Fox Comics Appreciation Thread! 20 20

[Sqeggs]

3 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

Thanks, Gino.

I don't even know which books I'm curious about, lol. I was just curious. I don't normally bid on their books, but I did bid on the Fantastic 22, I stopped because I had a feeling you were going to bid. I might be sorry I stopped;) I saw that closing bid.

I wish GPA designated which books were sold where, that would help.

Ah, such a lame book!  Although maybe if it were a ped copy ... 

[comicjack]

6 hours ago, lpsunburst said:

I picked up the #7 and I agree it looked about a point overgraded based on the stain at the top of the bc so I bid what I thought a 5.0 might go for and ended up winning.

A great book no matter what the grade and i agree with your thinking 

[Zolnerowich]

6 hours ago, gino2paulus2 said:

I was able to snag the #19 so now i have 18,19, and 20 and i originally set out to get the last 4 issues so I am getting there!! I don't like these scans at CC lately but here it is...One win for the whole auction...

 

Well done, my friend. The Eagle is really sockin' it to the baddie! And Buddy's takin' care of the torpedo issue!

[lpsunburst]

Ditto on that, nice job Gino, glad you were able to get in on the action.

[Zolnerowich]

17 hours ago, Point Five said:

Wow, some surprisingly soft prices on most of the CC Weird Comics that finished tonight. (Maybe everyone was busy outbidding me on the Zips instead!) I wasn't home when the Weirds finished but I now wish I'd thrown in bids on a few. Definitely thought they'd go higher, go figure.

The #20 though went strong as usual. Still hope I can someday find one with colors that nice.

 

 

5 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

I think that book was a great pickup at the price, given how sharp it looks for the grade.

My overall sense was that, at least for many of the Fox and Fiction House books, prices were soft, or at least reasonable/not insane compared to recent auctions, and I'm pleased with my pick-ups in terms of price for quality. I can't comment on the Zips or Peps; maybe all the zip and pep in those books ratcheted up their prices.

[Zolnerowich]

7 hours ago, lpsunburst said:

I picked up the #7 and I agree it looked about a point overgraded based on the stain at the top of the bc so I bid what I thought a 5.0 might go for and ended up winning.

Congrats!! Great price for that classic. I had to shell out a lot more for my 4.5 copy, that's for sure.

[ThothAmon]

7 hours ago, gino2paulus2 said:

I was able to snag the #19 so now i have 18,19, and 20 and i originally set out to get the last 4 issues so I am getting there!! I don't like these scans at CC lately but here it is...One win for the whole auction...

 

Great book!

[rjpb]

On 5/5/2017 at 8:00 PM, Point Five said:

Wow, some surprisingly soft prices on most of the CC Weird Comics that finished tonight. (Maybe everyone was busy outbidding me on the Zips instead!) I wasn't home when the Weirds finished but I now wish I'd thrown in bids on a few. Definitely thought they'd go higher, go figure.

The #20 though went strong as usual. Still hope I can someday find one with colors that nice.

 

20 has the Hitler cover going for it, and so will always go for a strong price I gather. I suspect the 17 and 18 went for closer to what the market will really bear than the fluke prices one sees now and then on scarce late run Fox books. 

[rjpb]

18 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

Is there a way to see closed prices on CC? I know you can't  on comiclink unless you bid.

If you remember the particular book you are curious about, just google Comicconnect and the name and issue number of the comic ( use the # symbol) and it will come up.

[gino2paulus2]

3 hours ago, rjpb said:

20 has the Hitler cover going for it, and so will always go for a strong price I gather. I suspect the 17 and 18 went for closer to what the market will really bear than the fluke prices one sees now and then on scarce late run Fox books. 

I actually tend to agree with this statement. I would like to add that what I am seeing is that the late issues AND early issues seem to separate themselves from the middle run issues. For example the #18 was a 1.8 that still brought $676. The #2 which is early and a classic cover was a 1.5 the brought $725. With the exception of the #11 (rare) which was a 2.0 that brought in $802 the middle run issues underperformed compared to the early OR late run issues. For example the #5 was a 2.0 that brought $432. The #13 was a 4.0 that brought $431. The #14 was a 1.8 that brought $335 and Yes we have the #20 which has the Hitler cover which was a 3.0 and brought $3300. I didn't include any restored or conserved books these were all Universal so while yes I agree the prices may be closer to market the early and late issues are still commanding a premium and for good reason most of them have, "cooler" less dull covers. 

That being said I would like to know your opinion on the late run scarce US Jones #2 that was a 4.0 and brought in $4885!! No Hitler on that cover. (Full disclosure I DID NOT run this book up at all just as I said I wouldn't I didn't participate I was actually curious to see how it would do without me running it up and it had a great result) I think it was VERY strong BUT was it a FLUKE? 

[Ricksneatstuff]

I was surprised to see the Science Comics 2- 3.5 go for $6200. I was thinking more in the $5k range. I am happy to have picked up the 2nd highest Universal copy recently and firmly believe in this book as a complete breakout at the Berk auction. It seems others are thinking the same thing based on the recent sales. I have heard Berk has been quoted as saying he believes it is Lou Fine's greatest cover (and obviously this is saying something).  

I am pretty new to early Fox books but when I saw the cover I loved it and had to have it. Being a "Favoritist" and not a "Completionist" there is one more Fox book I need to pick up and a couple early MLJ and I will have had every book I have wanted to own, except Fantastic 3 and Suspense 3 (One day I hope to own both of these, if only for a few months). I have been able to move through owning almost every book I have wanted in golden age comics in a period of a few years largely because I don't have to keep most of them. Once I have had them in hand for a while usually I can let them go. A sort of foster parent to comics, which I enjoy.

[Johnny545]

The Science 2 CGC 3.5 c/ow sold for $6000+ (can someone give the exact number?)

The Wonderworld 7 Cbcs 6.0 ow/w sold for $6150.

Science 2 is a great cover, but this is a head scratcher for me.

 

Edited May 7, 2017 by Johnny545

[Ltpink2002]

Science 2 $6,200

WW 7 $5,125

[rjpb]

2 hours ago, gino2paulus2 said:

I actually tend to agree with this statement. I would like to add that what I am seeing is that the late issues AND early issues seem to separate themselves from the middle run issues. For example the #18 was a 1.8 that still brought $676. The #2 which is early and a classic cover was a 1.5 the brought $725. With the exception of the #11 (rare) which was a 2.0 that brought in $802 the middle run issues underperformed compared to the early OR late run issues. For example the #5 was a 2.0 that brought $432. The #13 was a 4.0 that brought $431. The #14 was a 1.8 that brought $335 and Yes we have the #20 which has the Hitler cover which was a 3.0 and brought $3300. I didn't include any restored or conserved books these were all Universal so while yes I agree the prices may be closer to market the early and late issues are still commanding a premium and for good reason most of them have, "cooler" less dull covers. 

That being said I would like to know your opinion on the late run scarce US Jones #2 that was a 4.0 and brought in $4885!! No Hitler on that cover. (Full disclosure I DID NOT run this book up at all just as I said I wouldn't I didn't participate I was actually curious to see how it would do without me running it up and it had a great result) I think it was VERY strong BUT was it a FLUKE? 

The dramatic jump in values late run Fox books is definitely a combination of scarcity and cool, or at least WW2 themed covers, fed by a "got to have" mentality among collectors. These books were just as scarce 10 years ago when they sold for 10% of what they do now. How flukey these roughly $1000 a point prices are, remains to be seen.  Books from the early 40s that achieve  widely agreed upon "classic cover" status can hit these types of values routinely, and even more. I'm a bit more skeptical of books with admittedly cool covers, but seem more scarcity driven when they hit those kind of prices at auction. I think the Weird #18 3.0 that sold for $2760 a couple years ago is an example of this. Great cover and scarce, but more recent sales indicate that was probably about twice what might expect to see it sell for now. These books just don't come up that often, and in an auction format can be subject to big swings depending on the attitudes of the bidders at that time. We even see this with more common books from time to time, where a huge jump in an auction value turns out not to be a new benchmark price, but bidding fever. I suspect the U.S. Jones #2 sale is an example of this, but who knows for sure, if you had told collectors 10 years ago what some of these books would sell for in a decade, they would have thought you were delusional. 

[rjpb]

41 minutes ago, Johnny545 said:

The Science 2 CGC 3.5 c/ow sold for $6000+ (can someone give the exact number?)

The Wonderworld 7 Cbcs 6.0 ow/w sold for $6150.

Science 2 is a great cover, but this is a head scratcher for me.

 

Both have achieved that "best of run"  all time great classic cover status, like Fantastic #3.  At that point prices can get insane, with no looking back. Look at Suspense #3 - an incomplete beater recently sold for 5K.

[gino2paulus2]

32 minutes ago, rjpb said:

The dramatic jump in values late run Fox books is definitely a combination of scarcity and cool, or at least WW2 themed covers, fed by a "got to have" mentality among collectors. These books were just as scarce 10 years ago when they sold for 10% of what they do now. How flukey these roughly $1000 a point prices are, remains to be seen.  Books from the early 40s that achieve  widely agreed upon "classic cover" status can hit these types of values routinely, and even more. I'm a bit more skeptical of books with admittedly cool covers, but seem more scarcity driven when they hit those kind of prices at auction. I think the Weird #18 3.0 that sold for $2760 a couple years ago is an example of this. Great cover and scarce, but more recent sales indicate that was probably about twice what might expect to see it sell for now. These books just don't come up that often, and in an auction format can be subject to big swings depending on the attitudes of the bidders at that time. We even see this with more common books from time to time, where a huge jump in an auction value turns out not to be a new benchmark price, but bidding fever. I suspect the U.S. Jones #2 sale is an example of this, but who knows for sure, if you had told collectors 10 years ago what some of these books would sell for in a decade, they would have thought you were delusional. 

Agreed completely I was actually going to reference that Weird #18 3.0 sale as to why I think the recent sale is probably closer to real market. Still not a book that will slip through the cracks as even in low grade brings decent money but not the $1K a point that particular sale made it seem to look like. I wasn't even in the GA market 10 years ago. I wish I was so I defer to many of you to school me about the market landscape of that period. I do like to look at historical sales of books even in raw form but the only place I can do that nowadays seems to be Heritage. I am intrigued as to whether books like U.S. Jones #2 were just sitting in boxes never selling or if they truly are RARE. I look at Heritage and only see 1 sale in its history for a 0.5 that looked like it just came out of the oven. No other sales. So are they sitting in attics and no one is selling or slabbing them that is the real question? Like the Honus card are 5-6 copies gonna be found at some point and all get auctioned off? Would the market absorb at these prices? I wouldn't tend to think so. I have asked so many folks that have been in the hobby for so long that have NEVER even seen a copy in the wild and Berk tends to agree with that theory from what I have gathered. As usual I guess only time will truly tell I am just happy to finally be in the thick of it I truly do enjoy these types of conversations.

[Johnny545]

42 minutes ago, rjpb said:

Both have achieved that "best of run"  all time great classic cover status, like Fantastic #3.  At that point prices can get insane, with no looking back. Look at Suspense #3 - an incomplete beater recently sold for 5K.

I guess I just don't see Science 2 as having that kind of allure, again it's a great cover, but derivative of 1 which is comparable.  

Best of run, I guess...maybe.  It's no WW 7 or fantastic 3 in my opinion.  

I also doubt that Science 2 sale would be replicated if that same book showed up at another auction in the near term.  My two cents.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Johnny545

[Johnny545]

1 hour ago, Ltpink2002 said:

Science 2 $6,200

WW 7 $5,125

Even more of a head scratcher...

[rjpb]

2 hours ago, Johnny545 said:

I guess I just don't see Science 2 as having that kind of allure, again it's a great cover, but derivative of 1 which is comparable.  

Best of run, I guess...maybe.  It's no WW 7 or fantastic 3 in my opinion.  

I also doubt that Science 2 sale would be replicated if that same book showed up at another auction in the near term.  My two cents.

I feel similarly about Fantastic #3. Great Lou Fine cover? Yes. Greatest Lou Fine cover - or even greatest Lou Fine Fox cover - not for me - though killer robots are always a plus. The same could be said for Suspense #3 IM(not so)HO. One of Schomburg's great covers - okay, I'll buy that.  His greatest cover - not even close.  But in both cases they have become iconic among collectors, and have come to represent the pinnacle of their respective artist's output in the minds of many. 

[Ricksneatstuff]

I think Science 2 and Mystery Men 10 are the greatest Fox covers. I may be alone in that opinion but I don't think so