What is the background history of this stamp? 1 1

[AwesomeSauce]

Obviously not a date stamp, but I've seen this stamp periodically. Can anybody shed some light on this for me? Thanks in advance!

Edited March 31, 2022 by AwesomeSauce

[Get Marwood & I]

That's a UK distribution price stamp, Sauce. You can read a little more about them here:

 

[shadroch]

That book was originally sold in England, or perhaps Bermuda, Jamaica, or the Bahamas. While Marvel actually printed the British price cover price on the cover, DCs and Charltons had the british price handstamped on the books.

Edited March 31, 2022 by shadroch

[Get Marwood & I]

@AwesomeSauceI'd disregard Shadroch's post above, Sauce, if I were you - it's misleading at best. I'm sure he means well though 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

[OtherEric]

On 3/31/2022 at 7:47 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

That's a UK distribution price stamp, Sauce. You can read a little more about them here:

 

I was originally skeptical that any link you could produce on the subject would qualify as "little", but that one seems to fit.

[shadroch]

On 3/31/2022 at 8:54 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

@AwesomeSauceI'd disregard Shadroch's post above, Sauce, if I were you - it's misleading at best. I'm sure he means well though 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

What is misleading about it?  Did DC change the cover prices as Marvel Did? Is that price not hand stamped on ? Were these books not only sold in England, but also in Bermuda and Jamaica?   

What did I say that you find misleading? 

If you were at an American convention and the guy next to you pulled this book out of a box and asked you what the stamp was- what do you say?

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/31/2022 at 6:30 PM, shadroch said:

What is misleading about it?  Did DC change the cover prices as Marvel Did?

Yes. DCs were distributed in the UK as both UK stamped cents copies and UK Price Variants (printed UK prices). 

On 3/31/2022 at 6:30 PM, shadroch said:

Is that price not hand stamped on ?

Yes, on a Marvel which you said / implied had printed UK prices only. Marvel also had both printed UK Price Variants and UK stamped cents copies distributed in the UK

On 3/31/2022 at 6:30 PM, shadroch said:

Were these books not only sold in England, but also in Bermuda and Jamaica?   

UK distribution only - if you have evidence that Thorpe & Porter distributed UK stamped copies in Bermuda and Jamaica, please share it.

On 3/31/2022 at 6:30 PM, shadroch said:

What did I say that you find misleading? 

In addition to the above, the Charltons you mentioned were distributed in the UK as:

• UK price stamped cents copies (by multiple distributors at different stages - not just Thorpe & Porter)
• Printed UK Price Variants
• Dual pence/cents priced copies

On 3/31/2022 at 6:30 PM, shadroch said:

If you were at an American convention and the guy next to you pulled this book out of a box and asked you what the stamp was- what do you say?

I'd say "That's a Thorpe & Porter UK distribution price stamp" and elaborate further if he showed interest / didn't glaze over. 

[shadroch]

I was in Bermuda the summer of 1975 and then for two weeks in the summer of 79 and the two shops in Hamilton that sold comics all had the stamps on them. I didn't buy any in 1975 because the issues they had were all two or three months old. It caused a problem because when I went back to NY I had missed out on the summers issues and had to track them dow,. No easy feat in the era before comic shops.

As far as Jamaica goes, in my two visits there I saw no American comics, but the late great Peter Tosh had a comic book collection and there were many of these books in it.  Most things in Jamaica seemed imported from England and Europe rather than the US. I saw a bunch of english rock mags at a studio I visited so I am assuming the distribuors were English.  I'll admit that is circumstantial but that the comics sold in those stores in Bermuda came from England  is not.  In 75 I scoured the island for shops and I'm pretty sure those were the only two stores that carried new comics, and no one knew anything about a place with back issues.  It was easier to find reggae music than back issue comics, and possesion of reggae was a crime at the time. When I went back in 79, nothing had changed as far as comics or music.It was strange. The clubs could play soca, or calypso, but still no reggae. They had a strange hybred they called goombay that sounded a lot like reggae but somehow got past the censors. These days, the Soca/Reggae Festival seems to have supplanted tnhe Bermuda Jazz fest as the big music festival.

Edited March 31, 2022 by shadroch

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/31/2022 at 7:03 PM, shadroch said:

I was in Bermuda the summer of 1975 and then for two weeks in the summer of 79 and the two shops in Hamilton that sold comics all had the stamps on them. I didn't buy any in 1975 because the issues they had were all two or three months old. It caused a problem because when I went back to NY I had missed out on the summers issues and had to track them dow,. No easy feat in the era before comic shops.

As far as Jamaica goes, in my two visits there I saw no American comics, but the late great Peter Tosh had a comic book collection and there were many of these books in it.  Most things in Jamaica seemed imported from England and Europe rather than the US. I saw a bunch of english rock mags at a studio I visited so I am assuming the distribuors were English.  I'll admit that is circumstantial but that the comics sold in those stores in Bermuda came from England  is not.  In 75 I scoured the island for shops and I'm pretty sure those were the only two stores that carried new comics, and no one knew anything about a place with back issues.  It was easier to find reggae music than back issue comics, and possesion of reggae was a crime at the time. When I went back in 79, nothing had changed as far as comics or music.It was strange. The clubs could play soca, or calypso, but still no reggae.

I love hearing personal recollections like these. Alas, recollections are just that and can be a tad unreliable after many decades have passed. If only you'd taken pictures!

[shadroch]

On 3/31/2022 at 11:16 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I love hearing personal recollections like these. Alas, recollections are just that and can be a tad unreliable after many decades have passed. If only you'd taken pictures!

Yes, it is a shame I didn't think I'd need to produce photographic evidence fifty years from that moment, although if I had I'm sure you'd say they were photoshopped.

I've offered my evidence. Other than trying to discount my memory, do you have any evidence they weren't distributed in Bermuda?

Perhaps a photo or two of your own ?

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/31/2022 at 7:52 PM, shadroch said:

Yes, it is a shame I didn't think I'd need to produce photographic evidence fifty years from that moment, although if I had I'm sure you'd say they were photoshopped.

I've offered my evidence. Other than trying to discount my memory, do you have any evidence they weren't distributed in Bermuda?

Perhaps a photo or two of your own ?

Yes, I can produce lots of photos of Bermuda without them in, Shad 

[Get Marwood & I]

@shadroch, I'm pulling your leg mate. I have no doubt whatsoever that some UK stamped US comics made it to those places you visited back in the day, whether by design, or just by some chap seeing a chance to make a buck and taking a suitcase load of them over. But there's nothing documented anywhere that I have seen to suggest any formal, systematic distribution arrangement, is my point. The indicias don't say "Exclusively printed for Thorpe & Porter, sole distributors in the UK, Jamaica and Bermuda", after all. On the printed 9d copies, that is. I was just pulling your leg, in the same way I'm sure you would if I had ventured into one of your many areas of expertise. Go on, give us a smile 

[shadroch]

Isn't Bermuda a self governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom? I believe that is how it's Constitution states it.  

In the 1977 riots, when the government lost control, they brought in British paratroopers, as well as hundreds of police from the Bahamas and Nassau, although it wasn't until the US Marines were sent in that peace was established.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/31/2022 at 9:27 PM, shadroch said:

Isn't Bermuda a self governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom? I believe that is how it's Constitution states it.  

In the 1977 riots, when the government lost control, they brought in British paratroopers, as well as hundreds of police from the Bahamas and Nassau, although it wasn't until the US Marines were sent in that peace was established.

That's definitely how you guys would portray it in a film, yes.

Movie, sorry. 

[shadroch]

I'm sure the government asked for the US Marines so they could observe the bang up job the Bermuda battalion was doing. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/31/2022 at 9:52 PM, shadroch said:

I'm sure the government asked for the US Marines so they could observe the bang up job the Bermuda battalion was doing. 

Indeed. It's what inspired Barry Manilow, I believe. I suppose we should look at it from his angle, really, shouldn't we. 

Night chuckles 

[comicginger1789]

Brit wit vs 'murican acuity...play nice boys

 

[shadroch]

How can one have a discussion with someone who seems to think Bermuda wasn't part of the United Kingdom?

To quote Arlo Guthrie: If you don't know about that one, well what else don't you know?

Anyway, the OP has his answer and that is all I was trying to do in the first place. 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by shadroch

[rakehell]

On 4/1/2022 at 6:04 PM, shadroch said:

How can one have a discussion with someone who seems to think Bermuda wasn't part of the United Kingdom?

I don't want to step in anything here, but Bermuda was (& still is) part of the British Commonwealth, not the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland and only those four nations. Even the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, etc.) and the Isle of Man are technically outside the UK.

Sorry for being pedantic. 

[Pantodude]

Here is a great YT video explaining UK vs Great Britain vs England.  Interesting stuff.  I know.  Now we've really overdone it.  

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Pantodude