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Gold Key UK Price Variants
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106 posts in this topic

Won't be long now Gnash. A big final update coming on all my threads soon - just need to decide who will deliver them. Morlar's angling for a comeback but Number 6 is refusing to be pushed aside. Sparky got run over so he's out of the running. And Marwood overdosed last night during a drinking session with Harold Pelham. The Counts quite popular, but clearly can't be trusted with the numbers. Hulk would smash it but is too easily ŕattled. Time will tell....

1517184206311.gif.37fb300be801ccb8cb043196a2171952.gif

Edited by Get Marwood & I
7,321: Len vs Ted
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I'm afraid we are having technical difficulties this morning so the Grand Gold Key Opening will now be shown at a later date.

We promise to return to your featured programming as soon as possible.

Here is some incidental music in the meantime:

 

426906903_TomandJerry275(Oct73)6p.thumb.jpg.6bc4193449eae4e7a067b3a15638ff39.jpg

:pullhair:

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                                                                                       https://media.giphy.com/media/uw3fTCTNMbXAk/giphy.gif   

Edited by Gnasher
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Ok, this is for @Gnasher, my sole thread participant! :)

In line with the usual drill, I have gathered all the Western Gold Key pence copies I have found and plonked them on this spreadsheet:

gk1.thumb.PNG.e56d6b5cacb4f360aa21c7cfc4dff6be.PNG

It's the same format as all my others, and the above is just a picture before anyone posts that they can't 'open it'.

There are a lot of Gold Key titles which cross the pence presence dates. A lot! But I have found only eight of them to have pence copies. These are the eight:

  • Beep Beep The Road Runner
  • Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery
  • Pink Panther
  • Ripley's Believe It or Not!
  • Star Trek
  • Tom and Jerry
  • Tweety and Sylvester
  • Yosemite Sam

This thread is a work in progress, so here are the headline observations from what I have identified so far.

  • The earliest pence books are indicia dated (no dates or issues numbers on GK covers alas) April 1973
  • The final pence books are indicia dated November 1975
  • I have found no books dated prior to or after these months
  • Assuming I have plotted them correctly, there are a potential 168 issues within the time frame for the eight identified titles
  • I have currently found evidence of 98
  • I have found no evidence elsewhere online of an attempt to document which GK pence books exist. Due to its popularity, there are a number of Star Trek sites which list the pence variants however. My research tallies with their conclusions and show that there are 'gaps' for Star Trek, i.e. issues where no pence book has been found in the date range. Accordingly, it is likely that the remaining seven titles will also have gaps and, therefore, the final total may be difficult to pin down. But it certainly looks like there will be much less than 168 books out there
  • There are only 3 price types - 6p, 7p and 8p
  • I have found no double size issues, or annuals
  • There are no differences between the US and UK copies bar the prices. Everything else, including the indicias, is the same
  • I have found no evidence so far of who the UK solicitor was - there are no copies with L Miller or T&P stamps on them to indicate who it could have been

Here are the current known issue numbers with pence copies:

gk2.thumb.PNG.cbcf738bedbaa3e42e6bcd4ec09777c5.PNG

Here are some examples:

2001069443_BeepBeepTheRoadRunner39(Oct73)6p.thumb.jpg.759ec438685bdcec2ac1e130c2846e25.jpg 

759723265_BorisKarloffTalesofMystery59(Feb75)7p.thumb.jpg.2f14901b47e495b15ecfde4c4e369043.jpg 

720970008_ThePinkPanther13(Jul73)6p.thumb.jpg.0a36b7dd04b8b2b23ad864ed590b8689.jpg 

563095272_TomandJerry270(Apr73)6p.thumb.jpg.5dc6af523aaf1675185b95ba8618f614.jpg 

466491314_TweetyandSylvester38(Jul74)7p.thumb.jpg.7790eb637632abbabecc990cde84e23b.jpg 

1201954873_YosemiteSamandBugsBunny18(Dec73)6p.thumb.jpg.8fb41cf98d343bd86264a2c3588bb046.jpg 

 

As noted earlier, it is possible that there will be gaps where no pence copies exists. If you look at the four titles below you will see that each follows the same pattern:

  • 7p book
  • Missing book
  • 8p book
  • Missing book
  • 8p book 

gk3.thumb.PNG.c1ca16aa04e548b8ead977ec167c74ae.PNG

 

This is unlikely to be a coincidence but we'll see.

In my Marvel research I identify that the absence of Amazing Spider-Man pence copies from issue 121 up coincides with the launch of Spider-Man Comics Weekly in the UK. No point importing a pence version of the US books if you have your own ongoing title. In a similar vein, Tom and Jerry seems to 'stop' at number 276, November 1973:

gw4.PNG.c7fc278101030f1a446f2091314773f6.PNG

Lo and behold, the UK Tom and Jerry weekly commences in October 1973:

gk6.jpg.6196479c9f8ace6dbdb34918fb16253c.jpg

Coincidence? 

So, if anyone has a pence issue not on my current list here:

gk2.thumb.PNG.cbcf738bedbaa3e42e6bcd4ec09777c5.PNG

Do let me know!

I'll update the thread as new books appear.

:headbang:

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One issue I faced when cataloguing the books is the sometimes unhelpful indicia details.  

Here's issue number 275 of Tom and Jerry:

275.thumb.jpg.dbfa60a334e5eb55d6769227ae91210e.jpg

Nice and easy, October 1973.

Here's number 270:

270.thumb.jpg.4ca9054f74b242b3d112715ee4c57c16.jpg

No month. Not on the cover either. So how do we know it's April, as the GCD has it?

And does the fact that the indicia says that books are published monthly except for January, March, May, July and November mean that those months missing on my sheet wont be found?

gw4.PNG.0604aa7b50cd633ee67a4bc53ed7a3fc.PNG

We shall see....

 

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