Court Copy of Action #1

[wahoofury-migration]

Oh come on now. your just jealous

[tb]

This book is for sale in the Jan. Mastronet auction:

 

http://www.mastronet.com/index.cfm?action=DisplayContent&ContentName=Preview%20Lot%20Information&DisplayIndex=67

 

[Joanna]

How much do you think it'll go for?

[Guest]

neat. Check out this Cap 1... murph0, this is your copy my man! Totally unrestored... VF 8.0! There's just one thing....

 

http://www.mastronet.com/index.cfm?action=DisplayContent&ContentName=Preview%20Lot%20Information&DisplayIndex=62

[murph0]

eww it's an uggo..I think I'll pass, unless someone wants to buy it and color the red parts for me (which I might add under the assumption used in cleaning and pressing a book would not be restoration b/c you're restoring to book to it's "original condition")

 

Brian

[CosmicBob]

But this book was never in that condition, so I think that it would be considered touching up. Not really restoration, since your adding something new, not restoring something that's gone!

 

A quandry for the restoration folks!

[Guest]

Mastro's description neglected to divulge the OBVIOUS reinforced corners (added paper) so evident in the large scan (more easily seen on the back cover scan).

[Crowzilla]

There are at least two copies of Cap #1 floating around like this - both of them were in a Sotheby's auction at the same time 5-6 years ago.

 

Of course, I'm still waiting to hear some lame arguement about why November

Marvel #1's are second printings.

[fantastic_four]

Yea, I've seen that other one too, it's a CGC 6.5 with the same color printing defect.

[scoobly-migration]

In 1983, I went to the office of Marvel Comics to have lunch with Art Goodman, the brother of Martin Goodman. Art worked at Timely in 1939 and gave me the story behind the October/November Marvel #1 printings. In 1939, Goodman had mixed feelings about getting into the comic business. They decided to publish Marvel #1 with a total print run of just under 90,000 copies. That 1st printing had a date of October. They hoped the book would sell well but their expectations were not that great. They were shocked when the book sold out within a few days. A immediate decision was made to go back to press with an additional print run of 800,000 copies. That print run had the November cover date. Nuff Said!

 

[Crowzilla]

This seems to be a pretty direct contradiction to the information that has been relayed by Greg Theakston (a Superb comic historian who, when working at Marvel had access and permission to search through their records) and others.

I'm not saying it isn't true mind you, but it still seems unlikely.

Consider the following:

 

1) Goodman was already an experienced publisher with pulps, and certainly had some inside knowledge about how strong the sales of comics were: Superman #1 had already come out, the Fox/National lawsuit had started. New publishers Harvey, MLJ, Quality and McKay had all started with some success.

 

2) Frank Torpey (sales manager for Funnies, Inc) was the person who talked Goodman into having the Jacquet studio make up the book for him and probably would have insisted on a higher print run. But 800,000 for a second print is a crazy high number. None of Funnies, Inc. books had print runs that high, and only Action and Superman approached those numbers at that time. It seems strange to go from a "test" of 90,000 to a print run of 800,000 for an experienced publisher.

 

3) It is still very hard to fit a second print in the timeframe. We know that #2 had a December cover date and had arrived at stores by early-mid October. That means it was at the printers by early-mid September and was being worked on in August. If Goodman was so unsure of the project, why would he have the studio be working on a second issue before getting numbers in for the first?

 

4) We know that the first issue hit the stands in Colorado in mid September (9-15 arrival date on the Mile High copy), yet it didn't go to the printer's until early-mid August. So Goodman got the book printed, got back sales numbers, ordered a second printing and had it distributed in less than 30 days? That's something that rarely happens today with direct distribution and instant sales data from Diamond.

If somehow he got back incredibly quick numbers on the first issue (very hard to do right away in the late 30s), why would you go back to press with a run nearly 10x greater than what you had just done and not change the date to at least December to give all those copies a chance to sell through (not to mention possibly hurting sales on the #2 which was getting ready to go to print)?

 

5) The book wasn't finished until the first of August (July 31st), so of course it was going to have a November cover date, you don't print a book up to give it a shelf life of just a few days. The book was running late, so a last minute change was needed on the cover date to make sure it got exposure on the shelf.

 

It seems much more likely and probable that because of the dealy in starting up the new book, that the original intended date (October) need to be changed because of the lateness of the issue to insure that it would receive adequate exposure on the newstands. If it was reaching the Western states in mid-September some distributors might not distribute it at all if it had an October date because they would be picking it up for returns within two weeks. Wasn't worth the hassle for the low profit margin. It HAD to be available on the stands for at least 30 days to make it a worthwhile carry (I wouldn't be surprised if the Distributors didn't make him change the date).

 

[tb]

The price is going to be interesting. Although this copy is in a lower

grade, I suspect most serious potential buyers would agree with

other posters that the Court copy of action #1 is more desirable

than the Marvel #1 Pay copy (grade/restoration is only a secondary

consideration for such unique historical treasures). Since the latter

sold in a private transaction as part of a combined deal where, to

my knowledge, the total price was never revealed, I personally

take the $350K with a grain of salt. All hype aside, my best estimate

is that the fair market value for the Pay copy currently is around

$175K and that the Court copy will go up to $250K (and thus likely

fail to meet the reserve).

 

 

 

[MonumentalCo]

I was at the Atlantique City show today and Mastronet was there with items from their next Americana auction. Some really nice items including a unrestored Marvel #1 and also the Court Copy of Action #1. A very nice comic! I looked at the stamp on the cover and it appears that when the stamp was used on the cover it was not fully inked.

[murph0]

So removing that stamp would be...restoration or "conservation"..this would fall into the iffy "cleaned and pressed" category eh?

 

Brian

[MonumentalCo]

I checked Mastonet regarding the grade of the Court Copy of Action #1. Here is what there description noted. "At one point in years past, it had several tears sealed by a talented amateur, with nice color work performed in those affected areas (only one tear has any size to it, and that is a three inch tear into the masthead, through the "i" and "o" of Action, and the second "c" in Comics). The spine is attractive and the page coloration is off-white." Althought this copy has some restoration this book is still an amazing book historically.

[Guest]

That's certainly not ALL of the procedures done. There's paper that's been added, not just tears sealed, but actual added material as clearly evidenced by the image, as well as the cleaning procedure that eradicated the stamp from the red areas, but not the white areas, a dead giveaway to the chemical bath. To say the book has had less than extensive work done, is an injustice. THAT'S why it hasn't been slabbed by CGC, because they would reveal these additional procedures, and even given the strong political force of the Mastro Auctions, would have no choice but to call a spade a spade on this book, because of the high profile status of the item. Calling the Pay Copy Marvel 1 a VF/NM was enough of a stretch of the imagination, can you imagine CGC trying to place the Action 1 in a Blue top 8.0 or 8.5 holder with mention of just a cleaning? NO WAY would it fly with ANYONE who has ever had a Golden age book slabbed Purple with just notation of a replaced staple, or a dot of color touch! The Auction House is counting on the significant historical importance of this book to downplay the actual amount of extensive restoration performed on it and the fact that it's NOT slabbed. It's good work, but there's ALOT of it. You can't go more than an inch in any direction, from any point on the covers without encountering some form of restoration. A purple top 7.0 with EXTENSIVE restoration would kill the estimated take on it by 75% even if it was used in the "Monkey Trial".