ciorac Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 I've collected Disney comics all my life and these pictures are literally the most amazing I've ever seen! If those books were 9.0 on average they would still be so far off the scale that ... well, nothing I've ever seen or heard of would compare to them. I'm stunned, speechless, and very thankful for getting a glance at them. I guess Geppi would be the only potential buyer for the WDCS 1, but the breadth of the rest of the collection is much more impressive to me. The demand for these books would be crazy today. I lost a WDCS 2 CGC 9.0 with a $15,000 bid earlier this year and several post-war Four Colors in the 9.2+ range have sold privately for well into 5 figures. Any WDCS < 100 in CGC 9.4 would easily break $1K on eBay. I've spent the past 6 years assembling a set of WDCS 1-31 in CGC 8.5 or better and still only have 12 books. Did Snyder/Geppi tell you anything about the Poughkeepsie file copies, which I guess is the only thing that might come close? Many of us are afraid that the market suddenly would get swamped with dozens of NM copies of the Duck Four Colors etc. I know one New England seller ended up with all the FC 9s, most of which were later dispersed, but I believe Geppi bought a large fraction of the other PKs? Btw., is this the Crescent City copy? It is on display at Diamond Galleries; the picture is from the CGC gallery. Yes, I would say that is the Crescent City copy. Thanks for posting the scan of a book I haven't seen in ten years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 I did not see the file copies you mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 Ciorac, Did Nick Kronfeld pass away? I remember his auctions in the early 90s. He had a lot of amazing stuff. Thanks, Paul My understanding is that he took his own life several years ago. Very sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*paull* Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 I seem to remember that Nick was a really young guy, maybe in his teens, when he was doing those auctions in the early 90s. Is that true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 Yes, that is true. He was 15 or 16 when I first met him and started doing business with him. He would only be about 24 or 25 now had he survived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*paull* Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 How did he get started in the business? Were his parents bankrolling him to get him started? Some of the items he had up for auction were pretty expensive. I remember a couple of large-size L.B. Cole recreations that he had in his auctions, and they had to be roughly 10K items. Prior to me having the Gerber guides (or good internet resources), I used to rip out the auction pages from CBG and hold onto them for reference. In fact, I still have a pile of his auction pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thegoldenage Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 I met Nick in 1990 at the local con where I used to set up. He was only 10 at the time. His mom used to bring him to the show and waited for him in the lobby, sometimes for 2 hours or more. Both of his parents were very devoted to him and his brother. Although quite a bit older than Nick, I learned quickly that he was one smart kid. Maybe too smart in the end. At age 11 he was taking advanced college math! His knowledge of comic books far exceeded his age, and was well beyond a lot of adults who I knew in the hobby. Nick only lived about 20 minutes from me, so I used to go to his house, pick him up and we would go to shows in Boston and New York. His mom is a wonderful person and was happy that Nick was going to the shows with an adult. I used to laugh when she told me to watch out for him. It was the other people at the cons that should have watched out for Nick. He became well known for getting books at great prices and snagging books that were way under market potential. Remember, this was in the days before the Internet, and all research was conducted by phone, conventions and with a lot of hard work. As time passed Nick and I started doing phone auctions together. A lot of his early material was from my collection, although he had quite a bit of his own stuff to sell. nick taught me quite a bit about the business end of the hobby, as up to that point I was strictly a collector. Nick and I were good friends until shortly after the 1997 San Diego Con, when he began to implode. I believe that his internal demons began to take over. I won't get into details, as they aren't important, but lets just say there is a thin line between genius and insanity. Nick was too smart for his own good, and sometime after I lost track of him he got involved with alcohol and drugs. I am not sure how his life ended, but at 20 years of age, it was and is tragic. Had he lived and stayed with the hobby, I have no doubt that he would be one of the largest, if not the largest forces in the hobby today. I am only sorry that all of our long talks during those long drives to conventions couldn't help him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 (edited) > Yes, I would say that is the Crescent City copy. No wonder it dropped from a 9.6-9.8 if John Snyder handled it like the Church Whiz 1. That picture hurts to watch. Thanks again for all the info! I had been asking around about this collection for years. ------- Very sorry to hear about Nick Kronfeld. I lost a fried the same way in the 90s after his wife left him for his best friend. Takes many years to recover from something like that. I can imagine how you must have felt, TGA, especially given his age. Edited July 23, 2006 by tb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*paull* Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 Thanks for the info. That's too bad about Nick because he seemed like a brilliant kid. I remember being so surprised that it was a teenager doing those phone auctions. He had good taste in books and introduced to me, through his auctions, a lot of the stuff that I love today, including L.B. Cole, pre-code horror and the 50's Atlas superhero stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 > Yes, I would say that is the Crescent City copy. No wonder it dropped from a 9.6-9.8 if John Snyder handled it like the Church Whiz 1. That picture hurts to watch. Thanks again for all the info! I had been asking around about this collection for years. ------- Very sorry to hear about Nick Kronfeld. I lost a fried the same way in the 90s after his wife left him for his best friend. Takes many years to recover from something like that. I can imagine how you must have felt, TGA, especially given his age. Glad you pointed that out. I was shocked at the Whiz 1 just laying there, you should have seen the fexibility test he demonstrated on the book. I was cringing in horror. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PUNYHUMAN Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 Brian , Thanks for sharing your memories . I also remember like Paul said, Nick's auctions in CBG. You & Nick had some Amazing books back then. Very sorry to hear that about Nick Kronfeld. He must have felt alot of pressure on himself. I know , I lost a best Friend to drugs some years ago also . So sad & tragic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjum12 Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 Brian , Thanks for sharing your memories . I also remember like Paul said, Nick's auctions in CBG. You & Nick had some Amazing books back then. Very sorry to hear that about Nick Kronfeld. He must have felt alot of pressure on himself. I know , I lost a best Friend to drugs some years ago also . So sad & tragic. Jails,institutions,and death.Not much to offer on that road.It always seems that it's the most intense and charismatic of us that succumb.The last year that I was an addict,I lost 5 friends and I'm not sure that I'll ever be the same.I've been straight for going on 6 years now,and there's some places around here that I still prefer not to even pass by.Any of you young guys out there...DON'T...and just SAY you did.GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 > Glad you pointed that out. I was shocked at the Whiz 1 just laying there, you should have seen the fexibility test he demonstrated on the book. I was cringing in horror. I remember moondog describing such a "flexibility" test that ended in a disaster and decade-long traumatic experience. Wasn't it also John Snyder who color touched many of the Church keys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 yes. bumping this thread because it rocks lately - thanks for your insights Bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Thanks Bronty. I have been enjoying myself here. I have missed being able to discuss comics, their history and the personalities that make up the hooby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjum12 Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 (edited) These are not all golden age,but a couple of people asked me to post them.GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) Here's a page of Gene Colan doing the Good Samaritan and a page from Lehty's Tales From The Great Book which seems to have a bit of a Foster influence. Edited July 26, 2006 by jimjum12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 These are not all golden age,but a couple of people asked me to post them.GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) and a page from Lehty's Tales From The Great Book which seems to have a bit of a Foster influence. Great group. I have been looking at picking up he Tales from the Great Book series ever since I saw the # 1 with the great Lehti art on the Daniel (?) story at a recent con. Are all books illustrated by Lehti? It seemed at first glance to be the best work I've seen Lehti turn in. Thanks for any info you might have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjum12 Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Highly recommended,Mike.Lehty does indeed do them all,and I love the work.It is very consistent throughout the run.It took me a while to find them,but not nearly as long as The Bible Tales For Young Folks.You would be a good person to ask,is this the same Lehty who did Crimson Avenger in Detective Comics?Both of the above Bible series are very tough above fine and the PQ is usually miserable.Good luck and GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) p.s. I 5 issue runs that take 5 years to complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Lehty does indeed do them all,and I love the work.It is very consistent throughout the run. You would be a good person to ask,is this the same Lehty who did Crimson Avenger in Detective Comics? Yes, it's the same guy. The Toonopedia has a small Tales from the Great Book write-up confirming that. The article also agrees that this is the highlight of Lehti's work. Next time, I'll go ahead and bid on the issues on eBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comicdey Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I finally finished my supersnipe collection, and while downstairs decided to take a couple of group photos for this thread. See the completed collection thread for the supersnipes. I photographed my Jo Jo's thrilling, misc horror and a lot more, but the files are all over 200 megs so I can't post them directly, if anyone wants to see them, just pm me. These last two were small enough files, so I've attached them for a little variety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
