The Thrifty Grocer Collection 1 1

[Frisco Larson]

Ok, like I mentioned earlier, I photographed the first two books in artificial light, kind of quickly. Well, I just took pics of a few others in a more natural light type setting and these pics much more accurately show the page quality of this collection. I will likely redo the first two examples.

Captain America #78

[Frisco Larson]

All of these pics were taken with the comics laying on a bone white magazine sized backing board, just so you know how white we're looking at here.

Sub-Mariner #33

[Robot Man]

On 10/8/2022 at 1:47 PM, Frisco Larson said:

You bring up an interesting point and a thought that has swirled around in my head over the years! There were a LOT of other books from what I was told, and my friend (a DC man) only really grabbed DCs and the Superhero Atlas books, but he said there was a mix, essentially spread across all relevant publishers of that time period. So, my passing thought over the years is, "Where are all of those other comics???" Certainly, the guy knew enough to offer them to other people beyond my friend!!! There aren't any identifying markings on the comics, just that they are flat, clean copies with very nice page quality. If someone say 'purchased a batch' with uniformly consistent characteristics as this collection, I'd tend to believe that they came from the same original source. 

I have been able over the years to aquire several collections like this.  Both coverless and 3/4th newstand return copies with fresh white pages. It was a common practice back in the day.

Being a reader and lover of the medium never had any problem for the right price. Many, I really enjoyed and later bought nice copies. I still have a couple long boxes full of them. 

[zzutak]

On 10/9/2022 at 8:01 AM, Robot Man said:

It was a common practice back in the day.

Definitely!  So common, in fact, that retailers had special boxes printed to store and display 'em:

   

That being said, it's always a thrill to find a remaindered copy that's still in near-pristine condition. 

Your "Thrifty Grocer" Atlas are as snow white as I've ever seen!       Simply awesome! 

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/9/2022 at 10:01 AM, Robot Man said:

I have been able over the years to aquire several collections like this.  Both coverless and 3/4th newstand return copies with fresh white pages. It was a common practice back in the day.

Being a reader and lover of the medium never had any problem for the right price. Many, I really enjoyed and later bought nice copies. I still have a couple long boxes full of them. 

How fortunate you were to find collections of books like this and some great forward thinking on your part to recognize what tremendous value you had in front of you! It's great that you still have them! They're probably worth a lot more than you think they are! 

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/9/2022 at 11:11 AM, zzutak said:

Definitely!  So common, in fact, that retailers had special boxes printed to store and display 'em:

   

That being said, it's always a thrill to find a remaindered copy that's still in near-pristine condition. 

Your "Thrifty Grocer" Atlas are as snow white as I've ever seen!       Simply awesome! 

WOW!!! I had never seen the boxes designed for selling the coverless or topless books before!!! It's incredible that they survived!!! You've got quite an impressive batch of high-grade coverless books yourself!!! Thanks for the props on the Atlas copies I grabbed. I used to call them the "White page coverless books" but felt they deserved a proper name, which actually came pretty organically one day. Looking thru them as I take pics for this thread has been a treat, as it's been a little while since I've thumbed them up. Thanks for sharing your books and those boxes!!! Great, great stuff you've got there!!! 

[Frisco Larson]

Human Torch #37 

[Frisco Larson]

Captain America #77

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

Great books, really impressive, and stories like this make the hobby as fascinating as it is.

In many ways coverless books in this state of preservation are extraordinary, because they have had no covers to take the ageing 'hit' so to speak.

Congrats.  

[Robot Man]

On 10/9/2022 at 9:11 AM, zzutak said:

Definitely!  So common, in fact, that retailers had special boxes printed to store and display 'em:

   

That being said, it's always a thrill to find a remaindered copy that's still in near-pristine condition. 

Your "Thrifty Grocer" Atlas are as snow white as I've ever seen!       Simply awesome! 

Man, how fast would I be digging in my pockets for nickels to buy remaindered ECs and PCH!

I’m pretty sure @Marty Mannsaid he bought a lot of those.  

[MattTheDuck]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:06 AM, Robot Man said:

Man, how fast would I be digging in my pockets for nickels to buy remaindered ECs and PCH!

I’m pretty sure @Marty Mannsaid he bought a lot of those.  

The trail of those remaindered copies would be really interesting to know.  How did so many survive after being sent back for a refund?  It's amazing to me they weren't all just thrown away once the refunds were issued.

[Robot Man]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:23 AM, MattTheDuck said:

The trail of those remaindered copies would be really interesting to know.  How did so many survive after being sent back for a refund?  It's amazing to me they weren't all just thrown away once the refunds were issued.

Most of them were. But smart and clever people figured out they could be sold at a discount to readers. Old comics were basically worthless back then.

When we were kids, a couple of us would “dumpster dive” the local liquor store out in the alley. We often found multiple 3/4th cover copies of SA comics. And, if we were lucky, a few Playboys. These could easily be traded to the neighborhood kids for full cover comics. Like 5 comics for one Playboy. Everybody wondered where we got them but we would never tell…

[zzutak]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:23 AM, MattTheDuck said:

How did so many survive after being sent back for a refund?

They were not sent back for a refund!    Only the top third of the front covers (the title block) were returned. 

Edited October 11, 2022 by zzutak

[MattTheDuck]

On 10/11/2022 at 11:03 AM, zzutak said:

They were not sent back for a refund!    Only the top third of the front covers (the title block) were returned. 

Oh i see that makes more sense.  Thanks!

[Marty Mann]

On 10/11/2022 at 12:06 PM, Robot Man said:

Man, how fast would I be digging in my pockets for nickels to buy remaindered ECs and PCH!

I’m pretty sure @Marty Mannsaid he bought a lot of those.  

 Remaindered comics are one of my favorite Golden Age topics. Right now I still have over 50 copies in my collection

Some of the most popular include MYSTERY IN SPACE #1, DANGER TRAIL #1, TALES FROM THE CRYPT #20 (#1),

HAUNT OF FEAR #16 and a CAPTAIN SCIENCE #4.

Those were the days when I was buying for content.

Marty

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/10/2022 at 9:32 PM, Paul © ® ™ said:

Great books, really impressive, and stories like this make the hobby as fascinating as it is.

In many ways coverless books in this state of preservation are extraordinary, because they have had no covers to take the ageing 'hit' so to speak.

Congrats.  

Thanks Paul!!! Yeah, usually the outer wrap takes a beating on the typical coverless comic. This young guy had a very unusual storage technique, way ahead of his time in comic preservation! 

 

[The Black Hand ®]

Lovely white pages. Amazing preservation.

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/11/2022 at 11:02 PM, The Black Hand ® said:

Lovely white pages. Amazing preservation.

Thanks! That's one of the main reasons that I've hung onto them all these years later, that AND they're super cool too!!! I recall considering selling them at some point, but I couldn't imagine splitting them up, especially NOW .... they've been together over 65 years!!!  

[zzutak]

On 10/12/2022 at 6:48 AM, Frisco Larson said:

I recall considering selling them at some point, but I couldn't imagine splitting them up

For what it's worth, I know a very kind, buy-and-hold collector who'd be willing to adopt the entire family. 

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/12/2022 at 9:44 AM, zzutak said:

For what it's worth, I know a very kind, buy-and-hold collector who'd be willing to adopt the entire family. 

Well .... 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Frisco Larson