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The Windy City Pedigree Thread
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12 posts in this topic

 

Windy City pedigree

 
WINDY CITY - The Windy City collection surfaced out of Chicago and was purchased by Gary Colobuono. The collection consisted of around 2000 #1 comics, and thousands of #1 magazines. Almost every single #1 comic that came out between 1937 and the Silver Age was in the Windy City collection.

In the early 1930's a mailman who made regular deliveries to a bus station newsstand told the owner he wanted to buy every new #1 magazine. After doing so for a couple of years the newsstand owner suggested he also try collecting #1 issues of comics as well. Following his suggestion, the mailman began purchasing the #1 comics each week. This went on for nearly 30 years until communication was lost between the two.

In the 1970's the newsstand owner's son, realizing the comics were worth money, attempted to locate the mailman by finding his name in an old yearbook.

Successful, the son soon found out that the mailman had passed away, but his sister had saved everything he possessed, including the comics. Unwilling to sell them, the sister instead settled on trading them bit by bit for common items, such as a new microwave. When the son obtained the first batch of comics he brought them to show a local dealer who had just opened his store that particular day in September 1978--Gary Colobuono. In that first batch was the following books: Superman #1, Batman #1, Captain America #1, Marvel #1, Detective #1, Silver Streak #1, All-Star #1, All-Winners #1, Wonder Woman #1, Daring Mystery #1, Mystic #1, Sub-Mariner #1 and a few others. As he looked over it Colobuono thought to himself "and this is only my first day...what can tomorrow bring?" The son wanted to wait until he had received all of the books from the woman before he sold the collection. This was not accomplished until 1986, eight years later! By this time a few other dealers had caught wind of the collection and were making offers. The son ended up taking bids and Colobuono won the collection for $85,000, to be paid in three installments. The first batch received by Colobuono included many of the most sought after #1's and made it's debut at the Chicago Con that year. The second batch yielded the key Fawcetts and was put up for sale at the San Diego con a month later. Finally, the lesser #1's were obtained a couple of weeks after that.

The sister eventually died years later, and about 1000 more #1 issues missing from Colobuono's purchase were present, but most were insignificant. The lot was auctioned off to an anonymous bidder.

There never was an Action #1 or New Fun #1 in the Windy City collection, although the Detective #1 is one of the best existing copies and one source claimed the Marvel #1 to be the third best existing copy.

IDENTIFICATION-Over half of the Windy City collection has the name "A. Wallace" written in pencil in the first letter of the title logo on the cover. There is speculation that the "A" stands for Anna, the name of the mailman's sister. For any copies that do not have the name written on the cover a master list exists for which comparisons can be made. As far as the extra 1000 or so comics found separately from Colobuono's purchase, very little is known, and no assumptions ca be made concerning grade or markings.

DESIRABILITY-The grades of Windy City copies range from Very Fine to Near Mint with an occasional Very Good or Fine. A few of them exhibit brown pages, although the majority are structurally perfect with full gloss and white pages. The initial distribution sold for around guide with high demand keys selling for 2x to 3x guide. As an interesting note, the Windy City Batman #1, graded a VF+, sold for a record price of $13,400 at the 1986 San Diego Con. Now Windy City copies fetch 1.5x to 2x guide and 3x to 5x guide for high demand keys. 

--from Matt Nelson
********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
:luhv:   My very first pedigree comic purchase was a book from this collection! One of my 'keepers for life' books. Iv'e told the story many times of how i acquired it, so i won't bother telling that story again. Fascinating tidbit is that it consisted of first issues (#1's). How special is that! Still my only book from the Ped.
@Moondog Are you out there? :headbang:
 
 

Negro Romance #1 (Windy City).jpg

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21 minutes ago, sagii said:

 

Windy City pedigree

 
WINDY CITY - The Windy City collection surfaced out of Chicago and was purchased by Gary Colobuono. The collection consisted of around 2000 #1 comics, and thousands of #1 magazines. Almost every single #1 comic that came out between 1937 and the Silver Age was in the Windy City collection.

In the early 1930's a mailman who made regular deliveries to a bus station newsstand told the owner he wanted to buy every new #1 magazine. After doing so for a couple of years the newsstand owner suggested he also try collecting #1 issues of comics as well. Following his suggestion, the mailman began purchasing the #1 comics each week. This went on for nearly 30 years until communication was lost between the two.

In the 1970's the newsstand owner's son, realizing the comics were worth money, attempted to locate the mailman by finding his name in an old yearbook.

Successful, the son soon found out that the mailman had passed away, but his sister had saved everything he possessed, including the comics. Unwilling to sell them, the sister instead settled on trading them bit by bit for common items, such as a new microwave. When the son obtained the first batch of comics he brought them to show a local dealer who had just opened his store that particular day in September 1978--Gary Colobuono. In that first batch was the following books: Superman #1, Batman #1, Captain America #1, Marvel #1, Detective #1, Silver Streak #1, All-Star #1, All-Winners #1, Wonder Woman #1, Daring Mystery #1, Mystic #1, Sub-Mariner #1 and a few others. As he looked over it Colobuono thought to himself "and this is only my first day...what can tomorrow bring?" The son wanted to wait until he had received all of the books from the woman before he sold the collection. This was not accomplished until 1986, eight years later! By this time a few other dealers had caught wind of the collection and were making offers. The son ended up taking bids and Colobuono won the collection for $85,000, to be paid in three installments. The first batch received by Colobuono included many of the most sought after #1's and made it's debut at the Chicago Con that year. The second batch yielded the key Fawcetts and was put up for sale at the San Diego con a month later. Finally, the lesser #1's were obtained a couple of weeks after that.

The sister eventually died years later, and about 1000 more #1 issues missing from Colobuono's purchase were present, but most were insignificant. The lot was auctioned off to an anonymous bidder.

There never was an Action #1 or New Fun #1 in the Windy City collection, although the Detective #1 is one of the best existing copies and one source claimed the Marvel #1 to be the third best existing copy.

IDENTIFICATION-Over half of the Windy City collection has the name "A. Wallace" written in pencil in the first letter of the title logo on the cover. There is speculation that the "A" stands for Anna, the name of the mailman's sister. For any copies that do not have the name written on the cover a master list exists for which comparisons can be made. As far as the extra 1000 or so comics found separately from Colobuono's purchase, very little is known, and no assumptions ca be made concerning grade or markings.

DESIRABILITY-The grades of Windy City copies range from Very Fine to Near Mint with an occasional Very Good or Fine. A few of them exhibit brown pages, although the majority are structurally perfect with full gloss and white pages. The initial distribution sold for around guide with high demand keys selling for 2x to 3x guide. As an interesting note, the Windy City Batman #1, graded a VF+, sold for a record price of $13,400 at the 1986 San Diego Con. Now Windy City copies fetch 1.5x to 2x guide and 3x to 5x guide for high demand keys. 

--from Matt Nelson
********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
:luhv:   My very first pedigree comic purchase was a book from this collection! One of my 'keepers for life' books. Iv'e told the story many times of how i acquired it, so i won't bother telling that story again. Fascinating tidbit is that it consisted of first issues (#1's). How special is that! Still my only book from the Ped.
@Moondog Are you out there? :headbang:
 
 
 

Negro Romance #1 (Windy City).jpg

Outstanding book Corey! Always love seeing it. I want one with “A Wallace” on it but have yet to find one I could buy...

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@SushiX Oh why not! :D

So, well over a decade ago the book was really a unicorn for me. I had seen one photo in a fanzine of the cover, but years of convention after convention getting "Oh boy, good luck!" from dealer after dealer, i had kinda given up .

One day on eBay, a copy popped up. Worn and torn, but presentable, said, this is it, it's now or never. After waiting patiently for a week, it was a Sunday afternoon, i cleared my calendar for . The last seconds came down and i put in my snipe, a whopping $800. The smoke cleared, and i was under bidder :cry:.

I was sick! SO many scenarios played out in my head, what if i had only bid this much, i'd have the book. I thought, look how long it took for a copy to surface. It's going to be another loong wait. The most depressing evenings as a collector iv'e ever had up to that time. 

The next day, i get an email from an anonymous eBay user, saying he saw i was the underbidder, and would like to know if i'd be interested in buying his copy, which was MUCH better than the one i lost bidding to. I tried to play my e-mails cool, not trying to show my hand, but also some fear was in me this could be a scammer. I asked to see a scan and when this pic came through, i nearly chocked on my coffee. I asked his price- and i thought "it's only money, you only live once and go for it"!! :D My girlfriend at the time thought i was crazy and we argued about it for weeks. 

Anyways, after a time pay that was ensuing through a catching fire computer i had to replace, and a strenuous relationship, i paid the book off and it did come through in the mail.

Fast forward to 2014 shortly after a year of lurking on and off i joined the Boards. After a few posts and someone mentioning my books displayed on MSC i believe, I get a PM asking are you Corey from NYC? I sold you a book once. It was none other than @Dr. Love

How do you top that!

At that time after seeing who he was on these Boards after many posts in regards to the Romance genre, it since has been the icing on the cake of this buy. 

 

Bonus: My set was featured on a PBS show documenting the series. I got an e-mail from Stephen Fischler asking if i still had the full set. He'd arrange my loaning them out for the feature. My acquisition of #'s 2 and 3 were through Vinny at Metro and that's a story for another day.

Enjoy!

https://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-race-romance-and-the-comic-book/

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53 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Outstanding book Corey! Always love seeing it. I want one with “A Wallace” on it but have yet to find one I could buy...

Thanks RM! Appreciate your comments on it when i do! 

An A. Wallace copy is bound to turn up in your travels 

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9 hours ago, sagii said:

@SushiX Oh why not! :D

So, well over a decade ago the book was really a unicorn for me. I had seen one photo in a fanzine of the cover, but years of convention after convention getting "Oh boy, good luck!" from dealer after dealer, i had kinda given up .

One day on eBay, a copy popped up. Worn and torn, but presentable, said, this is it, it's now or never. After waiting patiently for a week, it was a Sunday afternoon, i cleared my calendar for . The last seconds came down and i put in my snipe, a whopping $800. The smoke cleared, and i was under bidder :cry:.

I was sick! SO many scenarios played out in my head, what if i had only bid this much, i'd have the book. I thought, look how long it took for a copy to surface. It's going to be another loong wait. The most depressing evenings as a collector iv'e ever had up to that time. 

The next day, i get an email from an anonymous eBay user, saying he saw i was the underbidder, and would like to know if i'd be interested in buying his copy, which was MUCH better than the one i lost bidding to. I tried to play my e-mails cool, not trying to show my hand, but also some fear was in me this could be a scammer. I asked to see a scan and when this pic came through, i nearly chocked on my coffee. I asked his price- and i thought "it's only money, you only live once and go for it"!! :D My girlfriend at the time thought i was crazy and we argued about it for weeks. 

Anyways, after a time pay that was ensuing through a catching fire computer i had to replace, and a strenuous relationship, i paid the book off and it did come through in the mail.

Fast forward to 2014 shortly after a year of lurking on and off i joined the Boards. After a few posts and someone mentioning my books displayed on MSC i believe, I get a PM asking are you Corey from NYC? I sold you a book once. It was none other than @Dr. Love

How do you top that!

At that time after seeing who he was on these Boards after many posts in regards to the Romance genre, it since has been the icing on the cake of this buy. 

 

Bonus: My set was featured on a PBS show documenting the series. I got an e-mail from Stephen Fischler asking if i still had the full set. He'd arrange my loaning them out for the feature. My acquisition of #'s 2 and 3 were through Vinny at Metro and that's a story for another day.

Enjoy!

https://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-race-romance-and-the-comic-book/

awesome story sagii! that was very interesting and I enjoyed it very much:headbang:

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13 hours ago, sagii said:

@SushiX Oh why not! :D

So, well over a decade ago the book was really a unicorn for me. I had seen one photo in a fanzine of the cover, but years of convention after convention getting "Oh boy, good luck!" from dealer after dealer, i had kinda given up .

One day on eBay, a copy popped up. Worn and torn, but presentable, said, this is it, it's now or never. After waiting patiently for a week, it was a Sunday afternoon, i cleared my calendar for . The last seconds came down and i put in my snipe, a whopping $800. The smoke cleared, and i was under bidder :cry:.

I was sick! SO many scenarios played out in my head, what if i had only bid this much, i'd have the book. I thought, look how long it took for a copy to surface. It's going to be another loong wait. The most depressing evenings as a collector iv'e ever had up to that time. 

The next day, i get an email from an anonymous eBay user, saying he saw i was the underbidder, and would like to know if i'd be interested in buying his copy, which was MUCH better than the one i lost bidding to. I tried to play my e-mails cool, not trying to show my hand, but also some fear was in me this could be a scammer. I asked to see a scan and when this pic came through, i nearly chocked on my coffee. I asked his price- and i thought "it's only money, you only live once and go for it"!! :D My girlfriend at the time thought i was crazy and we argued about it for weeks. 

Anyways, after a time pay that was ensuing through a catching fire computer i had to replace, and a strenuous relationship, i paid the book off and it did come through in the mail.

Fast forward to 2014 shortly after a year of lurking on and off i joined the Boards. After a few posts and someone mentioning my books displayed on MSC i believe, I get a PM asking are you Corey from NYC? I sold you a book once. It was none other than @Dr. Love

How do you top that!

At that time after seeing who he was on these Boards after many posts in regards to the Romance genre, it since has been the icing on the cake of this buy. 

 

Bonus: My set was featured on a PBS show documenting the series. I got an e-mail from Stephen Fischler asking if i still had the full set. He'd arrange my loaning them out for the feature. My acquisition of #'s 2 and 3 were through Vinny at Metro and that's a story for another day.

Enjoy!

https://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-race-romance-and-the-comic-book/

Great story Corey. I especially like the argument with the girlfriend. My wife doesn’t ask or care what I pay for stuff. But do remember well the day I rode up in the driveway with a 1949 Indian Chief. Silent treatment for a month. Didn’t really mind though, got a lot of piece and quiet while I worked on it.  :devil:

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