Rest in peace Bob Beerbohm. 2 2

[gunsmokin]

A giant of the industry has passed.

[shadroch]

I enjoyed my few conversations with him, and I wish I'd had more.  He'd forgotten more about this hobby and its history than I'll ever know. 

Rest in Peace.

[Prince Namor]

I got to know Bob from Facebook and that guy gave his opinion and knowledge (based on decades of being a part of it) regardless of any and all who might get their feathers ruffled, collector or creator. What really happened was what was most important. For that I say, RESPECT.

RIP Bob.

[Book Guy]

Years ago I lived and worked in Berkeley and went to his store all the time. Late 1970's and after. I knew a couple of his employees who went on to bigger things pretty well. He was a character even then. From reading his Facebook posts he never changed. I liked him and always enjoyed chatting.

My favorite story about him-and I don't mean this in a negative way as he thought it was funny too-was when we were having a conversation about 'the art of pricing'. Books, Comic Books etc. Bob rattled out a number of examples of where he had priced a Comic quite over where it was 'guided' at and it sold though he had thought it wouldn't. Several stories of this sort one after another all ending with "and I should have priced it higher!" Finally I said "So the only right price for anything is when it DOESN'T sell. That's the correct price then?" Or words to that effect. He tipped his head, thought about it for a sec then laughed and said' Yes! This incident always gave me a chuckle.

I saw him years later at SDCC when he was not in great health and he recognized me (though didn't remember my name-it had been a long time) and we got to chat.

R.I.P. Bob!

 

 

Edited March 28 by Book Guy

[Hschwartz]

That's a great anecdote Book Guy. Bob was never cheap when selling comics. You could say he was somewhere between reasonable and Rogofsky. He would get a sale out of me if he was closer to reasonable.

[The Lions Den]

Very sad news. In my dealings with him, he was always honest and informative. My deepest condolences to his family and friends. May he rest in peace...   

Edited March 30 by The Lions Den

[KirbyJack]

Bob was certainly colorful, and I could share anecdotes both good and bad about him. I choose to accentuate the positive. He was a big presence during my main collecting years; I was always running into him. I even made a few runs out to Fremont to shop his stuff or see some noteworthy collections. No matter how good the books were, he had a better supply of stories. 
We have lost something irreplaceable in his passing. 
 

[comicwiz]

Very saddened to hear of Bob Beerbohm's passing. We were connected on FB some years back through a few posts which the late Charlie Lippincott had shared. But I first met Bob at the SDCC many years ago. For many reasons, I feel we have lost an irreplaceable person in this hobby. His passion as a comic book historian is something I will miss most beyond his contributions to our hobby. Even before we met, his articles were some of the first I read as a young boy in the Overstreet Price Guide, and were a source for inspiration to me in too many areas of research and interest to name. As an example, a few years ago I discovered some Victorian-era strips, and when I tried to share them here, they got a less than warm reception from a self-proclaimed "art dealer." I spent a considerable amount of time afterwards to discover the strips had a tremendous history. I wrote a 4-part article on it, and the first person who wanted me to share the strip and artists history was Bob. I did so in his Platinum Era Comic Books & Periodicals FB group, and the interactions from members and transfer of information/history was one of the best experiences I've had on Facebook to date on the subject of comic art. In our every day dealings, it is often the case we see many new and old collectors finding themselves too caught up in the enterprising and monetizing dynamics of this hobby, that far too often the historical component is overlooked or ignored. I will greatly miss Bob's posts, and my condolences to his family, his daugther Katy, who he clearly spoke in high regard and adoration about in the ways a proud Father would of their child, and may he rest in peace.

Edited April 1 by comicwiz

[Pantodude]

I did not get to meet or chat with him, but he was a kindred spirit in things Victorian.  Hopefully an historian as knowledgeable as he will pick up the mantle.  RIP.  

Edited March 29 by Pantodude

[Cat]

I'm guessing he died still owing Ms Bails her money. Sorry for those of you who lost a friend, all I see is the loss of a fraud. 

Edited March 30 by Cat

[KirbyJack]

On 3/30/2024 at 12:46 AM, Cat said:

I'm guessing he died still owing Ms Bails her money. Sorry for those of you who lost a friend, all I see is the loss of a fraud. 

This is a perfectly reasonable and understandable position. I imagine she is not the only one, either. 

[comicwiz]

On 3/30/2024 at 7:47 AM, KirbyJack said:

This is a perfectly reasonable and understandable position. I imagine she is not the only one, either. 

Jean removed the post in 2013. Lot's to unpack from this incident, surely you would think that when post submission damage happens, and CGC tells a customer you're SOL, people would rather trust CGC than Bob?

2023/24 is a different time, isn't it? If you're going to believe CGC over Bob on the All Star #8 being damaged, then I guess you're also likely to believe 350 books are the extent of the impact, or that people will ever see any compensation from the property they surrendered.

Keep it classy folks. 

[Cat]

On 3/31/2024 at 12:01 AM, comicwiz said:

Jean removed the post in 2013. Lot's to unpack from this incident, surely you would think that when post submission damage happens, and CGC tells a customer you're SOL, people would rather trust CGC than Bob?

2023/24 is a different time, isn't it? If you're going to believe CGC over Bob on the All Star #8 being damaged, then I guess you're also likely to believe 350 books are the extent of the impact, or that people will ever see any compensation from the property they surrendered.

Keep it classy folks. 

I saw a post from her some years later asking Bob about payment. I THINK it might have been after he'd announced his retirement, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Regardless, I definitely saw a post some years later enquiring once more publicly about payment. 

Edited March 30 by Cat

[Jimmy Linguini]

After Bob was kicked off the CGC boards he became very anti-CGC in most of his postings. Said there were a lot of "CGC people" bad mouthing him. if you sent him a message on facebook he would almost always respond.

[comicwiz]

On 3/30/2024 at 11:27 AM, Cat said:

I saw a post from her some years later asking Bob about payment. I THINK it might have been after he'd announced his retirement, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Regardless, I definitely saw a post some years later enquiring once more publicly about payment. 

I saw (presuming it was you) the post on reddit. I found that to be of poor taste, as is what you're doing here. On a "probably" or "maybe" of all things. Even on the reddit, someone asked for evidence, and you posted links to discussions which linked to removed content, and/or that has long been deleted. 

[comicwiz]

On 3/30/2024 at 12:50 PM, Jimmy Linguini said:

After Bob was kicked off the CGC boards he became very anti-CGC in most of his postings.

Bob became anti-CGC because of the All Star #8, and the pickle it put him in with Jerry's widow when CGC allegedly refused to acknolwedge they damaged the book. As I've said, frame that into it's correct context. After the narrative shifted from the baker being fleeced/fooled into believing Obadiah Oldbuck's significance in the chronology of comic history, it shifted to Bob being a bad actor, who was going to listen to Bob that CGC had done him wrong?

Now that the music is playing, with back to back lawsuits, people still don't want to listen to the warnings. Everything old is new again. 

Edited March 30 by comicwiz

[Cat]

On 3/31/2024 at 3:01 AM, comicwiz said:

I saw (presuming it was you) the post on reddit. I found that to be of poor taste, as is what you're doing here. On a "probably" or "maybe" of all things. Even on the reddit, someone asked for evidence, and you posted links to discussions which linked to removed content, and/or that has long been deleted. 

The Reddit poster you're talking about wasn't aware the links didn't work, and seeing the thread is now locked there's no point in updating them anyway. The Reddit poster also knows he wasn't the only one who saw it, but is willing to act like he was, if that's the way we're going to play it. 

Just because someone is dead doesn't erase their bad deeds in my eyes. It's important we get a balanced view of them. You want to rave about him, I'm just here reminding people he was also a known scammer.

Edited March 30 by Cat

[thehumantorch]

I only dealt with Bob once.  It was when he came here asking boardies to buy comics from his ebay store to help him out.  I never got the comic I purchased and I spent a frustrating year trying to convince him he owed me a book.  I believe his medication may have been part of the problem but at that point his emails to me were confused and irrational and frankly drove me crazy.  To his credit he did eventually send me something.

But he did love comics and his research and knowledge of the hobby was legendary and he will be missed.  

[MyNameIsLegion]

On 3/30/2024 at 12:16 PM, Cat said:

The Reddit poster you're talking about wasn't aware the links didn't work, and seeing the thread is now locked there's no point in updating them anyway. The Reddit poster also knows he wasn't the only one who saw it, but is willing to act like he was, if that's the way we're going to play it. 

Just because someone is dead doesn't erase their bad deeds in my eyes. It's important we get a balanced view of them. You want to rave about him, I'm just here reminding people he was also a known scammer.

I see, you're about as black and white as your Cat avatar. I take it we won't be seeing you making a donation to his daughter's GoFundMe to pay for his final expenses since he was on Medicaid.  But just in case, here's the link on the offhand chance you'd like to do something in the spirit of Easter.  https://www.gofundme.com/f/bob-beerbohm

 

Edited March 31 by MyNameIsLegion

[Cat]

On 4/1/2024 at 1:37 AM, MyNameIsLegion said:

I see, you're about as black and white as your Cat avatar. I take it we won't be seeing you making a donation to his daughter's GoFundMe to pay for his final expenses since he was on Medicaid.  But just in case, here's the link on the offhand chance you'd like to do something in the spirit of Easter.  https://www.gofundme.com/f/bob-beerbohm

 

I would prefer to donate to Mrs Bails if she were to ask for such a thing.