Max Seeley and Mail Order Collecting

[Spider-Variant]

Ok, this thread is primarily nostalgia driven, but here goes anyway.

 

My best comic memories were sending away for back issues of Amazing Spider-Man. For some reason, I picked Max Seeley out of Montreal, Canada. He advertised frequently in those little ads, back in the day. I remember saving my money so I could get my brother to write me a check or begging my mom to take me to get a postal money order. I remember waiting those weeks and the excitement of opening that package. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I don't think at that time he had specific grades, only something like that the books were fine or better. So, you never knew exactly what you would get, but I was a reader first, collector second.

 

Best book I remember getting was a VF/NM ASM 129 for $2.00. Man, that was a good time.

 

Ok, anyone else every deal with Max Seeley? I remember he sold his inventory to a shop down in Florida.

 

Anyone else have any stories of buying comics by mail order? (yes, pre-ebay)

[jools&jim]

Oh yeah...I still have a 1977/1978 J&S Comics catalog (outta good ol' Red Bank, NJ), marked with my selections for an order I never placed...lotsa Starlin and Adams books, all "guaranteed" to be in F/VF or so (old school!), and all in the $1 - $3 range. I never placed my order, because I couldn't scrape the dough together, but my buddy Steve did, and got some real winners IIRC: Iron Man 55, GL 80 or 81, some Gulacy MoKFs...seemed like a lotta bread back then, but the whole order probably cost him 10 bucks, tops. Good times, man...good times.

[Spider-Variant]

Yes, I bought a few books from J&S out of Red Bank.

 

I wish I would have keep some of those catalogs. I had them for the longest times and then chucked them.

[jools&jim]

What I think is interesting is that a lot of the so-called F/VF books back then were probably closer to VGs by today's more rigorous standards, so in some cases it's possible--almost 30 years later!--to spend roughly the same amount of dough (or a little more) these days for essentially the same books. Talk about a time warp!

[tth2]

Yup, I have memories of buying from all the mail order dealers who advertised in comic books during the early to mid-1970s. Max, Robert Crestohl, Robert Bell, Comic Sales Group, Discount Comics, Richard Alf, and there are probably more I'm forgetting. I used to love opening those packages of comics!

[tay666]

Well, my collecting doesn't start that early.

I used to read them back then, but didn't really track down back issues.

 

I remember my first back issue mail order though.

Got a huge box of stuff from Mile High.

About 100-150 issues of Conan and Savage Sword.

 

Man, I was in heaven.

This was around 84-85 and I blew a big chunk of one of my first paychecks as an independant adult living on my own. (not really on my own as I had a room-mate, but I had moved out of my parents place)

[comix4fun]

What I think is interesting is that a lot of the so-called F/VF books back then were probably closer to VGs by today's more rigorous standards, so in some cases it's possible--almost 30 years later!--to spend roughly the same amount of dough (or a little more) these days for essentially the same books. Talk about a time warp!

 

 

I ordered tons from them back in the day....and their F/VF's were VG's by the standards used in THOSE days. I sent back my fair share of (their grade) vg's that were in pieces back then.....oh the memories.

They always took like 40% off the price which put them at 100% of actual graded guide price.

 

Chris

[vyprgt2]

Wow, yeah I do remember ordering from Max Seeley back in the '70s as a kid. I remember his catalogs had all kinds of banter and hype ("s.o.s.s- save our sagging shelves- sale!!") and anecdotes. Whatever happened to good ol' Max?

[namisgr]

I never used any of the dealers who advertised in comics, but back in the seventies The Buyer's Guide (For Comic Fandom) was my source. Truly the E-Bay of its day, this oversized newspaper published by Alan Light (way before Maggie T took it over) was filled to the brim with quarter page and eighth page hand-typed ads from Joe Blow, John Doe and the like selling the old comics laying around their basements, plus regular ads from the dealers of the day. My longbox of reader books is filled with many of the dirt-cheap gems acquired in this way, including fine copies of Iron Man 1, Subby 1, Hulk 102, a slew of Thors between 140-188, and the first Ditko Spideys I ever owned.

 

Condition, schmondition!

[cosmic-spider-man]

I did buy comics through allot of Mail order guys as a kid in the mid to late 70's from those tiny adds in comics you could order their catalogs but I don't remember Max Seeley I got most of mine from Robert Bell and J&S Comics. I remember one of my first orders I got a super nice Strange Tales #104 for like $4 and a fine copy of X-Men #7 for like $6 and everyone thought I was Crazy to pay that much for a 12 cent comic back then . Also remenber buying ASM #60-67 for like $4 each and they were probably all like VF condition when I got them but me being a kid and letting all my friends read them they did not stay that nice for long . I am sure I still have some of those old catalogs around hear some where I will see if I can dig some of them up and post some scans .

[shadroch]

I have a few old Max Seeley brochures.Great photos of a rather large apartment with wall to wall steel shelves and all the books stored vertical.

I often confurse Seeley with Robert Cresthol,another Canuck who advertised around the same time.

Another great Canadian dealer from that era was Marcs Comic Room,whose brochures featured Gene Day artwork.He eventually stopped doing mail order to open a store,and I lost touch with him.

[RCComix]

As a young kid I remember waiting for the new pricelist - I think the last one I saw was pink. He also sent along the photos of his apartment with comics stacked to the ceiling. My best recollection was receiving my copy VG/Fine of Iron Man #1 for $4.00. Still have it. You can still find his old ads in Marvels from the early 70"s.

 

I always got a hand written thank you when I ordered from Maxwell J. Seeley. When you think about the prices on his early lists, you wanna cry. And he was not the cheapest!

 

Russ

[Spider-Variant]

As a young kid I remember waiting for the new pricelist - I think the last one I saw was pink. He also sent along the photos of his apartment with comics stacked to the ceiling. My best recollection was receiving my copy VG/Fine of Iron Man #1 for $4.00. Still have it. You can still find his old ads in Marvels from the early 70"s.

 

I always got a hand written thank you when I ordered from Maxwell J. Seeley. When you think about the prices on his early lists, you wanna cry. And he was not the cheapest!

 

Russ

 

Now that you mention it, I remember getting a hand written thanks as well. Definitely remember the price lists in different colors but not any photos.

[HouseofComics.Com]

I never used any of the dealers who advertised in comics, but back in the seventies The Buyer's Guide (For Comic Fandom) was my source.

[namisgr]

I never used any of the dealers who advertised in comics, but back in the seventies The Buyer's Guide (For Comic Fandom) was my source.

 

Did you save any of them? It would be such a hoot to post some of the ads, not only for the utter ridiculousness of the prices, but also for the "hand made" approach and disdain for grading in most of them. I see later ones from the eighties listed for sale on E-Bay, but almost never ones from the early seventies (number 1 is on E-Bay currently with an opening bid of $1K).

[greggy]

I never used any of the dealers who advertised in comics, but back in the seventies The Buyer's Guide (For Comic Fandom) was my source.

 

Did you save any of them? It would be such a hoot to post some of the ads, not only for the utter ridiculousness of the prices, but also for the "hand made" approach and disdain for grading in most of them. I see later ones from the eighties listed for sale on E-Bay, but almost never ones from the early seventies (number 1 is on E-Bay currently with an opening bid of $1K).

I have a number one

[HouseofComics.Com]

Did you save any of them? It would be such a hoot to post some of the ads, not only for the utter ridiculousness of the prices, but also for the "hand made" approach and disdain for grading in most of them.

 

No, mine weren't quite that early and I didn't save them either. But I have really fond memories of buying from those ads, trying to type up my own, etc. I remember trying to read the tiny, tiny print after the reduced your 8 by 10 to a little comics trader ad. I remember one ad of Harley's very vividly. He normally was running 1/3 page ads in the main section which did very well. But he also did occasional Comics Trader ads and the one that really stuck with me was a totally hand-scrawled ad selling only Cerebus that he probably tossed off in five minutes. Maybe 15-20 issues in total. I'm sure it did well--he'd figured out that Cerebi were fairly available in Michigan with low demand but they were nuts for them in California. So this was his hand-written ad aimed directly at 10-15 CBG readers in CA.

 

Kind of goes along with the "infomal" nature we're talking about.

Marc

[namisgr]

I never used any of the dealers who advertised in comics, but back in the seventies The Buyer's Guide (For Comic Fandom) was my source.

 

Did you save any of them? It would be such a hoot to post some of the ads, not only for the utter ridiculousness of the prices, but also for the "hand made" approach and disdain for grading in most of them. I see later ones from the eighties listed for sale on E-Bay, but almost never ones from the early seventies (number 1 is on E-Bay currently with an opening bid of $1K).

I have a number one

 

Showoff! Actually, I remember you posting a fractional scan of it in a prior thread. Can you scan a couple of the ads without damaging the paper?

 

I loved receiving my weekly TBG.

[bigfiver69]

I only ordered from those little ads in the back of the comics a few times. Got a nice Brave and Bold #52 for a buck, and sharp NM copies of Our Army at War #239, #243 and #245 for 50 cents a piece. I still have the OAAWs, which I've read down to 7.0s. Even though I've upgraded them, I'll never let those ones go. I remember opening the package up with my buddy Kenny Young, and upon seeing the books, he muttered 'You B*stard!'

 

I think it was Passaic who I bought them from.

 

Shep

[HouseofComics.Com]

I remember opening the package up with my buddy Kenny Young, and upon seeing the books, he muttered 'You B*stard!'

 

Good times!