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Marvel UK Price Variants
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2,571 posts in this topic

A bargain? The UKPV should have been $850 as it is 10 times more scarce than the US one???

People are realising the UK comics look better with the MARVEL ALL-COLOUR COMICS banner???

2021 is an odd year to buy comics??? And I need a time machine to go back and recover the 23 Series 1 Ms Marvels (and hundreds more) I gave away in the 1980s. 

 

 

ms marvel 17.jpg

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On 4/24/2021 at 10:21 AM, gadzukes said:

Discuss

More of the same, really.  It's appears to be a trend now.  Since last year, UKPVs at long last are starting to garner a premium due to relative scarcity, long enjoyed by other examples of price variants as tiny subsets of initial print runs (Canadian and Australian PVs).  But the premiums vary and have a way to go to match the 500% and greater premiums many CanPVs and AusPVs enjoy compared to regular cents versions of keys.  

We have listed many examples of 25% or greater premiums above (which might soon appear to be ridiculously low).  That said, UKPVs can still be seen going for a discount (either b/c sellers and/or buyers did not appreciate the significance in either a straight sale or auction situation).   But the premium trend is for real, as practically every UPKV for sale on eBay since late last year has been listed at a significant premium of at least 40-50% the regular cents counterpart. 

Also recenlty, to add to the above examples noted by earlier posters, I am aware of an X-Men #5 CGC universal 1.5 that sold for $309 on eBay on 4/5/21, when a 1.8 sold for only $200 on 4/22/21.   If I recall correctly, Werewolf by Night #32 consistently fetches a lot more as a UKPV than a regular cents version..  Anyway, there are many examples like that, although perhaps not so drastic.  Time will tell.  

 

Edited by Pantodude
typo
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4 hours ago, Pantodude said:

More of the same, really.  It's appears to be a trend now.  Since last year, UKPVs at long last are starting to garner a premium due to relative scarcity, long enjoyed by other examples of price variants as tiny subsets of initial print runs (Canadian and Australian PVs).  But the premiums vary and have a way to go to match the 500% and greater premiums many CanPVs and AusPVs enjoy compared to regular cents versions of keys.  

We have listed many examples of 25% or greater premiums above (which might soon appear to be ridiculously low).  That said, UKPVs can still be seen going for a discount (either b/c sellers and/or buyers did not appreciate the significance in other a staight sale or auction situation).   But the premium trend is for real, as practically every UPKV for sale on eBay since late last year has been listed at a significant premium of at least 40-50% the regular cents counterpart. 

Also recenlty, to add to the above examples noted by earlier posters, I am aware of an X-Men #5 CGC universal 1.5 that sold for $309 on eBay on 4/5/21, when a 1.8 sold for only $200 on 4/22/21.   If I recall correctly, Werewolf by Night #32 consistently fetches a lot more as a UKPV than a regular cents version..  Anyway, there are many examples like that, although perhaps not so drastic.  Time will tell.  

 

Well, this Ms Marvel 17 went for a very significant premium.  Almost triple the US price :whatthe:.  

Comic collectors with key issues are getting rich this year, but if the UKPV premiums keep going up, there's going to be a subset of comic collectors who really vault into some big money.

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My first thoughts on this was despite the grades both being the same uk variants are very hard to get in high grades considering the low print run the amount of copies I imagine where quite low and then to add to that some probably got damaged in shipping and then how many people truly looked after these books if you think about it Bronze Age are getting rarer to find in high grades but pence copies in high grade are near impossible let alone silver age pence copies 

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2 hours ago, Tghutcn said:

My first thoughts on this was despite the grades both being the same uk variants are very hard to get in high grades considering the low print run the amount of copies I imagine where quite low and then to add to that some probably got damaged in shipping and then how many people truly looked after these books if you think about it Bronze Age are getting rarer to find in high grades but pence copies in high grade are near impossible let alone silver age pence copies 

It's kind of like finding super high grade "newstand" copies because they took more abuse than direct market..  I never thought "Newstand" was going to be a thing.... but it's a thing.

Edited by gadzukes
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On 4/24/2021 at 3:21 PM, gadzukes said:

Ms Marvel 17 CGC 9.2 

Last week a US copy and a UK copy sold within a day of each other.

US copy went for $85

UK copy went for $240

Found these orphaned and homeless locally today, so i generously offered to put a roof over their heads.

They too are a 9.2.

(If you add them up, that is)

comicmsm (2).jpg

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Is it unusual or common to find a pence sticker on the cover like this?  I didn't see anything in the indicia to suggest this is anything other than a US version with a sticker over the price.

I don't know much about these, but figured this is the place to learn more.

99512412_Image(24).thumb.jpg.f86222631238611aab16ba5650ccae14.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, Warlord said:

Is it unusual or common to find a pence sticker on the cover like this?  I didn't see anything in the indicia to suggest this is anything other than a US version with a sticker over the price.

I don't know much about these, but figured this is the place to learn more.

99512412_Image(24).thumb.jpg.f86222631238611aab16ba5650ccae14.jpg

 

You nearly got the right place Warlord, but don't worry :bigsmile:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/415409-dc-uk-price-variants/

That's a 1985 book you have there and DC UK Price Variants were long gone by then. Under that sticker will be a dual US/UK printed price, with the UK one being 30p. Stickers weren't that uncommon as it goes, although that's quite a late one, and right before the printed price change to 35p - someone clearly wanted an extra early 5p!

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1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

You nearly got the right place Warlord, but don't worry :bigsmile:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/415409-dc-uk-price-variants/

That's a 1985 book you have there and DC UK Price Variants were long gone by then. Under that sticker will be a dual US/UK printed price, with the UK one being 30p. Stickers weren't that uncommon as it goes, although that's quite a late one, and right before the printed price change to 35p - someone clearly wanted an extra early 5p!

Cool info, thanks for the explanation (and directions to the correct thread! lol ).   So apparently a comic retailer was ahead of the price increase curve.  I agree, why wait for the publisher to do it?  ;)

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2 minutes ago, Warlord said:

Cool info, thanks for the explanation (and directions to the correct thread! lol ).   So apparently a comic retailer was ahead of the price increase curve.  I agree, why wait for the publisher to do it?  ;)

There are quite a few copies on eBay as it goes Warlord, so you've actually identified a thing - the apparent wide-spread repricing of that issue by sticker, pre the printed price change. It's not a UKPV though, so you only get a bronze medal for the discovery :bigsmile:

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1 minute ago, Get Marwood & I said:

There are quite a few copies on eBay as it goes Warlord, so you've actually identified a thing - the apparent wide-spread repricing of that issue by sticker, pre the printed price change. It's not a UKPV though, so you only get a bronze medal for the discovery :bigsmile:

I figured it was more of a curiosity type find, rather than a "help me retire early" kind of find.  lol

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1 minute ago, Warlord said:

I figured it was more of a curiosity type find, rather than a "help me retire early" kind of find.  lol

DC aren't the most loved I find, or expensive. They're easily the least popular of the UKPVs too, if my journal page views are anything to go by. You'll have to keep working I'm afraid. 

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Just wanted to say this has been a wonderful thread. Congratulations Get Marwood & I (and other contributors), for delving into and explaining the US cents/UK pence differences.

I have a question which I’m hoping one of you can answer for me. I was born in April 1964, and would love to celebrate that by buying a copy of ASM 11 (2nd Doc Ock) which, in the US, was published in that month/year. On the US cover you can clearly see the box which has 11 in it, followed underneath by the abbreviation for April. On the UK edition box it just says 11 and there is a small blank white space underneath it.

Were all early UK editions printed that way because Marvel in the US, having shipped their UK comics by sea, couldn’t guarantee that their editions could hit the newsagents in the same month as their US counterparts? 

So, if I owned a UK ASM 11 (without the April month wording), can I be 100% sure that this issue did hit the newsagents in April 1964 or, because of the sea shipping time, did all Marvel UK editions hit the newsagents a month + behind the US editions? 

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Andy
 

 

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Happy to see that maybe UKPVs will finally get their proper recognition as highly collectible original rare versions of the original print run.  They should at least be worth the same as the cent counterparts if not more due to rarity.   If lower print run 35 cent variants of BA books can fetch way more than the standard priced copies of the time then there's no reason pence books shouldn't be viewed the same way.  As I've said before I think it's just decades of misunderstanding from collectors of the time who then passed on the idea of pence books being worth less to the next generation and a "well that's just how it is" mentality that is easier to accept than challenge that has given pence the reputation it had long had as being less desirable. But as with many other things in life, even the deepest ingrained ideas can be changed over time.

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1 hour ago, MARVELous Fan said:

Just wanted to say this has been a wonderful thread. Congratulations Get Marwood & I (and other contributors), for delving into and explaining the US cents/UK pence differences.

Thank you Andy, glad you enjoyed it :)

Quote

I have a question which I’m hoping one of you can answer for me. I was born in April 1964, and would love to celebrate that by buying a copy of ASM 11 (2nd Doc Ock) which, in the US, was published in that month/year. On the US cover you can clearly see the box which has 11 in it, followed underneath by the abbreviation for April. On the UK edition box it just says 11 and there is a small blank white space underneath it.

Were all early UK editions printed that way because Marvel in the US, having shipped their UK comics by sea, couldn’t guarantee that their editions could hit the newsagents in the same month as their US counterparts? 

The table here notes when the cover months were present Andy (second and third entry):

442628945_KeyMarvelUKPriceVariantDates.PNG.c5f07d96ab57b4ad9dd878b456a3860c.PNG

Every ASM #11 will have no cover month therefore, yes:

11b.thumb.jpg.6127f5f9ddd34c111d36d2ee98aa17c2.jpg

Quote

So, if I owned a UK ASM 11 (without the April month wording), can I be 100% sure that this issue did hit the newsagents in April 1964 or, because of the sea shipping time, did all Marvel UK editions hit the newsagents a month + behind the US editions? 

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Andy

It's very hard to know exactly what comics were on sale in the UK for any given month in the early days. We know that the comics tended to be printed 3 months or so in advance of their cover dates and we know that they were shipped to the UK by sea after printing. We don't know exactly how long the shipping took though, or how long T&P took to distribute, so can't be precise. There's an nice little example of trying to work that kind of thing out using real examples here, in one of my other UK related threads:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/471133-a-brief-review-of-the-first-official-uk-distribution-of-us-published-comics-in-19591960/?do=findComment&comment=11736984

If I were you, and in the absence of anything concrete, I would buy the ASM #11 pence copy as its indicia certainly says April 1964, even if the cover doesn't:

20200302_111952.thumb.jpg.41f6513d5fe1455c31e9c3e6d72023ae.jpg

(Sorry that's a bit blurry)

If you were lucky enough to find a US cents copy with an arrival date that matched your birthday, that date, of course, would be the date it hit the US newsstand. No one in the UK seemed to go in for that kind of thing alas, stamping arrival dates, as far as I can see.

So I'd stick with ASM #11 if it has to be a Marvel - you'll never know if it was for sale on your actual birthday, but at least it has your birth month printed in it.

Good luck :)

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21 minutes ago, serling1978 said:

But as with many other things in life, even the deepest ingrained ideas can be changed over time.

I did me best.

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1 hour ago, MARVELous Fan said:

I have a question which I’m hoping one of you can answer for me. I was born in April 1964, and would love to celebrate that by buying a copy of ASM 11 (2nd Doc Ock) which, in the US, was published in that month/year. On the US cover you can clearly see the box which has 11 in it, followed underneath by the abbreviation for April. On the UK edition box it just says 11 and there is a small blank white space underneath it.

Were all early UK editions printed that way because Marvel in the US, having shipped their UK comics by sea, couldn’t guarantee that their editions could hit the newsagents in the same month as their US counterparts? 

So, if I owned a UK ASM 11 (without the April month wording), can I be 100% sure that this issue did hit the newsagents in April 1964 or, because of the sea shipping time, did all Marvel UK editions hit the newsagents a month + behind the US editions? 

As marwood says until 1965 UKPVs were printed without a date, as you surmised because of shipping time they didn’t want to appear “out of date” when they arrived in UK.
Amazing Spider-Man #11 was released in US in January 1964 and thinking is at that time Marvels took about 3 months to be on sale in UK, so whilst can’t be 100% certain #11 would be on sale in UK In April it probably would have been. If you’re looking for a book on sale in UK in April I too would go for #11.
Again as Marwood has said some collectors like to get a comic stamped with an arrival date of their birthday month, however these are arrival dates for US not UK. If you wanted to get an April 1964 arrival date you would be looking at a cents spidey #14   - a very expensive book. 

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