What does this wagon-wheel symbol mean?

[Doohickamabob]

I am sure this has been covered here before, but I don't know what words to search for. Here's an example:

 

 

Note the wagon-wheel symbol. Or maybe it's cheese wedges, or pies ala Trivial Pursuit. Or maybe it's bicycle spokes, or the side view of a beach ball, or a Zodiac symbol, or some sort of gun sights. Whatever it is, I know I've seen it on other comics.

 

So what's the story behind this? One owner who had his own special marking, right? Who was it? (Did the Blair Witch collect funny books?)

[G.A.tor]

from the "zodiac" collection that surfaced a few years ago..doesn't really mean anything beyond that

 

dale roberts bought a bunch of books from the seller (but not OO) in chicago awhile back, if I recall...was a one owner collection from what I was told, mostly lower grade, but he marked his books with that symbol

[VintageComics]

Lots of great, early tough books in that collection. Deep in GGA as well.

 

It had a Wonderworld #3, some early Timely books from the less popular titles and other stuff.

 

Lot's of nice mid grade stuff too...I don't think it was all low grade, right Gator?

 

(thumbs u

[AtlasFan]

Wagon-wheel? I thought those were crosshairs...

[nearmint]

I'm pretty sure it's a pie. Probably boysenberry.

[Dick Pontoon]

I heard they belonged to this guy:

 

[comicnoir]

There was a PL 17 that I believe graded out 6.5. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[G.A.tor]

Lots of great, early tough books in that collection. Deep in GGA as well.

 

It had a Wonderworld #3, some early Timely books from the less popular titles and other stuff.

 

Lot's of nice mid grade stuff too...I don't think it was all low grade, right Gator?

 

(thumbs u

not "low" grade, believe I said "lower", as in not all VF but gd to fine+ range on avg (from the ones I looked at, several hundred at least)...though, there were a few that were definitely nicer, the majority were not for the HG collector (thumbs u

[Straw-Man]

Lots of great, early tough books in that collection. Deep in GGA as well.

 

It had a Wonderworld #3, some early Timely books from the less popular titles and other stuff.

 

Lot's of nice mid grade stuff too...I don't think it was all low grade, right Gator?

 

(thumbs u

 

the wonderworld 3 went to a great hobbyist.

 

here's another.

 

[Mio]

Nice colours on that one!

[Doohickamabob]

from the "zodiac" collection that surfaced a few years ago..doesn't really mean anything beyond that

 

dale roberts bought a bunch of books from the seller (but not OO) in chicago awhile back, if I recall...was a one owner collection from what I was told, mostly lower grade, but he marked his books with that symbol

 

Thanks for the answers, everybody. Maybe it is crosshairs, but I like the suggestion that it could be boysenberry pie.

 

[Cat-Man_America]

from the "zodiac" collection that surfaced a few years ago..doesn't really mean anything beyond that

 

dale roberts bought a bunch of books from the seller (but not OO) in chicago awhile back, if I recall...was a one owner collection from what I was told, mostly lower grade, but he marked his books with that symbol

 

Thanks for the answers, everybody. Maybe it is crosshairs, but I like the suggestion that it could be boysenberry pie.

 

Crosshairs, huh?

 

Is there anything else we should know about the "Zodiac" pedigree?

[VintageComics]

Lots of great, early tough books in that collection. Deep in GGA as well.

 

It had a Wonderworld #3, some early Timely books from the less popular titles and other stuff.

 

Lot's of nice mid grade stuff too...I don't think it was all low grade, right Gator?

 

(thumbs u

 

the wonderworld 3 went to a great hobbyist.

 

 

[craig yoe]

i like it! i'm adding it to all my comics!

[capt_comics]

Kevin Sparks (big toy and Star Wars dealer in our area) brokered them.

 

I think Dale got most of the cream..............

 

 

[Dale Roberts]

I am sure this has been covered here before, but I don't know what words to search for. Here's an example:

 

 

Note the wagon-wheel symbol. Or maybe it's cheese wedges, or pies ala Trivial Pursuit. Or maybe it's bicycle spokes, or the side view of a beach ball, or a Zodiac symbol, or some sort of gun sights. Whatever it is, I know I've seen it on other comics.

 

So what's the story behind this? One owner who had his own special marking, right? Who was it? (Did the Blair Witch collect funny books?)

 

 

Here is the story on the collection....

 

The guy purchased books from about 1947 through about 1953 in Chicago. He moved to Nashville and sold the books about 3 years ago, through a broker. I got first crack at all of the books. Collection had DCs, Fawcetts, Timelys, Fox, Dells, and some other stuff, including a Phantom Lady #17 that Mr Schomburg here on the boards bought. I had lots of Supermans, Actions, Green Lanterns, All Americans, Flashes, All Stars, and several other titles, and alot of them were the tough later issues. There were also 13 Caps, Torches, Subbys, Marvel Mysterys, and various other Timelys. The collection had some of the nicest 50s DC westerns I have ever seen, and they sold very quickly.

 

As the books were read, he marked them with a zodiac symbol so that he would know that he had read them. Most had 1 symbol, a few had 2 or 3 symbols, and many, especially the Westerns, were unread.

 

As far as the condition, actually most of the books were NOT low grade. Most of the books were nice. Most of the better books were mid grade. I had every issue of All American between 90 - 100, Flash between #86 - 102, Green Lanterns (don't remember exactly), Human Torch run of about 13 issues from that time period, same story for the Subbys, several of the Caps, Marvel Mysteries, All Winners, had a really nice Phantom Lady #17 that I grade as 6.5, and I believe that is what it graded at by CGC. 50 or more fawcetts, lots of DCs (Action, Adventures espec), and tons of other stuff. The DC Westerns were unbelievable. Stuff you never see and many would be highest graded by a wide margin. I am currently subbing the rest of the high grade Atlas Westerns from the collection and many will be highest graded.

 

There were also a ton of books that I didn't buy, because the books were simply too high, given the titles. Tons of Dells, Fawcetts, Qualitys, etc, but mostly really slow sellers and the percentages just weren't there to buy them. Especially given the dollar amount I had already sunk into the collection (nearly 50K).

 

Many of the better books didn't even make it through the first show that I had them at. I sold Al Stoltz all the Subbys and he put them in his collection. Jeff Weaver bought the Torches and did the same. Someone else bought many of the Flashes, and someone else bought several of the All Americans and GLs. And I got very strong prices out of the books. Very strong.

[1koko]

mine:

 

[Senormac]

What a great little bit of comic history and trivia. You'd never learn that on CNN

[sacentaur]

mine:

 

 

Sweet...

[Doohickamabob]

Here is the story on the collection....

 

Hey Dale, just wanted to say I enjoyed your story.Thank you sir.