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Pulp sales discussion thread
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357 posts in this topic

On 6/9/2022 at 5:11 PM, Surfing Alien said:

I'm seeing some healthy prices. But don't know enough to comment on all of it. This one is $60 in Bookery's guide. Too low?

Screenshot_20220609-200620_Chrome.thumb.jpg.eb57de7626223042606c9d9a9ae0085a.jpg

Bookery was shattered on the majority of books at auction last night.

Edited by Joshua33
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On 6/10/2022 at 7:06 AM, Joshua33 said:

The issue of Doc Savage that sold last night had glued tear seals, so I don't think that falls under the blue label category.

Yes, agreed - I was just noting that impending grading has elevated pulp prices. 

Edited by Northwest
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On 6/10/2022 at 7:10 AM, Northwest said:

Yes, agreed - I was just noting that impeding grading has elevated pulp prices. 

No question. A non restored Savage 1 in VG/F with no resto closed for the same or less money, just 6 months ago. That is a MASSIVE swing.

Edited by Joshua33
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I placed initial bids on over 160 pulps in the auction at the start, but as I'm mainly looking for inventory I didn't expect to win much. I was still top bidder in over 30 when the Live bidding started. I won three, none of them Spicy books or detective/horror titles with weird menace covers, except for a Wu Fang, which I'm willing to pay a little more for midgrade copies as I'm happy to try and accumulate them even as I list them for sale (though people keep buying them from me). I also picked up an early Shadow and a WT with a Conan cover for what I thought were very reasonable prices. 

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On 6/10/2022 at 7:06 AM, Joshua33 said:

The issue of Doc Savage that sold last night had glued tear seals, so I don't think that falls under the blue label category.

I wonder just how popular pulp slabbing is going to be. I expect high grade copies will see a fair amount of slabbing, especially with the huge price jumps once you get to FN or better, but it doesn't seem like a market that attracts the same amount of grade geeks as comics and cards, which have a modern collecting component for whom grade is everything. How many people are going to pay $80 or whatever to slab a VG pulp worth a few hundred dollars (I'm having a hard time imagining a $35 grading tier for pulps, when 112 pages have to be counted while making sure not to lose a piece dangling from a tattered overlap, on top of everything else). I have this vision of slabbed pulps with small pieces of the cover floating around in the slab that came loose during encapsulation.

Any info on how the numerical scale is going to work for pulps? If trimming will not be considered restoration, but a grade influencer, much the way tape is for comic books, will glue get the same treatment? It appears to be less of an issue to pulp collectors than comic collectors at this point. And what about missing back covers? An automatic "poor" for comics, but most pulp dealers sell them as FR or even FR to GD.

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On 6/9/2022 at 5:18 PM, Surfing Alien said:

28.8K on the fairly worn Doc Savage #1

Even in this market I don't get that. Sure it's a major pulp key, but it's not nearly as tough to find as other keys, and while Doc was a popular pulp character, it's not like he's still easily recognized, unlike say Batman and Captain America, where a steady supply of first issues coming to market can't satisfy demand, even at six figure prices. Maybe a bunch have hit the market in the last few years, but it doesn't exactly seem "uncommon to scarce".

Granted, the Buck Roger's Amazing Stories is even easier to find, but even in a rising market it's selling for about 10% of what DS #1 is in similar grade.

Edited by rjpb
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On 6/10/2022 at 12:04 PM, Bookery said:

Not really.  Yes, issues in pulp, bedhseet, stapled magazine, and digest formats tended to blow past Guide prices.  But I'm still right on target for the rest. 

Not to worry, it's probably still closer to the actual market than the 2020 OSPG is for Golden Age.

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On 6/10/2022 at 11:48 AM, rjpb said:

Very strong price, but you could wait a long time for a shot at another copy, let alone one in decent shape.

I'm not sure how rare this particular book is, but I can say, I've seen 3 copies sell this year, and now another is for sale in Heritages upcoming auction.

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I have some of my pulp collection going up on the Heritage January 12-13 Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction #7338.  Would anyone like to see them, or is this forbidden? hm Bidding starts around December 23rd and ends January 12-13, 2023. 

 

Edited by Forbush-Man
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On 12/7/2022 at 9:02 PM, Joshua33 said:

Forbidden promotion... no such thing. Let's see em. :whistle:

Coolio, just wanted to make sure.  I've got 16 pulps listed in this auction.  I'll start with the big boy, Weird Tales December 1932 graded Fine- 1st Conan. Really bright reds and the spine does not suffer from fading like I've seen on others.  Small pin-hole punch top right of front cover just above the .25c. 

WeirdTales12-1932front.jpeg

WeirdTales12-1932back.jpeg

weirdTales12-1932Spine.jpeg

Edited by Forbush-Man
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Doctor Death Feb. 1935, 1st issue with a great cover.  Apparent VG First issue. Classic cover by Rudolph Zirn. Bookery's lists as "scarce", and this is the third copy we've seen. Restoration includes spine glued to book. Trimmed.

DoctorDeathFeb-1935front.jpeg

DoctorDeathFeb-1935back.jpeg

DoctorDEathSpine.jpeg

Edited by Forbush-Man
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