Inviting Comments On Rarity Of New Fun Comics

[ft88]

Not to go against the bigloo but why not let the auctions ride out and then offer to buy all three fro around his asking price. Or are you worried somebody will buy them and thus the question.

[Moondog]

Mark:

 

When Joe Desris offered me Sol Harrison's ashcans in1985, he also brought out a run of New Fun 2-6. Even though they were from Sol's stash they were very beat up. I think the 3 was a Good but none of the others graded that high. The 2 was definitely just a Fair.

 

I remember buying the lot from Joe for $250 at a Chicago Minicon and flipping them 5 minutes later to Jef Hinds for $900. The '85 Guide was $114 in Good for # 2, $65 each for # 3-5, and $90 for # 6. That's around $400 for Guide Good. If one figures Fair at half or so of Good, I paid guide and flipped them at 4.5 X.

 

Not bad then, but I wish I'd kept them...

[esquirecomics]

Not to go against the bigloo but why not let the auctions ride out and then offer to buy all three fro around his asking price. Or are you worried somebody will buy them and thus the question.

 

I was offered them before they went up on e-bay actually, and then another collector offered me a #3. All of a sudden I am confronted with essentially being able to buy the majority of the New Fun Comics so hence the question: Is now the time I need to act (or face kicking myself later on) or will this happen again in the future?

[esquirecomics]

Mark:

 

When Joe Desris offered me Sol Harrison's ashcans in1985, he also brought out a run of New Fun 2-6. Even though they were from Sol's stash they were very beat up. I think the 3 was a Good but none of the others graded that high. The 2 was definitely just a Fair.

 

I remember buying the lot from Joe for $250 at a Chicago Minicon and flipping them 5 minutes later to Jef Hinds for $900. The '85 Guide was $114 in Good for # 2, $65 each for # 3-5, and $90 for # 6. That's around $400 for Guide Good. If one figures Fair at half or so of Good, I paid guide and flipped them at 4.5 X.

 

Not bad then, but I wish I'd kept them...

 

I hate looking back at those prices!

 

I wish I had been buying when you were offered the ashcans! Remember my phone # whenever you sell!!!!!! Or tell me how to get into your will. I can wait!

[ft88]

Well, he's not asking crazy prices for them. Buy the lot and then look to upgrade. Even if you sell them on ebay later you'll be out at most $500 and you'll be the proud owner for the next 10 years it'll take to upgrade. Not a bad gig, plus they may even appreciate.

 

Its either that or stuffing your Schwab account - and how boring is that.

[Silver Surfer]

Not to go against the bigloo but why not let the auctions ride out and then offer to buy all three fro around his asking price. Or are you worried somebody will buy them and thus the question.

 

I was offered them before they went up on e-bay actually, and then another collector offered me a #3. All of a sudden I am confronted with essentially being able to buy the majority of the New Fun Comics so hence the question: Is now the time I need to act (or face kicking myself later on) or will this happen again in the future?

 

I think you will be kicking yourself if you don't act unless your willing to wait another few years for all of these to show up at once. What would motivate the Dentist to sell these books? Gearing up for a run at some of the books coming up on Heritage perhaps?

[14 of spades]

Well, he's not asking crazy prices for them. Buy the lot and then look to upgrade. Even if you sell them on ebay later you'll be out at most $500 and you'll be the proud owner for the next 10 years it'll take to upgrade. Not a bad gig, plus they may even appreciate.

 

Esq.

 

if you're worried about letting them slip away, this sounds like reasonable advice.

[Thegoldenage]

I have 1, 3 and 6 unrestored. I looked at the three on ebay and considered them, but try really hard to avoid brittle books. The 2 has a brittle spine and the 5 is clearly brittle at the corners. Dave recently sold another 2 on ebay so I am wondering how rare that issue really is. He also had the 4 up, with a starting bid of $1999.99, but no one bit. And Jon has it dead on when he say the Big Book is rarer than any New Fun. I was surprised when I saw one coming up in the January Heritage Auction. Mark might do well to snag that book.

[dgillock]

Hey Mark, what makes you ask this question , now?

 

I should have looked at this post before I replied.

 

Oh, ... I don't know for sure... I can't be certain, but I think that the #2 and the #5 in these auctions are the copies I once owned... Though I don't remember the #2 looking that nice, it was a long time ago. The #5 seems dead-on the my memory. I'd love to hear the history of these books. Obviously I can't be sure, but I think these might be the copies that I metioned in the post above.

 

Since I can't afford them, I really hope Mark bites.

 

What price do you think these will end up at?

 

I have no idea... These are so out of my league at this point I couldn't even give an estimate... When I bought copies of these books (#2 and #5) in this condition almost 20 years ago, I paid $70 for the 2 at a flea market in Lahaska, PA.... Like I said, if I had a couple K in funny money sitting around and someone offered me these books at Guide, I would buy them- if only to make up for the fact I let them go so many years ago.

[esquirecomics]

I'm reporting back. I did purchase the #2 and #5. Haven't picked them up yet.

 

Here is the #4 I recently obtained. Unrestored VG/VG+.

 

[lou_fine]

I'm reporting back. I did purchase the #2 and #5. Haven't picked them up yet.

 

Here is the #4 I recently obtained. Unrestored VG/VG+.

 

 

Mark;

 

Congrats on your New Fun pickups, especially on the #2 and #4. I probably would have waited on the #5 myself, since it appears to be in pretty rough shape. Always leaves room for an upgrade however, since these books seldom ever shows up in the marketplace in unrestored condition. All of the last few copies seem to have come from Dave A.

 

BTW: How was you able to convince Dave to end the auction early for both the New Fun #2 and #5? This is something that doesn't appear to be a common practice for him.

[esquirecomics]

Mark;

 

Congrats on your New Fun pickups, especially on the #2 and #4. I probably would have waited on the #5 myself, since it appears to be in pretty rough shape. Always leaves room for an upgrade however, since these books seldom ever shows up in the marketplace in unrestored condition. All of the last few copies seem to have come from Dave A.

 

I certainly would have preferred a better #5, but it wasn't that much money. I figure I can always sell it and get most, if not all, of my money back when I upgrade.

 

BTW: How was you able to convince Dave to end the auction early for both the New Fun #2 and #5? This is something that doesn't appear to be a common practice for him.

 

I don't think he ended them early. I actually did win them through e-bay, although we had discussed the books.

[Moondog]

Very nice, Mark. I love the history that just pours from these books...

[lou_fine]

BTW: How was you able to convince Dave to end the auction early for both the New Fun #2 and #5? This is something that doesn't appear to be a common practice for him.

 

I don't think he ended them early. I actually did win them through e-bay, although we had discussed the books.

 

Mark;

 

Just went back to the auction listings since I had them on watch.

 

Both the New Fun's #2 and #5 are listed as ending a few hours prior to their scheduled end time. The auction listing states "The seller ended this listing early to sell to the high bidder(s) at current bid price".

 

I guess Dave simply figured that there was not going to be any further bids at the end or just wanted the books to go to somebody who would really appreciate them. Congrats on the pickup since it couldn't have happen to a nicer guy.

 

Too bad he didn't do that with the Pep #23 before it took another quantum leap in the last 30 seconds of the auction. Now that's a book I wouldn't mind having, but not quite at that final price for that condition. Well, maybe next time!

[esquirecomics]

BTW: How was you able to convince Dave to end the auction early for both the New Fun #2 and #5? This is something that doesn't appear to be a common practice for him.

 

I don't think he ended them early. I actually did win them through e-bay, although we had discussed the books.

 

Mark;

 

Just went back to the auction listings since I had them on watch.

 

Both the New Fun's #2 and #5 are listed as ending a few hours prior to their scheduled end time. The auction listing states "The seller ended this listing early to sell to the high bidder(s) at current bid price".

 

I guess Dave simply figured that there was not going to be any further bids at the end or just wanted the books to go to somebody who would really appreciate them. Congrats on the pickup since it couldn't have happen to a nicer guy.

 

Thanks! I didn't even know that was an option, but now I understand what happened.

[lou_fine]

Not to go against the bigloo but why not let the auctions ride out and then offer to buy all three fro around his asking price. Or are you worried somebody will buy them and thus the question.

 

I was offered them before they went up on e-bay actually, and then another collector offered me a #3. All of a sudden I am confronted with essentially being able to buy the majority of the New Fun Comics so hence the question: Is now the time I need to act (or face kicking myself later on) or will this happen again in the future?

 

I think you will be kicking yourself if you don't act unless your willing to wait another few years for all of these to show up at once. What would motivate the Dentist to sell these books? Gearing up for a run at some of the books coming up on Heritage perhaps?

 

 

 

Well, found this old thread from a link in the Gerber 9 thread.

 

Mark: It looks like you did pick up this run of New Fun from Dave in the end. As far as you know, has this been the only run of these books since 2005 or have you been able to upgrade on these copies already?

 

Sometimes, certain rare books will show up a few times in a short period ot time, making them seem not quite as rare as you think. But once this brief moment has passed, they woun't show up again for several years. Is this the case with the New Fun run as far as you can tell?

[RareHighGrade]

Mark, after you answer Lou's questions, I'd be interested to know your current view of how scarce the New Fun books are and how you would rank them in order of scarcity now that you have had a couple of years to look for them.

[jbcomicbox]

Mark, after you answer Lou's questions, I'd be interested to know your current view of how scarce the New Fun books are and how you would rank them in order of scarcity now that you have had a couple of years to look for them.

 

i will defer to mark since i have had my 'set' for years, but i believe the 6 is the hardest with #2 not as tough as thought. I think the 6 is followed by the 3 and the 1 with Big Book thrown in next.....jb

[G.A.tor]

I was offered NF 2-6 last year (4 of the 5 are restored)....and, Motor City has had a nice restored NF 1... but, in the long run, I passed due to lower page quality (though, if anyone is interested, I still have access to them, they belong to a private collector)... decided The Comics Magazine 1-5 would be more historically challenging (still need a #1!)

[jerome34]

I am trying to build a set on a very limited budget. I have copies of 3 & 4

(in fair or worse), 5 (in no better than good), and 6 (logo missing). I do

NOT have the BBF, which is the scarcest of the lot. I suspect the ‘scare’

rating of #2 has lead to more copies changing hands thus making it

appear more common (but also making it easier to get). They are all

fairly hard to get in ‘fair’ and very hard to get in any grade above ‘fair’

(although a lot of money will help get copies in higher grades). Here the

desirability of the 1, and 6, and the ‘scarce’ grade of the 2 may mean that

a lot of copies go into collections that will not see the light of day until

the current collector dies.