ft88 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
143ksk Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Great books! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Not sure why, but WDCS 1-10, and really 1-40, just do not come up for sale on ebay at all. A 30 day history shows that F'ugly taped and over priced #1 as well as a low grade #8. I have rarely seen sales in the past either, and the census is low, though WDCS don't have the hot CGC appeal that the superhero's do. Still, are these books really all that rare? Even in the early 40's they had to have had high print runs at least as high as the super hero books which constantly show up on ebay both high and low grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryw7 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Really sweet books! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 Checking out the census, the #s are even lower than I thought. Issues 2-20 average less than 4 graded, with issue 21 having none graded!! Compare that to Sub-mariner Comics, not the most popular of characters or publishers at the time, average about 7 or 8 per book. Either all the issues out floating around are low grade, Good or less; or Disney collectors don't buy into CGC; or there are not that many books at all. CGC Disney's do command a premium in any grade so any seller of a VG or better book is better off slabbing it. The only thing I can think of is that these books are pretty darn scarce, even more than expected. With supply low and demand basically low as well, the prices do not reflect the rarity. Once hi grades come up for sale, a bidding war can easily break out. Another theorey is that the Disney / Barks collectors were sort of old school, ie they bought in the late 70's as relected by the comparatively high price of the Donald Duck books (Donald Flies Kites and FC 9 were among the top 20 priced books back then). They have been stagnant ever since, comparatively. Maybe many of these collectors just have their books locked up somewhere after basically exiting the hobby in the 80's, which explains the lack of movement on Disney prices. Given all that, they would most likely ignore CGC. They also aren't going to sell anytime soon either . I bought this collection from the son of a deceased old timer so there could be more like that out there. Its tough being a Mid to Hi grade WDCS collector when the census for WDCS #22, Patriotic Flag Cover looks like this. http://cgccomics.com/poplookup/grades_standard.asp?title=Walt+Disney%27s+Comics+and+Stories++++++++++++++++++&publisher=Dell+Publishing++++++++++&issue=22+++++&year=1942&issuedate=7%2F42++++++++++++++++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 I've shown this one before. Submitted to CGC, I hope to have the highest graded copy. I need is 5.5 or better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
143ksk Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 I would think you would acheive your goal with that one. Nice book! Is it possible that the pre-Barks books just weren't saved to the extent that the Barks issues were? That would certainly account for some of the scarcity of the early issues (also WW2 paper drives, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 The paper drives did do a number on the godlen age books of all titles. I wonder if fewer Disney's survived relative to other titles. A 6 year old isn't going to argue with mom and dad over throwing away his Disney's, whereas a 12 year old may protect his Sub-mariner collection from all the house magazines being tossed. Just a theorey. Also, as I recall, the Church Mile High collection did not have any or very few Dell and Funny Animal comics and Chuck of Mile High believes that they were thrown out before they called him in. So thats one area where numerous hi grade superheros turned up in a collection but Disneys did not. I also wonder if there were different distributions. Early Disneys were mostly subscriptions (a continuation of the MM Magazine) and the superhero books were mainly news stand (speculation, I don't know this to be treu). Many of the pedigrees and other finds were from original owners buying books off the stands and saving them. If Disneys didn't have a presence on the news stands then that scenario isn't going to be as common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seank Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 My new baby: I now have half the run -- 2, 3, and 6. Once I have the other three issues, I can brag I have a full run of a golden age title! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PUNYHUMAN Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 Cool Book!!! Sexy Chick!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou_fine Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Checking out the census, the #s are even lower than I thought. Issues 2-20 average less than 4 graded, with issue 21 having none graded!! Compare that to Sub-mariner Comics, not the most popular of characters or publishers at the time, average about 7 or 8 per book. Either all the issues out floating around are low grade, Good or less; or Disney collectors don't buy into CGC; or there are not that many books at all. CGC Disney's do command a premium in any grade so any seller of a VG or better book is better off slabbing it. The only thing I can think of is that these books are pretty darn scarce, even more than expected. With supply low and demand basically low as well, the prices do not reflect the rarity. Once hi grades come up for sale, a bidding war can easily break out. If you think the Disneys have a low count in the CGC census, you should check out the census on the GA Archie books. Virtually all of the early Archie books do not even have a single copy graded. I believe that teen books such as Archies were basically bought by readers and were never really highly collected. This has resulted in virtually no available supply at the high-end. Since Archies is only one of three publishers that have been in continuous print since the early 40's, it would not surprise me to see demand picking up on these books. This in turn will result in dramatic price increases due to the extremely low supply of books in existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
143ksk Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Checking out the census, the #s are even lower than I thought. Issues 2-20 average less than 4 graded, with issue 21 having none graded!! Compare that to Sub-mariner Comics, not the most popular of characters or publishers at the time, average about 7 or 8 per book. Either all the issues out floating around are low grade, Good or less; or Disney collectors don't buy into CGC; or there are not that many books at all. CGC Disney's do command a premium in any grade so any seller of a VG or better book is better off slabbing it. The only thing I can think of is that these books are pretty darn scarce, even more than expected. With supply low and demand basically low as well, the prices do not reflect the rarity. Once hi grades come up for sale, a bidding war can easily break out. If you think the Disneys have a low count in the CGC census, you should check out the census on the GA Archie books. Virtually all of the early Archie books do not even have a single copy graded. I believe that teen books such as Archies were basically bought by readers and were never really highly collected. This has resulted in virtually no available supply at the high-end. Since Archies is only one of three publishers that have been in continuous print since the early 40's, it would not surprise me to see demand picking up on these books. This in turn will result in dramatic price increases due to the extremely low supply of books in existence. I agree! It is very difficult to find HG Archie titles of any sort. I know there are Church copies out there although I've only seen a few--BTW does anyone know where the majority of them are? I think it's easier to find HG Pep and Jackpot issues than Archie itself (although Pep and Jackpot are not easy either!). People who haven't given Pep, Jackpot and Archie a try are really missing out on some of the great GA books IMO. As to prices, I don't think it will take too much in the way of increased demand to increase prices substantially. Many of those books just aren't out there in any grade. Finding Archie 2 or 3 or Pep 22-27 is just tough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearmint Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 My mission in San Diego this year was to find either a Pep #20 or #27, raw or graded, restored or unrestored, but they were NOWHERE to be found. Several dealers laughed when I inquired about the books and said "Yeah, you're gonna have a tough time finding those." Ah well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shield Posted July 26, 2004 Author Share Posted July 26, 2004 My mission in San Diego this year was to find either a Pep #20 or #27, raw or graded, restored or unrestored, but they were NOWHERE to be found. Several dealers laughed when I inquired about the books and said "Yeah, you're gonna have a tough time finding those." Ah well... I have one, and I might just sell it to you if you're interested. PM with a price - here's a scan. Unrestored, nice paper, good colors. Fully attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shield Posted July 26, 2004 Author Share Posted July 26, 2004 I agree! It is very difficult to find HG Archie titles of any sort. I know there are Church copies out there although I've only seen a few--BTW does anyone know where the majority of them are? I think it's easier to find HG Pep and Jackpot issues than Archie itself (although Pep and Jackpot are not easy either!). People who haven't given Pep, Jackpot and Archie a try are really missing out on some of the great GA books IMO. As to prices, I don't think it will take too much in the way of increased demand to increase prices substantially. Many of those books just aren't out there in any grade. Finding Archie 2 or 3 or Pep 22-27 is just tough I hear from Jack at grahamcrackercomics.com that he owned all the Mile High Peps from #23-40 in the late 1980's. I'm not sure where they all went, but boy would those be nice to own. 143ksk, you probably have the 2nd nicest early Archie book that I know of - here is my friend's copy of Archie #3 - not a pedigree, but a near flawless book with white pages. He won't sell it to me either unless I made him a ridiculous offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
143ksk Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 I love this book. Best pre-Archie cover in the Pep run Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
143ksk Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Oh, and that is one amazing Archie 3, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Incredible Archie 3. Not only Archie but ALL the popular (and unpopular) cartoon books have unreal low census #s. Looney Tunes and characters, WDCS, Archie, Casper and other Harveys, MGM characters, etc. Its understandable not to spend money CGCing random titles in the F-VF range but the titles or characters listed above in high grade will bring a serious premium if they are for sale. I really wonder if they are truly rare or if they are out there but not for sale. No question those Archies and Harvey's are more rare than WDCS. The reason I brought them up is that I always hear that Disney's are numerous. Nothing bears that out. I am betting that the Archies had low prints in addition to the usual problems (kids books, paper drives, low quality paper) For characters that are recognizable today, the cartoon books seem to be the most rare. Maybe not the most popular among comic collectors but tough to find. No doubt, any increase in demand will drive up prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 I picked up that Archie 3 from an antique store in '97 or '98 for 199.00. White pages and the only thing missing is some kind of code saying it's a pedogree. I would say that it's the best copy of that book in captivity unless someone can show me a better copy. It's as nice as any Mile Highs I've seen. Think I'll keep it for a while. It's worth ridiculous money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
