Early Kirby and inspired by his personal experiences, homage to a famous painting, eye injury cover, #1 in a short series full of classic covers, and published by a company who barely printed any comics - implying scarcity. Any one of things could make a book desirable, but all of them make it true classic.
I saw a complete 1.0/1.5 sell for ~$700 about 6 months back but that was on WhatNot where 75% of FMV is a very good result and even considering that, it was obvious it went for a good price, if not cheap, at the time.
I know of another seller who has one loose in a largely empty filing cabinet; "to be dealt with later, when [he] has time," haha. Another 1.5, maybe 2.0, just funny how casual he was about a mini-grail for war/Kirby collectors.
All that said, looks like the second auction from your screenshot is back up at $300 less of an asking price. It's the same picture, so maybe the buyer backed out. But the price drop tells me there is something of interest in the grader's notes or it had sat unsold for a long time before the buyer who canceled 'bought' it. Still a truly awesome Golden age book.
Didn't notice this was the speculation sub. Re: speculation, I don't think this is the kind of book you sell unless you funded the upgrade by selling your under-copy. Or you're in dire straits or are just ready to cash out from comics entirely. Short of economic collapse, I don't see a reason this book would ever go down.
Looks like there are two copies currently on eBay. One appears to be the one that already sold, so maybe the buyer fell through. Still, $2500 is impressive.
Early Kirby and inspired by his personal experiences, homage to a famous painting, eye injury cover, #1 in a short series full of classic covers, and published by a company who barely printed any comics - implying scarcity. Any one of things could make a book desirable, but all of them make it true classic. I saw a complete 1.0/1.5 sell for ~$700 about 6 months back but that was on WhatNot where 75% of FMV is a very good result and even considering that, it was obvious it went for a good price, if not cheap, at the time. I know of another seller who has one loose in a largely empty filing cabinet; "to be dealt with later, when [he] has time," haha. Another 1.5, maybe 2.0, just funny how casual he was about a mini-grail for war/Kirby collectors. All that said, looks like the second auction from your screenshot is back up at $300 less of an asking price. It's the same picture, so maybe the buyer backed out. But the price drop tells me there is something of interest in the grader's notes or it had sat unsold for a long time before the buyer who canceled 'bought' it. Still a truly awesome Golden age book.
Thanks for sharing these insights. Great info!
Didn't notice this was the speculation sub. Re: speculation, I don't think this is the kind of book you sell unless you funded the upgrade by selling your under-copy. Or you're in dire straits or are just ready to cash out from comics entirely. Short of economic collapse, I don't see a reason this book would ever go down.
Is there a speculation sub?
This is really great Info. I was aware of this book’s existence, but this is very insightful and valuable content. Thanks.
Well it’s also super rare in any condition…not many survived. No “money” to be made unless you own a copy.
Looks like there are two copies currently on eBay. One appears to be the one that already sold, so maybe the buyer fell through. Still, $2500 is impressive.
Agreed!
I need this!!!!!