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Happy New Year from Matt, Steve, Arnie and Gary - The Windy City Story
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51 posts in this topic

3 hours ago, Peter G said:

Did most big dealers at the time try to keep pedigree collections intact for the sake of some vague notions of historical posterity? Seems strange to me for one dealer to insist to another dealer to make a business decision of this sort.

No dealers I know ever keep the collections they purchase intact and together.  It just doesn't make sense if the the collection is considered "inventory".  You make an investment and you want to recoup that investment and then make a profit.  Stephen had a customer with the wherewithal to buy it in its entirety.  So I believe he would have accomplished both goals - keeping the collection intact (because of his passion for the art form) and making a nice profit on the sale.  In hindsight I can't argue with this position. How cool would it be to know all these comics are still all together in one collection that at some point may be available for us to inspect? 

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2 hours ago, Peter G said:

Of course. Just like the sharks of today. The hobby has always been about ROI for dealers. 
 

Advising a person that they need to keep the collection intact just rings so disingenuous and weird to me. 
 

Maybe there is simply something missing in the recounting of this story 

You're misunderstanding Stephen's position.  Gary buys the collection.  Stephen sells it to Mark Hamill.  The collection stays together and Stephen and Gary both make a nice profit.  I said no since I would make more selling it on my own.

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6 minutes ago, Moondog said:

No dealers I know ever keep the collections they purchase intact and together.  It just doesn't make sense if the the collection is considered "inventory".  You make an investment and you want to recoup that investment and then make a profit.  Stephen had a customer with the wherewithal to buy it in its entirety.  So I believe he would have accomplished both goals - keeping the collection intact (because of his passion for the art form) and making a nice profit on the sale.  In hindsight I can't argue with this position. How cool would it be to know all these comics are still all together in one collection that at some point may be available for us to inspect? 

Brian Peet’s of A-1 Comics kept the Central Valley collection intact for many years before he decided to break it up and sell it. I also believe it was the first collection graded in it’s entirety by CGC. 

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1 hour ago, sacentaur said:

Your instincts are no doubt correct, the manipulative shark probably couldn’t bear the thought of a single book slipping through his clutches.

Several years ago a local shop owner told me about a nice collection he was about to score; a different NY dealer was out here and he tried to razzle-dazzle and intimidate the shop owner into shifting the collection to him. It didn’t work.

I am so glad Gary got the Windy City books. (thumbsu

Steve, let me reiterate that Stephen was nothing but professional during all these negotiations (and he was pretty much just a kid then).  He ended up buying many of the keys on trips to Chicago.  He and I have done  deals together since he was a teenager.  Never once has he ever done anything with me that could be considered shady. 

Let's have fun with this post and not turn it personal.

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1 hour ago, Robot Man said:

Thanks so much for posting this. Most of us can only dream of this happening to us. Glad it happened to Gary. Sounds like he certainly had to work hard and be patient to land it. An amazing tale. Hopefully the “book” happens in my life time...

I have been looking for a Windy City book with Anna Wallace’s name on it forever. Just a minor one would do nicely.  Just never see them for sale. 

Bob, every so often I get an email from a collector who asks me to ID a Windy City.  I love re-connecting with them.  Especially the one's marked A WALLACE or ANNA WALLACE.  They're out there!

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31 minutes ago, Moondog said:

I was 37 when I opened Moondog's.  Were you into comics at the time?  Were you a customer of mine eventually?

I wished I did.  I passed your shop at all the time but I managed buying comic books and magazines at 7 11 store and White Hen Pantry near my home by biking. Eventually I moved to California for ten years until the recession hit. Moved back to my hometown where we live. Sorry I missed your nostalgia and glory time but I am happy that we met and become acquainted recently.  I started to buy comic books again in mid-1990's at Comix Revolution (your ex store) at old Randhurst Mall.

I just learned that your friend Ben who was passed away only 6 years ago. It seemed not that long time ago.

Edited by JollyComics
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6 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Brian Peet’s of A-1 Comics kept the Central Valley collection intact for many years before he decided to break it up and sell it. I also believe it was the first collection graded in it’s entirety by CGC. 

I wish I was in a position to sit on the collection or just 25 of the mega-keys.  Alas, I couldn't afford not to start selling books immediately.

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2 hours ago, Moondog said:

I only spoke to Ross once, but Cresthol was calling me all the time trying to weasel his way in.  What a piece of work.  It still bugs me to this day.

Ross still sets up locally once a month,I've seen him at shows since I was a real young fellow.I can only imagine what the 'bad cop' Cresthol was like to deal with:p*to keep it fun-I remember my first comic cons as a kid were called MapleCon here at Carlton U,Ottawa and I always looked forward to the out of town dealers.I still remember buying my TTA 48 from Harley :luhv: I also remember some guys that set up from Chicago,got my ASM 14 from them.Could that have been you?This would have been 88,89 or 90?To me at least it was a HUGE deal

Also,a nice thought there's still Windy City books in the wild and one may grace my collection with any luck!

Edited by porcupine48
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2 hours ago, Moondog said:

I only spoke to Ross once, but Cresthol was calling me all the time trying to weasel his way in.  What a piece of work.  It still bugs me to this day.

Let’s have fun with this post and not turn it personal.

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2 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Brian Peet’s of A-1 Comics kept the Central Valley collection intact for many years before he decided to break it up and sell it. 

This is true - Brian held onto the collection for 13(?) years and then released it for a specific (personal) reason. 

The CV’s are such beautiful books - bone white pages - the flaw in the collection (if we can call it that) is that he majority of the books are not what we would consider today to be mainstream or ‘hot’ titles.

Edited by sacentaur
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4 minutes ago, sacentaur said:

This is true - Brian held onto the collection for 13(?) years and then released it for a specific (personal) reason. 

The CV’s are such beautiful books - bone white pages - the flaw in the collection (if we can call it that) is that he majority of the books are not what we would consider today to be mainstream or ‘hot’ titles.

All the better for folk like myself who'd just like to have an  affordable representation of such great pieces of history in our collections :smile:

 

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1 minute ago, porcupine48 said:

All the better for folk like myself who'd just like to have an  affordable representation of such great pieces of history in our collections :smile:

 

That’s a good point, Jimmers - I wish I could show you the CV copy of Mutt & Jeff 5, the book is unbelievable. :cloud9:

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12 minutes ago, sacentaur said:

That’s a good point, Jimmers - I wish I could show you the CV copy of Mutt & Jeff 5, the book is unbelievable. :cloud9:

I'd love it as much as my Supersnipe Church :cloud9: My Nan always called Ghost Rider and I Mutt and Jeff! I love those guys-#4 is a Freddy Krueger prototype!

Spoiler

Okay,now I'm being silly,but,keeping it fun!

881821-muttjeff_4.jpg

Windy City,Central Valley or Park Avenue book,to me,the title wouldn't be so important,it's knowing where it's from,being part of its story(I bet you could guess what one I'd hold dearest)

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13 hours ago, ThreeSeas said:

I love reading stories about the histories of different collections like this one. Thanks for posting.

+1

Yes, absolutely love reading riveting stories like these about how some of the very early pedigree collections were compiled by the original owners back in the day and then how they were eventually found by the dealers and subsequently brought to market.  Makes me feel like I was right there with them through the whole process.  (thumbsu :cloud9:

I am certainly glad to hear that the long awaited Pedigree Book is suposedly off the bench and back in play again.  Especially if they have "origin" stories like this one here which was the original intent of the Pedigree Book, and less focus on all of the CGC related stats which they seem to be drifting towards when the book got benched several years ago.  Never get of the "origin" stories behind these collections, and they definitely should not take precedence over dated stats which are most likely alrready out-of-date by the time the book is published.  hm

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14 hours ago, Brittany M. said:

Other notable runs: Famous Funnies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 25, 26, and 27. More Fun 9, 10, 11,

12, 13, and 14. New Comics 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Very nice to know that there are a few small early runs in there as my initial thought was that the Windy City was made up entirely of #1 issues only.  (thumbsu

 

Gary;

Do you remember what kind of condition these early Famous Funnies and pre-hero DC books were in?  hm

Very timely as we were just talking about the early New Comics run in another thread on the GA boards here and sad to say, it looks like this is another collection that is missing the apparently super rare New Comics 2 from the collection itself.  I guess it's only a matter of time before a half decent copy comes along, but the current CGC census indicates that still only 5 unrestored Universal copies of this book have been slabbed after 20 long years, with the highest graded still being only a CGC 2.0 graded copy.  :whatthe:   :taptaptap:  :takeit:

 

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11 hours ago, sacentaur said:

This is true - Brian held onto the collection for 13(?) years and then released it for a specific (personal) reason. 

The CV’s are such beautiful books - bone white pages - the flaw in the collection (if we can call it that) is that he majority of the books are not what we would consider today to be mainstream or ‘hot’ titles.

Yes, indeed beautiful books and VERY white pages like Vancouvers, MH and Salidas. Problem with this collection to me was that it wasn't that large and was a bit spotty. I was surprised it got a pedigree according to CGC's standards. Either way, a great bunch of books and many very affordable issues for folks who want books that look like they were printed yesterday. I have half a dozen I bought from Brian and cracked out a couple. They do deliver page wise!

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22 hours ago, Timely said:

I'm glad the book is back on track after more than a decade of being idle.

Hopefully the parts of the pedigree book I wrote, along with all the data I collected and interviews I conducted will be credited to me.

West

Well, I imagine it probably really depends if you are planning to come back from across the dark side of the street and back into the light. lol

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