What the one book you never thought you'd own that you do /did ? 5 5

[ender]

It is restored, although I did have some of the restoration improved so it looks better now than this photo but even then I never thought I would ever own a copy.

[Tri-Color Brian]

[gadzukes]

[gadzukes]

[gadzukes]

[OtherEric]

First Buck Rogers.  Wanted at least since I saw it in Steranko's history, probably longer.  Never really expected to even ever see a copy, much less own it:

[Cat-Man_America]

After posting a book that I sold twice, but never thought I'd own once, there are a number that I thought I'd never own, but now do.

This is one of those favorites (originally Jon Berk's copy; to avoid confusion, this HG copy is no longer listed in the CGC census):

There are five graded copies of this book, probably more, but only two known in high grade.

 

 

[Joshua33]

On 10/3/2021 at 3:05 PM, Silver said:

I just got mine this week. The seller and I had been discussing this book for over a year, I just didnt want to spend that much money, but ultimately I knew I’d regret not buying it more than I would buying it… if that makes any sense 🤣

[Joshua33]

I've owned 4 or 5 copies over the years, but I never thought I'd own Johnny Craig's personal copy of this book. 

[Chicago Boy]

This thread is turning out more fun than I thought ! Obscure books, mega keys, Provenances, and off brand titles.  Keep em ' coming !

Edited October 5, 2021 by Chicago Boy

[Foxtrot70]

On 10/3/2021 at 10:31 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Cool, - fun trivia, there is a Greek edition from the 50's   Sold for crazy money

[Foxtrot70]

On 10/3/2021 at 11:23 PM, Joshua33 said:

I've owned 4 or 5 copies over the years, but I never thought I'd own Johnny Craig's personal copy of this book. 

Nice, I landed the HoF 15 (1)   The Craig books are little chippy for my taste but it will stay in my PC.  I agree the history makes it extra special to own. 

[Silver]

On 10/3/2021 at 9:23 PM, Joshua33 said:

I've owned 4 or 5 copies over the years, but I never thought I'd own Johnny Craig's personal copy of this book. 

Now it’s my turn 

I love EC grails!

Edited October 4, 2021 by Silver

[Silver]

On 10/3/2021 at 8:31 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Didn’t know you had that one Brian! 

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 10/4/2021 at 7:22 AM, Silver said:

Didn’t know you had that one Brian! 

I've shown it before, but I guess you missed it (In fact, it's in my Sig Line.  Turn on the Sig Lines! ).  I got that in 2001 from Harley Yee's catalog (He used to mail out a big catalog to customers about once or twice a year).  I called him as soon as I saw it listed, probably just minutes before some other Baker collector called...

Edited October 4, 2021 by Tri-ColorBrian

[Tri-Color Brian]

Everyone is probably tired of seeing this issue, but it's another I never thought I'd find.  That was in 1993.  In 1994 I got this from a collector who answered my classified ad in the old CBG...

[Ltpink2002]

Books based on scarcity in grade:

Edited October 5, 2021 by Ltpink2002

[sfcityduck]

I have only two books on this list.

The first took me two years to find.  I'd read SOTI as a teenager in the 80s when I first got into comic collecting and new about the "only good comic book" - the Nightingale.  But, I didn't know how rare it was until I saw a thread on these Boards where everyone was stating they'd never seen a copy and the resident SOTI experts were bummed out because they could not finish their SOTI collections.  They also said the art was by Dong Kingman, which made me think they were looking in the wrong places.  After two years, I found a copy and no one was more surprised than me.  It now has a better home with the only guy who has every known comic referenced in SOTI (the Board's own SOTIcollector).  There are only two copies in private collections (and five or so in institutions):

BUT, it took me 15 years to find this obscure personal grail, maybe the first comic format original graphic novel in the classic Will Eisner definitional sense  - the original published in San Francisco in 1931 English/Japanese version of The Four Immigrants Manga:

I know of one other person (translator Fred Schodt) and one institution (U.C. Berkeley) who have one.  Mine went through the internment camps.  

Edited October 5, 2021 by sfcityduck

[Figment]

The recently aquired grail of the Golden Age Sub-Mariner collection.  I had to do some serious value shifting to get it, but it was totally worth the effort!

[circumstances]

As a young collector I never thought I'd own any of the rarities or keys I have (and have had over the years).

It's been a great ride.