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Post your Golden Age Adventure/New Adventure/New Comics
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Started by RareHighGrade,

1,763 posts in this topic

Yannis

Yannis

Posted
Posted

Nice books. And I haven't seen these around ina while. Good to see these covers posted. Personally 2 of my favorite prehero books are Na 16 and MF 45. Maybe one day ill add those two to my collection.

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tb

tb

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Books like the New Adventure 29 became even more amazing to me after I looked in the census statistics recently. I was surprised to find that CGC only has graded 31 books from the 1930s 9.6 or higher. Looking at the available circulation data, the total number of comic books published in the 1930s must have been 50-100 million so, at least so far, the survival rate literally looks like 1 in a million (at best). Hopefully more near mint 1930s books have been saved somewhere. With valiantman's help, I was able to obtain a list of the 93 unrestored 1930s books that have been graded CGC 9.4 or higher. Of the 80 books for which I was able to trace the provenance, almost 50 were from the Church collection. Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was how poorly all other pedigrees were represented: the ones that did best were the Denver, Allentown and Crescent City collections which had 1-2 books each. I was not able to identify a single San Francisco copy.

 

For comparison, the census has 241 books in 9.4+ from 1940 alone and 109 of those are in 9.6 up.

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swapto

swapto

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Posted
Books like the New Adventure 29 became even more amazing to me after I looked in the census statistics recently. I was surprised to find that CGC only has graded 31 books from the 1930s 9.6 or higher. Looking at the available circulation data, the total number of comic books published in the 1930s must have been 50-100 million so, at least so far, the survival rate literally looks like 1 in a million (at best). Hopefully more near mint 1930s books have been saved somewhere. With valiantman's help, I was able to obtain a list of the 93 unrestored 1930s books that have been graded CGC 9.4 or higher. Of the 80 books for which I was able to trace the provenance, almost 50 were from the Church collection. Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was how poorly all other pedigrees were represented: the ones that did best were the Denver, Allentown and Crescent City collections which had 1-2 books each. I was not able to identify a single San Francisco copy.

 

For comparison, the census has 241 books in 9.4+ from 1940 alone and 109 of those are in 9.6 up.

 

all the more reason to why RHG's collection is so AMAZING.

 

(worship)

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Posted
Books like the New Adventure 29 became even more amazing to me after I looked in the census statistics recently. I was surprised to find that CGC only has graded 31 books from the 1930s 9.6 or higher. Looking at the available circulation data, the total number of comic books published in the 1930s must have been 50-100 million so, at least so far, the survival rate literally looks like 1 in a million (at best). Hopefully more near mint 1930s books have been saved somewhere. With valiantman's help, I was able to obtain a list of the 93 unrestored 1930s books that have been graded CGC 9.4 or higher. Of the 80 books for which I was able to trace the provenance, almost 50 were from the Church collection. Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was how poorly all other pedigrees were represented: the ones that did best were the Denver, Allentown and Crescent City collections which had 1-2 books each. I was not able to identify a single San Francisco copy.

 

For comparison, the census has 241 books in 9.4+ from 1940 alone and 109 of those are in 9.6 up.

The CGC grade is primarily based on the structural aspects of the comics and, while it is amazing that there are so many Church copy that survived essentially unmarred, I am more impressed that nearly all of these early Church books look newstand fresh. Having seen them in person, the colors on these copies "pop" and the pages are supple and white or ow/w. The 9.0 More Fun 45 is just as stunning to my eyes as the others.

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tb

tb

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The CGC grade is primarily based on the structural aspects of the comics and, while it is amazing that there are so many Church copy that survived essentially unmarred, I am more impressed that nearly all of these early Church books look newstand fresh. Having seen them in person, the colors on these copies "pop" and the pages are supple and white or ow/w. The 9.0 More Fun 45 is just as stunning to my eyes as the others.

 

The same thought crossed my mind when I saw the MF 45. There is obviously a lot more to the beauty of a book than the CGC grade. That's why it has become increasingly important for me to see CGC graded books in person before I bid on/buy them. I regularly pass on books with a higher CGC grade because I have a lower graded copy that is more beautiful to me.

 

I certainly would not dispute your comments about the quality of Church books compared to others with a higher CGC grade. But it is very hard to quantify how many "beautiful" or "gorgeous" books from the 1930s have survived. What I found new and interesting is that there now is a known subset of books that meet a different but (at least in my mind) fairly consistent quality criteria. This is the most meaningful numerical data point I have ever seen in terms of understanding the scarcity of "near mint" comics from the 1930s. If someone figures out a way to quantify the perceptual aspects of a book's appeal that CGC wisely chose to ignore, I will be there to post geeky stats about that, too.

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tth2

tth2

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Posted (edited)
I was surprised to find that CGC only has graded 31 books from the 1930s 9.6 or higher.

There are undoubtedly more, if the legends are true, such as the MH MC #1 and AT Detective #27, which have not been slabbed yet.

 

In any event, I actually look at the number from the opposite angle. To me, it`s amazing that there are that many books from the 1930s that are 9.6 or higher.

 

I don`t know much about pulps, but how many pulps from the 1930s, which were much more popular than comics during the 1930s, exist today in the equivalent of 9.6 condition?

 

I was not able to identify a single San Francisco copy.

I think this is consistent with the reported story behind the Reilly collection, since he was a normal kid who bought and read his books. It was only when he went away to war (which would`ve been after the 1930s) that his parents saved his comics unread, which accounts for their high grade.

Edited by tth2
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adamstrange

adamstrange

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I don`t know much about pulps, but how many pulps from the 1930s, which were much more popular than comics during the 1930s, exist today in the equivalent of 9.6 condition?

If you grade pulps like you grade comics then very few could ever grade 9.6 as so many were printed with the cover over-hanging the interior. It's vastly easier to keep comics in nm+ condition then it is to keep pulps in that condition.

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tb

tb

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Btw., thanks for the scans RHG. The New Adventure 16 is my own favorite: the combination of date, grade and rarity makes it even more appealing to me than the two other books (as incredible as they are). The cover makes me curious if the boy was some kind of pre-Robin sidekick...

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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The cover makes me curious if the boy was some kind of pre-Robin sidekick...

I interpreted the boy as representing a typical American boy reader who would join the Club. Perhaps RHG can shed some light?

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