Help me figure out these holes 2 2

[Stronguy]

I have a handful of early 50s DC that came from an OO collection.  I know the OO purchased them all from the same newsstand up to a certain point.  Every book from early 1950 thru mid-1952 has the same nail hole in the upper left corner.  Any idea what this would have come from?  One theory is these were display copies that were nailed up along the top/side of the newsstand.  Thoughts?

[buttock]

I like pie. 

[buttock]

On 4/3/2023 at 2:10 PM, buttock said:

I like pie. 

Oh good lord, that's being censored now?!?

[Superman2006]

On 4/3/2023 at 3:52 PM, Stronguy said:

I have a handful of early 50s DC that came from an OO collection.  I know the OO purchased them all from the same newsstand up to a certain point.  Every book from early 1950 thru mid-1952 has the same nail hole in the upper left corner.  Any idea what this would have come from?  One theory is these were display copies that were nailed up along the top/side of the newsstand.  Thoughts?

Maybe the newsstand or OO stuck a thumbtack through them to hang them on a wall?  Oops - nevermind, I didn't read your last sentence; it looks like you already thought of that (reading failure!)

Edited April 3, 2023 by Superman2006
Reading failure

[Funnybooks]

this is a cgc grader here to answer your question....What holes?

[Stronguy]

On 4/3/2023 at 3:21 PM, Superman2006 said:

Maybe the newsstand or OO stuck a thumbtack through them to hang them on a wall?  Oops - nevermind, I didn't read your last sentence; it looks like you already thought of that (reading failure!)

It's definitely too large to be a thumbtack.  These are the size of a finishing nail and only in the left corner, thus my thought they might have been some sort of display.

[Robot Man]

I would agree that nailed up for display by the news dealer. If it was the owner maybe a hole on each side. I have seen old photos of comics clipped with laundry clips on the top left on a string.

Cool books either way. At a good price, I would happily buy them.

Here is one clearly not done by a news dealer but rather shot at with a gun!  

[Black Bat]

Speaking of guns, looks like the holes on your comics have "exit wounds" on the front cover, meaning the puncture started on the back of the comic.  You can tell by the larger amount of paper missing on the actual front cover, compared to the smaller holes on the inside pages.  As mentioned above, perhaps the newsstand had a display wall with finishing (headless) nails pounded in to function as "pegs".  Each month new copies of the comics were pushed onto the nails at the corner and hung, now on display, till the next month.  Then maybe...  your OO bought them as at discount because they were old and "damaged"?  I can imagine some clever young kid working out such a deal  
 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Black Bat

[Montezuma]

I was in a second hand store many years ago that had a lot of golden age comics with a wire running through the corner so they could hang them from the ceiling. Still cringe at the memory.

 

[Stronguy]

On 4/4/2023 at 9:11 AM, Montezuma said:

I was in a second hand store many years ago that had a lot of golden age comics with a wire running through the corner so they could hang them from the ceiling. Still cringe at the memory.

 

I've seen images of newsstands where they strung books/magazines up on a piece of string.  That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw these (after concluding it was not a bug hole) but I with the paper being slightly pushed out of the front and pulled out back, I think a finishing nail might be a better explanation.

[Get Marwood & I]

There are lots of vintage pictures showing books hanging from pegs and such. The holes in your books are too large and ragged to be nails, I think. Maybe they were hung up on the equivalent of meat hooks, or something like that, by a seller who was insensitive to the damage. They were only kids books after all....

[Robot Man]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:10 PM, Black Bat said:

Speaking of guns, looks like the holes on your comics have "exit wounds" on the front cover, meaning the puncture started on the back of the comic.  You can tell by the larger amount of paper missing on the actual front cover, compared to the smaller holes on the inside pages.  As mentioned above, perhaps the newsstand had a display wall with finishing (headless) nails pounded in to function as "pegs".  Each month new copies of the comics were pushed onto the nails at the corner and hung, now on display, till the next month.  Then maybe...  your OO bought them as at discount because they were old and "damaged"?  I can imagine some clever young kid working out such a deal  
 

Me and my brother were clever kids.

We used to hit up a dumpster behind a local liquor store. We would jump in and pull out all the 3/4th cover remainder comics. Every once in a while we would find a couple Playboys or other girly mags. Those would usually garner us 3 or 4 full cover comics in trades with neighborhood kids..,

[mwotka]

Here is another one that I think was shot at with BBs or perhaps a .22.  More fun target practice I guess...

[MrBedrock]

On 4/3/2023 at 11:32 PM, grebal said:

Found them, dur, called binder rings, seems obv.

Probably looped a year's worth of each title in convenient bundles w/o even a thought for us future buyers.

I think some newsstands would use these to hang the books from a string.

[Black Bat]

@Robot Man

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Black Bat

[pemart1966]

On 4/3/2023 at 5:38 PM, Robot Man said:

I would agree that nailed up for display by the news dealer. If it was the owner maybe a hole on each side. I have seen old photos of comics clipped with laundry clips on the top left on a string.

Cool books either way. At a good price, I would happily buy them.

Here is one clearly not done by a news dealer but rather shot at with a gun!  

Gotta disagree with the holes being made by the newsstand vendor.  No kid is going to buy a brand new book with a hole through it.  Clipped on a string yes - a nail hole through it - no way.

Besides, a vendor would not have the time to fiddle around trying to hammer a nail through a bunch of comics.  He would have to get that product displayed ASAP.  Nor would the vendor have time to remove the nail from the wood every time someone wanted a comic.  He could though, easily and quickly unclip a book.

Having a nail hole through the books might have even affected the vendor's ability to return them to the distributor for credit damaged as they'd be.

Edited April 5, 2023 by pemart1966

[lowball]

Personally I think the holes make them more interesting. How bad does something like that bring down a grade? (newbie here)

[path4play]

On 4/3/2023 at 3:52 PM, Stronguy said:

I have a handful of early 50s DC that came from an OO collection.  I know the OO purchased them all from the same newsstand up to a certain point.  Every book from early 1950 thru mid-1952 has the same nail hole in the upper left corner.  Any idea what this would have come from?  One theory is these were display copies that were nailed up along the top/side of the newsstand.  Thoughts?

DC logo made perfect target for BB-gun practice.

[Robot Man]

Sadly, old tin advertising signs were often popular targets for Target practice. I have encountered many in my quest for them.

I remember I was at Boy Scout camp and I found a copy of this freshly nailed to a tree with a single nail in the top. I of course carefully took it down. It was probably read at least once by every kid in the bunk house. It sure didn’t look like this by the time I took it home…

[Stronguy]

On 4/5/2023 at 11:42 PM, lowball said:

Personally I think the holes make them more interesting. How bad does something like that bring down a grade? (newbie here)

These books are all 6.0 and lower.  IMO, in those grades there's not a real impact, especially at 5.0 and below.