Hello Folks!
Not sure if this is the right place to post this but here it goes...
I normally collect GB high value stamps and booklets, but recently a Dandy Comic book has come into my possession. I wonder if someone would be so kind to give me their opinion on value and grade?
I have uploaded images of the book below. Your help will be much appreciated!
Apart from the spine your copy looks in good condition, I have copied this article from the Compal website (Comic Book Postal Auctions) which shows how a very fine copy of the same annual sold for over £6000 in 2006. Your copy could reasonably fetch in excess of £4000. Here is then article:
Back to Market Report main page
Autumn 2006 Market Report
BEANO COMIC No 1 £7,750.00, DANDY MONSTER COMIC 1 £5,665.00!
Our Beano first issue sold below its lower estimate of £8,500, this Very Good Plus grade copy coming on to the market when only one potential buyer was willing to pay £7,750 for it. That's not to say that there wasn't strong interest in this rare comic at a lower level as 3 further bidders all confirmed interest at £7000. Our Dandy Monster Comic from 1939 was a completely different story. In the unbelievably high grade of Very Fine Plus its upper estimate level of £4,200 advanced in frenzied bidding by over 50% to end up at a record-breaking £6,232.00 (including 10% buyer's premium), the highest price ever paid for a distributed British comic annual at auction. Its original owner had kept it in a brown paper dust cover and it looked like it had hardly ever been opened in mirth. When put beside our world record Dandy No 1 comic with free gift Express Whistler at £20,350 two years ago, it seems The Dandy has gained the status normally occupied by The Beano. But perhaps only for the time being…
you are the proud owner of a good-quality item that is easily worth more than my entire comics collection-----financially, if not nostalgically-------dandy 39! Best of luck if you try to flog it. You may hang onto it, of course.....
In comic grading terms, I would rate it G/VG due to the copy being complete but showing general wear & tear (making it VG) but downgraded due to the spine coming away. Someone else could give it a more detailed grading (e.g. VG---) but I don't think there really is that kind of accuracy in real life.
See here for a guide: http://comicbooks.about.com/od/buyingco ... ograde.htm (and I am aware there was a different grading guide for Brit comics many years ago but have never met a dealer that used it - including myself - for many years).
Wow, that's certainly worth a lot despite the less than perfect condition it's in. Must be rare, as a lot of copies would've been destroyed during the war. I could never afford that. I have the Aurum facsimile instead.
I've had s look at the Market report. The dandy that sold for £6000 in 2006 was a fine copy. Anything above a fine is rare.
On other hand, this book is two grades down.
I can't be sure about the grading as its a bit confusing at times.
The other factor is since 2006 the price of these comics has nose dived. May be due to the resession.
I'm not an expert. This is what I could find out from searching the Internet since posting this tread.
By the way I purchased this copy for just under £ 2000. There is another similar copy being sold by a dealer in London for £1900. I can provide the details if you're interested.
Mint
Very fine
Fine
Vg+
Vg
vg-
Gd+
Gd
Gd-
Fair
Last edited by dandy39 on 05 Sep 2010, 19:32, edited 1 time in total.
