Back to Market Report main page

SUMMER 2013 MARKET REPORT

DESPERATE DAN ARTWORK: £1,121.00
TOPPER 1956: £770.00

This classic Desperate Dan artwork shows Dan, for the first time, using a blow lamp to have a shave. He then wins the Best Dressed Guy competition and gets first prize from Father Christmas. Originally from The Dandy comic No 4 this was the earliest Desperate Dan artwork ever offered for auction and £1121 took it away into the sunset.

Early Dandys sold well with issue 42 at £220 and 43 at £275 with following issues 44-47 in lower grades making £88 each.

Since 2001 there have been six No 1 Radio Funs offered by us at auction and this high grade copy was first sold in 2011 for £330. Here it created a new record of £511 with George a very jolly gee-gee.

Here we offered the second set of front cover printer’s proofs, each signed for approval by legendary Dandy editor, Albert Barnes. Covers of 68 and 76 made £236 each and No 96 a top priced £247. The other five on offer ranged between £120-192 each. One of our buyers secured 2 of them and when we asked him why he was so keen he told us they were so brilliantly frameable.

This was only the second time a Broons At The Seaside jigsaw had been seen in our auctions and although this edition had 11 pieces missing, the all important original box was present and £470 carried away Scotland’s happiest family.

Our final tranche of Picture Post comprised 60 issues from 1943-49 and £165 took away this iconic weekly magazine.

Only once before has the complete run of 1951 Beanos come up for auction and that was in 2003 when, in low/average grades, the 52 issues sold for £630.  Since that time the all important No 452 first Dennis The Menace has increased in value from £200 to £350 and that price was reflected here in this mainly high grade collection in a bound volume at £1045.

Oor Wullie’s angelic face smiles oot from his 1951 book, a vg minus copy finding £231 to wing its way back hame.

Topper and Beezer comics are notoriously hard to find in fresh condition as their large format pages suffered continuous edge wear and discoloration in use and storage down the years. To find 3 complete years in mainly high grades and bound volumes signalled strong bidding from our many collectors and 1956 (illustrated above) and 1957 claimed £770 each with £610 for 1955. The delighted vendor has consigned some Beezers of the same vintage for our next auction in August/ September.

Dan Dare merchandise from the early Fifties continues to meet with customer approval and the rarer games do not come along that often. Here in one lot was Colonel Dare’s Draughts, Interplanetary Dominoes and Ingersoll pocket watch – snaffled away for £440.

Illustrated above, the Dan Dare Rocket Target Game and Projector with films at £220.

And plenty to write home about with the Eagle Stationery set, Birthday Card and 3 Valentine’s postcards. All signed off with £226.

. 

Matt Braddock VC was a hugely popular story from The Rover as was Alf Tupper, the Tough Of The Track, so Morgyn The Mighty flexed his muscles with £220.

In the early Sixties Beano had to contend with same-stable titles Beezer and Topper gaining popularity and print runs were lower in those years. So much so that these issues are more valuable than those from the late 1950s. A near complete run of Beano from 1962 made a strong £355 or £6.50 a pop ( Dick and Harry were in the Beezer).

Complete years of Girl comics took a significant upward swing with years 1959-63 averaging £7-8 a copy. The year of 1963, illustrated above, contained Beatles full page portraits and free gift Girl Star Dance Book at £412. This took me back two or three hundred years to my youth to which my closing article in this Market Report is lamely dedicated.

The Seventies are steadily making their mark and 52 issues of Smash with Holiday Specials and annuals made £275.

Don Lawrence’s well crafted artwork for The Trigan Empire helped Salvia and and Keren escape from the Gorths with £770.

Our copy of TV Century 21 No 90 had its rare free gift International Rescue Cap and £231 fitted very nicely.

The buyer of our Thunderbirds Are Go original film poster will have the folds flattened out and the pin holes restored prior to linen backing, a restorative necessity prior to the displaying of this British quad beauty. He says it’s the least he can do. FAB at £220.

Whizzer And Chips 1-5, Super Stickers, Flick Book, Instant Disguise Kit, Lunar Launcher, Xmas and Fireworks issues and the important first Holiday Special all combined for a whizzing £247.

COR!! 1-3, free gifts including the Super Shaking Skeleton and Knockout No 1 with Arrow Sweet Paper, Bellboy Chewing Gum wrapper and Krazy Holiday Special were some of the 25 items that gathered for £269. Please see lot 139 in our Results section for the rest of the mouth-watering details.

Good copies of 2000AD 1-3, all with their free gifts at £419. Get with the prog.

Barrie Mitchell was the last artist to draw Roy Of The Rovers and here was his iconic artwork showing the legendary striker from his introduction in The Tiger of 1954 to his farewell appearance in his own title in 1993. Still scoring at £1075.

Our US section continued with the third tranche of our 1950s pre-code horror, sci-fi and adventure collection.

Written and drawn by Bill Everett, Astonishing #3 is in fact #1, the third appearance of Marvel Boy. It billed £99 in [gd] with £145 for #5 in [vg+]. Most issues were offered up to #63 with the later copies making over £30 each and they are all in our Results section for your reference.

.

Beware #13 was actually #1 and this [vg-] copy made £50. The Frazzetta/Check  cover of #10 in [vg] created an above Overstreet £155.

.

Here is Haunted Thrills #5 in CGC 8.0. £237.

The all-time classic bondage/headlights cover of Phantom Lady #17 by the brilliant Matt Baker epitomised the genre and even with its back cover coupon cut-out this copy realised £786.

.

Al Feldstein illustrated, wrote and edited many of EC’s stories and his collaboration with Bill Gaines put the Sci-Fi and Horror genre into the pantheon of comic greats. Weird Fantasy was amongst them. Here #8 sold at £198 and #13 at £218.

From the ‘Lost Valley’ collection with classic Frazetta cover Weird Science-Fantasy #29 was the last pre-code issue and a strong £484 took the day. Weird Mysteries #4 with Bailey skull cover and Wolverton art went for £275.

With large biro prices to its cover Hulk #1 still fought to £715 whilst Thor’s worn first appearance journeyed to £406.

Talking of worn first appearances I was reminded of a past life when lot 106 in June’s catalogue turned up for auction. It wasn’t so much the run of 1963 Girl comics that got the memory activated so much as the free gift that accompanied it, the Girl Star Dance Book. This little gem contained instructions of how to dance the Locomotion, The Hully Gully, The Shake, The Madison and The Mashed Potato. Believe it or not, all dances that I performed in my youth. And on television.

In the Sixties there used to be a programme on the box called Ready, Steady, Go! And each week the show’s resident popsters, Patrick and Theresa, used to teach a different dance to four boys and four girls to show the viewers that anybody could master the steps on national television. And, dear reader, I was one of those boys. In actual fact, being West End clubbers of some experience, we used to teach the dances to them so that they could teach them to us on TV if you haven’t lost me so far.

Brilliant clubs like the Whiskey ‘A’ Go-Go, The Scotch Of St James, The Bag ‘O’ Nails, The Establishment, The Pink Flamingo, La Poubelle and Le St Germain des Pres were all on our radar as we trawled Mayfair and Soho in search of the latest dance crazes (and, in my case, a pathetic attempt to get girls). This went on for some months and was going so well that I suggested to the others that we might ask the producers for £10 each time to ‘cover our fares’. This was haughtily laughed off and we were told in no uncertain terms that appearing regularly on the show was its own reward. They even belatedly made us Ready, Steady Goers with photo ID cards to prove it. As you can see I’ve illustrated mine to complete the embarrassment.

Now who’ll start the bidding, ladies and gentlemen? Can I say one and sixpence...?

Malcolm Phillips
Director
Comic Book Auctions Ltd.