Point Five Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 If I sold it...well...then I wouldn't I own it anymore. I'd probably end up having sleepless nights. I bet I'd quarrel with my wife. I most likely would have feuds with the neighbors. I might start hearing "voices." I could end up living on the streets...with no friends, family...or comic books. Is THAT what you want? Sounds like a maybe.... PM sent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.tor Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 of course, i was secretly hoping for a response more in line with "ok rick, I'll sell it to you" If I sold it...well...then I wouldn't I own it anymore. I'd probably end up having sleepless nights. I bet I'd quarrel with my wife. I most likely would have feuds with the neighbors. I might start hearing "voices." I could end up living on the streets...with no friends, family...or comic books. Is THAT what you want? well, when you put it that way, I guess not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSurgeon Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 That's a cool stack of pulps! Thanks for showing them! Would love to see more! I have only now discovered this thread. Wow! That pulp in the back right has a cover story written by Houdini as he was exposing all the "mediums" in the early 1900's. Many in the general population thought mediums could actually communicate with dead loved ones, and paid good money to have them do it. Houdini would go to those seances with fake hair/beards/makeup so no one would recognize him, then in the middle of the seance, expose the medium as a shill. He was involved in numerous court cases that exposed mediums as frauds, which, at the time, was surprisingly difficult to do. Many potitically powerful people attempted to defend the mediums against Houdini. More recently, didn't Nancy Reagan use mediums to better understand foreign policy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 Wow! That pulp in the back right has a cover story written by Houdini as he was exposing all the "mediums" in the early 1900's That issue also contains H.P. Lovecraft's classic short story, "The Rats in the Walls." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 (edited) Oh, and don't you dare tell us what you paid for the collection in the early 1970s. That would just be cruel. The seller kept me on pins and needles for over a year when he didn't accept my offer, but instead said he'd have to think about it. I called periodically asking if he'd decided. And as you can imagine, my offer grew and grew. I think I eventually paid about $7500. I noticed in this early contribution to the thread that you paid $7.50 for each book in the Campbell Bros. Collection. After waiting a year, he finally sold (a collection that he found on the curb). Someone else mentioned that he bought a collection 8 years after the original offer. When I bought Wally's collection (not nearly as valuable as the CBC) I paid, about $10 each for 1100-1200 books total. He gave me the entire collection, and asked me to look it over before I finalized the offer. What a trusting person! But he said he knew where I lived. bb Edited June 9, 2008 by BB-Gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 That actually seems reasonable all things considered. The incredible condition the pulps and books are in would be a bonus as condition wasn't the all important factor it is now. I'd be interested in hearing if pulps had any collectibility back then or if they were just cool items. 70's were just before my time but I recall that in the 80's pulps didn't sell all that well even at low prices. And considering you bought the entire collection and factor in inflation and $10 a book is a lot of money. Even as a huge collector that must have felt like a really big deal to pony up $10k+ for funny books. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Ed, I don't know about the other people but spending $10K on comics and a motorcycle was a lot of money to me. I think I should have purchased only one of those items but what the heck. I rode the motorcycle a lot to justify the expense. If you work near the Harley plant in York, PA, you would find a parking lot filled with motorcycles. I have posted a lot of covers and helped with Alter Ego and the GCD to justify the purchase of the comics. Collecting started as an investment but it became a passion. This Harvey Library issue always explains collecting as it applied to me anyway. Switch a Marvel Mystery for the syringe and you got me. By the way, the 1,100+ items that I purchase in one lot consisted of regular size golden age comics, platinum comics, treasury size issues and Overstreet price guides. The pulps and Sunday funnies were all purchased separately at flea markets and antique shops. Some comic stores also sold pulps. The condition of my collection is no where near as good as BZ's collection. I am only a side-show geek and BZ is the ring master (who owns the circus). bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.tor Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Ed, I don't know about the other people but spending $10K on comics and a motorcycle was a lot of money to me. I think I should have purchased only one of those items but what the heck. I rode the motorcycle a lot to justify the expense. If you work near the Harley plant in York, PA, you would find a parking lot filled with motorcycles. I have posted a lot of covers and helped with Alter Ego and the GCD to justify the purchase of the comics. Collecting started as an investment but it became a passion. This Harvey Library issue always explains collecting as it applied to me anyway. Switch a Marvel Mystery for the syringe and you got me. By the way, the 1,100+ items that I purchase in one lot consisted of regular size golden age comics, platinum comics, treasury size issues and Overstreet price guides. The pulps and Sunday funnies were all purchased separately at flea markets and antique shops. Some comic stores also sold pulps. The condition of my collection is no where near as good as BZ's collection. I am only a side-show geek and BZ is the ring master (who owns the circus). bb that must mean I am just the elephant poopy scooper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 BZ, My apologies for discussing my addiction on the thread. I have been posting too many romance comics and started thinking like True Confessions. bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwpassage Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 that must mean I am just the elephant poopy scooper And that makes me the kid peeking under the tent, but there's no place I'd rather be than the circus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.tor Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 that must mean I am just the elephant poopy scooper And that makes me the kid peeking under the tent, but there's no place I'd rather be than the circus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selegue Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Ed, I don't know about the other people but spending $10K on comics and a motorcycle was a lot of money to me. I think I should have purchased only one of those items but what the heck. I rode the motorcycle a lot to justify the expense. If you work near the Harley plant in York, PA, you would find a parking lot filled with motorcycles. I have posted a lot of covers and helped with Alter Ego and the GCD to justify the purchase of the comics. Collecting started as an investment but it became a passion. This Harvey Library issue always explains collecting as it applied to me anyway. Switch a Marvel Mystery for the syringe and you got me. By the way, the 1,100+ items that I purchase in one lot consisted of regular size golden age comics, platinum comics, treasury size issues and Overstreet price guides. The pulps and Sunday funnies were all purchased separately at flea markets and antique shops. Some comic stores also sold pulps. The condition of my collection is no where near as good as BZ's collection. I am only a side-show geek and BZ is the ring master (who owns the circus). bb Seems like a familiar image Jack (one of 20 clowns stuffed in that little car) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Jack, I think you got the Teen-age Comic Slaves image right (although it happened 40-50 years ago for me. For everyone else who wants to join in on the circus analogy, perhaps we should assign required reading...you can start with issue below or any of the later issues. bb Scan was posted by someone else a while ago. I am too lazy to scan my own Barker issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Barker cover by Jack Cole from National 49 (part of the Wally collection). Barker 3. and a couple more from the B box This was actually 196 pages if you count the front cover. I don't think the Green Turtle was very scary but I liked his cape. bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 I'd be interested in hearing if pulps had any collectibility back then or if they were just cool items. 70's were just before my time but I recall that in the 80's pulps didn't sell all that well even at low prices. There's been a collector's market for pulp magazines since the earliest days of sf fandom which began loosely organizing in the late 1920's. Fanzines started being published in the 1930's and the first World SF Convention was held in New York City in 1939. Here's a photo of a few issues of the Science-Fiction Advertiser which began life in 1946. The zine has lots of ads for pulps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 I am only a side-show geek and BZ is the ring master (who owns the circus). What a segue... I can't let this this opportunity pass without posting a few circus related items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 This is the original artwork for a mid-1930's RBB&B Tim McCoy circus poster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 Preliminary sketch for a Congress of Freaks poster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 Original artwork for 1930's Side Show poster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 Original Roland Butler artwork for The Great Aloys poster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...