• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

DC UK Price Variants
8 8

236 posts in this topic

6 hours ago, quicksilver said:

I've had one or two copies of the Flash # 208 before. A US collector pointed it out to me once, I hadn't even noticed. The pic comes from comics.org, they have a lot of pence copy images on there, check them out if you haven't already.

Cheers. I did refer to that site a few times during my research. I'm surprised I missed it. So far, I'm not finding any books alongside it so it could be a one off. These things always pop up when you have the least time to investigate! I'm glad it did pop up though. I love it when your research leads you to a perfectly reasonable conclusion, and then a book turns up to contradict it. Never say never I always say. I still live in hope that a pence ASM 42 or 43 will appear one day. All good fun. 

Talking of Marvel, I've found a new pence copy on the 'missing list'. Will post the details later this week. It's also an L Miller copy, so I'll be updating two threads (see links below in my signature line) ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

Do the Brits use a the cent symbol?  I've seen an old comic rack that had a five cents price on the sign.  Never made any sense to me.

Hello @sfcityduck ! I'm not sure I follow you my friend? Please, do tell me more. ☺

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Hello @sfcityduck ! I'm not sure I follow you my friend? Please, do tell me more. ☺

There are 5p price variants out there.   I have seen an old comic rack which, inexplicably to me, had a tin sign topper advertising comics for (I seem to recall) 5 cents (not 5p).  The question is whether the Brits (or australians) use the cents symbol.  If so, the rack was probably a comic rack advertising 5p comics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

There are 5p price variants out there.   I have seen an old comic rack which, inexplicably to me, had a tin sign topper advertising comics for (I seem to recall) 5 cents (not 5p).  The question is whether the Brits (or australians) use the cents symbol.  If so, the rack was probably a comic rack advertising 5p comics.

 

1 hour ago, sfcityduck said:

This is that rack that puzzles me.  I can't read the writing on the picture:

5_cent_Comic_Book_Rack_large.JPG

 

Nice rack!

We don't use cents over here (tee-hee) so I'm assuming this is a rack that was used to display 5c comics in the US or another country which used dollars and cents. Where did you see the rack - is it your own picture?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Marwood & I said:

 

 

Nice rack!

We don't use cents over here (tee-hee) so I'm assuming this is a rack that was used to display 5c comics in the US or another country which used dollars and cents. Where did you see the rack - is it your own picture?

 

it was sold at a North Carolina (U.S. state) auction.  The picture is from the auction site.  There were very few 5 cent comics in the U.S. as 10 cents was the standard golden age price.  Really baffles me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Fan Boy said:

Cool thread, I have a few 12p Marvel books in one of my boxes. The title is 'Marvel Team-up'.

That's a cool title @Fan Boy !

Post some pics in my other thread here so we can 'Marvel' at them ?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

The Flash # 208 was definitely a one off. I've been around a long time since I started buying in 1966, and I've never seen any others.

Cheers @quicksilver you're probably right, but I'm going to keep looking. Never say never! ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Evening All!

Just back from a spell in solitary, courtesy of our very own Warden Norton Warden2.jpg.33c0e954cd1294539ec226810ca2b555.jpg

Further to the tip from @quicksilver (see previous posts), I ordered two copies of The Flash #208 to see if there were any other differences aside from the price. Here they are, one 7 ½ pence copy and one 25c copy:

208p.thumb.jpg.e5fa479d5df27715aa5ced73edb7e3e4.jpg   596e82b41fe15_20825c.thumb.jpg.c64516ea26c7fd159a287a2cde0b7786.jpg  

 

It turns out that the 7 ½ p copy of the Flash is significant for reasons other than being missed during my extensive investigations (I’m still trying to work out how ‘I’ missed it, but Marwood says it might be something to do with me being a cretin with no life who needs to get out more. Charming. But true. Alas.)

Apart from appearing to be the only book cover dated August 1971 with a pence printed price, The Flash #208 also contradicts a number of the observation conclusions that I made in my opening post in this thread (quick, go back and check).

Firstly, the book is a ‘double sized’ issue (48 pages from the 32 in issue 207). This is the only one that I am aware of. Of the other 838 DC pence comics no double sized issue has been found with a pence printed price. Indeed, whenever a title with sequential pence copies has a double sized issue in its run, that pence copy is always absent (unlike Marvel who would just up the price).

Secondly, this is the only comic sized book with a cover price of 7 ½ pence. All other DC pence issues are either 5p (July 1971), 12p (February 1978 to August 1979) or 15p (September 1979 to September 1981).

Thirdly Flash #208 is the only DC pence book I have found with a cover change other than the price box. If you look at the two scans below, you’ll see that the two 25c prices on the spine are (rightly) absent from the pence priced copy:

596e82ad47edc_20825cedge.thumb.jpg.363557fb5ccce6506616f684a56634f0.jpg

596e82b6a8253_208ppedge.thumb.jpg.3643f3ba8c1392ee95a58e4c3279e3c9.jpg

 

So the book is unique for 4 reasons:

1.      It’s the only pence printed price book cover dated August 1971 :headbang:

2.      It’s the only pence priced ‘double sized’ issue :headbang:

3.      It’s the only pence book priced at 7 ½ pence :headbang:

4.      It’s the only pence book with a cover change other than the price box price :headbang:

All the internal contents and indicia details are identical.

Another oddity about the book is that most of the US cents copies on Ebay UK have 7 ½ pence Thorpe & Porter import stamps on them. There are no copies with a 7 ½ pence printed price at present. This is odd for Ebay UK, and implies that the number of copies produced with a printed pence price may be uncommonly low. Why do we (in Englandville) need T&P stamped cents copies if a pence printed version was produced for us specifically?

596e835a2ebe9_20825cstamp.thumb.jpg.df03a700840561e4eec3f1376dbdee6c.jpg  596e82b834dfb_208pp.jpg.1918600399d411eac235ee45d36cdcdb.jpg

 

So all in all, a very odd book indeed. Even from a visual perspective, the books in my two scans looks like a squarebound issues with miswrapped spines showing. But they are normal saddle stitched books and the white title bars to the far left of the covers is part of the cover, not a misplaced spine.

OK, Marwood says I’ve scrapped through the bottom of the tedium barrel now, so it’s time to go. He says no one is interested in this pedantry, and that I should accept that fact and move on. Even the Flash himself seems to be giving me a hint in his rather telling cover thought bubble.

As I go, pondering my recent spell in the hole, I’m reminded of the following words from that bloke that time:

 “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Chin-chin!

:tink:

208 25c stamp.jpg

Withnail-red-wine.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put up a thread on DC pence copies a while back - the list should be basically the same although I was only looking at the 1978-1981 issues, I missed the c-62 Treasury so thanks for that info. 

I don't see a mention of The Superman III movie adaptation - This exists in two distinct price variants - one which is US/Can. priced and one which is US/UK priced - this I contend is the final example (until the Bionicles promo's) of a UK price variant there being no other issue with just US/UK pricing that I am aware of

a copy of the cover can be seen here: http://www.christopherreeve.co.uk/superman-iii-comic-book-adaptation/

It's not unusual to find Cents copies with T&P stamps on for issues that have Pence versions - I guess they had excess US editions to sell off, compiling my list I was sure for example that Claw the unconquered #10 should exist as a pence copy but I was only turning up clean cents or T&P stamped copies until I found a pence copy after about a year looking.  

from the 1978-1981 period the only pence edition I have not seen at least a picture of is Ghosts #66 - care to share the picture for that one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, David Buck said:

I put up a thread on DC pence copies a while back - the list should be basically the same although I was only looking at the 1978-1981 issues, I missed the c-62 Treasury so thanks for that info. 

I don't see a mention of The Superman III movie adaptation - This exists in two distinct price variants - one which is US/Can. priced and one which is US/UK priced - this I contend is the final example (until the Bionicles promo's) of a UK price variant there being no other issue with just US/UK pricing that I am aware of

a copy of the cover can be seen here: http://www.christopherreeve.co.uk/superman-iii-comic-book-adaptation/

It's not unusual to find Cents copies with T&P stamps on for issues that have Pence versions - I guess they had excess US editions to sell off, compiling my list I was sure for example that Claw the unconquered #10 should exist as a pence copy but I was only turning up clean cents or T&P stamped copies until I found a pence copy after about a year looking.  

from the 1978-1981 period the only pence edition I have not seen at least a picture of is Ghosts #66 - care to share the picture for that one?

Hello @David Buck, thanks for dropping by. It's nice to see someone else is interested in DC pence variants and I'm not sure how I managed to miss your thread, given how recent it is? The boards search engine is a little temperamental though, so maybe that's it. I'll check through your list later to see if we have the same number ranges - if we do, this will be a good indication that our research has sound conclusions.

Here's Ghosts 66 - not the best image going, but enough until I find a better one (I'm actively working to replace all images which aren't up to a certain standard):

66.jpg.c1f1a64a6df2943628db7e40b3144d77.jpg

 

I know what you mean about Claw #10. I found the DC research much easier than my Marvel research, firstly due to there being less DC's to find (839 DC vs 3,007 Marvel), but mostly due to their dates being a lot more recent. There are some early pence copies I have found where I have only seen one example in 5 years of looking. So I never say 'never' when it comes to a books existence, only whether it is likely based on comparative information and the time spent looking. Here's a nice Claw #10 anyway:

10.thumb.jpg.a601cb4ccb255c8df25fe3fcfc5b08fa.jpg

 

Thanks for the Superman III info. I did have a copy of one of the variations saved in my 'oversize' file, but I haven't gotten round to any extensive research on them yet. I did the Treasury size books in my Marvel pence thread recently. Pop across and have a look if you're interested.

xl.PNG.608285dc12ae99c7c3e7f4045250e48b.PNG

 

One other area I've been pondering are the 'Double Double' books, where Thorpe & Porter surreptitiously sold remaindered copies of the US titles with new UK covers. There are 24 I believe, and I have scans of all of them so I may do a piece on them here at some point.  Obviously they aren't full first print DC pence price variants but a large percentage of them is!

Capture.thumb.PNG.c18a792cb2f8502b10d4ffbfe898ae46.PNG

 

Anyway, thanks again for diving in.  Always good to talk to a fellow pence person :)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi - I don't know how widespread it was but the only Double Double comic I ever owned (action 4)had a copy of the avengers bound in alongside the DC's ; There are also the 2 DC Comic collections from about 1989, these are just rebound DC's but with covers this time - although the back cover includes mention of some Comico titles.

The hardback annuals like The Metal Men and The Atom are also rebound issues I believe

I haven't personally assembled pence pictures - though I have a fair few, but your approach to this is very similar to what I'm currently pursuing on Canadian newsstand DC's (1715 pictures down  - 398 to go - much easier though as it does look like all US Newsstand editions had Canadian versions) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, David Buck said:

Hi - I don't know how widespread it was but the only Double Double comic I ever owned (action 4)had a copy of the avengers bound in alongside the DC's ; There are also the 2 DC Comic collections from about 1989, these are just rebound DC's but with covers this time - although the back cover includes mention of some Comico titles.

The hardback annuals like The Metal Men and The Atom are also rebound issues I believe

I haven't personally assembled pence pictures - though I have a fair few, but your approach to this is very similar to what I'm currently pursuing on Canadian newsstand DC's (1715 pictures down  - 398 to go - much easier though as it does look like all US Newsstand editions had Canadian versions) 

Cool, thanks for the info David. I think one of the Double Double comics I saved a scan of from eBay had Marvel interiors too, so they're clearly a wonderful oddity. The fact that the content differs makes them virtually uncollectable though if you have a 'completist' mentality. You can collect all 24 covers, but the insides? No way of knowing what permutations exist  :insane:

Your Canadian DC newsstand research sounds interesting - why not create a thread on the boards?  It's not something I know anything about, but I do like variants of all kinds so I'd follow it :headbang:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
8 8