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OSPG 50th Edition hits the streets today!!!!
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121 posts in this topic

8 hours ago, David Stone said:

Thanks for asking! Gemstone is planning to include updated versions of my eight previous articles on the OPG (with some new information) in Overstreet @ 50, along with two previously unpublished articles. One of the new articles describes the four different varieties of the softcover OPG #2 I have documented and the other covers the Big! Big!, Hero Initiative, and Hall of Fame editions.

I ordered the Overstreet@50 and looking forward to reading them!

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30 minutes ago, JTLarsen said:

Does anyone know how to email them about errors or omissions?

It is right near the front of the guide on Page 10.  :gossip:

It states that:  "Efforts have been made to present accurate information, but the possibility of error exists.  Readers who believe (they) that have discovered an error are invited to mail corrective information to the author, Robert M. Overstreet, at Gemstone Publishing, 10150 York Rd., Suite 300 Hubt Valley , MD 2030.  Verified corrections will be incorporated into future editions of this book."  (thumbsu  :wishluck:

Hopefully, you won't be sending him a list of current prices on books because I believe he will file that one in his round filing cabinet without even looking at it.  lol

 

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6 hours ago, lou_fine said:

It is right near the front of the guide on Page 10.  :gossip:

It states that:  "Efforts have been made to present accurate information, but the possibility of error exists.  Readers who believe (they) that have discovered an error are invited to mail corrective information to the author, Robert M. Overstreet, at Gemstone Publishing, 10150 York Rd., Suite 300 Hubt Valley , MD 2030.  Verified corrections will be incorporated into future editions of this book."  (thumbsu  :wishluck:

Hopefully, you won't be sending him a list of current prices on books because I believe he will file that one in his round filing cabinet without even looking at it.  lol

 

Thanks, and no, I wouldn’t think about price corrections.

But are you really telling me they don’t have an email address? That’s crazy.

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6 hours ago, JTLarsen said:

But are you really telling me they don’t have an email address? That’s crazy.

Ummmm...........after checking out some of the valuations in his price guide, you do realize that this is Bob Overstreet that we are talking about. :taptaptap:  :taptaptap:  lol

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13 hours ago, lou_fine said:

It is right near the front of the guide on Page 10.  :gossip:

It states that:  "Efforts have been made to present accurate information, but the possibility of error exists.  Readers who believe (they) that have discovered an error are invited to mail corrective information to the author, Robert M. Overstreet, at Gemstone Publishing, 10150 York Rd., Suite 300 Hubt Valley , MD 2030.  Verified corrections will be incorporated into future editions of this book."  (thumbsu  :wishluck:

Hopefully, you won't be sending him a list of current prices on books because I believe he will file that one in his round filing cabinet without even looking at it.  lol

 

Way back in many of the early editions, myself, Bob Nastasi and Redbeard contributed tons of info to Overstreet. Of special note, much of the censorship info from SOTI, Parade of Pleasure and Love and Death came from us. A ton of listings. 

The past few years most of what I have contributed has been ignored. An example, Margie #36 with the wonderful full story featuring Stan Lee pictured throughout. I even sent pictures of this and other examples. They have never been noted. 

So, I just gave up...

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15 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

I ordered the Overstreet@50 and looking forward to reading them!

That is great, thanks! I think the book will be worthwhile for anyone who collects Overstreet guides. I think my articles are just kind of side-bars to the section on the history and development of the OPG. The book is 400 pages long, so they must have a lot to say, beyond the articles and Bob Overstreet's interview. I think the cover gallery will be especially interesting.

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3 hours ago, David Stone said:

That is great, thanks! I think the book will be worthwhile for anyone who collects Overstreet guides. I think my articles are just kind of side-bars to the section on the history and development of the OPG. The book is 400 pages long, so they must have a lot to say, beyond the articles and Bob Overstreet's interview. I think the cover gallery will be especially interesting.

Having some of Bob’s personal copies in my collection further draws my interest in your work. The 50th Edition isn’t just a milestone in the history of this hobby but also a testament to Bob’s vision and impact. 

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On 9/18/2020 at 5:01 AM, JTLarsen said:

Thanks, and no, I wouldn’t think about price corrections.

But are you really telling me they don’t have an email address? That’s crazy.

The “These didn’t happen without your help” page is #248 this year. I’ve been e-mailing them about errors/omissions in their Top 25/50 lists for a few years now. I think they finally incorporated some, but not all. One day, perhaps.

Sometimes they use the info, sometimes they enter it wrong, sometimes they ignore it altogether.

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On 9/18/2020 at 10:21 AM, David Stone said:

That is great, thanks! I think the book will be worthwhile for anyone who collects Overstreet guides. I think my articles are just kind of side-bars to the section on the history and development of the OPG. The book is 400 pages long, so they must have a lot to say, beyond the articles and Bob Overstreet's interview. I think the cover gallery will be especially interesting.

 

On 9/17/2020 at 9:32 AM, David Stone said:

 One of the new articles describes the four different varieties of the softcover OPG #2 I have documented 

Any chance you could give us a bit of a sneak preview or advanced teaser trailer to this aspect of your article to see if it's worth digging into my pocket for a copy of this 50th Anniversary book here?  :bigsmile:

Edited by lou_fine
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5 hours ago, lou_fine said:

 

Any chance you could give us a bit of a sneak preview or advanced teaser trailer to this aspect of your article to see if it's worth digging into my pocket for a copy of this 50th Anniversary book here?  :bigsmile:

Sure. Briefly,  I have found four different varieties of softcover OPG #2.

The first variety has a darker red cover, with a pagination error (back-to-back pages both numbered 65), 32 pages of ads, split into four 8-page signatures spaced throughout the book. The ads are all printed on yellow paper and the ads for Harvey Schein and Buddy Saunders are duplicated. We know this was the first printing because it is the variety included in the hardcover OPG #2, which was bound in May and June.

The second variety has a lighter, orange-red cover, with the pagination error corrected and all the yellow ad pages in one section at the back of the book, The ads for Harvey Schein and Buddy Saunders are not duplicated. Note: This is exactly what Bob Overstreet did when he published the blue cover second printing of the first edition - he corrected a few mistakes, consolidated the ad copy, and changed the color of the cover.

The third variety has the lighter orange-red cover, no pagination error, and all the ad pages in the back of the book, like the second variety. However, 16 of the ad pages are printed on yellow paper (like the previous printings) and 16 of the pages are printed on blue paper.

The fourth variety has the lighter orange-red cover, DOES have the pagination error, with the ad pages all placed at the back of the book. Like the third variety, 16 ad pages are printed on yellow paper and 16 are printed on blue paper.

It is worth noting that the blue ad pages in varieties 3 and 4 are printed on the same blue paper that was used for all the ad pages in OPG #3. Jack Mallette told me that the softcover OPG #2 was heavily used from the first, and it wasn't long before the first and second printings were exhausted and no NM copies were available on the secondary market ( I personally have never seen a NM copy of varieties 1 or 2). Jack also said there were some collectors who later wanted NM copies of the book for their collections. Apparently, Bob had some leftover interiors of both of the first two varieties, but only had extra signatures of 16 ad pages. I think he had the missing ad pages reprinted on blue paper at the same time he had the third edition printed and combined them with the leftover interiors and lighter orange-red covers to satisfy collector demand for NM copies early in 1973. Remember, Bob and his family glued all the covers on the softcover OPG #2 themselves, so he would not have had any extra binding expense in producing these books. I have seen a few copies of variety 3 and 4 in NM condition in today's market. That is my theory, anyway. I would not be completely surprised to see another variety turn up some day with all blue ad pages, but I have not seen one yet. Hope that helps!

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1 hour ago, David Stone said:
7 hours ago, lou_fine said:

 

Any chance you could give us a bit of a sneak preview or advanced teaser trailer to this aspect of your article to see if it's worth digging into my pocket for a copy of this 50th Anniversary book here?  :bigsmile:

Sure. Briefly,  I have found four different varieties of softcover OPG #2.

The first variety has a darker red cover, with a pagination error (back-to-back pages both numbered 65), 32 pages of ads, split into four 8-page signatures spaced throughout the book. The ads are all printed on yellow paper and the ads for Harvey Schein and Buddy Saunders are duplicated. We know this was the first printing because it is the variety included in the hardcover OPG #2, which was bound in May and June.

Hey David;

This is rather surprising, but absolutely fantastic and invaluable information as I was not even aware that there were 4 different versions of the softcover OPG #2.  :whatthe: :applause:

Now, I remember that the previous discussion on these boards here were actually about there being 2 different versions of the hardcover edition for OPG #2.  Would you happen to know anything about these 2 different versions here for the hardcover?  I would look for the previous discussion, except that my Search skills for these boards is bordering on zero, if not right into negative territory.  :facepalm:

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1 hour ago, David Stone said:
8 hours ago, lou_fine said:

 

Any chance you could give us a bit of a sneak preview or advanced teaser trailer to this aspect of your article to see if it's worth digging into my pocket for a copy of this 50th Anniversary book here?  :bigsmile:

Sure. Briefly,  I have found four different varieties of softcover OPG #2.

The first variety has a darker red cover, with a pagination error (back-to-back pages both numbered 65), 32 pages of ads, split into four 8-page signatures spaced throughout the book. The ads are all printed on yellow paper and the ads for Harvey Schein and Buddy Saunders are duplicated. We know this was the first printing because it is the variety included in the hardcover OPG #2, which was bound in May and June.

Hey David;

This is rather surprising, but absolutely fantastic and invaluable information as I was not even aware that there were 4 different versions of the softcover OPG #2.  :whatthe: :applause:

Now, I remember that the previous discussion on these boards here were actually about there being 2 different versions of the hardcover edition for OPG #2.  Would you happen to know anything about these 2 different versions here for the hardcover?  I would look for the previous discussion, except that my Search skills for these boards is bordering on zero, if not right into negative territory.  :facepalm:

 

1 hour ago, David Stone said:

Jack Mallette told me that the softcover OPG #2 was heavily used from the first, and it wasn't long before the first and second printings were exhausted and no NM copies were available on the secondary market ( I personally have never seen a NM copy of varieties 1 or 2).

In addition, based upon your comment here, I would assume that the first and second versions of the OPG #2 in high grade should in theory be much more valuable in the collectors marketplace since they would just be so much tougher to find in condition as compared to the third and fourth versions here.  Of course, that's also assuming that collectors even knew about these various versions which the majority probably did not before your enlightening and very informative post here.  hm   (thumbsu

Interesting to note that Overstreet does not bother to differentiate between these various versions in his price guide on the Overstreet back issues.  Maybe you need to flip him a note to let him know about this key ommission that he has with respect to his own back issue price guides.  lol

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1 hour ago, lou_fine said:

Hey David;

This is rather surprising, but absolutely fantastic and invaluable information as I was not even aware that there were 4 different versions of the softcover OPG #2.  :whatthe: :applause:

Now, I remember that the previous discussion on these boards here were actually about there being 2 different versions of the hardcover edition for OPG #2.  Would you happen to know anything about these 2 different versions here for the hardcover?  I would look for the previous discussion, except that my Search skills for these boards is bordering on zero, if not right into negative territory.  :facepalm:

 

In addition, based upon your comment here, I would assume that the first and second versions of the OPG #2 in high grade should in theory be much more valuable in the collectors marketplace since they would just be so much tougher to find in condition as compared to the third and fourth versions here.  Of course, that's also assuming that collectors even knew about these various versions which the majority probably did not before your enlightening and very informative post here.  hm   (thumbsu

Interesting to note that Overstreet does not bother to differentiate between these various versions in his price guide on the Overstreet back issues.  Maybe you need to flip him a note to let him know about this key ommission that he has with respect to his own back issue price guides.  lol

Yeah, that was an interesting post on the hardbound OPG #2 that you and I both participated in. There are three varieties of the hardbound OPG #2 that I know of, but one is just a minor positional difference in the placement of the text on the spine. The major difference was between  the two printings, one in May and the second in June, with a different arrangement of the text on the cover and different binding stamps inside the books. I wrote an article on this in the Heritage Comics Newsletter and an updated version of that article will be included in Overstreet @ 50. The Message Boards discussion was here:

 

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19 minutes ago, David Stone said:

I wrote an article on this in the Heritage Comics Newsletter and an updated version of that article will be included in Overstreet @ 50. The Message Boards discussion was here:

Well, that's definitely good to know and certainly makes it much more tempting for me to pick up a copy when it comes out, even though the cover is shall we just say rather  :p  to say the least.

I am certainly glad that you are also much better with this board's search function than I obviously am.  (thumbsu  :applause:

Edited by lou_fine
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1 hour ago, lou_fine said:

Hey David;

This is rather surprising, but absolutely fantastic and invaluable information as I was not even aware that there were 4 different versions of the softcover OPG #2.  :whatthe: :applause:

Now, I remember that the previous discussion on these boards here were actually about there being 2 different versions of the hardcover edition for OPG #2.  Would you happen to know anything about these 2 different versions here for the hardcover?  I would look for the previous discussion, except that my Search skills for these boards is bordering on zero, if not right into negative territory.  :facepalm:

 

In addition, based upon your comment here, I would assume that the first and second versions of the OPG #2 in high grade should in theory be much more valuable in the collectors marketplace since they would just be so much tougher to find in condition as compared to the third and fourth versions here.  Of course, that's also assuming that collectors even knew about these various versions which the majority probably did not before your enlightening and very informative post here.  hm   (thumbsu

Interesting to note that Overstreet does not bother to differentiate between these various versions in his price guide on the Overstreet back issues.  Maybe you need to flip him a note to let him know about this key ommission that he has with respect to his own back issue price guides.  lol

I believe the first two varieties are much harder to find in high grade, so they should be worth more when (and if) people become aware of the different varieties. Of course, this research is really in the preliminary faze. Nobody, except maybe a few of the biggest dealers, has a chance to really compare and contrast a large number of softcover OPG #2s. That makes it difficult to even identify the different varieties and there may be even more that we haven't seen yet. My estimate of their relative rarity is based on a limited number of books I have personally examined, so there may be some surprises in the future there, too. Pioneering research is a lot of fun, but certainty is elusive!

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Some of my research strands feature in Jon McClure's market report again this year:

https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/2020/09/01/jon-mcclures-overstreet-price-guide-50-full-market-report/#respond

I remember my first guide as a kid and I still get a little kick out of seeing my name / work in it today, even in this small way. The guide is an institution (get your jokes in now) regardless of any failings. Part of our comic history.

It's not my only brush with printed fame mind - someone from Sheffield cheekily nicked some of my old Dr Who artwork for their Comic Shop ad in an old copy of the UK Price Guide too:

me2.thumb.jpg.ca6bfba0a000d65d696b0c779bd7e71a.jpg  me.jpg.2f97792d85cf1bbe5f3ae8e6d91d1de6.jpg

Fame, eh :grin:

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8 hours ago, David Stone said:

I believe the first two varieties are much harder to find in high grade, so they should be worth more when (and if) people become aware of the different varieties. Of course, this research is really in the preliminary faze. Nobody, except maybe a few of the biggest dealers, has a chance to really compare and contrast a large number of softcover OPG #2s. That makes it difficult to even identify the different varieties and there may be even more that we haven't seen yet. My estimate of their relative rarity is based on a limited number of books I have personally examined, so there may be some surprises in the future there, too. Pioneering research is a lot of fun, but certainty is elusive!

David, thank you for sharing this. Gives important publication information into the beginnings of one of the greatest creations in the history of this medium. Giving insight into Bob’s work and the early development of the Guide is also a significant contribution to the beginnings of Bronze Age, which is the first era to have a regular working reference to the comic book market. Thanks, and again looking forward to reading your articles!

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12 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Interesting to note that Overstreet does not bother to differentiate between these various versions in his price guide on the Overstreet back issues. 

Yeah, the back-issue section does not mention a lot of early varieties. Are you aware that Overstreet published some rare softcover Canadian versions of the OPG for editions #3, 4, and 5? The back-issue section notes, "Canadian editions exist for a couple of the early issues" but gives no more information. The Canadian editions are easy to recognize because they have blank back covers (see image of #4 below). I like to page through eBay listings of these three issues to see if I can find one with a blank back cover. About once or twice per year I find one. In almost all cases, the person selling the book doesn't realize what it is, so it sells cheaply, as a regular U.S. version. Even Gemstone undersells the Canadian editions. Miraculously, a few weeks ago an unopened box of Canadian OPG #4s was found in the Gemstone warehouse (I have a mental picture of the Gemstone warehouse that looks a lot like the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark). They are currently offering pristine copies of this rare Canadian edition on their website for a price that is less than they charge for the regular U.S. edition of OPG #4. If collecting the Guide ever really takes off, these books should be worth much more!

 

Canadian OPG #4 obverse (2).jpeg

Canadian OPG #4 reverse (2).jpeg

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2 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

David, thank you for sharing this. Gives important publication information into the beginnings of one of the greatest creations in the history of this medium. Giving insight into Bob’s work and the early development of the Guide is also a significant contribution to the beginnings of Bronze Age, which is the first era to have a regular working reference to the comic book market. Thanks, and again looking forward to reading your articles!

Thanks Johnny! From what you have told me, I think you must have a really world class collection of Overstreet Price Guides. I agree with you about the importance of the OPG and its place in comic book history! I talked with Lou Fine a lot about my article on the softcover OPG #2 in the post above, but the other articles have some worthwhile information and some surprises, as well. The OPG is much more complex and diverse than people realize. Even the later, more specialized versions, like the Big! Big! issues have some eye openers. Did you know there was a hardcover edition of Big! Big! #34? See image below. Only six copies were made, as a feasibility study to see if a hardcover version could be produced cheaply enough to market them to collectors. Sadly, they cost too much to produce at the time. I don't think one of these has ever been publicly offered, but if you see one, grab it!

Big! Big! Hardbound.jpg

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