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Fun at the Estate Sale

Started by Doohickamabob,

20 posts in this topic

Doohickamabob

Doohickamabob

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Every now and then I try to visit an estate sale to hunt for comics. It's usually a bust, with a lot of driving and hunting for hardly any benefit.

 

Today wasn't much different. I found a house loaded with collectibles, but most were low-value items in lousy condition and overpriced by the estate-sale organizers. There were quite a few comic books, including a huge stack of Classics Illustrateds from the mid-to-late 1960s, which I have no interest in (other than as a quick 'n' dirty way to bone up on my literature). There were also several dozen Silver Age comics, mostly late '60s DC Comics in lower-mid-grade. The estate sellers were asking $30 to $50 for each of them, but said they were "willing to negotiate." I knew it wouldn't be worth the effort to try to talk them down to 50 cents per comic, or whatever.

 

I did find something cool, though: A couple boxes of pulp paperbacks from the '40s and '50s. I picked out my favorites and bought 'em for $1 apiece. Score! Here's the pic (comics underneath are not from the estate sale, I was just being sloppy):

 

pulp-books.jpg

 

I also found an Overstreet Price Guide from 1988. It's great fun to look up comic prices from yesteryear and discover that the highest value on Suspense Comics #3 was $132, or the highest value for Superman #1 was $20,800! Action Comics #1, the granddaddy of all high-value comics, went for $28,650 in top condition.

 

 

 

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Doohickamabob

Doohickamabob

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Great finds. I'd bet there's some collector value in the more lurid ones, like, "Jailbait", "Queer Patterns" and "H is for Heroin" .

 

Indeed there is, although I can't find listings for several of those books. But the three you mentioned are among the most valuable in the group, with "H Is for Heroin" being the most valuable. One cool thing about "Queer Patterns" is the cover art is by Rudy Nappi, who did Nancy Drew book covers, and also two of the Shock Illustrated magazine covers released by EC Comics.

 

In retrospect I should have bought more of the books at that estate sale, but I do think I picked out the best ones.

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Doohickamabob

Doohickamabob

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Just out of curiosity, what DC SA stuff was there? Any notable titles/ issues?

 

There were a couple of Batman Giants, in the high 190's and low 200's issue range. Also some Superman, Justice League, and several Lois Lanes. Pretty much all the DC stuff was mid-'60s or later. Had it been earlier (such as early-issue Lois Lanes), I would have snagged a few. To be honest I don't know my Silver Age terribly well, but nothing stood out to me as being valuable or key. (There weren't any early Showcase Comics!)

 

There were also some comics from the publisher that did "Hansi the Girl Who Loves the Swastika" and "Gospel Blimp," but not those titles.

 

Where ever you live, whatever town you're in, I heartily recommend you do a weekly search for estate sales in your city's Craigslist. A good day to search for them is Wednesday or Thursday, so you can get the jump on any Friday-morning sales (if you're not working). Lots of estate sales begin on Friday and then extend to the weekend. If you want to narrow things down, search for "estate sale" plus "vintage" or "antiques" or "collectible"/"collectable" (since misspellings are common). I also regularly search for "comic," "comics," "comic book," and "comic books." You can set up RSS feeds for all of the above, and set it so that a single page on Yahoo or Google (or whatever) shows you ALL search results for whatever you want to find.

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shiverbones

shiverbones

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I usually use abe books for paperbacks, lots of sellers are holding out for crazy prices, but there are several sellers who are much more fair with that sort of material. I'd say 80% of my collection comes from seeing a great cover online somewhere, then finding an affordable copy on abe.

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oakman29

oakman29

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Sounds like a good time. I was antiqueing all weekend with my wifey.

I love going antique hunting,are there good shops in Buffalo.One day my dream is too get up to Buffalo and go to a Bills game(My favorite team)I know,I know,surely you know my pain.

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Doohickamabob

Doohickamabob

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The link is this but it will soon expire, so I'll just quote the main part of the Craigslist ad:

 

"Estate sale property including grandfather clock, cassette tape collection, books, art..misc items"

 

If I had to make a list of the top items that will NEVER come back into style, and the least likely to draw people to your estate sale, the top two would be:

 

(1) Grandfather clocks

 

(2) Cassette tapes

 

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lizards2

lizards2

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Great finds. I'd bet there's some collector value in the more lurid ones, like, "Jailbait", "Queer Patterns" and "H is for Heroin" .
"I Lost My Girlish Laughter" too...., No, I mean seriously, I did. :sorry:
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