Action Comics #1 Cover color proof - ComicConnect 0

[vodou]

11 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

...I'd take a ragged blue label copy or nice restored copy any day over something like this, and I suspect that people who actually want an Action #1 would too.  

Great point, I think only those that already have an Action #1 would want* this to enhance their Action #1 er..action?! Otherwise, it would tend to price out too high for tire-kickers (and flippers) to actively engage. I'm not talking dreamers that would have a chance if this randomly showed up on eBay under movie posters or something (lol), but actually putting the top winning bid with a auctioneer with great mailing list running a well-advertised auction of material core to those types of bidders. If it clears whatever bar is publicly or privately set, it will go (I think) to an existing Action #1 owner or a dealer that moves in/out of Action #1 copies.

*assuming invoice at/near full fmv + juice

[JadeGiant]

34 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

I tend to take a broader view of the term "nostalgia" - items like Action #1 or the T-206 Wagner or '52 Topps Mantle baseball cards I think transcend the kind of direct nostalgia gained from buying these items when new.  Instead, as a collector of comic books or baseball cards at an early age, you quickly learn which items are at the pinnacle of the hobby, and so every generation maintains some link to these top items at least.  Perhaps that connection weakens slowly over time, but, it's still there as far as I can tell; I believe that one can still be nostalgic for Action #1 just from coveting what you were told/learned was considered the best when one was a young collector. 

In any case, though, I think this colored test proof is a far cry from a real Action #1.  People think this is a 6-figure item?  Forget about mid-grade, I'd take a ragged blue label copy or nice restored copy any day over something like this, and I suspect that people who actually want an Action #1 would too.  

so where do you think this hammers Gene?

[Bronty]

 

1 hour ago, vodou said:

Great point, I think only those that already have an Action #1 would want* this to enhance their Action #1 er..action?! Otherwise, it would tend to price out too high for tire-kickers (and flippers) to actively engage. I'm not talking dreamers that would have a chance if this randomly showed up on eBay under movie posters or something (lol), but actually putting the top winning bid with a auctioneer with great mailing list running a well-advertised auction of material core to those types of bidders. If it clears whatever bar is publicly or privately set, it will go (I think) to an existing Action #1 owner or a dealer that moves in/out of Action #1 copies.

*assuming invoice at/near full fmv + juice

Interesting point.    I see it as 50-150k.    With mostly likely bet IMO being in the 75 range

Edited November 14, 2017 by Bronty

[SquareChaos]

1 hour ago, delekkerste said:

I tend to take a broader view of the term "nostalgia" - items like Action #1 or the T-206 Wagner or '52 Topps Mantle baseball cards I think transcend the kind of direct nostalgia gained from buying these items when new.  Instead, as a collector of comic books or baseball cards at an early age, you quickly learn which items are at the pinnacle of the hobby, and so every generation maintains some link to these top items at least.  Perhaps that connection weakens slowly over time, but, it's still there as far as I can tell; I believe that one can still be nostalgic for Action #1 just from coveting what you were told/learned was considered the best when one was a young collector. 

In any case, though, I think this colored test proof is a far cry from a real Action #1.  People think this is a 6-figure item?  Forget about mid-grade, I'd take a ragged blue label copy or nice restored copy any day over something like this, and I suspect that people who actually want an Action #1 would too.  

Agreed on all sides. The only reason I'd hesitate to take a real ragged or restored CGC copy is if I am taking money into account - if we're taking price off the table, and only talking about something I'd actually want to keep, hands down Action #1 CGC. Having said that, I just have no idea where the hammer falls on this item.

[comix4fun]

49 minutes ago, SquareChaos said:

Agreed on all sides. The only reason I'd hesitate to take a real ragged or restored CGC copy is if I am taking money into account - if we're taking price off the table, and only talking about something I'd actually want to keep, hands down Action #1 CGC. Having said that, I just have no idea where the hammer falls on this item.

And, even if you didn't want to keep it, an Action #1 cgc (in any grade) is going to be far more liquid than the silver proof. 

[zhamlau]

On 11/12/2017 at 4:29 PM, bluechip said:

A lot of people have said here that none of the art from Action 1 exists but that is not accurate.   At least three panels from the first page do exist, and were listed very publicly at auction in the 90s

The cover art existed as of the mid 70s. I know someone who has seen it personally. What happened to it He has no idea (for background the person who saw this has been collecting original comic art since the late 60's and by the time he came across the original).

Edited November 14, 2017 by zhamlau

[Bronty]

56 minutes ago, zhamlau said:

The cover art existed as of the mid 70s. I know someone who has seen it personally. What happened to it He has no idea (for background the person who saw this has been collecting original comic art since the late 60's and by the time he came across the original).

I dunno, 40 year old hearsay....    things get twisted.   Anyone else confirm?

[SquareChaos]

It'd be awful big news if it turned up. How could it have been kept quiet and out of sight for so long considering what it is? I know there are 'black hole collectors', but in the time of social media it seems like something like that would be tough to keep under wraps. Even the general public would probably have some interest in that story.

[Bronty]

Yeah, I can't see it.    Would be a major shock.

[bluechip]

2 hours ago, zhamlau said:

The cover art existed as of the mid 70s. I know someone who has seen it personally. What happened to it He has no idea (for background the person who saw this has been collecting original comic art since the late 60's and by the time he came across the original).

I never heard that but it would be interesting to hear some more details from your friend.   I think anything connected to Action 1 is not just a hot comic but a cultural artifact which will not diminish anytime in the foreseeable generations to come.   When people pile onto an item like this it sometimes feels as if they are threatened on some level at the possibility that people will value things outside of their collecting wheelhouse and that will somehow drive down the value of their collections.   Comics have gone into the stratosphere but still are nowhere the heights achieved by the likes of Rock n Roll artifacts (mid six figures for a guitar used just because it was used in a concert) or coins, watches, cars, baseball cards (Honus Wagner being worth more in grade than Action 1 just because a hundred years ago people had trouble completing their tobacco card sets and that became legendary as the one everybody was missing; otherwise, it's Honus Who?)   

To those guys I would like to suggest a little chill.   Just because somebody pays big for this it won't mean your comics or your art will be worth less.

[vodou]

2 hours ago, zhamlau said:

The cover art existed as of the mid 70s. I know someone who has seen it personally. What happened to it He has no idea (for background the person who saw this has been collecting original comic art since the late 60's and by the time he came across the original).

 

1 hour ago, Bronty said:

I dunno, 40 year old hearsay....    things get twisted.   Anyone else confirm?

 

24 minutes ago, SquareChaos said:

It'd be awful big news if it turned up. How could it have been kept quiet and out of sight for so long considering what it is? I know there are 'black hole collectors', but in the time of social media it seems like something like that would be tough to keep under wraps. Even the general public would probably have some interest in that story.

I'm nobody special, that's for sure, but I've never heard even a rumor, hint or sniff of Action #1 cover existing in more than twenty-five years of hanging out with old-timers and doing this myself. So it's either an exceptional secret or...?

However, having written that last, there are also a number of treasure troves that went semi-public (to the hobby only in other words, not the mainstream media) in the 1970s and early 80s and the contents were never fully documented, just the stuff that hit CBG/etc is publicly known. So there's an excellent chance that the best of the best was kept back or sold quietly first to known deep pockets of the day outright. Mr. Mile High himself early distributed the MH keys in exactly the same manner. Whether those OA troves included Action #1 cover, who knows... Aspects of the Ed Summer collection, for example, were a surprise to many a long-time collector but to others not so much. So maybe some exceptionable secrets are closely held by people that actually know how to keep a secret? This would not be unprecedented, even today w/social media, that same technology which old-timers aren't so user-friendly with. (None of which is to suggest that Ed Summer ever had anything to do with or ever owned the Action #1 cover, let's not let our imaginations run away here!) There are other "Ed Summers" out there.

[SquareChaos]

48 minutes ago, vodou said:

I'm nobody special, that's for sure, but I've never heard even a rumor, hint or sniff of Action #1 cover existing in more than twenty-five years of hanging out with old-timers and doing this myself. So it's either an exceptional secret or...?

However, having written that last, there are also a number of treasure troves that went semi-public (to the hobby only in other words, not the mainstream media) in the 1970s and early 80s and the contents were never fully documented, just the stuff that hit CBG/etc is publicly known. So there's an excellent chance that the best of the best was kept back or sold quietly first to known deep pockets of the day outright. Mr. Mile High himself early distributed the MH keys in exactly the same manner. Whether those OA troves included Action #1 cover, who knows... Aspects of the Ed Summer collection, for example, were a surprise to many a long-time collector but to others not so much. So maybe some exceptionable secrets are closely held by people that actually know how to keep a secret? This would not be unprecedented, even today w/social media, that same technology which old-timers aren't so user-friendly with. (None of which is to suggest that Ed Summer ever had anything to do with or ever owned the Action #1 cover, let's not let our imaginations run away here!) There are other "Ed Summers" out there.

It seems extraordinarily implausible at this point - lets say it was as you hypothesized and one seller shopped the "good stuff" around to some deep pocket types... well, how many deep pocket types were there? Did they have to ask their network who the possible interested parties may be? Was it more than whale? Because you know what they say concerning the best way for three or more people to keep a secret.

But even so... I guess stranger things have happened, it is possible, just very unlikely.

[vodou]

4 minutes ago, SquareChaos said:

 - lets say it was as you hypothesized...

The only thing hypothesized is whether Action #1 cover was part of any of those stashes that were discovered/distributed. Otherwise the rest all actually happened numerous times. The Seventies was a very special decade for comics and comic art in that way. Interest and values had risen just enough for a nation-wide network of eyes to be always hunting estate, yard, and garage sales. A lot was found and flipped back out. Same then as today, the best was always held back for the picker's collection or sold properly to the only buyers that would pay proper money (lawyers, doctors), in a day before auction "events" every other week.

[zhamlau]

The collector in question used to be a regular at San Diego back in the 70s and was a regular in the comics scene in CA into the 80s. He saw the cover on display in the few months the superman museum was open back in the mid 70s in Metropolis (think Illinois but could be Indiana) before it closed permanently. I think he still has a newspaper that talks about the original art being there, ill have to ask next time i stop by.

When I asked he described the cover having some minor correction fluid added in spots and being on display with the pages that have been cut up and sold a long time ago (believe it was Sothebys in the mid 90s). Since he has been collecting art since the 60's, I tend to believe he would know what original art looks like :-) The museum shut down not long after and he doesn't know where displays and material went afterwards.

He swears up and down he saw it, and at this point I have no reason to not believe him. Anyway, there you go.

 

[BCarter27]

https://gizmodo.com/metropolis-the-real-life-town-that-superman-couldnt-s-1172537331

Gotta be someone that knows someone who put this exhibit together, no?

Pure conjecture on my part, but I was thinking earlier today how unlikely it is the Action 1 cover would have been tossed. It was an instant hit, iirc. I'd think someone would have hung onto it.

Edited November 15, 2017 by BCarter27

[vodou]

6 hours ago, zhamlau said:

He saw the cover on display in the few months the superman museum was open back in the mid 70s in Metropolis (think Illinois but could be Indiana) before it closed permanently.

...

When I asked he described the cover having some minor correction fluid added in spots and being on display with the pages that have been cut up and sold a long time ago (believe it was Sothebys in the mid 90s). Since he has been collecting art since the 60's, I tend to believe he would know what original art looks like :-) The museum shut down not long after and he doesn't know where displays and material went afterwards.

That's a little different than I expected, public display for a period of time even if only short. Strange nobody else but this one guy has ever mentioned it such that it never came to my ears. But also no reason to doubt the story, on the face of it, just because I've not heard of it myself. I don't know everything, every story, hidey-hole, black hole collector, etc about this hobby that's for certain.

4 hours ago, BCarter27 said:

https://gizmodo.com/metropolis-the-real-life-town-that-superman-couldnt-s-1172537331

Gotta be someone that knows someone who put this exhibit together, no?

$1 Million. Wonder how they came up with that number 40 years ago! And how many pieces it took to get up to that estimate?!! (Or was it just "one"...Action #1 cover?!! )

Following up with some old-time Superman collectors would be a good idea. My best resource for that passed away not too long ago, so maybe somebody else can run with this and come back with more details?

[BCarter27]

6 hours ago, vodou said:

$1 Million. Wonder how they came up with that number 40 years ago!

My first thought upon hearing @zhamlau 's story was that maybe the collector saw a production cover used for the Famous First reprints -- kind of like those retouched stat pieces that Metropolis sold last year, iirc. But if they were advertising some crazy dollar amount for the exhibited art, then who knows?

Edited November 15, 2017 by BCarter27

[BCarter27]

Knowing that the Smithsonian has the AF 15 art, how would everyone here feel if the Action 1 cover surfaced and was bought for a private collection?

I've stated several times that I dislike museums acquiring large amounts of comic art, but I do think there are a few exceptions.

Edited November 15, 2017 by BCarter27

[NicoV]

43 minutes ago, BCarter27 said:

Knowing that the Smithsonian has the AF 15 art

I thought it was the Library of Congress ... is it the same? 

[Hekla]

10 minutes ago, NicoV said:

I thought it was the Library of Congress ... is it the same? 

You are correct - it's LOC

http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2008/04/library-of-congress-acquires-spider-mans-birth-certificate/

I find it surprising that this happened in 2008... I was under the impression it had been donated years earlier and that the donator was known.