Hand written “date stamps” show yours/discuss. 0

[Knightsofold]

I’ve noticed what appear to be hand written received date stamps on 2 of my Actions, is this common?

Did it happen at many newstands, or...  distributors?  

I don’t think any of my other GA books have these.

When did they start using stamps?  

Perhaps it could’ve been written by the purchaser? Or later by a collector? 

The dates are both one day after the on sale dates listed on mikesamazingworld.com.

Any info/history on these or other hand written datestamps would be great.  Thanks!

 

 

 

[Scrooge]

The annoying thing about written date stamps is that a "R" notation can as easily be a note for "Received" as a note for "Remove" and that can vary by newsstands as to how they want to make their system work.

[adamstrange]

 

24 minutes ago, Scrooge said:

can as easily be a note for "Received" as a note for "Remove"

There's not much need for a remove date as most of the time the publisher prints that on the comic.  For example, a "May" issue would be pulled the evening of April 30th.

R could mean "received" but more likely it is a code for the distributor that the comic will be returned to.  A news stand received their periodicals from many distributors and they will only get credit for unsold items that they return to the correct distributor.  Hence, we usually speak of the letters as a "distributor" code as that's most typically what they will be.

The presence of a letter and date isn't always a distributor code as it is possible that the purchaser put their own code and date on the cover but my guess is that wasn't too common.  We see a name written on cover with some frequency and with much less frequency see a date or code inside the comic (e.g. Crippen, Chicago, White Mountain).  I'm not sure how important it was to purchaser to put some other code or date on the cover and I don't recall reading/hearing about situations where someone did that. 

[adamstrange]

2 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

When did they start using stamps?

Stamps using ink from a pad were widely available well before comics arrived so it could have been anytime 1933 or after.  I'm not aware of the earliest known use of an actual date stamp.  I know I've seen examples from the early 40s but I'm sure there are ones even before that.

[adamstrange]

In general, I like date stamps on my GA comics.  They add character.

In the case of the Church collection they are used for identifying that the books are from the Church basement.  The "c" indicates the distributor, the 12-9 is the date it was put on the news stand and the 4 to the far right is the number of copies.

[Knightsofold]

6 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

In general, I like date stamps on my GA comics.  They add character.

In the case of the Church collection they are used for identifying that the books are from the Church basement.  The "c" indicates the distributor, the 12-9 is the date it was put on the news stand and the 4 to the far right is the number of copies.

Very cool!  Do you recall any books that had high number of copies?

[adamstrange]

I believe the largest quantity is 14.

[adamstrange]

Examples of 14, per Pat Kohanek, are Action 52, Marvel Mystery 39, Whiz 42 and Whiz 45.

Edited April 18, 2018 by adamstrange

[Randall Dowling]

Church pedigree markings are the only writing that I actually like for the same reasons adamstrange laid out.  Otherwise, I broadly detest all other rubber stamps, grease pencil marks, children writing their names (except for Lamont and Eldon), creator signatures/sketches, drawing mustaches and any other post printing augmentation, professional or amateur.

My 

[telerites]

I think the New Hampshire markings are pretty cool.  They are so neatly written.  I've posted the ones I have before but as an example here is one of them.

[Straw-Man]

okajima markings are my fave.

[Straw-Man]

reilly stamps on back cover make me happy, too; 2 stamps make me doubly so.

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by Straw-Man

[Straw-Man]

admittedly, recil could get a little over-exuberant.

[entalmighty1]

Don't leave out young Mr. Larson, @Straw-Man!

[Straw-Man]

always good to see an old friend.   sometimes, that young man was like cher, or lucy, and let their given name do all the talkin'!

[Peter G]

On 4/18/2018 at 5:29 PM, adamstrange said:

In general, I like date stamps on my GA comics.  They add character.

 

When I was a young collector in the 70s, I hated date stamps, but I have matured and now appreciate them. They are like birth marks. 

[Robot Man]

[Robot Man]

[Robot Man]

[jimbo_7071]

On 4/18/2018 at 8:14 PM, Randall Dowling said:

Church pedigree markings are the only writing that I actually like for the same reasons adamstrange laid out.  Otherwise, I broadly detest all other rubber stamps, grease pencil marks, children writing their names (except for Lamont and Eldon), creator signatures/sketches, drawing mustaches and any other post printing augmentation, professional or amateur.

My 

I was actively collecting books from '84 through'90, and every dealer I bought from in that era downgraded books heavily if there was writing on the cover, with the exception of unobtrusive pencilled distributor markings.

CGC marks books down very heavily for stains; what is writing on the cover but a stain in a special shape? As much as I appreciate the Okajima books, the coded camp books should not be graded the way they are. A book with writing on the cover is not a high-grade book.

I suspect that the choice to ignore writing on the covers of books was made in order to add value to collections like Larson and Recil Macon, which would have been heavily penalized otherwise. It reminds me of the decision to allow books with a "very minor amount" of glue or color touch to get universal labels.

I don't mind writing that much, but it should be factored into the grade regardless of when it occurred.