Collections that AREN'T Coming to Market Anytime Soon

[mrwoogieman]

Reading the Bangzoom thread in the Golden Age section has me wondering, yet again, how many cool comic collections there are out there that, for a variety of reasons, aren't coming to market anytime soon. These can be collections that dad or gramps had and passed on and the sentimental value outweighs the monetary gain, or perhaps one that a collector from days gone by boxed up years ago and is just 'sitting on them'.

 

Let's hear some stories about collections you know of that the current caretaker just isn't interested in letting go of yet.

[mrwoogieman]

I'll start with two of my own.

 

A friend of mine who knows I'm into old comics said that one of his mother's second cousin's has a couple of boxes of comics from her deceased husband's antique store that are just sitting in the basement. He's asked her on my behalf about getting these books out and letting me take a look. Her response was, "when my husband died his relatives were so crazed to get his possessions that I had movers take the contents of his store and put it in our basement before any of them had a chance to loot it. I'll be damned if I'll let any of it see the light of day while I'm alive. Sorry, but that includes the comics." My friend offered some other details that the shop was fairly upscale and the stuff in storage includes Chippendale furniture among other treasures.

 

 

Wonder if there are any good comics in there?

[mrwoogieman]

Second story:

 

 

About six years ago, I found a neat little 150 book collection gathering dust in Hoboken NJ. The owner was active in collecting about 15 years prior to that and had put them on the shelf since then. He had a lot of nice low grade keys and he was quite surprised with the amount that I offered him for the books after I had a chance to look through them.

 

Afer we consumated the deal, I asked him if he had any friends who might have old collections. Well, he mentioned his friend Sheldon from Queens, NY who was big into Timelys and old Marvels. I called Sheldon a couple of times, but he wasn't ready to have anyone look through them yet. I gave up, but I often wonder if Sheldon eventually gave someone a peek, or if they are still sitting there in his house somewhere.

[ft88]

Northwestern U was given a collection (or collections) of comics. It basically included a full run of low grade Marvels with all the keys. Nothing special really other than the volume of books. I think I was the only person to have read them in 2 years. I'm guessing that there are other charitable type organizations like schools and libraries that have been given collections like this that will never see the light of day.

 

I know U. of Texas in Austin has a killer WWI and WWII propaganda poster collection that is shown through out the library. At least those are displayed.

[chrisco37]

Northwestern U was given a collection (or collections) of comics. It basically included a full run of low grade Marvels with all the keys. Nothing special really other than the volume of books. I think I was the only person to have read them in 2 years. I'm guessing that there are other charitable type organizations like schools and libraries that have been given collections like this that will never see the light of day.

 

I know U. of Texas in Austin has a killer WWI and WWII propaganda poster collection that is shown through out the library. At least those are displayed.

 

The Michigan State Library (Special Collections Dept.) has a massive collection that won't be sold anytime soon (if ever). They even have the ultra-rare Miracleman 3D Special (2D version). They and a board member here have the only copies I'm aware of.

[comicparadox]

Northwestern U was given a collection (or collections) of comics. It basically included a full run of low grade Marvels with all the keys...I'm guessing that there are other charitable type organizations like schools and libraries that have been given collections like this that will never see the light of day.

 

I know U. of Texas in Austin has a killer WWI and WWII propaganda poster collection that is shown through out the library. At least those are displayed.

 

The Michigan State Library (Special Collections Dept.) has a massive collection that won't be sold anytime soon (if ever).

 

Duke University received a collection of Golden Age books from two brothers who live in Durham. The local newspaper said the collection was valued over $1million at the time of donation.

[drbanner]

Duke University also has a nice collection. Here's a story about the donation...

[comicparadox]

Duke University also has a nice collection. Here's a story about the donation...

Great minds think alike, eh Mike?

[drbanner]

Duke University also has a nice collection. Here's a story about the donation...

Great minds think alike, eh Mike?

 

I agree!

[joeypost]

Growing up in Queens my next door neighbor (I was 10-12 at the time so 32 years ago) was a second generation collector. All I can remember is his basement was full of comics. I mean stacks and stacks of books everywhere you could see.

 

He was the one that originally go tme started collecting or helped me jump into high gear.

 

Everytime I go back to visit I wonder if the basement is still full of those 30-50 year old books. If it is there are complete runs of most major titles since I can remember thumbing through boxes with X-Men, Spiderman, etc in the single digits.

[Mr. Zipper]

Another point to consider are all the collections being built by people such as members here that won't come to market anytime soon.

 

Look at the guys in their 20s/30s that are building GA collections... These books may be over 100 years old the next time they hit the market.

[Mr. Zipper]

A small GA collection with some Actions and early Supermans walked in the door at my LCS last month. Low grade, but some uncommon books. This is in a rural area. There are plenty of yet unseen books out there.

[comicdonna]

A small GA collection with some Actions and early Supermans walked in the door at my LCS last month. Low grade, but some uncommon books. This is in a rural area. There are plenty of yet unseen books out there.

And more than 1 Action collector!

[Pirate]

Northwestern U was given a collection (or collections) of comics. It basically included a full run of low grade Marvels with all the keys. Nothing special really other than the volume of books. I think I was the only person to have read them in 2 years. I'm guessing that there are other charitable type organizations like schools and libraries that have been given collections like this that will never see the light of day.

 

I know U. of Texas in Austin has a killer WWI and WWII propaganda poster collection that is shown through out the library. At least those are displayed.

 

The Michigan State Library (Special Collections Dept.) has a massive collection that won't be sold anytime soon (if ever). They even have the ultra-rare Miracleman 3D Special (2D version). They and a board member here have the only copies I'm aware of.

 

I spent many a day in that library which is why I ended up having to goto ECU to graduate. I liked reading them but cringed everytime i pulled one out and it was cataloged.

[shadroch]

Guy living next to me has a killer collection,but instead of collecting titles,he only went for certain covers.Over the years,I've seen copys of books like Avengers19 and 20,Cap 109 and 112,Daredevil 43,TOS 57 and 58, and a few others.All are at least NM,most are simply blazing in color and gloss. Some are OO,other picked up in the early 80s.Although I've only seen about 15 books,he claims to have over 500.

He's in his early 50s,has no children and has no plans to sell,ever.

 

Another guy I know,his Dad worked for Imperial Distributors and bought home six random comics every week. They are still in the original paper bags that he bought them home in.They range from 1966 to about 1973.,About 2400 books,stored in a cedar walk-in closet. Several years ago,when I tried to convince him to mylar any keys,he pulled two random bags-the comics were so fresh,you could almost smell the ink. The FF48,50,Cap 100,Surfer #1s are all in newstand new shape.His IM #1 somehow had a crease in the FC.

Again,he has no plans to sell. However,he has promised I'll be his selling agent if and when he does.

[stagedoorjohnny]

Look at the guys in their 20s/30s that are building GA collections... These books may be over 100 years old the next time they hit the market.

 

[Moondog]

I've been working on 2 guys for the past 7 years. The first guy has SA DCs and Marvels complete from 1955-1970. The books he showed me were FF 1, Showcase 4, AF 15 and all were in VF + range. I call him every 3 months or so...

 

The other may actually happen soon. This guy has Batman 1-100, Supes 2-100 and hundreds or other books. He and his brother collected them as kids. One quirky thing is that they hated ad pages so the neatly trimmed every ad page out of each book.

 

 

He also has a complete set of Prince Valiant Sundays...

[deathlok]

 

The other may actually happen soon. This guy has Batman 1-100, Supes 2-100 and hundreds or other books. He and his brother collected them as kids. One quirky thing is that they hated ad pages so the neatly trimmed every ad page out of each book.

[Silver Surfer]

Duke University also has a nice collection. Here's a story about the donation...

 

55,000 comics, krikey!

[Scrooge]

The other may actually happen soon. This guy has Batman 1-100, Supes 2-100 and hundreds or other books. He and his brother collected them as kids. One quirky thing is that they hated ad pages so the neatly trimmed every ad page out of each book.

 

 

Wow. I'm guessing they didn't take out the ads that would affect stories, that is, if the ad was on the other side of a page of a story page right. For a collector like me, those would be cool books to buy: incomplete, yet complete. Would these receive 0.5 from CGC or Qualified grades?