Comics UK

I was in a small market yesterday and I know a guy there who sells comics and he was selling a nice 1970 Beano annual for £20.00. I personally thought that was very expensive so passed on his offer (no matter how hard he tried to bend my arm). I walked further up the market to find another stall selling books, they were selling old annuals and lo and behold they were selling the exact same Beano annual for £6.50 which I knocked back to £5.50. I wonder if the other stall holder knew the prices the other guy was asking for?

Well I certainly hope he failed to sell it - £20 is expensive for that era, I'd expect it to be 20 years older for that price.

Dunder Ed wrote:I was in a small market yesterday and I know a guy there who sells comics and he was selling a nice 1970 Beano annual for £20.00. I personally thought that was very expensive so passed on his offer (no matter how hard he tried to bend my arm). I walked further up the market to find another stall selling books, they were selling old annuals and lo and behold they were selling the exact same Beano annual for £6.50 which I knocked back to £5.50. I wonder if the other stall holder knew the prices the other guy was asking for?

£20 isn't too expensive for a book that's over 40 years old, if it's in really nice condition. Was there any significant difference between the conditions of the two books?

I also think £20 is a fair price to ask for that annual if it is in really good condition. There are, nevertheless, a couple of copies in Very Good condition on eBay right now that may well sell for quite a lot less. Of course, if you only want a reading copy, I think even a fiver would be too much.

Phoenix wrote:I also think £20 is a fair price to ask for that annual if it is in really good condition. There are, nevertheless, a couple of copies in Very Good condition on eBay right now that may well sell for quite a lot less. Of course, if you only want a reading copy, I think even a fiver would be too much.

It's also down to the demand for the titles I suppose. I've bought 1950s Radio Fun annuals for £5 to £10 each, but The Beano has a larger following so you'd expect prices to be higher, even for 1970 books.

On topic, I didn't buy anything today but yesterday I received from Amazon the first volume of Weird Mysteries, reprinting six complete issues of the 1950s horror comic, ads and all. Published by UK company PS Publishing.

To be honest I did not really look at the condition of the £20 but I know the guy likes to put large price tags on his annuals. He's quite a good vendor when you get there on a "deal day" he sells pretty much all his old stock off for £1 each. This helped me build up my collection due to him selling off a lot of Sparky, Beezer and Topper annuals. With even a 50s Topper. The copy I bought had a nice spine and was not price clipped although it had a neat inscription and a crossword completed. I think £20 is a fair price if it is in mint condition. I recently bought a 1969 Beano annual for £2 in a bookshop and resold it on Ebay for just above £20.

Dunder Ed wrote: I recently bought a 1969 Beano annual for £2 in a bookshop and resold it on Ebay for just above £20.

Good stuff. But in that case why did you consider someone else selling a Beano Book at £20 (dated just a year later) to be 'very expensive'? Perhaps he used your price as a guideline?

Some of the prices for comics on ebay are ridiculous but some people have the mistaken idea that all old comics are worth a fortune thanks to the occasional items in the press "is there a fortune in your attic" and some dealers take advantage of this.

Lew Stringer wrote:

Dunder Ed wrote: I recently bought a 1969 Beano annual for £2 in a bookshop and resold it on Ebay for just above £20.

Good stuff. But in that case why did you consider someone else selling a Beano Book at £20 (dated just a year later) to be 'very expensive'? Perhaps he used your price as a guideline?

I did start the Beano online at only £5. Maybe the reason I thought it was expensive was because of the much better deal just down the market.

Morden Hall national trust team room and shop currently have copies of "eagle annual - best of the 60s" at £8 (half price I think) and the softback of "the best of girl" at £5 (was £15 originally). I got a scone and the 'girl' volume. Great find!

I've been busy today. I got a flyer for Adventure, and a free gift from the same paper in phil-comics's auction. From eBay I got two issues of Bunty, five issues of Judy, and seven issues of Debbie, all quite late in their respective runs, and a batch of five issues of Judy, although I only need three of them. Separately, I won an issue of Judy from 1969, and issue 12 of Judy from 1960.

Not so much bought today, more received today. TV Picture Stories - Murder Bag (Death of Big Foot, which is an adaptation from the tv script, as were many of this series) and, Private-Eye Picture Stories - The Rats of Paris. I love these pocket libraries. At the Glasgow mart on Sat. I bought Secret Agent #1 (Gold Key) with a great picture cover featuring Patrick McGoohan. And Son of Vulcan in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds (Charlton). Far from being a great comic it has a certain charm with the "trademark" Charlton badly trimmed pages and occasional off-register printing.

I paid £50 for the rare version of the 1950 Radio Fun annual once, and it's in pretty bad condition too, the cover's battered and many pages are loose. But I just like knowing I have it!

With Ebay, I think most annuals from the mid 60's onwards can seem fairly "common". I remember when DC Thomson re-released the first Hotspur annual for £17.99, even thought you could get a half-decent original for about £2 without trying too hard.

I seem to keep buying The Beano (which is still getting more Dandy-like as times go on) and Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine.

I managed to abstain this week though.

My first ever stop in Falkirk (as opposed to whipping through it on the train) led me to the annuals of Battle 1988, Warlord 1983, Beano 1986, Bash Street Kids 1989 and Dennis the Menace 1990. 50p each. There was a deal that virtually cut it in half but as it was for charity, I just let them keep the change.

And a Panini Marvel natch....