeared in DFW. Cool cover. I kind of like this era of DFW when it was thinner, $456

Out of gas, plenty more great pulps in there and probably better insights to be made, I thought prices were pretty fair overall, some deals (especially in the Dimes, weird menace, and Danger Trails) but maybe that's also cuz there were so many books.  Uno mas, gorgeous

 

[Robot Man]

On 9/22/2024 at 12:17 AM, Darwination said:

After spending about 6 mind numbing hours pressure washing the driveway today (and the last 3 days) I fell asleep watching football, so now I'm up again at the midnight hour.  Time to take a look at this auction and grab some covers for my files.  If it's a cover I really like, I'll probably crop out the CGC box (BECAUSE THEY ARE UGLY AF) otherwise I'll leave it in.  I'm not much of a market/pricing guy but may comment on the mercenary aspects, too.

The big dog from the first day ended up being the big dog.  There are Black Mask covers I like more and other Dashiell Hammett novels I like more, but this might just be the most iconic of all Black Mask covers because it of the image and putting Hammett's most famous novel front and center. Getting blasted first person by a thug through the paper is a pretty direct metaphor for what the reader should expect from this fiction. 4.5 $16,800, respect due to this killer pulp. 

In second, maybe a surprise

A pet peeve, where's the artist credit to Joseph Szokoli?  Put in on the box, CGC. Put it in the auction description, Heritage.  I guess you can call it a variant.  The white box covers April and May has been put there and there's also a star in the E of a title.  Second printing or just stamped?  I dunno.  In my mind less desirable than April, but I guess it might be scarcer.  They are all scarce, but this issue is one that shows up more than any of the others by far.  I'm still figuring out the grading.  Big crease at the left.  Big shadow at the right  Some tears, but I guess 6.5 it is.  Hammer price: $15,600.  Whoa, nellie. Somebody (or a couple people) really liked this one.

Other "big books" I'll include for "key" chasers

Solid result here, for ESG's "Dead Men's Shoes", 5.0 $10,200

The CGC box gets the artist wrong on that one, dunno how you look at Fred Craft and get J.W. Schlaikjer but such details seem to be the least of CGC's woes right now

Six grand for this one, which I like.  Not because I want to not be able to afford All-Story but just cuz I like to see appreciation for a beautiful cover matching neat content, raw VG/FN. How about a hand for keeping a beauty raw, eh?

There were a number of 5 grand Black Masks of varying grades.  I'm not sure how much weight grade carries there.  If you're collecting runs of Black Mask, they are hard af to get any given issue of and the fiction is a bigger draw than the covers, so I dunno how that works. 

Another key, this is a personal fave art wise as far as Brundage goes. Second highest graded (makes me laugh to say this stuff with muh pulps)

8.5, yet I didn't grab the image for my files, so...Debris on the case? In the case?  Just not solid blacks? Can't tell here.

Pretty good for The Spider:

Some mid to high grade Ward Spicy/Private Detectives did well.

Very HG but with a little CT on the weird menace, wonder what it would fetch minus the resto:

A couple more in-demand books, the Marvel Tales doesn't do anything for me, but I definitely would like to have the Saunders

 

1,020, 5.5 WP.  See, this is one I'm grabbing the image for my files. White pages? Mid-grade?? I guess.  I still feel like there's some grading I'm not trusting cuz this one is damn nice at 5.5, and I'm seeing 7s and up with more problems.

Running out of steam here, so just ones I like and am grabbing images of from here on out.

Heritage called this raw book FN+ despite the chipping to the right, and I'm good with that.  A cool one to be signed by Walter Gibson, a classic Shadow cover imo $960

$900, 6.5 CR/OW.  I cringe a little cuz these terrorized Ward girls and the bastards that are brutalizing them are growing on me

The sleeper of the entire auction in my world.  I wish I'd bid on this.  See, you're just not likely to see another copy of this up for sale any time soon much less one so nice.  Early Tom Lovell, $720.  Great story titles, great gun moll

$500 bucks for a Headquarters Detective true crime mag? Must be that high grade appeal (some sweats did well, too)

Learn something new every day.  I didn't realize Cornell Woolrich's Marihuana (most famous for the paperback as William Irish) first appeared in DFW. Cool cover. I kind of like this era of DFW when it was thinner, $456

Out of gas, plenty more great pulps in there and probably better insights to be made, I thought prices were pretty fair overall, some deals (especially in the Dimes, weird menace, and Danger Trails) but maybe that's also cuz there were so many books.  Uno mas, gorgeous

 

From a guy who just doesn’t peruse the HA and other big auction house auctions, really appreciate the report. So many super rare pulps. Still super cheap when compared to comics…

Thanks for the report Beau!

[Darwination]

You're welcome, Bob. I gave it short shrift - there were a ton of pulps in there.  Honestly, the pulp showings on the weekend HA auctions have been minimal (deals), but these big showcases are something else.  I'm pretty much just a spectator when it comes to these and I'm more on the lookout for neat covers/issues than market trends or anything like that

There's a whole 'nother type of pulp and buyer that shows up at the Adventure House auctions, the old school.  Those are neat auctions, too, just not as gleaming to the eye.