Phil Levine's video tour of his warehouses stuffed with collectibles

[MutantKeys]

Yeah I just checked ebay and saw one for 1,200 or best offer

[deathlok]

seems like Phil is fond of pricing individual items at $3500?

 

Yeah, bet there won't be any copper age X-men 9.8s in there.

[MutantKeys]

Dude you talk so much *spoon* its not even funny. How old are you again You need to shut the up already. Get a life dude. Go play with yourself or something.

 

And of course you dont have the balls to respond

[topofthetotem]

[ShoNuff-migration]

[jools&jim]

I'm not a bit surprised that he got stuck with all that *spoon*. He used to set up at the National Guard Armory shows here in Baltimore 15-20 years ago, and most of the "garden variety" comics I saw in his boxes (mid-grade Silver and '70s comics) were over-graded and over-priced; "customer service" wasn't exactly a high priority, either. On the other hand, I also saw him make some VERY BIG Golden Age sales to a handful of very savvy local collectors. So what the hell do I know, y'know?!?

 

Levine was--and clearly still is--a pretty amusing guy. But like a lot of old-school/old-timers, the internet and eBay went a long way towards rendering his brand of hucksterism almost completely irrelevant, if only because it so thoroughly corrected our definitions of "rare" and "scarce". His "warehouse tour" also underscored (for me at least) the importance of NOT being the last guy holding the huge bag of *spoon*. I mean, c'mon! What the hell was he planning to do with all those TV Guides when he retired? Mulch 'em for Lenore's flowers?

 

I dunno...it's all kinda sad and funny at the same time. Then again, I have been drinking...

[mr_highgrade]

[BLAM_BLAM_BLAM-migration]

Let's you and him duke it out.

[Ogami]

His "warehouse tour" also underscored (for me at least) the importance of NOT being the last guy holding the huge bag of *spoon*. I mean, c'mon! What the hell was he planning to do with all those TV Guides when he retired? ...

 

that's exactly what I was thinking. Let's say there are 100 collectors wanting item x during the time period that you are a major dealer. For some odd OCD reason, you snatch up 80 of item x, leaving very few to fill demand. Great! Prices rise so you leak a few back on the market, at the newer, higher prices.

 

Except by then, the market has shrunk from 100 collectors to 20 and you now have 80 unsellable item x's.

 

or something like that.

[benz]

Nice read and very interesting. Thanks for the post

[drsone]

That was...different.

 

Is there an actual high dollar market for TV Guides? He kept mentioning Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles and Elvis. If I collected Marilyn, old hollywood, or vintage rock stuff I would think tv guides would be one of the last things I would want. How about records, autographs, photos, letters, clothing, posters, 35mm film, musical instruments, etc. What the hell would you want a tv guide for?

 

A tv guide of Marilyn or the Beatles is to a movie poster from the Seven Year Itch or a limited pressing of Rubber Soul is to a 7-11 Slurpee cup of the Hulk or a video of the Superman tv show is to a copy of Incredible Hulk # 1 or any early Action Comics. All that stuff he's been stockpiling is basically trash. Somewhat cool trash for a buck or two if you're feeling nostalgic, but still it's trash. Someone should pm John Waters.

 

If he has a ton of Golden Age comics, why didn't he show any of them, maybe one even? "Let's spend 6 minutes leafing through tv guides that might possibly be worth around $100 or so instead of showing Golden Age books that are worth $500-$3000, good call....

I'm pretty sure the fella he picked to sell his stuff for him has no clue what he's doing.

 

On the plus side, he seems like a very entertaining and fairly nice fellow.

[14 of spades]

imagine if someone bequeathed all that to u? what would u do with it all?

 

i guess we now know how the Church kids felt...

[bullseye]

I would keep the comics and offer the rest for a couple grand if they promised to move it quickly.

[chromium]

I thought it was pretty funny that Phil stresses a few time that the stuff is in boxes and is sorted by date. He then takes out piles of books, shows them to the camera and then dumps them anywhere

[ArAich]

After watching that video only one question comes to my mind...What the heII is a "pre-national" anyway???...

[BLAM_BLAM_BLAM-migration]

The Humble Beginnings of "TV Guide"

Chicago TV Forecast - Philadelphia TV Digest - New York TV Guide

 

After the leaflet and postcard era, three local "television guide books" began their existence on different dates in the year 1948. They were Chicago's Television Forecast, Philadelphia's Local Televiser, and New York's Television Guide.

 

The three little magazines, called "pre-nationals", eventually became the national TV Guide, with the first issue released on April 3, 1953, showing Desi Arnez IV (Lucy's Baby) on the cover.

 

(One recently sold on ebay for $500)

_________________________________________________________________________

 

Other Pre-National TV Magazines

 

http://www.tvhistory.tv/Pre%20Nat%20TV%20Guide%20Timetable.htm

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

quote "If he has a ton of Golden Age comics, why didn't he show any of them, maybe one even?"

 

There were the EC and Fawcett bound volumes. And around the middle he went deep into one of the warehouses and rifled through a few GA comics. It was too dark, however, to see them. He read the titles. Plus all the promotional and giveaway comics he was crowing about. Mr. Zaid, (Esquire Comics) seems to be conferring some legitimacy to those boasts..

 

His real passion, though, like George Costanza's father and that creep on the subway in the Seinfeld episode, "The Cigar Store Indian", lies in collecting TV Guides. Or perhaps it was his wife's, (Take my wife. Please.) Lenore's, passion. It is, after all, her name that graces that collection.

 

Then there are the “Levine High” Collection and the “Levine High II” collection which included a near complete set of “Atlas Comics” and a complete set of “EC Comics, four Classic’s Illustrated warehouses, the second “Harvey Warehouse,” and the “Miller Comics Warehouse” in England.

 

Note: Those Turok #1's weren't Valiants.

 

I don't mean to be pimping his stuff but I'll be checking in at Bakertowne Rarities quite often in the next two years. Maybe even pick up some nice wartime Saturday Evening Posts. Now those have shome shweet covers. I also like that Brit mag, "Ken".

[selegue]

After watching that video only one question comes to my mind...What the heII is a "pre-national" anyway???...

 

Not hard to figure out from the context, but what was interesting is that he said it about 500 times (of course he was delivering about 300 words a minute non-stop for 13 minutes). In TV Guide collectors' jargon, it must be the equivalent of "Platinum Age". His comments on Pt Age comics were interesting, and the pile of Bringing Up Father etc. was fun to see. I'm surprised that he doesn't have Bob Beerbohm marketing those, rather than Lou, who seems to know little to nothing about them.

 

How big is the audience of TV Guide collectors? With Phil and Lenore leaving, does that cut the number by about 1/3?

 

Jack

[ArAich]

His comments on Pt Age comics were interesting, and the pile of Bringing Up Father etc. was fun to see.

 

Yeah...that's the stuff that I'll be watching for...seemed rather odd the way he rifled through the PA books like a deck of cards while ...if it were me...I would be handling the books as if holding fine China...

[Scrooge]

How big is the audience of TV Guide collectors? With Phil and Lenore leaving, does that cut the number by about 1/3?

 

And that would be George Constanza's father

 

In the trailer, there was one Cowboy Western comic sticking out of a box (reading to be split in half) from 1952, right below the Blackhawks. It would seem that most books are in low to mid grade. Would be cool for a collector like me but most wouldn't be interested in most of his comic inventory either!

[ShoNuff-migration]

A tv guide of Marilyn or the Beatles is to a movie poster from the Seven Year Itch or a limited pressing of Rubber Soul is to a 7-11 Slurpee cup of the Hulk or a video of the Superman tv show is to a copy of Incredible Hulk # 1 or any early Action Comics.

*SPOON* YEAH!!!

 

RIGHT ON!!!

 

TELL IT LIKE IT IS!!!