What exactly are "warehouse finds"?

[RaccoonRaccoon]

All I ever find are crappy modern copies!!

 

What do you mean? How do you find them?

[joe_collector]

All I ever find are crappy modern copies!!

 

What do you mean? How do you find them?

 

He just goes down in his basement.

[HouseofComics.Com]

How can a big warehouse full of thousands of comics sit around for 20 or 30 years without being discovered? I mean, when distributors or comic shops go out of business, don't they always liquidate their stock to pay off debts? And even if they somehow didn't, whomever bought or rented the building after them certainly would have done something other than let them just sit there...

 

Not if they don't like the price being offered and can afford to wait and try for a better price.

 

On the microwarehouse level there are lots of former store owners sitting on 10,000 or 20,000 comics in storage or in their basements, etc. I just heard about a guy whose store in Oakland went out of business around 1979 and he still has all the leftovers!

 

Marc

[Ringfinger]

How can a big warehouse full of thousands of comics sit around for 20 or 30 years without being discovered? I mean, when distributors or comic shops go out of business, don't they always liquidate their stock to pay off debts? And even if they somehow didn't, whomever bought or rented the building after them certainly would have done something other than let them just sit there...

 

Not if they don't like the price being offered and can afford to wait and try for a better price.

 

On the microwarehouse level there are lots of former store owners sitting on 10,000 or 20,000 comics in storage or in their basements, etc. I just heard about a guy whose store in Oakland went out of business around 1979 and he still has all the leftovers!

 

Marc

 

yeah, right!!!

[Kakapo]

I just heard about a guy whose store in Oakland went out of business around 1979 and he still has all the leftovers!

 

He could have a stash of Devil Dinosaur #1!!!

 

 

 

 

 

...which I just looked up at comicspriceguide.com, and it's listed at $15. Joke's on me, perhaps.

[Scrooge]

How can a big warehouse full of thousands of comics sit around for 20 or 30 years without being discovered? I mean, when distributors or comic shops go out of business, don't they always liquidate their stock to pay off debts? And even if they somehow didn't, whomever bought or rented the building after them certainly would have done something other than let them just sit there...

 

Not if they don't like the price being offered and can afford to wait and try for a better price.

 

On the microwarehouse level there are lots of former store owners sitting on 10,000 or 20,000 comics in storage or in their basements, etc. I just heard about a guy whose store in Oakland went out of business around 1979 and he still has all the leftovers!

 

Marc

 

yeah, right!!!

 

Seriously, that happens more frequently than you can imagine. Locally, I know there was a father / son team who ran a small distribution center for comics and mostly magazines who used to stash books everywhere and anywhere. They still are sitting on piles of old mags and few comics. The comics are all water-damaged due to poor storing and are only good for dumping but they still have lots of mags.

[mrwoogieman]

How can a big warehouse full of thousands of comics sit around for 20 or 30 years without being discovered? I mean, when distributors or comic shops go out of business, don't they always liquidate their stock to pay off debts? And even if they somehow didn't, whomever bought or rented the building after them certainly would have done something other than let them just sit there...

 

Not if they don't like the price being offered and can afford to wait and try for a better price.

 

On the microwarehouse level there are lots of former store owners sitting on 10,000 or 20,000 comics in storage or in their basements, etc. I just heard about a guy whose store in Oakland went out of business around 1979 and he still has all the leftovers!

 

Marc

 

yeah, right!!!

 

Seriously, that happens more frequently than you can imagine. Locally, I know there was a father / son team who ran a small distribution center for comics and mostly magazines who used to stash books everywhere and anywhere. They still are sitting on piles of old mags and few comics. The comics are all water-damaged due to poor storing and are only good for dumping but they still have lots of mags.

 

A friend of mine claims to have an acquaintance who closed his LCS down in the mid-90s and this guy put his entire store inventory in his basement where it has remained untouched ever since. I can't seem to get an audience, however.

[Mister_Comics]

I think saying "warehouse find" is just a way of saying a whole bunch of comics have been discovered. It doesn't nessessarly mean they were found in a warehouse. I heard that the SPIDER-MAN Vs. PRODIGY were found at a printer. I've also heard of a find of giveaway comics found in a school that was not being used any more. Boxes and boxes of a comic that wasn't distributed to the kids. So I think the term WAREHOUSE FIND is just that, a term used to discribe a large quanity comic find.

[Ringfinger]

Very true statement.

[ComicSupply]

Recently I ran into a son whose father ran a chain of supermarkets who had thousands of comics from the distribution packed away at some storage place somewhere.

 

I think the reason you usually don't hear about these today is all about greed.

 

For instance, the son initially wanted my help in buying the boxes and finding out if perhaps he had a goldmine. However, greed set in and he started doing it himself while having a full time job of his own.

 

What generally will happen is whoever finds a warehouse full of books, or a very large collection will either call a dealer and if it is bought we will find out about it.

 

Or, they will take it upon themselves to do the work. Generally this kills any market value as the books they find to be worth the most go first and usually for less than market value. Or they have no idea what they are doing so they price them so high they don't sell at all.

 

Then they give up and call some dealer who probably doesn't want it because the keys are gone, or cherry picks it leaving the [embarrassing lack of self control]. The person who has the collection will probably believe that the books are worth less than they thought after having their overpriced books sit for a long time.

 

Then the person who has the collection is generally left with [embarrassing lack of self control] they can't sell so they just sit. To find an untouched collection like that is certainly a rarity. One that rarely happens today.

 

The biggest and best collection ever found was the Church collection. That wasn't sold out of greed but anger towards the comics and their owner. Had the family been greedy and tried to do it themselves we wouldn't know of Chuck or Church today.

[joe_collector]

The biggest and best collection ever found was the Church collection. That wasn't sold out of greed but anger towards the comics and their owner.

 

Trust me on this, DO NOT believe what Chuck writes in his Tales from the Database, especially anything to do with the original Church find.

[RaccoonRaccoon]

Why do you say that Joe_Collector? I've read through his website, I don't know the guy at all, just curious.

 

Also, Great posts ComicSupply and Nister_Comics.

 

Does anyone have a personal story to share about a stash found in the middle of nowhere or very unexpectedly?

[ComicSupply]

The biggest and best collection ever found was the Church collection. That wasn't sold out of greed but anger towards the comics and their owner.

 

Trust me on this, DO NOT believe what Chuck writes in his Tales from the Database, especially anything to do with the original Church find.

 

You mean... he doesn't walk on water?

 

Well, I tend to believe him on that part in a sense, and in another sense I don't believe me. He was a young dealer at the time so he probably offered more than he could afford to pay which is why he had to do like 3-4 trips. In the same sense I figure if the family wanted them gone so bad, why did they care what they got?

 

Perhaps it was a mix of anger and greed.

[joe_collector]

Gimme a break. Chuckles portrays himself as some White Knight of Comic Protection, saving those books from the Devil Children of Church, hell-bent on destroying them in hateful spite.

 

If you believe that line of horseshat...

 

The real story:

 

While their father, Edward Church was still in a coma, the family needed to sell the house, and Chuck came in and paid cover price or less for the greatest GA collection ever.

 

There were no Devil Children, no comic-destroying Demons from Hell, just some average folk who didn't know old comics were valuable, and a fast-talking Chuckles who found himself looking at the "comic lottery of all time" and made off like a bandit.

 

Just for one example, read that part about Chuck coming in with OS Guide in hand, ready to tell the family they were sitting on a goldmine (that Chuck could not afford at 1% of Guide) and tell me honestly that you believe him.

 

Then re-read the articles with the same POV.

[Timulty]

I found the article on his site more or less conveyed that Church's kids had a bad realtionship with dad and that they didn't view comics as anything more than garbage. They would have been of the generation that heard the "Comics is the root of all evil spiel!". I find the articles entertaining but you have to take with a grain of salt. I mean, when you tell someone about something you tend to put yourself in the most positive light.

[ComicSupply]

JC,

 

I get what your saying. The thing that doesn't add up to me is why 3-4 trips, and why so many financing partners?

 

It seems stupid to say but isn't the old line never bet more than you can afford to lose? I never, ever offer more for a collection than I have in the bank. If I really need help to buy them I get that in order and then take the comics all at once. I think that if you leave without getting them all you leave yourself open to losing them.

[Ringfinger]

Gimme a break. Chuckles portrays himself as some White Knight of Comic Protection, saving those books from the Devil Children of Church, hell-bent on destroying them in hateful spite.

 

If you believe that line of horseshat...

 

The real story:

 

While their father, Edward Church was still in a coma, the family needed to sell the house, and Chuck came in and paid cover price or less for the greatest GA collection ever.

 

There were no Devil Children, no comic-destroying Demons from Hell, just some average folk who didn't know old comics were valuable, and a fast-talking Chuckles who found himself looking at the "comic lottery of all time" and made off like a bandit.

 

Just for one example, read that part about Chuck coming in with OS Guide in hand, ready to tell the family they were sitting on a goldmine (that Chuck could not afford at 1% of Guide) and tell me honestly that you believe him.

 

Then re-read the articles with the same POV.

 

What makes you say that? It is a very interesting take on the story.

[october]

Gimme a break. Chuckles portrays himself as some White Knight of Comic Protection, saving those books from the Devil Children of Church, hell-bent on destroying them in hateful spite.

 

If you believe that line of horseshat...

 

The real story:

 

While their father, Edward Church was still in a coma, the family needed to sell the house, and Chuck came in and paid cover price or less for the greatest GA collection ever.

 

There were no Devil Children, no comic-destroying Demons from Hell, just some average folk who didn't know old comics were valuable, and a fast-talking Chuckles who found himself looking at the "comic lottery of all time" and made off like a bandit.

 

Just for one example, read that part about Chuck coming in with OS Guide in hand, ready to tell the family they were sitting on a goldmine (that Chuck could not afford at 1% of Guide) and tell me honestly that you believe him.

 

Then re-read the articles with the same POV.

 

Ok. Then what about his childeren tossing Edgar's artwork in the garbage? Unless Chuck out and out lied about how he ended up with those pieces, I think Church's children's treatment of their father's life's passion is pretty indicative of their attitude in general towards their father and his possessions.

 

I am sure Chuck exaggerated his story, but I don't believe for a second that Church's kids were innocent babes in the woods who got rooked by an evil dealer. Personally, I don't think either party ended up looking very good after the smoke cleared.

[Ze-man]

Would that bizarre "Heros Inc. presents Cannon" be considered a warehouse find?

 

I think we all have recieved one free as filler in an order, how many did they actually find?

 

Ze-

[joe_collector]

The thing that doesn't add up to me is why 3-4 trips, and why so many financing partners?

 

Jesus H, Chuck was destitute at the time, not far removed from living in his car.. so even cover price (10-cents) for that many comics was beyond his means. Even a bunch of yokels wouldn't sell a pile of 10-cent comics for what Chuck had in the bank.

 

He got a steal, but it was like offering a street bum a few pounds of gold for $500. Sure, he'd make a killing, but first he'd need to scrounge up the initial $500.