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The Blankis/Salida Thread
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38 posts in this topic

9 hours ago, Aman619 said:

Anyone know what the M in the stamp refers to? I’ve always wondered...

It's a distributor code.  Interestingly when the Atlas implosion happened the Atlas titles switched their code, which goes along with what we know about having to use DC's distributor.  There's an M, C, and D IIRC. 

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10 hours ago, buttock said:

It's a distributor code.  Interestingly when the Atlas implosion happened the Atlas titles switched their code, which goes along with what we know about having to use DC's distributor.  There's an M, C, and D IIRC. 

Maybe I wasn’t clear.  I meant the M in the store stamp.  A distributor code would have been printed like CC, or IND.  the M is always stamped with the arrival date.  And aside from the white pages or the earlier cookies stamp, when I see that distinctive M I’m thinking Salida!

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39 minutes ago, Aman619 said:

Maybe I wasn’t clear.  I meant the M in the store stamp.  A distributor code would have been printed like CC, or IND.  the M is always stamped with the arrival date.  And aside from the white pages or the earlier cookies stamp, when I see that distinctive M I’m thinking Salida!

I meant it marked the distributor for returns.  

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That’s what the stamp is for, to help retailer pull books to be returned 2 0r was it 3 months after being for sale on the racks. But the publication month on covers did the same thing.  Always dared 2 or 3 months later than arrival/ship date.  And no need to manually mark the distributor... the guy who dropped the comics off is same guy who picks up the returns each week. 

‘I think the stamped M is part of the store stamp. Just wonder what it stands for. 

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http://moocowcomics.blogspot.com/2006/02/blankis-salida-pedigree.html

BLANKIS-SALIDA - This is a relatively new pedigreed collection that was purchased by Bruce Ellsworth in 1994. The collection originated from Salida, Colorado and was amassed by an individual named Frank Blankis. Because Blankis was handicapped he was unable to join the service, but read war books faithfully. He also loved Disney books. This was evident from his collection, which consisted of a complete run of DC and Atlas war books from 1950-1969 (with the exception of 10 issues total, all from the same month/year), most of the other various war titles from other companies, and Walt Disney Comics and Stories #50-210. The average grade was Very Fine to Near Mint. What is incredible about this collection is the page quality. I have to admit my skepticism upon hearing about this new pedigree, but when I saw my first Blankis-Salida book, I couldn't believe my eyes. To this day I have never seen whiter pages.

Ellsworth kept most of the collection, selling the bulk of the Atlas to one collector, and very little publicly. Included in the Blankis-Salida collection are the finest known copies of Our Army at War #1,81,83 and Our Fighting Forces #1.

IDENTIFICATION-Most of the Blankis-Salida books have stamps on the back or front cover. Variations of the stamp exist, such as: "Fred's News Stand", "Nor-Colo.", and the actual subscription stamp of Frank Blankis. Because the collection is relatively new and very little has been sold from it Blankis Salida books are easily identifiable.

DESIRABILITY-Despite the specified nature of the collection, the completeness of the war genre and Disney comics are impressive and the page quality is unsurpassed. Most books are technical NM and are the finest known copies to exist. Common Blankis-Salida books sell between 1x and 2.5x guide. 

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9 hours ago, Aman619 said:

That’s what the stamp is for, to help retailer pull books to be returned 2 0r was it 3 months after being for sale on the racks. But the publication month on covers did the same thing.  Always dared 2 or 3 months later than arrival/ship date.  And no need to manually mark the distributor... the guy who dropped the comics off is same guy who picks up the returns each week. 

‘I think the stamped M is part of the store stamp. Just wonder what it stands for. 

Different publishers had different distributors.  For example some Larson books have ON for Omaha News and PN for another distributor, the name of which escapes me.  This let the store know which distributor to return the unsold books to.  It's commonly accepted that this is the case.  There wasn't a single distributor who could just pick up everything.  Somewhere I have some documentation by date of these Salida codes.  When the Atlas implosion happened the code on the Atlas books switched to the same one as DC which tells me that this is a distributor marking.  

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Good info.  Thanx.  Not to keep on with this though, the M is a store stamp, and I was expecting the answer for that to be a stamp made by a single store for their inventory.  The M is always aligned with the date so must be a single stamp.  

 

Also, I didn’t realize that the highest grade OOAW 83 was a Salida copy!  Thought it was a random copy in a collection. 

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1 hour ago, Aman619 said:

Good info.  Thanx.  Not to keep on with this though, the M is a store stamp, and I was expecting the answer for that to be a stamp made by a single store for their inventory.  The M is always aligned with the date so must be a single stamp.  

 

Also, I didn’t realize that the highest grade OOAW 83 was a Salida copy!  Thought it was a random copy in a collection. 

I'm sure you could customize a stamp to have rotating letters along with the date, or different stamps for each distributor.  I went through Salida 2 years ago trying to find info about some of the old stores with no luck.  I have delusions about tracking down some of the Blankises who remain in the area, but haven't made it a priority.  

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1 hour ago, buttock said:

I'm sure you could customize a stamp to have rotating letters along with the date, or different stamps for each distributor.  I went through Salida 2 years ago trying to find info about some of the old stores with no luck.  I have delusions about tracking down some of the Blankises who remain in the area, but haven't made it a priority.  

thats what I was looking for. Ive never used such a stamp, but figured they could exist.  And having the choice of letters to use, (you know whats coming...)  WHY choose the M?  Somebody name?  : )  Most of my Salidas have the big M stamp so thats MY pedigree marking for them... like the River Citys have grease pencil markings

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1 hour ago, adamstrange said:

Salida copy is not graded.

OK I misread that blog post as "highest graded" but he said "finest known".   so, what grade is the Salida 83 going to slab at?  go downstairs and dig it out and check please!  : )

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