• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Captain America Comics 1 9.8 Allentown Pedigree
3 3

114 posts in this topic

On 2/14/2020 at 5:12 PM, sagii said:

The Allentown Pedigree is so fascinating: Small in size, but boasting the best copies of some of  the most famous comic book issues around.

 Books from the collection rarely come to market.

Out of all of the top GA pedigrees, this is the one that I personally find the most desirable due to the 3 key factors of size, rarity, and high quality.  :cloud9:  :takeit:

Based upon the simple fact that although the Church books are rightfully acknowleged as the best in the hoby place, it's a simple case of if you miss on one of them, there's another 18,000 to 20,000 other copies you could go after.  hm

Definitely not the case when it comes to the Allentown books. :luhv:

 

Edited by lou_fine
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Out of all of the top GA pedigrees, this is the one that I personally find the most desirable due to the 3 key factors of size, rarity, and high quality.  :cloud9:  :takeit:

Based upon the simple fact that although the Church books are rightfully acknowleged as the best in the hoby place, it's a simple case of if you miss on one of them, there's another 18,000 to 20,000 other copies you could go after.  hm

Definitely not the case when it comes to the Allentown books. :luhv:

 

Couldn't have put it better myself Lou! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/14/2020 at 8:54 PM, Randall Dowling said:
On 2/14/2020 at 5:12 PM, sagii said:

The Allentown Pedigree is so fascinating: Small in size, but boasting the best copies of some of  the most famous comic book issues around.

 

I can offer only this small bit of information.  About 12 years ago when the financial collapse was in progress, I was seriously considering acquiring one of the Allentown books for my collection.  I figured that with only 135 books in the pedigree, odds were that finding copies that weren't locked down would grow harder and harder.

From the Master Allentown Collection List, it would appear that this collection was dominated by short runs of a few key and highly desirable GA titles.  (thumbsu

This being a complete run of Batman #1 to #6, a near complete run of Detective #26 to #38 (missing 'Tec 32, 36, & 37), a complete short run of Cap #1 to #3, a near complete run of Mystery Men #1 to #16 (missing MM #12), and a near complete run of Wonder/Wonderworld #1 to #17 (missing WW #16).  :cloud9:

I remember doing a head to head comparison of the CGC grades between the Church and Allentown copies of the handful+ Fox books which have come to market so far, and if I remember correctly, the Allentown copies ended up grading either higher or on an equivalent basis to the Church copies except for a couple of the issues.  :takeit:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

a near complete run of Detective #26 to #38 (missing 'Tec 32, 36, & 37)

what grades ? I have only seen the 29 (9.6), 33 (9.0) and 38 (9.4)

27 is potentially a 9.6

The Atlantic City copy of Detective 33 dethroned the Allentown copy.

Edited by Gotham Kid
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/14/2020 at 9:12 PM, sagii said:
On 2/14/2020 at 8:54 PM, Randall Dowling said:

 Metropolis had 3 or 4 books from the pedigree (none were big books) but were still outside how much I wanted to spend (I think the least expensive was $5000ish).  So, I passed but still wish I'd been able to nail one down.  

My guess is that the collection is scattered.  2c

Appreciate the info! Some did pass through Metro over the years and back in the day when 5000ish was also out of the realm of what i would consider paying for a comic book, i believe they had the Allentown Tec 38 around that price. with only 135 books....... :cry: Hindsight , hindsight...

I agree, that most of the collection is most likely scattered. (thumbsu

If I remember correctly, I believe the Metropolis #1 Catalogue which they had put out in the very early 90's had quite a few of the Allentown Fox books in there. (shrug)

Since I can't seem to find my copy of the catalogue, I think they were some of the earlier Wonderworld (and possibly Mystery Men) books and I believe they had them priced in the $1,000 to $1,500 or at something like 3X top of guide at the time.  Being the El Cheapo guy that I was, I went and passed on picking any of them up.  doh!

Fast forward to the summer of '95 or '96 and I remembered being down at a comic convention in Seattle where Harley had the Allentown copies of Wonderworld 13 and 14 for around $1,100 or thereabouts for each of them.  Even though I kept saying NO, he was somehow able to craftily convince me to take the WW 13 home with me and to pay for it afterwards if I ended up deciding to keep the book.  Betting correctly that I would change my No to a Yes once I had the book at home, decided to give Harley a call about a week later to confirm final payment and to ask about the Allentown Wonderworld 14.  Sadly, he had already flipped the book to Fishler who happily snapped it up and jacked it up to double the price that Harley had the book at.  :mad:  :censored:

As per usual, typical me diddle doddling :taptaptap:  :taptaptap:  around and ended up missing another opportunity on a nice book.  :facepalm:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

If I remember correctly, I believe the Metropolis #1 Catalogue which they had put out in the very early 90's had quite a few of the Allentown Fox books in there. (shrug)

Since I can't seem to find my copy of the catalogue, I think they were some of the earlier Wonderworld (and possibly Mystery Men) books and I believe they had them priced in the $1,000 to $1,500 or at something like 3X top of guide at the time.  Being the El Cheapo guy that I was, I went and passed on picking any of them up.  doh!

Fast forward to the summer of '95 or '96 and I remembered being down at a comic convention in Seattle where Harley had the Allentown copies of Wonderworld 13 and 14 for around $1,100 or thereabouts for each of them.  Even though I kept saying NO, he was somehow able to craftily convince me to take the WW 13 home with me and to pay for it afterwards if I ended up deciding to keep the book.  Betting correctly that I would change my No to a Yes once I had the book at home, decided to give Harley a call about a week later to confirm final payment and to ask about the Allentown Wonderworld 14.  Sadly, he had already flipped the book to Fishler who happily snapped it up and jacked it up to double the price that Harley had the book at.  :mad:  :censored:

As per usual, typical me diddle doddling :taptaptap:  :taptaptap:  around and ended up missing another opportunity on a nice book.  :facepalm:

 

I actually went back to look at that catalog after yours and another post about the bulk of the collection having possibly passed through Metro at some point.

Wow, again, all I can say is hindsight. 

Hope you are still the owner of the WE #13 :wishluck:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/15/2020 at 5:05 AM, tth2 said:
On 2/14/2020 at 11:48 PM, Crowzilla said:

It's interesting that at the time of it's last public sale just over a decade ago the Tec 38 dropped in value nearly $20K from it's prior sale (even though guide had gone up 33% in the interim). You can still see it on the HA archive, beautiful copy that might be a 9.8 if not for the dust shadows on the bc. 

I seem to recall the AT Tec 38 being sold on Heritage several times.  It actually seemed to be viewed as something of a toxic book at the time, when Robin-hate was running at its strongest.

Like a lot of other GA books after the initial buzz and excitement with graded books had passed through the marketplace, prices seemingly took a pause or a bit of a downward draft for quite a few years back then.  Not sure if marco economic factors such as the falling housing market followed quickly by the financial crisis, or more self-inflicted factors such as the whole freshly unveiled and still not fully accepted artifical manipulation of books played a part in the falling prices?  Or possibly a combination of all these factors at the time?  (shrug)

Definitely no exception for the Allentown copy of Detective 38 which was and still is the highest CGC graded copy, as it sold for significant decreasing multiples to top of guide every single time it came back into the marketplace.  Clearly evident with the first sale at HA in 2002 for $120,750 or at 2.7X then top of guide, followed by a subequent sale in 2005 for $126,500 or at 2.1X then top of guide, before finally finding a long term home in 2009 when it sold for $107,550 or at only 1.35X then top of guide.  :frown:

Any bets that the current owner would be quite happy given the present red hot state of the GA comic book market for key and classic cover books.  hm  :whee:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Gotham Kid said:
5 hours ago, lou_fine said:

a near complete run of Detective #26 to #38 (missing 'Tec 32, 36, & 37)

what grades ? I have only seen the 29 (9.6), 33 (9.0) and 38 (9.4)

27 is potentially a 9.6

The Atlantic City copy of Detective 33 dethroned the Allentown copy.

Not sure if it means much since these are only raw grades, although it should be noted that Payette always had a reputation for being a relatively strict grader. :applause:

From the Master Allentown Collection List, Payette's raw grades for the Detective #26 to #38 were as follows:

Detective 26 - VF/NM   CGC grade of VF/NM 9.0;

Detective 27 - VF/NM;

Detective 28 - VF;

Detective 29 - NM        CGC grade of NM+ 9.6;

Detective 30 - NM-;

Detective 31 - VF White Pages;

Detective 33 - VF/NM   CGC grade of VF/NM 9.0 with minor color touch and minor glue;

Detective 34 - VF;

Detective 35 - VF; and 

Detective 38 - VF         CGC grade of NM 9.4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, lou_fine said:

Not sure if it means much since these are only raw grades, although it should be noted that Payette always had a reputation for being a relatively strict grader. :applause:

From the Master Allentown Collection List, Payette's raw grades for the Detective #26 to #38 were as follows:

Detective 26 - VF/NM   CGC grade of VF/NM 9.0;

Detective 27 - VF/NM;

Detective 28 - VF;  CGC 9.0

Detective 29 - NM        CGC grade of NM+ 9.6;

Detective 30 - NM-;

Detective 31 - VF White Pages;

Detective 33 - VF/NM   CGC grade of VF/NM 9.0 with minor color touch and minor glue;

Detective 34 - VF;  CGC 9.2

Detective 35 - VF;

Detective 38 - VF     CGC grade of NM 9.4

after a little more digging I found out Eric Roberts owned/owns :

Detective Comics 28 9.0 Allentown

Detective Comics 29 9.6 Allentown

Detective Comics 34 9.2 Allentown

Edited by Gotham Kid
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

Pardon my ignorance, but Eric Roberts, the actor?

No, Eric is the son of wall street investor George Roberts. He sold the first AF15 9.6 for 1.1 Mil

 

Some of his books. Pure drek.

Detective Comics 27 7.5

Detective Comics 28 9.0 Allentown

Detective Comics 29 9.6 Allentown

Detective Comics 30 8.5

Detective Comics 31 8.0

Detective Comics 32 7.5

Detective Comics 33 9.0

Detective Comics 34 9.2 Allentown

Detective Comics 35 8.5 Nova Scotia

Detective Comics 36 8.5

Detective Comics 37 9.0 Nova Scotia

Detective Comics 38 9.0

Detective Comics 39 9.0 Nova Scotia

Detective Comics 40 9.4

Detective Comics 58 9.4 Rockford

Detective Comics 69 9.6 Reilly

Detective Comics 140 9.4 Twiliglht

Detective Comics 168 9.2

Edited by Gotham Kid
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, Gotham Kid said:

No, Eric is the son of wall street investor George Roberts. He sold the first AF15 9.6 for 1.1 Mil

 

Some of his books. Pure drek.

Detective Comics 27 7.5

Detective Comics 28 9.0 Allentown

Detective Comics 29 9.6 Allentown

Detective Comics 30 8.5

Detective Comics 31 8.0

Detective Comics 32 7.5

Detective Comics 33 9.0

Detective Comics 34 9.2 Allentown

Detective Comics 35 8.5 Nova Scotia

Detective Comics 36 8.5

Detective Comics 37 9.0 Nova Scotia

Detective Comics 38 9.0

Detective Comics 39 9.0 Nova Scotia

Detective Comics 40 9.4

Detective Comics 58 9.4 Rockford

Detective Comics 69 9.6 Reilly

Detective Comics 140 9.4 Twiliglht

Detective Comics 168 9.2

Good grief. His cup runneth over

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
3 3