To buy or not to buy

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abacus
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To buy or not to buy

Post by abacus »

Boy's Own story paper mag 1939 price £3

D'ya ever come across items you are not sure whether to buy or not.

I've looked at the above item in a charity shop for he past few weeks and pondered whether to buy or not.
I'm not really into story papers and since it's in a plastic folder I've not looked at the contents.
Where they keep it filed in the shop it is unlikely many people will come across it so I'm pretty sure it could be there for sometime.
I suppose it could be a factsimile but that's the sceptical me.
Well I will visit the shop tomorrow and I think the swingometer is tilted slightly towards buying it at the moment but then agaìn. :D

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stevezodiac
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by stevezodiac »

Boys Own Paper is easy to find. I have dozens of Victorian issues including no. 1 which I paid £1 for. £3 for one issue is overpriced.

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abacus
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by abacus »

stevezodiac wrote:
07 Sep 2021, 11:09
Boys Own Paper is easy to find. I have dozens of Victorian issues including no. 1 which I paid £1 for. £3 for one issue is overpriced.
As a popular publication there must be plenty around although this is the first individual copy I have found from visiting charity shops and car boot sales.
I did however buy the forty-first 1918-1919 annual of this mag a few years ago and what with the size of the book it as only taken a couple of minutes to dig it out of my collection.
I take the point that this mag could be overpriced but with lockdown the pennies seem to have mounted up and if I do buy it from the charity shop I might put on my halo and count it as a charitable act :D

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abacus
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by abacus »

Decided to pay over the odds and buy the mag.

Image

Maybe it was a touch of the sun
or
the voice on the radio saying the government was to raise money by 'HIRING TAXI'S'
Woudn't bicycles be better.? :D
( highering taxes joke )

jim244
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by jim244 »

abacus wrote:
08 Sep 2021, 11:06
Decided to pay over the odds and buy the mag.

Image

Maybe it was a touch of the sun
or
the voice on the radio saying the government was to raise money by 'HIRING TAXI'S'
Woudn't bicycles be better.? :D
( highering taxes joke )
Brilliant purchase and would have snapped it up myself.
It's a piece of history for less than a fiver.
8)

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Tin Can Tommy
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by Tin Can Tommy »

Was the boy's own paper much more collectable in the past?
I doubt anyone is left alive who read it as a child in its hey day.
I just looked up how long it lasted. It started in 1879 ended in 1967, thats 88 years. Its still beating the Beano.
But 1967 isnt too long ago there should be people alive who read it as kids.
Are there any good books on the history of it?
I wonder how it influenced later story papers like the Gem, the Magnet and Thomson's Big Five. And if they had any influence on Boy's Own in its later years.

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Into The Abyss
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by Into The Abyss »

I had a dilemma once whether to buy a number of girls Candy comics from the late 1960s at my local boot sale. Anyway, I eventually bought them , think there were 12 issues? , for 45p each because they were part of a huge haul of comics, and what swung it was they all featured Lady Penelope from Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds on the front cover. So me and my brother sat on them for a few years until we decided to listed them with other comics on ebay and was shocked to see a bidding battle commenced where each one sold for £80 each. 😳
Well, hello there! :wave:

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stevezodiac
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by stevezodiac »

There was also the Girls Own Paper of which I have quite a few nineteenth century issues.

Captain underpants
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by Captain underpants »

Into The Abyss wrote:
22 Jun 2023, 22:55
I had a dilemma once whether to buy a number of girls Candy comics from the late 1960s at my local boot sale. Anyway, I eventually bought them , think there were 12 issues? , for 45p each because they were part of a huge haul of comics, and what swung it was they all featured Lady Penelope from Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds on the front cover. So me and my brother sat on them for a few years until we decided to listed them with other comics on ebay and was shocked to see a bidding battle commenced where each one sold for £80 each. 😳
I remember the candy comic when it first come out with very weird photo stories of a creepy doll with life size bears, corgi make a model car of the mini moke car. I have bought and sold a few of the comics and the landscape book for silly money over the years , I can think the only reason is that So collected and sells for good money is that I believe Gerry Anderson was involved with it. :D

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Into The Abyss
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by Into The Abyss »

stevezodiac wrote:
24 Jun 2023, 15:28
There was also the Girls Own Paper of which I have quite a few nineteenth century issues.
I find those early issues very elaborate. It never crossed my mind to buy them? I bet the ones I overlooked today would be worth a few quid.
Well, hello there! :wave:

jim244
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by jim244 »

Captain underpants wrote:
24 Jun 2023, 17:20
Into The Abyss wrote:
22 Jun 2023, 22:55
I had a dilemma once whether to buy a number of girls Candy comics from the late 1960s at my local boot sale. Anyway, I eventually bought them , think there were 12 issues? , for 45p each because they were part of a huge haul of comics, and what swung it was they all featured Lady Penelope from Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds on the front cover. So me and my brother sat on them for a few years until we decided to listed them with other comics on ebay and was shocked to see a bidding battle commenced where each one sold for £80 each. 😳
I remember the candy comic when it first come out with very weird photo stories of a creepy doll with life size bears, corgi make a model car of the mini moke car. I have bought and sold a few of the comics and the landscape book for silly money over the years , I can think the only reason is that So collected and sells for good money is that I believe Gerry Anderson was involved with it. :D
Candy is very creepy and yes its value is the GA connection.Great that Into The Abyss made money on it though.I have a huge respect,admiration and also love of certain girls' comics but Candy is just very weird and scary. :settee:

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Into The Abyss
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by Into The Abyss »

jim244 wrote:
08 Jul 2023, 00:27
Captain underpants wrote:
24 Jun 2023, 17:20
Into The Abyss wrote:
22 Jun 2023, 22:55
I had a dilemma once whether to buy a number of girls Candy comics from the late 1960s at my local boot sale. Anyway, I eventually bought them , think there were 12 issues? , for 45p each because they were part of a huge haul of comics, and what swung it was they all featured Lady Penelope from Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds on the front cover. So me and my brother sat on them for a few years until we decided to listed them with other comics on ebay and was shocked to see a bidding battle commenced where each one sold for £80 each. 😳
I remember the candy comic when it first come out with very weird photo stories of a creepy doll with life size bears, corgi make a model car of the mini moke car. I have bought and sold a few of the comics and the landscape book for silly money over the years , I can think the only reason is that So collected and sells for good money is that I believe Gerry Anderson was involved with it. :D
Candy is very creepy and yes its value is the GA connection.Great that Into The Abyss made money on it though.I have a huge respect,admiration and also love of certain girls' comics but Candy is just very weird and scary. :settee:
Thanks jim244. Yeah, it's surprising when you take a gamble and it pays off. Had similar luck when I saw another seller, again as the same bootsale, where one weekend I came across someone selling a box full of Hammer Halls of Horror magazines. He was from Birmingham of all places and said he cleared out an old news agent in the West Midlands and found loads of new/old stock magazines.

Anyway, long story short. He was there over a two week period selling where I bought about 80 issues off him, then the following week a 40p each, And about a year or so later I decided to test the water and listed three copies on ebay where most sold most for £10 each with the odd copy involved in a bidding war where I sold two issues for £70 each. Still got about 30 no1s issues left bagged & boarded in mint condition in the attic including the odd nos 5 & 6. And what I wasn't aware of that issues 5 & 6 were considered rare as there was only a short run the reason why they sold for a premium. See images of the two issues mentioned below. :)

Image Image
Well, hello there! :wave:

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abacus
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by abacus »

When I watch so-called experts on telly they are nearly always seated in front of bookcases filled with books.

Not quite like the old movies where the narrator stands in front of rows of ornate leather bound books.

While comic hunting I sometimes buy some of these huge 19th century books which are usually sold at give away prices.
Examples being a set of Cassell's illustrated History of England for £7 and some of those huge illustrated magazine annuals for sometimes only a pound.
They are impressive to look at though admiitedly probably difficult to move on.

I can't say that I am much of a reader though I do download many non fiction books from the internet and probably read a chapter from two or three books at one sitting.
I used to read lots of short stories horror , sci fi etc.

I once tried to read Tolstoy's War and Peace but that was a battle I lost.

Meantime in one of the charity shops I have seen a number of old comics I like priced at £5 each but they will need come down to about 1/2 price before I buy.
The shop does reduce it's prices if they don't sell so we'lI have to wait and see.

To that one reader who managed to get through this , Thanks.

Captain underpants
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by Captain underpants »

I often wonder where charity shops get their prices from , one shop near me has Well read Spider-Man comics for £8 each to be honest 50p would be overpriced. And another shop has had a Star Trek eaglemoss graphic novel in the window for a few months at £5 you can see sun fade lines on it now. And don’t get me started on people at boot sales with piles of 2000ad comics thinking thy are going to retire on the proceeds. When I started my comic downsize I couldn’t even give 2000ad comics away nobody wanted them.

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abacus
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Re: To buy or not to buy

Post by abacus »

Captain underpants wrote:
16 Jul 2023, 08:56
I often wonder where charity shops get their prices from , one shop near me has Well read Spider-Man comics for £8 each to be honest 50p would be overpriced. And another shop has had a Star Trek eaglemoss graphic novel in the window for a few months at £5 you can see sun fade lines on it now. And don’t get me started on people at boot sales with piles of 2000ad comics thinking thy are going to retire on the proceeds. When I started my comic downsize I couldn’t even give 2000ad comics away nobody wanted them.
The same charity shop I visited had a Batman and Robin book that looked like a 70s type annual priced £15 which I thought maybe a fair price but looking inside it was just a story book with no comic strip stories which then made me think the price was a bit over the top.

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