Truckee meadows collection 13 13

[ThothAmon]

Awesome books! Collections like this will certainly help keep the craziness going. Truth is my dream is to find them not buy them. 

[lighthouse]

On 3/18/2022 at 6:17 AM, ThothAmon said:

Awesome books! Collections like this will certainly help keep the craziness going. Truth is my dream is to find them not buy them. 

It was a very sleepless night the day the first few samples were brought in for me to look at. You never expect to be suddenly handed top-10 census books that have never been inside a bag and board much less a mylar.

[drdonaldblake1]

On 3/19/2022 at 9:47 AM, lighthouse said:

It was a very sleepless night the day the first few samples were brought in for me to look at. You never expect to be suddenly handed top-10 census books that have never been inside a bag and board much less a mylar.

Lighthouse!

You are the discoveree of the Truckee collection?  Please tell us more about the OO, BACK Story , etc? 

How did the pages stay so white in a desert climate??

[pemart1966]

I'll echo The Thing's sentiments:  "AIR!!  I GOTTA HAVE AIR!"   

Edited March 18, 2022 by pemart1966

[drdonaldblake1]

On 3/19/2022 at 10:12 AM, pemart1966 said:

I'll echo The Thing's sentiments:  "AIR!!  I GOTTA HAVE AIR!"   

Ah, so perhaps the Truckee books were stored flat and in stacks ala the mile highs which meant no browning, yellowing due to oxidation?

[lighthouse]

On 3/18/2022 at 4:10 PM, drdonaldblake1 said:

Lighthouse!

You are the discoveree of the Truckee collection?  Please tell us more about the OO, BACK Story , etc? 

How did the pages stay so white in a desert climate??

Best I can piece the story together it goes like this.

Collector starts collecting in the mid-1950s at a young age. Doesn’t take great care of his books the first few years but as he matures he takes better and better care of his things. By 1960 or so, any of the books he chooses to read, he reads very carefully. (There are absolutely books in the collection that were never read at all.)

Around 1961 he starts buying duplicates of books he likes. As many as 8 copies of some, but most are 2 or 3. Also around this time he starts buying Golden Age where he can find it and by this point he has an eye for quality and keeps them in nice shape. This is evident because any book from 1940-1953 is in significantly better shape than the books from 1956-1958.

As a “longtime” DC collector (Marvel wasn’t much of an option when he started), his collection is heavily focused on DC, both in what he buys off the rack and what he buys second hand. There is a small amount of Golden Age non-DC but it’s a small amount.

In the summer of 1965 he stops collecting entirely. The comics go in a closet and stay there. None are ever bagged and boarded (not much of an option in 1965). Does he leave for Vietnam that summer? I don’t know. But the last books in the collection are September 1965 cover dates (FF42 and ASM28 for example).

Collection remains essentially untouched until this winter. The OO having passed on, a family member brought me samples of the books to look at, and here we are.

And I say this was pieced together because it’s apparent the OO never interacted with his comics again after 1965. He didn’t talk about them with family, didn’t add to the collection, didn’t sell any. They weren’t part of his life after 1965. I’m confident he passed away having no idea whatsoever that he had an expensive collection of comics.

End result is the collection includes a few hundred high grade original owner Silver, a few hundred low to mid grade original owner Silver, and a few hundred mid-to-high grade Golden that were accumulated between 1961-1965.

Ultimately we expect Heritage will handle around 300-400 books from the collection. And we will sell the rest directly.

As for the white pages, the conditions here are not substantially different from Denver. Altitude, low humidity, few truly hot days. The Truckee Meadows books were stored in flat stacks in boxes, in a very dry, usually cool environment with limited air exchange. It’s a pretty good recipe for paper preservation.

 

[Readcomix]

@lighthouse what’s the name truckee meadows derived from? Is that a place? Collector’s name?
 

Any chance some of the ones you sell directly will be via a thread here?

And congrats on having your mind blown by that walk-in…what an experience!

Edited March 19, 2022 by Readcomix
Typo

[lighthouse]

On 3/18/2022 at 6:48 PM, Readcomix said:

@lighthouse what’s the name truckee meadows derived from? Is that a place? Collector’s name?
 

Any chance some of the ones you sell directly will be via a thread here?

And congrats on having your mind blown by that walk-in…what an experience!

Truckee Meadows is the name of the valley containing the Truckee River. The river begins as outflow from Lake Tahoe, meanders through northern Nevada, and ends at Pyramid Lake (an endorheic basin with no outflow).

At some point I may offer books here in the marketplace but that’s a ways down the line. I’m less than a quarter done with the initial triage of the collection (it takes much longer when not a single book has ever been bagged or boarded and so many of the books are potential 9.2-9.6 candidates… there is no fast way to flip through high grade raw books lol). Once I have a more complete picture of Heritage vs local slabbed vs local raw, I’ll start on that process. But this collection is around a 600-hour part-time job* and I was already working 70-80 hours a week year round. So it will take time.

* and yes, it’s the coolest part-time job I can imagine having 

[drdonaldblake1]

On 3/19/2022 at 12:08 PM, lighthouse said:

Best I can piece the story together it goes like this.

Collector starts collecting in the mid-1950s at a young age. Doesn’t take great care of his books the first few years but as he matures he takes better and better care of his things. By 1960 or so, any of the books he chooses to read, he reads very carefully. (There are absolutely books in the collection that were never read at all.)

Around 1961 he starts buying duplicates of books he likes. As many as 8 copies of some, but most are 2 or 3. Also around this time he starts buying Golden Age where he can find it and by this point he has an eye for quality and keeps them in nice shape. This is evident because any book from 1940-1953 is in significantly better shape than the books from 1956-1958.

As a “longtime” DC collector (Marvel wasn’t much of an option when he started), his collection is heavily focused on DC, both in what he buys off the rack and what he buys second hand. There is a small amount of Golden Age non-DC but it’s a small amount.

In the summer of 1965 he stops collecting entirely. The comics go in a closet and stay there. None are ever bagged and boarded (not much of an option in 1965). Does he leave for Vietnam that summer? I don’t know. But the last books in the collection are September 1965 cover dates (FF42 and ASM28 for example).

Collection remains essentially untouched until this winter. The OO having passed on, a family member brought me samples of the books to look at, and here we are.

And I say this was pieced together because it’s apparent the OO never interacted with his comics again after 1965. He didn’t talk about them with family, didn’t add to the collection, didn’t sell any. They weren’t part of his life after 1965. I’m confident he passed away having no idea whatsoever that he had an expensive collection of comics.

End result is the collection includes a few hundred high grade original owner Silver, a few hundred low to mid grade original owner Silver, and a few hundred mid-to-high grade Golden that were accumulated between 1961-1965.

Ultimately we expect Heritage will handle around 300-400 books from the collection. And we will sell the rest directly.

As for the white pages, the conditions here are not substantially different from Denver. Altitude, low humidity, few truly hot days. The Truckee Meadows books were stored in flat stacks in boxes, in a very dry, usually cool environment with limited air exchange. It’s a pretty good recipe for paper preservation.

 

Wow, what a great story. Thanks for sharing that lighthouse.

I'll bet his family are glad he had a try with FF in 1961🙂!

Does his family have any idea why he stopped collecting in 1965??

Is there a master list of books and are you going to list them all here at once or take want lists?

[drdonaldblake1]

@lighthouse

Is this the best collection that's come into your store and if so, what would be the second best?

[lighthouse]

On 3/18/2022 at 7:51 PM, drdonaldblake1 said:

Wow, what a great story. Thanks for sharing that lighthouse.

I'll bet his family are glad he had a try with FF in 1961🙂!

Does his family have any idea why he stopped collecting in 1965??

Is there a master list of books and are you going to list them all here at once or take want lists?

The family has no idea because he never talked about them. How often does someone bring up a hobby they quit five decades earlier? I’m left playing world’s mediocre-est detective and piecing together the evidence in front of me. 

There is no master list yet. I handled all the books exactly once to get them separated by title. They’re stacked flat, in newer boxes, separated by magazine size fullbacks about every twenty books, so I can unstack them without handling the books. Now I only handle them as I triage each title, mylaring as I go. There are already more books in both Heritage’s CGC pipeline and mine. But for obvious reasons I’m leaving it to Heritage to do what they do best and I won’t discuss those books until Heritage publishes the items.

Many, many, many of the books in the collection are not particularly valuable. His low grade childhood copy of Brave and the Bold 10 is a $50 book at best, as are plenty of the other DCs from that time period. But I will never complain about Silver Age box filler.

[KCOComics]

On 3/18/2022 at 11:16 PM, lighthouse said:

The family has no idea because he never talked about them. How often does someone bring up a hobby they quit five decades earlier? I’m left playing world’s mediocre-est detective and piecing together the evidence in front of me. 

There is no master list yet. I handled all the books exactly once to get them separated by title. They’re stacked flat, in newer boxes, separated by magazine size fullbacks about every twenty books, so I can unstack them without handling the books. Now I only handle them as I triage each title, mylaring as I go. There are already more books in both Heritage’s CGC pipeline and mine. But for obvious reasons I’m leaving it to Heritage to do what they do best and I won’t discuss those books until Heritage publishes the items.

Many, many, many of the books in the collection are not particularly valuable. His low grade childhood copy of Brave and the Bold 10 is a $50 book at best, as are plenty of the other DCs from that time period. But I will never complain about Silver Age box filler.

Thank you for coming here and sharing the details of the story. 

Incredible collection and I hope they do really well at auction! 

[lighthouse]

On 3/18/2022 at 7:53 PM, drdonaldblake1 said:

@lighthouse

Is this the best collection that's come into your store and if so, what would be the second best?

We buy about fifty collections each month. Most are small modern collections but we see a collection of 100+ Silver at a time probably fifteen times a year. 

Second best at this store was probably a collection of 20,000 books that included 500 high grade silver and 3000 high grade bronze. 

[pemart1966]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:23 PM, drdonaldblake1 said:

Ah, so perhaps the Truckee books were stored flat and in stacks ala the mile highs which meant no browning, yellowing due to oxidation?

Yeah - that's a possibility though I was actually meaning that the condition of the books was breath taking. 

[Neurosis138]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:23 PM, lighthouse said:

We buy about fifty collections each month. Most are small modern collections but we see a collection of 100+ Silver at a time probably fifteen times a year. 

Second best at this store was probably a collection of 20,000 books that included 500 high grade silver and 3000 high grade bronze. 

What's the name of your store?

[namisgr]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:51 PM, drdonaldblake1 said:

Does his family have any idea why he stopped collecting in 1965??

My guess would be that's when he went away to college.  A September 1965 publication date would have been on the newsstand in the summer, nine years after starting to buy new books according to the information Lighthouse provided.

Edited March 20, 2022 by namisgr

[Domo Arigato]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:08 PM, lighthouse said:

Best I can piece the story together it goes like this.

Been waiting for this and glad to finally hear more about the back story, House.

Absolutely stunning books.

Good luck with the sale. 

 

[silverseeker]

On 3/19/2022 at 8:07 PM, Neurosis138 said:

What's the name of your store?

I'm actually curious about this as well...

@lighthouse, I'm assuming your store is located somewhere in the Bay Area since you're in San Francisco?

[Mephisto]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:47 PM, lighthouse said:

Truckee Meadows is the name of the valley containing the Truckee River. The river begins as outflow from Lake Tahoe, meanders through northern Nevada, and ends at Pyramid Lake (an endorheic basin with no outflow).

At some point I may offer books here in the marketplace but that’s a ways down the line. I’m less than a quarter done with the initial triage of the collection (it takes much longer when not a single book has ever been bagged or boarded and so many of the books are potential 9.2-9.6 candidates… there is no fast way to flip through high grade raw books lol). Once I have a more complete picture of Heritage vs local slabbed vs local raw, I’ll start on that process. But this collection is around a 600-hour part-time job* and I was already working 70-80 hours a week year round. So it will take time.

* and yes, it’s the coolest part-time job I can imagine having 

Was he ever a suspect in the Truckee Meadows Murders? This may help the later books gain Pedigree status.

[MattTheDuck]

On 3/24/2022 at 10:51 AM, Mephisto said:

Was he ever a suspect in the Truckee Meadows Murders? This may help the later books gain Pedigree status.

Or perhaps a victim of the Truckee Meadows murderer.  Also good.