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Robert Bell - Anybody Buy From RB?
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32 posts in this topic

Back in the day my brother and I bought quite a few books from Bell and what made me think about this, I haven’t a clue, but if you bought from him do you recall if he simply put the books in an envelope and shipped them or did he at least put them between two pieces of card board?  I simply can’t remember.

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1 hour ago, JohnFranklin said:

Back in the day my brother and I bought quite a few books from Bell and what made me think about this, I haven’t a clue, but if you bought from him do you recall if he simply put the books in an envelope and shipped them or did he at least put them between two pieces of card board?  I simply can’t remember.

Everything I got from him was in a padded envelop and I don't remember cardboard.

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13 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

6024133216476nT.JPG.57bd5d3b3c7360c8cfaf5de1c82e25fb.JPG

not my picture

He always sent his stuff in his comic bags that he also had for sale.

I still have one of his mailer catalogues. spoilered below....

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

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Thanks for sharing that catalog. Always fun, albeit sometimes painful, to see the prices of grails back in the 70's. 

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2 hours ago, musicmeta said:

I do remember those Robert Bell bags and actually had a few of them at one time.  

On Bedrock’s “joke” sales thread a ways back I actually “bought” one and to my surprise he sent it to me no charge...:nyah:

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Robert Bell and many other sellers back in the 70's required the Self Addressed stamp envelope.  Anything you bought required "alternates"  in case something wasn't in stock.  

I loved getting the catalogs in the mail but after discovering Phil Seuling shows and the monthly publication that I can't seem to remember with pages and pages of books for sale I kind of stopped wasting my stamps.

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13 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

6024133216476nT.JPG.57bd5d3b3c7360c8cfaf5de1c82e25fb.JPG

not my picture

He always sent his stuff in his comic bags that he also had for sale.

I still have one of his mailer catalogues. spoilered below....

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Scan0003.thumb.jpg.e280f0e50a13b602c96454f238ea5afe.jpg

Scan0005-2.thumb.jpg.550a38003b3d46b967f52c45cbcf8ec3.jpg

Scan0006-2.thumb.jpg.439ca145cdcb8ea0f30c54954b4deeb6.jpg

Scan0007-2.thumb.jpg.f05659629cbfdd68e8f77ce522514960.jpg

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2 minutes ago, Motor City Rob said:

Thanks for sharing that catalog. Always fun, albeit sometimes painful, to see the prices of grails back in the 70's. 

I was buying (as a kid) back then so for me it’s nostalgic and a memory of simpler times. You could stop by Richard Alf’s store in 1974 here in San Diego and see a shiny VF++ Amazing Fantasy #15 on display for $25.00. Of coarse we were buying things like Hulk #181, GS X-Men #1, Amazing Spider-Man #129, Tomb of Dracula, Batman #251, etc., etc... fresh off the newsstands so I have memories of seeing 1 or 2 dozen in some cases of now key BA books in their new fresh ink glory just sitting there for 20 or 25 cents each...:bigsmile:

This house ad brings about a lot of memories from Marvel in April 1974 that came at a time where prices were starting to move up more rapidly with their earlier key books.

 

77E982F6-3E95-490C-A845-0172455C86A3.thumb.jpeg.83122b8112d6b336e12da6acc2ef7556.jpeg

 

I remember Fantastic Four #1 jumping from $35.00 to $50.00 by one dealer and thinking how outrageous that price jump was from the 1973 to 1974 period. The above seemed to comment on the price jumps during that time...

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1 minute ago, blazingbob said:

Robert Bell and many other sellers back in the 70's required the Self Addressed stamp envelope.  Anything you bought required "alternates"  in case something wasn't in stock.  

I loved getting the catalogs in the mail but after discovering Phil Seuling shows and the monthly publication that I can't seem to remember with pages and pages of books for sale I kind of stopped wasting my stamps.

I think my 10 year old self learned what the word alternate meant when Howard Rogofsky sent me books of his choice to my dismay. I wrote him back and eventually sent the book back (Iron man #4) but I knew next time what alternate choices meant...

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1 hour ago, N e r V said:

 

I was buying (as a kid) back then so for me it’s nostalgic and a memory of simpler times. You could stop by Richard Alf’s store in 1974 here in San Diego and see a shiny VF++ Amazing Fantasy #15 on display for $25.00. Of coarse we were buying things like Hulk #181, GS X-Men #1, Amazing Spider-Man #129, Tomb of Dracula, Batman #251, etc., etc... fresh off the newsstands so I have memories of seeing 1 or 2 dozen in some cases of now key BA books in their new fresh ink glory just sitting there for 20 or 25 cents each...:bigsmile:

This house ad brings about a lot of memories from Marvel in April 1974 that came at a time where prices were starting to move up more rapidly with their earlier key books.

 

77E982F6-3E95-490C-A845-0172455C86A3.thumb.jpeg.83122b8112d6b336e12da6acc2ef7556.jpeg

 

I remember Fantastic Four #1 jumping from $35.00 to $50.00 by one dealer and thinking how outrageous that price jump was from the 1973 to 1974 period. The above seemed to comment on the price jumps during that time...

Fantastic memories! Thanks for sharing.

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I bought a DD 8 and an X-men 6 from Bell in the 70s. I wish could remember what I paid for each, but I don't think it was more than $5. I have a vague recollection of having to include stamps for return postage, but I may be confusing that with another old mail-order comic dealer.

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6 minutes ago, Doctor Dositheus said:

X-Men was undervalued even back in 1978. Some things never change.

I could've bought 100 copies of FF 48 instead of an Atari computer. doh!

I’d rather have 267 copies of Hulk #181 from him instead...:)

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I seem to remember a padded, brown envelope with the padding being a type of paper shreddings - not an interior bubble wrap type lining.  No cardboard or (of course) backboards IIRC.

As I've mentioned here before, I was just a kid so no checking account, hence I sent cash in the mail with plenty of hand written alternative choices on his want sheet.  Never a problem.

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52 minutes ago, SeniorSurfer said:

I seem to remember a padded, brown envelope with the padding being a type of paper shreddings - not an interior bubble wrap type lining.  No cardboard or (of course) backboards IIRC.

As I've mentioned here before, I was just a kid so no checking account, hence I sent cash in the mail with plenty of hand written alternative choices on his want sheet.  Never a problem.

That seems like what I recall as well. I only did buy one book and later some bags from him (the cheapest he sold). I can't recall anything about the transaction-- not how much it cost or even what comic. Like you-- no checking account (we're kids) - I think I used some sort of mailing coin holder thing as well as cash money to complete it.

I just wish I would have held onto the dang bag the comic came in for fun. The ones I bought were so cheap they didn't even have the stuff printed on them. I did buy ones for my magazines and my treasuries--which was maybe a little bit ahead of the curve (plus those bags were stronger). Super cheap and I think I bought enough for almost all my books-- part of the reason I might have skipped bagging doubles at the time.

image.thumb.png.958a6346950aa25c473479819ab91a15.png

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44 minutes ago, 01TheDude said:

That seems like what I recall as well. I only did buy one book and later some bags from him (the cheapest he sold). I can't recall anything about the transaction-- not how much it cost or even what comic. Like you-- no checking account (we're kids) - I think I used some sort of mailing coin holder thing as well as cash money to complete it.

I just wish I would have held onto the dang bag the comic came in for fun. The ones I bought were so cheap they didn't even have the stuff printed on them. I did buy ones for my magazines and my treasuries--which was maybe a little bit ahead of the curve (plus those bags were stronger). Super cheap and I think I bought enough for almost all my books-- part of the reason I might have skipped bagging doubles at the time.

image.thumb.png.958a6346950aa25c473479819ab91a15.png

 

I do remember his bags were strong, with some a little miscut.  They lasted a long time too.  When I went through my boxes re-bagging with the newer stuff after many, many years, his were still on there tough as the day they went on albeit yellowed.  Each old one I'd take off I put in a pile, one on top of the other, and by the time I got to about 10-20 the film on them when held to the light was probably as efficient as a Blu-Blocker.  No doubt a lit match anywhere near the vapors would have blown up the place like a powder keg.

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10 hours ago, N e r V said:

I think my 10 year old self learned what the word alternate meant when Howard Rogofsky sent me books of his choice to my dismay. I wrote him back and eventually sent the book back (Iron man #4) but I knew next time what alternate choices meant...

That's why my bet is that most of these dealers probably didn't even have any of the key first issues in stock, let alone being able to fill your order if you asked them for multiple copies in the Number of Copies column which they had on their order form.  hm

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