UK PRICE STAMP ON AMERICAN COMICS 1 1

[kav]

Should have no effect on grade.

[revat]

2 hours ago, kav said:

Should have no effect on grade.

should or doesn't?

[Get Marwood & I]

6 hours ago, thunsicker said:

11 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Maybe they should rename the forum to 'Don't Ask CGC' 

More like ‘Ask CGC And We’ll Delete Your Question’.

I can understand why they wouldn’t want to answer questions about what goes into grading (well, I should specify that I don’t understand, but they are consistent about that) but the other questions?  Odd.

Indeed. How about 'Don't Ask CGC Marwood'? 

[kav]

7 hours ago, revat said:

should or doesn't?

should, and as far as my understanding, doesnt-but I could be wrong abt that part.

[Senormac]

4 hours ago, kav said:

should, and as far as my understanding, doesnt-but I could be wrong abt that part.

  No.... No.....   No effin way !!!   

[herc2000]

Hi, it will have no effect on grade or price, but some people would not buy it because of the stamp, but they're usually very picky collectors.

You can get the older stamps, which are black, about twice the size and can be very ugly, if they smudge, then the value would, should go down just to get a quicker sale.

As for Pence copies, they are on the up and will soon be worth double than their Cents counterparts 

[jayhawker]

This might be the only book I have with a UK stamp.

[jools&jim]

Was very pleased to get this copy in recently -- sold as a "Good", and the stamp (to me at least) was a BIG bonus:

Could one of our fine friends from across the big pond please be so kind as to decode all of the numbers and markings on the price stamp for us pre-decimalisation dullards over here in the colonies? 'Twould be very much appreciated! 

 

[ADAMANTIUM]

12 minutes ago, jools&jim said:

Was very pleased to get this copy in recently -- sold as a "Good", and the stamp (to me at least) was a BIG bonus:

Could one of our fine friends from across the big pond please be so kind as to decode all of the numbers and markings on the price stamp for us pre-decimalisation dullards over here in the colonies? 'Twould be very much appreciated! 

 

They might be all asleep

@Get Marwood & I or I think @Ken Aldred

[ADAMANTIUM]

14 minutes ago, jools&jim said:

Was very pleased to get this copy in recently -- sold as a "Good", and the stamp (to me at least) was a BIG bonus:

Could one of our fine friends from across the big pond please be so kind as to decode all of the numbers and markings on the price stamp for us pre-decimalisation dullards over here in the colonies? 'Twould be very much appreciated! 

 

One more time to quote and ease some curiosity

From what I've gleaned from @Get Marwood & I threads on the subject is

The t and p stand for "Thorpe and Porter" stamp 

And the 1/- means 1 pence, I'm not sure the value in american

Looks like a penny not sure though

https://coinmill.com/GBX_USD.html#GBX=1/-

The 2 in between t and p not sure....

Hope that helps 

 

[Garystar]

Should read T & P Thorpe and Porter not T2 P - either poor inking or misprint. 1/- is one shilling. Pre decimalisation (1971) there were 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound. Today’s exchange rate with current strong dollar 1/- equates to about 6 cents. 

[Get Marwood & I]

2 hours ago, GARYSTAR said:

Should read T & P Thorpe and Porter not T2 P - either poor inking or misprint. 1/- is one shilling. Pre decimalisation (1971) there were 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound. Today’s exchange rate with current strong dollar 1/- equates to about 6 cents. 

The '2' in the T and P is deliberate Gary - Thorpe & Porter used a numbering system on their stamps - here's an example of a 1 and a 2 for the same book:

 

 

I did some research on this a year or so back, in conjunction with some 'first UK distribution' work, to try to see if I could crack the stamp pattern and identify what the numbers mean. You might expect they would correspond with the months of the year perhaps but they don't seem to as there are less numbers than months in the year and, often, you'll find the same book has different numbers on it anyway:

   

 

I asked a lot of the older UK dealers, some very knowledgeable, and none of them knew what the numbers represented, including those that were around at the time. So It may be yet another distribution practice that passed unnoticed and the knowledge of which has now been lost in time. My guess is that they represent regional distribution areas.

Its an area of research that I put on hold, and I've forgotten more about it than I remember now, so I may have to reactivate it and keep digging - here's the DC file:

 

Maybe someone who knows will read this and chime in. You never know. 

 

[Garystar]

Had never noticed T&P stamp was actually T number P. I’ll have a closer look at some of mine. Perhaps a distribution centre as you suggest. 

[Get Marwood & I]

6 hours ago, GARYSTAR said:

Had never noticed T&P stamp was actually T number P. I’ll have a closer look at some of mine. Perhaps a distribution centre as you suggest. 

Some of the later ones were T&P's:

Lots of variations down the years.

[Ken Aldred]

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Some of the later ones were T&P's:

Lots of variations down the years.

That must be why it's new to me as well.  I only started buying American comics in 1973, and by then maybe they'd already switched to the ampersand.

[Get Marwood & I]

13 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

That must be why it's new to me as well.  I only started buying American comics in 1973, and by then maybe they'd already switched to the ampersand.

Always liked that word Ken 

[Ken Aldred]

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Always liked that word Ken 

It’s a good one. 

[Garystar]

21 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Some of the later ones were T&P's:

Just looked through about 100 of my stamped Marvels. Just as you said they are mostly T number P, I couldn't see any pattern although I had no #1's and only one #5. I started collecting in 1973 so all my stamped comics were bought second hand and could have come from anywhere in the UK. I did notice that all the ones with a number were pre-decimal and all the decimal ones were T&P, appears the change over is cover dated September 1970. There also appears to be a one month, cover dated August 1970, when the stamp showed 5p at the top and 1/- at the bottom. 

[Get Marwood & I]

1 hour ago, GARYSTAR said:

Just looked through about 100 of my stamped Marvels. Just as you said they are mostly T number P, I couldn't see any pattern although I had no #1's and only one #5. I started collecting in 1973 so all my stamped comics were bought second hand and could have come from anywhere in the UK. I did notice that all the ones with a number were pre-decimal and all the decimal ones were T&P, appears the change over is cover dated September 1970. There also appears to be a one month, cover dated August 1970, when the stamp showed 5p at the top and 1/- at the bottom. 

Cool, thanks Gary. I've got a folder somewhere in which I collected all the different T&P stamp types as well as the Millers and any other ones I stumbled across. We could probably write a book on it.

Readership of two though I'm guessing...  

[Garystar]

I believe Rob Kirby has been working on “from cents to pence” the history of Marvel USA to UK for something like 20 years. There are several extracts on the net and if it ever comes out should be a cracking read/resource.