Christine Farrell - DC Collector RIP 3 3

[Hepcat]

On 5/15/2024 at 8:01 AM, CGC Mike said:

Yep.  The time I remember being there, there was mostly new books.  It would have been 8 to 10 years ago. and it was a younger guy that I asked about GA Actions.  I left empty handed. 

 

 

I like the "Earth Prime Comics" name for the shop!

Edited May 15 by Hepcat

[RareHighGrade]

On 5/15/2024 at 7:10 AM, archivist said:

@RareHighGrade Did you mean this post ?

 

I unfortunately cannot watch the video 

Yes, it was sfcityduck's post on June 27.  But when I click on the link now, it goes to a different video.

[CGC Mike]

On 5/15/2024 at 10:12 AM, DanCooper said:

The Burlington (VT) Free Press 1983

I delivered that newspaper for a short time in the 70's.  I made more money picking night crawlers and selling them.  

[DanCooper]

On 5/15/2024 at 11:49 AM, RareHighGrade said:

Yes, it was sfcityduck's post on June 27.  But when I click on the link now, it goes to a different video.

This is the same video (below) from that post.

Go to the 19:20 time mark of the video to see where the feature on Chris starts:

https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-113-021c5fmk

 

[jimjum12]

On 5/15/2024 at 12:12 PM, CGC Mike said:

I delivered that newspaper for a short time in the 70's.  I made more money picking night crawlers and selling them.  

You can still take a few coolers in the garage mahal, and set up worm farms for a lucrative side hustle. GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[archivist]

Thank you, @DanCooper and @RareHighGrade !

 

Also for the corrected link, although I still can't watch it:

[sfcityduck]

The video works, but you need to give it a part of a minute to get going. She starts at 19:10.

https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-113-021c5fmk

Her collection looks amazing. Really great shape. You see the Action 1 at 23:00 but it is ignored by the interviewer.

Edited May 15 by sfcityduck

[vheflin]

On 5/15/2024 at 1:40 PM, archivist said:

Thank you, @DanCooper and @RareHighGrade !

 

Also for the corrected link, although I still can't watch it:

Here's the clip if you still can't see it:

 

Edited May 15 by vheflin
grammar!

[Aman619]

this guy is really driving me crazy/   Is this old?  never heard of it.  

[DanCooper]

On 5/15/2024 at 6:01 PM, Aman619 said:

this guy is really driving me crazy/   Is this old?  never heard of it.  

If in reference to the video posted, it was done by an Upstate New York Public Broadcasting Station in the mid-1990s

[Aman619]

On 5/15/2024 at 6:20 PM, DanCooper said:

If in reference to the video posted, it was done by an Upstate New York Public Broadcasting Station in the mid-1990s

yeah  I get that, but ya know, he doesn't get out much I guess.  though to your point, valuable or ANY comics weren't all that widely known about by civilians as they are now.  And back then -- to your point -- even the national news outfits or big city local TV reporters who did pieces on Comics Conventions managed to appear just as clueless.

[batman_fan]

Amazing achievement for a collector.  I wonder what happens with her books now that she has passed.

[sfcityduck]

Here is a good article:

https://m.sevendaysvt.com/arts-culture/origin-story-how-burlingtons-earth-prime-comics-helped-unite-vermonts-comics-lovers-35006000

The highlight to me:

The value of those comics alone would be staggering, let alone the entire DC canon from 1938 to 1970. Surely Giordano didn't mean all of them?

"All of them," Giordano said with a wry grin.

If Farrell's collection is shrouded in mystery, that could be because she wants to avoid the fate of Brattleboro collector Jim Wheelock, whose massive collection of rare and vintage comics was stolen in 2015 and never recovered.

Still, there is some documentation of her treasures. The acknowledgments in some DC Comics collections indicate that, on occasion, Farrell has let the publisher make copies of her comics for reprints and posterity. (Owned by Warner Bros. since 1969, DC famously kept poor records of its golden-age books.) In the mid-'90s, Farrell allowed author Ernst Gerber to photograph her vast collection of golden- and silver-age comics for The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books. The two-volume book is one of the most comprehensive studies of the art form available, documenting more than 20,000 comic covers.

In a 1995 episode of a Mountain Lake PBS program called "People Near Here," host Muirden follows Farrell into her office, where she stored much of her collection at the time. The floor is covered in long white comic boxes, which also line the walls like alabaster library shelves. Original pencil-and-ink art of Superman from an issue of Action Comics is framed on the wall.

"This is my childhood, or at least a significant portion of it," Farrell says, smiling nervously as Muirden picks through some of the comics. Clearly, she was unaccustomed to welcoming visitors into her sanctum sanctorum.

Muirden finds a copy of Detective Comics from early 1939.

"Batman started in No. 27," Farrell says with a note of pride. "That one is pre-Bat."

Muirden pulls a copy of Flippity and Flop, an adaptation of animated shorts from the late '40s starring a cat and a canary, out of an old Arrow shirt box. Farrell shrugs almost sheepishly.

"I buy them because I want to read them. I wanted them so I could look at them," she says. "But not for resale, not at all. I do not intend to sell the collection. That's not what I'm in it for."

When Muirden asks how many comics she actually owns, Farrell laughs as if brushing off the question.

"It's been a long, long time since I've counted," she says. "I lost count somewhere around 12,000. And I'm still at it. Can't give up; it's an addiction."

Edited May 16 by sfcityduck

[Scrooge]

Deleted it. No longer needed.

Edited May 16 by Scrooge

[sfcityduck]

On 5/16/2024 at 8:01 AM, woowoo said:

I am looking at the way she stores her collection pile here pile there nothing really in order so I would have to question how she knows she has every DC comic?

Ian always told me she does not have a complete collection and looking at the way she stores her books I can't be the only one here that thinks that.

The way he was grabbing those books make you think wow than she has a pile with Action 1 in here hands like its nothing.

I am not downplaying here achievement its great from what I can see.

RIP Christine Farrell you did a great job and will always be in the history of comics.

My recollection is that back in the early 2000s her collection was reviewed by guys who also were active with GCD over the course of several days and they verified that her collection was a complete newsstand collection as of that date. However, I believe that Ian had several nits about how complete it really was - my recollection is that when he discovered the "How You Can Defend Your Home" publication that became a big talking point for him. I think we can safely assume that she had, as of that date, everything that most of us would consider DC newsstand publications.

Two big differences between her and Ian: (1) She started collecting DC in the 1950s and (2) she bought better condition comics. She had her Action 1, D27, etc. no later than the early 1980s. They all looked nice.

Edited May 16 by sfcityduck

[woowoo]

On 5/16/2024 at 8:05 AM, Scrooge said:

Really? She just died and that's what comes out in this thread? Not her love of all things DC from Romance to Funny Animals to Wonder Woman and the story about her mom putting her name on her books, etc. 

I agree with you so I Deleted it 

On 5/16/2024 at 8:09 AM, sfcityduck said:

My recollection is that back in the early 2000s her collection was reviewed by guys who also were active with GCD over the course of several days and they verified that her collection was a complete newsstand collection as of that date. However, I believe that Ian had several nits about how complete it really was - my recollection is that when he discovered the "How You Can Defend Your Home" publication that became a big talking point for him. I think we can safely assume that she had, as of that date, everything that most of us would consider DC newsstand publications.

I would say from what I see she had everything more than just DC. I was just wondering how she knew what she had by the way she stored them.

I agree it's not a good question at this time, but it was not negative about her Achievement 

[woowoo]

On 5/16/2024 at 8:09 AM, sfcityduck said:

My recollection is that back in the early 2000s her collection was reviewed by guys who also were active with GCD over the course of several days and they verified that her collection was a complete newsstand collection as of that date. However, I believe that Ian had several nits about how complete it really was - my recollection is that when he discovered the "How You Can Defend Your Home" publication that became a big talking point for him. I think we can safely assume that she had, as of that date, everything that most of us would consider DC newsstand publications.

Now you just answered my question Thank you.

[DanCooper]

The original Sparkle City guys (Jay Maybruck, Joe V, Paul Howley) always had updated "Chris Lists" to pull any books needed for the collection when a DC collection came in. For anyone who knew her, Chris was meticulous with tracking the collection. The gray area was the promo DC items, but as far as "newsstand" issues, I would doubt anything is missing.

Like Tim (tth2) mentioned earlier in the thread, the bulk of this collection was assembled pre-internet. To give an example of how things have changed, the;last book found for the collection was "Girls Love Stories" #56. There are four copies currently on ebay!

[vheflin]

Well, if it gets slabbed up and sold it's certainly deserving of a 'collection of' label.  Shame it can't be a pedigree because 'Earth Prime' would be perhaps coolest pedigree name of all.

  it could be 'Earth Prime collection' on the label

[Mmehdy]

RIP true comic book collector!