Post your Promise Collection wins! 16 16

[PDGray]

On 1/3/2022 at 6:48 PM, sagii said:

@MrBedrock is back 

PQ aside, as I'm perfectly ok with c/ow for most gold (to each his own) acquiring an Allentown is a jewel in the crown simply because there are so few books in the collection when compared to other pedigrees (132?) WAY more serious GA collectors than that! Imagine one collector holding say 20, even more of a small pool to go around.

Church maybe King, and Promise maybe the hot thing of the times but there will always be some thing very special about that small stash out of PA

 

I had absolutely NO idea that there were so few Allentown books.

 

Most of my collection is Silver, so I am a novice when it comes to GA books, although I own/have owned probably a few hundred.  My favorites were my Marvel Mystery 11 and my Superman 20.  Both were stolen about 5 years ago now along with about 2500 other books from my collection.

 

 

PDG

[path4play]

On 1/3/2022 at 6:56 PM, Straw-Man said:

going after a ped type-set but finding the allentowns to be not worthy of inclusion is either misguided or a word that the filter won't let me type [and, anyway, mom said if i didn't have anything nice to say...]. 

Right?  You don't have two lifetimes.  At the very least, take it and make it an under copy later if you can be so lucky.

[jimbo_7071]

On 1/3/2022 at 6:56 PM, Straw-Man said:

going after a ped type-set but finding the allentowns to be not worthy of inclusion is either misguided or a word that the filter won't let me type [and, anyway, mom said if i didn't have anything nice to say...]. 

"Mom said if i didn't have anything nice to say . . . . "

Your mom stole that from Thumper!

[lou_fine]

On 1/6/2022 at 5:42 AM, PDGray said:

On 1/3/2022 at 4:48 PM, sagii said:

Allentown is a jewel in the crown simply because there are so few books in the collection when compared to other pedigrees (132?) WAY more serious GA collectors than that! Imagine one collector holding say 20, even more of a small pool to go around.

I had absolutely NO idea that there were so few Allentown books.

Indeed, the smallest pedigree with a grand total of only 135 books in there, but ohhhh my my.............what a set of books in terms of both the book titles within the collection and their condition quality.      

Definitely more serious GA collectors out there than the actual number of books within the collection itself, and not enough to go around even with a limit of only one per collector.  I still remember being at the Diamond Int'l Galleries grand opening back in '95, with the boxes of books being carted out from the Diamond vault on a Saturday morning.  Joe Verenault was the lucky and generous dealer who got the box with the early Fox books which had all the Allentown copies of the early Mystery Men and Wonderworld run.  All I can say is that if it was Fishler and his East Coast triumvirate that had gotten a hold of that box, they would have kept all of the books for themselves and charged collectors multiples of what they would have just paid for them. 

If I remember correctly, for the Allentown copies of these early Fox Mystery Man and Wonderworld books which have come back into the marketplace, virtually all of them save for only two or three of them have come back in either higher or at least equivalent grade when compared to the same Church issues that have come into the marketplace over the years.      

[sagii]

On 1/7/2022 at 5:38 PM, lou_fine said:

Indeed, the smallest pedigree with a grand total of only 135 books in there, but ohhhh my my.............what a set of books in terms of both the book titles within the collection and their condition quality.      

Definitely more serious GA collectors out there than the actual number of books within the collection itself, and not enough to go around even with a limit of only one per collector.  I still remember being at the Diamond Int'l Galleries grand opening back in '95, with the boxes of books being carted out from the Diamond vault on a Saturday morning.  Joe Verenault was the lucky and generous dealer who got the box with the early Fox books which had all the Allentown copies of the early Mystery Men and Wonderworld run.  All I can say is that if it was Fishler and his East Coast triumvirate that had gotten a hold of that box, they would have kept all of the books for themselves and charged collectors multiples of what they would have just paid for them. 

If I remember correctly, for the Allentown copies of these early Fox Mystery Man and Wonderworld books which have come back into the marketplace, virtually all of them save for only two or three of them have come back in either higher or at least equivalent grade when compared to the same Church issues that have come into the marketplace over the years.      

@lou_fine I meant to '@" you when i originally posted the total books in the collection post as i see you as the 'Allentown' guy as far as first hand stories of when the books came to market and condition on many of the books. 

[lou_fine]

On 1/7/2022 at 5:58 PM, sagii said:

@lou_fine I meant to '@" you when i originally posted the total books in the collection post as i see you as the 'Allentown' guy as far as first hand stories of when the books came to market and condition on many of the books. 

Yes, I still remember crouching next to Joe V. and watching him as he was going through his box of early Fox Allentown books.  

Then he notices me watching him and asks if I was a collector or a dealer.  When I told him that I was a long term collector, he told me to go through the two piles and pull out one each of the Allentown Mystery Men and Wonderworld books of my own choosing and to simply take it and put them in my own pile of books to buy.  I then also noticed him allowing another collector there to do the same thing after I had already selected my two books.     

Now, if it had been Fishler that had gotten hold of that box, I am quite sure that the conversation would have gone slightly differently.  It probably would have gone something like this:  Well, since we are all here together and being the nice dealer that I am, why don't you grab one of each of those Allentown Mystery Men and Wonderworld books and I'll forego my usual markup and you can have them for the discounted price of only $2K each (even though he had just gotten them for only $800 each from Geppi and Overstreet).    

[PDGray]

To add to this thread here is my copy of Black Diamond Western 11, a white pager.  I am honored to have acquired this book recently and it should never come up for sale again in my lifetime.  

Having said that, this story really resounded with me.  While I have read the other thread regarding the rumors about the truth of the story in the thread by SFCityDuck, I still felt compelled to acquire some piece of this story.  It wasn't about winning or losing, but simply holding on to an amazing story - even if possibly muddled in history. See here:

 

My own story is that I retired from the US Army a few years ago.  My job was as a trumpet player.  During my tenure I managed to play "Taps" more than 2,000 times.  Sometimes for retirees, sometimes for Veterans, and sometimes for Active Duty Servicemembers of all branches.  I played for Veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and every other conflict since then.  I have seen the grief, I have seen the tears of the family members, and heard the stories or legends of those Servicemembers.  Tying this particular book to one of those kindred spirits from the Army who also collected comic books reminds me of those who are much younger than I who went to those different armed conflicts and planned to come home yet didn't. 

So, this book isn't mine.  Yes, it may physically pass to my kids one day, but this book will always belong to Junie.

 

PDG

 

 

[comicjack]

We are all care takers of the original owners books until we pass them along.The average person cannot fully understand the mind of a comic geek.I know with all my heart that brother truly loved his books the way he cared for them. I love to have a book or two from a reader or collector as we call them now in my collection.I have started to do so but not to go so crazy at this stage of the game i let the younger guys do that 

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by comicjack

[RareHighGrade]

On 1/8/2022 at 3:44 PM, comicjack said:

We are all care takers of the original owners books until we pass them along.The average person cannot fully understand the mind of a comic geek.I know with all my heart that brother truly loved his books the way he cared for them. I love to have a book or two from a reader or collector as we call them now in my collection.I have started to do so but not to go so crazy at this stage of the game i let the younger guys do that 

 

I haven't seen that cover before.  I like it.

[jimjum12]

On 1/8/2022 at 5:26 PM, PDGray said:

To add to this thread here is my copy of Black Diamond Western 11, a white pager.  I am honored to have acquired this book recently and it should never come up for sale again in my lifetime.  

Having said that, this story really resounded with me.  While I have read the other thread regarding the rumors about the truth of the story in the thread by SFCityDuck, I still felt compelled to acquire some piece of this story.  It wasn't about winning or losing, but simply holding on to an amazing story - even if possibly muddled in history. See here:

 

My own story is that I retired from the US Army a few years ago.  My job was as a trumpet player.  During my tenure I managed to play "Taps" more than 2,000 times.  Sometimes for retirees, sometimes for Veterans, and sometimes for Active Duty Servicemembers of all branches.  I played for Veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and every other conflict since then.  I have seen the grief, I have seen the tears of the family members, and heard the stories or legends of those Servicemembers.  Tying this particular book to one of those kindred spirits from the Army who also collected comic books reminds me of those who are much younger than I who went to those different armed conflicts and planned to come home yet didn't. 

So, this book isn't mine.  Yes, it may physically pass to my kids one day, but this book will always belong to Junie.

 

PDG

 

 

What a strong post. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Edited January 9, 2022 by jimjum12

[Dr. Love]

On 1/7/2022 at 9:41 PM, lou_fine said:

Yes, I still remember crouching next to Joe V. and watching him as he was going through his box of early Fox Allentown books.  

Then he notices me watching him and asks if I was a collector or a dealer.  When I told him that I was a long term collector, he told me to go through the two piles and pull out one each of the Allentown Mystery Men and Wonderworld books of my own choosing and to simply take it and put them in my own pile of books to buy.  I then also noticed him allowing another collector there to do the same thing after I had already selected my two books.     

Now, if it had been Fishler that had gotten hold of that box, I am quite sure that the conversation would have gone slightly differently.  It probably would have gone something like this:  Well, since we are all here together and being the nice dealer that I am, why don't you grab one of each of those Allentown Mystery Men and Wonderworld books and I'll forego my usual markup and you can have them for the discounted price of only $2K each (even though he had just gotten them for only $800 each from Geppi and Overstreet).    

Fish had two guys to emulate, two roads to go down, Joe V the high road, Jay M the other way.

Howd that go?

[PDGray]

On 1/8/2022 at 8:52 PM, jimjum12 said:

What a strong post. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Thank you Jimbo.

PDG

[lou_fine]

On 1/8/2022 at 8:29 PM, Dr. Love said:

Fish had two guys to emulate, two roads to go down, Joe V the high road, Jay M the other way.

Howd that go?

Sadly, I guess this goes to confirm the old saying that nice guys don't finish on top.  

Then again, I don't also think the the Fish ended up like Jay Maybruck, especially since Jay ended up more like Jordan Belfort of the comic book world minus the rather vivacious Margot Robbie.  

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

There has been discussion about how well Promise books will hold their value, comparatively speaking. I have no answers, but I thought it was interesting that recently Heritage sold the same issue of a book, both pedigree and both 9.4s. The Promise copy came out on top

[Flex Mentallo]

On 1/31/2022 at 3:54 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

There has been discussion about how well Promise books will hold their value, comparatively speaking. I have no answers, but I thought it was interesting that recently Heritage sold the same issue of a book, both pedigree and both 9.4s. The Promise copy came out on top

The colors on the Promise copy seem significantly better.

Idle speculation, but I wonder what would have happened to the auction results if the Promise had had the inferior colors?

[buttock]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:02 AM, Flex Mentallo said:

The colors on the Promise copy seem significantly better.

Idle speculation, but I wonder what would have happened to the auction results if the Promise had had the inferior colors?

Crippen with C/OW paper and inferior colors vs Promise with OWW paper and superior colors.  But the price on both surprises me.  There are 6 copies in 9.4(!) and one sold last year for $432.  I can't believe there's much pent up demand for this book.   

[october]

On 1/3/2022 at 6:02 PM, Straw-Man said:

this one i'm moving into a little stack of treasure chests i have, so as to not waste any box-space on it.

I was thinking of this book the other day and the pain of being an underbidder. 

[Straw-Man]

i remember andy. 

[Flex Mentallo]

On 1/31/2022 at 4:43 PM, buttock said:

Crippen with C/OW paper and inferior colors vs Promise with OWW paper and superior colors.  But the price on both surprises me.  There are 6 copies in 9.4(!) and one sold last year for $432.  I can't believe there's much pent up demand for this book.   

Ah, 'pent up demand'. Those were the days!

[buttock]

On 1/31/2022 at 11:35 AM, Flex Mentallo said:

Ah, 'pent up demand'. Those were the days!

They now have a pill for that.