Fools Gold - collection bust stories 0

[atomised]

Opening up a thread to share stories on a collection someone purported to have for you only to find out it was a complete bust, or dead end.  Since this happened to me twice recently, I'm sure it happens often and there may be some nuggets out there.

I got to talking about comic books with my car mechanic in San Francisco, a gentleman I would say is in his mid to late 60's.  If you've seen his shop, you'll know the man saves everything.  Stacks of old tires, every conceivable part in a heap somewhere (including broken ones) and about 5-6 project cars that he hasn't touched in well over a decade.  His passion is corvettes and since that's what I bring to him we get to talking quite a bit.  He mentioned he had a comic collection somewhere in his mom's garage and that no one had gone in there in well over a decade or more since she passed.  He said there was a good chance his collection and that of his brother's was probably still in there.  I asked what he recalled having.  He said they collected mostly superhero stuff, preferably Batman and Superman and that most of the books were probably 1950's or late 40's.  He said he'd go check the next weekend and if they were there he would give them to me.  I said no, they're probably worth a lot and I would price them out.  He didn't make it to that garage until about 2 or 3 months later and we synced up again when once again there was a coolant leak on my classic vette.  

He said he looked through the garage in its entirely and none of the comics were there anymore, no idea what happened.  Total bust.

Edited January 22, 2018 by atomised
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[Robot Man]

Seems like that happens 95% of the time, but that other 5 percent  

A lot easier to remember that other 5%

[MrBedrock]

I had something like that happen to me once hundreds of times.

[Robot Man]

1 minute ago, MrBedrock said:

I had something like that happen to me once hundreds of times.

OK, what about the BEST collection that ever walked into your store???

[MrBedrock]

12 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

OK, what about the BEST collection that ever walked into your store???

 

[rsouxlja7]

29 minutes ago, MrBedrock said:

 

WOW

[Moondog]

[PopKulture]

On ‎1‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 6:00 PM, MrBedrock said:

 

That's pretty mind-blowing. Was this part of a collection of ilk material?

[PopKulture]

3 hours ago, Moondog said:

Just stupefying really. I'd like to think these are all still together - so many great, classic first issues - but somehow I'm guessing they're not..?

[adamstrange]

4 hours ago, Moondog said:

 

 

How nice was the Great 3?

[MrBedrock]

9 hours ago, PopKulture said:

That's pretty mind-blowing. Was this part of a collection of ilk material?

It was a lone golden age book that a guy brought into the shop along with some silver including X-Men 1-10, Amazing Fantasy 15 and a few others. This was in early 2008. He had purchased all of the books at comic shops in the late '70s and early '80s. The silver age was mostly restored, color touched, and/or mid grade. But this one, beautiful unrestored gem was staring out of the pile. He had bought it for $800 as an investment. He made ALOT of loot. It ended up grading 7.0 with white pages. It has a very light handling crease down the middle of the cover that breaks color only in one small place near Batman's head, otherwise it is killer. It happily resides in a very good friend's collection these days.

[adamstrange]

7 minutes ago, MrBedrock said:

It happily resides in a very good friend's collection these days.

I heard it had a slight case of depression over the Christmas holiday but is doing better now.

[Sqeggs]

6 minutes ago, MrBedrock said:

It was a lone golden age book that a guy brought into the shop along with some silver including X-Men 1-10, Amazing Fantasy 15 and a few others. This was in early 2008. He had purchased all of the books at comic shops in the late '70s and early '80s. The silver age was mostly restored, color touched, and/or mid grade. But this one, beautiful unrestored gem was staring out of the pile. He had bought it for $800 as an investment. He made ALOT of loot. It ended up grading 7.0 with white pages. It has a very light handling crease down the middle of the cover that breaks color only in one small place near Batman's head, otherwise it is killer. It happily resides in a very good friend's collection these days.

Paying $800 for that book in the late 1970s seems like a heck of a lot.  But, in the end, it was a smart move. 

[october]

1 hour ago, MrBedrock said:

It was a lone golden age book that a guy brought into the shop along with some silver including X-Men 1-10, Amazing Fantasy 15 and a few others. This was in early 2008. He had purchased all of the books at comic shops in the late '70s and early '80s. The silver age was mostly restored, color touched, and/or mid grade. But this one, beautiful unrestored gem was staring out of the pile. He had bought it for $800 as an investment. He made ALOT of loot. It ended up grading 7.0 with white pages. It has a very light handling crease down the middle of the cover that breaks color only in one small place near Batman's head, otherwise it is killer. It happily resides in a very good friend's collection these days.

If I could add any book ever posted on the boards to my permanent collection, I think that would be the one. Amazing.

[Robot Man]

14 hours ago, Moondog said:

Just wow, Windy Citys?

[october]

15 hours ago, Moondog said:

 

 

Too bad you didn't keep these Gary. If you had, you could retire, play golf all the time, and be a successful part time comic dealer. 

[PopKulture]

1 hour ago, MrBedrock said:

It was a lone golden age book that a guy brought into the shop along with some silver including X-Men 1-10, Amazing Fantasy 15 and a few others. This was in early 2008. He had purchased all of the books at comic shops in the late '70s and early '80s. The silver age was mostly restored, color touched, and/or mid grade. But this one, beautiful unrestored gem was staring out of the pile. He had bought it for $800 as an investment. He made ALOT of loot. It ended up grading 7.0 with white pages. It has a very light handling crease down the middle of the cover that breaks color only in one small place near Batman's head, otherwise it is killer. It happily resides in a very good friend's collection these days.

Great story, and a great investment! He chose some excellent books to invest in. It presents VERY well for a 7.0. It sounds like you have visitation rights: I'm glad. 

[MrBedrock]

1 hour ago, adamstrange said:

I heard it had a slight case of depression over the Christmas holiday but is doing better now.

[MrBedrock]

9 minutes ago, PopKulture said:

Great story, and a great investment! He chose some excellent books to invest in. It presents VERY well for a 7.0. It sounds like you have visitation rights: I'm glad. 

Visitation rights and it helped with the down payment on my house.

[Sqeggs]

43 minutes ago, MrBedrock said:

Visitation rights and it helped with the down payment on my house.

If you'd just been content to sleep in your car parked behind your store, you could have kept the book.