Edgar Church Mile high penciled dates on cover. 1 1

[action1kid]

There are several different styles of penciled arrival dates on the front covers that are used to identify Mile High copies, but the most consistent and recognizable are present on the issues between 1938 and 1945. 
 

They seem to disappear after 1945

 

[action1kid]

Here’s a date mark “ in ink “ from 1949

[RareHighGrade]

Actually, the Church/Mile High coding started in 1937, not 1938.  It was not consistent, however, and many Church books are missing it.  The presence of the coding is highly prized, at least by me, because it's one of the best ways to help verify a potential Church copy.

[action1kid]

I’ll only buy a slab if it has the penciled dates. I do have 3 of them with no dates. I’ll post some.

 

[buttock]

1955

[Cat-Man_America]

Definitely inconsistent, but most have penciled dates; that said, the high grade and PQ is a good indicator...

Church examples without penciled dates:

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Yorick]

No markings on this one....

 

[Robot Man]

On 6/24/2023 at 11:47 AM, Yorick said:

No markings on this one....

 

That one was probably in the piles in the basement. Where most of mine came from…

[Cat-Man_America]

Here are a couple of the penciled Church books, just for balance...            ... 

Spoiler

Spoiler

[jimbo_7071]

This has probably been discussed, but does anyone know why some of them start with a C instead of a D or what either letter stands for?

I'd also be curious to see pictures of the Hawkeyes with fake Mile High coding if any exist.

[adamstrange]

On 6/25/2023 at 7:46 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

This has probably been discussed, but does anyone know why some of them start with a C instead of a D or what either letter stands for?

I'd also be curious to see pictures of the Hawkeyes with fake Mile High coding if any exist.

Different distributor.  A distributor had a contract with specific publishers, so the distributor code is way that the drugstore knew who to ship books back to.

Timely, Fawcett and DCs are "D".  Fiction House is C.

[Sarg]

If the drugstore owner was writing the code on the cover as a way of knowing which distributor to ship the (unsold) books back to, why was he selling that copy to Edgar Church?

It seems like he would only write the code on books that he did not sell. Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of writing it, no?

Edited June 25, 2023 by Sarg
addition

[buttock]

On 6/25/2023 at 10:55 AM, Sarg said:

If the drugstore owner was writing the code on the cover as a way of knowing which distributor to ship the (unsold) books back to, why was he selling that copy to Edgar Church?

It seems like he would only write the code on books that he did not sell. Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of writing it, no?

They likely would write it on all books as they came in.  If you could keep track of where they came from by the time they hadn't sold there would be no reason to put a distributor code on anything.  The code would mark both the distributor to return to, and the date to determine when to pull the book for a return. 

[jimbo_7071]

On 6/25/2023 at 12:42 PM, adamstrange said:

Different distributor.  A distributor had a contract with specific publishers, so the distributor code is way that the drugstore knew who to ship books back to.

Timely, Fawcett and DCs are "D".  Fiction House is C.

Street and Smith must have been from the same distributor as the Fiction House books because my only "C" book is a Street and Smith.

Do you happen to know the names of those distributors?

[RareHighGrade]

On 6/25/2023 at 9:42 AM, adamstrange said:

Different distributor.  A distributor had a contract with specific publishers, so the distributor code is way that the drugstore knew who to ship books back to.

Timely, Fawcett and DCs are "D".  Fiction House is C.

Foxes and MLJs also had the "D" coding.

[Frisco Larson]

I sold this copy to a long time, great friend a while ago, with a first rights of refusal should he sell it, so ... I no longer own it, BUT still have my pic of it to share as an example of a Nedor "C" code Church copy.

[path4play]

I'll play.  No answers, but some codes.