Some ebay sales figures for first issues of UK comics

[geoff42]

don't forget the summer specials, Pheonix; they are like more gold-dust than annuals!

[Phoenix]

don't forget the summer specials, Phoenix; they are like more gold-dust than annuals!

I did mention them, Geoff, in the post to which you are responding. I have twenty-one of the forty-two already, but while they are rarer on the open market, they are also quite expensive. I will eventually be checking to find out whether the British Library have the full run. I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't have, but they will almost certainly be in their storage facility in Yorkshire. They are not an immediate priority though.

[geoff42]

I would imagine that discovering the artists on Summer Specials is far more difficult than the ones that write/draw annuals? We are all completists, I think, and such items will probably cause a headache. You would think that an organised group like DC Thomson/Feetway would have made some kind of checklist on this criteria. There are some stories on Roy of the Rovers where an artist/writer can't be identified... and that's from the late seventies!

[stevezodiac]

My mate, Steve, e-mailed me in the week to say two issues of TV Tornado were on ebay and bidding had gone above the £80 mark for each. One was the final issue and the other was also in the 80s number wise. I can only assume it was the same person who paid over a grand for my Man From UNCLE comic as UNCLE also featured in TV Tornado. I'd love to have a complete run of the title but so far only have about twenty issues.

[stevezodiac]

Further to my previous message there are currently ten issues of TV Tornado on ebay at £190 or more. What gives? And should I sell my early numbers?

[stevezodiac]

Further still there are now eighteen issues of TV Tornado on ebay all at £286.00 a copy. Am I the only one who thinks there is something strange going on there? It just seems odd that they are all at exactly the same price with varying numbers of bids.

[Raven]

Further still there are now eighteen issues of TV Tornado on ebay all at £286.00 a copy. Am I the only one who thinks there is something strange going on there? It just seems odd that they are all at exactly the same price with varying numbers of bids.

Looks like the same bidder has done all the bids up to £281 (bidding up to 14 times by themselves), then another bidder has topped them all, taking them up to £286. So that'll be £5,148 for 18 copies of TV Tornado ... so far. Still four-six days to go. Maybe they'll be up to £1,000 each by then.

[starscape]

Utterly bizarre. A quick search tells me they are available for a fraction of that price. I'd buy them up and sell them but I suspect these are the only two bidders in the country interested in TV Tornado at those prices. In fact, they were never that easy to sell, never mind for huge amounts of cash.

[Lew Stringer]

Utterly bizarre. A quick search tells me they are available for a fraction of that price. I'd buy them up and sell them but I suspect these are the only two bidders in the country interested in TV Tornado at those prices. In fact, they were never that easy to sell, never mind for huge amounts of cash.

It is very odd, especially as issue 1 only sold for £10.49 today! Admittedly not in such nice condition as the ones still being bid on but that's an amazing difference.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TV-TORNADO-NO ... 7675.l2557

[Stingray]

Either Russian billionaires are making a move into British comic collecting or someone's won the lottery! At the moment those 18 issues are going to cost 'w***w' almost £6000. The prices are so crazy will probably discover it's just an 8 year old playing about with their dad's eBay account. It just happens that the person they're bidding against is one of those people who puts in crazy MAX BIDS to guarantee winning - eBay's automatic bidding taking over when 'w***w' put in an equally unrealistic bid. However I still can't quite fathom out the 'bid times' which appear days apart, but then I've never used automatic bidding so maybe that's just how it works. Though would have assumed the increases would have been instantaneous.

If genuine it would have probably cost less to hire Tom Cruise to fly a helicopter to London. Have him buy the TV Tornado's from 30th Century Comics and then fly the 'paper gold' back to your house..

[Stingray]

Got a bit carried away there with my calculations. It wasn't £6000 but just under £5200.

[Phoenix]

Got a bit carried away there with my calculations. It wasn't £6000 but just under £5200.

So that'll be £5,148 for 18 copies of TV Tornado ... so far.

As you can see, Stingray, Raven had already come up with an accurate calculation for us a few hours earlier.

[Raven]

18 of those TV Tornados are now at £296 each (+ £2 postage and packing!), with a couple faltering behind at a mere £291, so it's now approaching £6000.

[Lew Stringer]

18 of those TV Tornados are now at £296 each (+ £2 postage and packing!), with a couple faltering behind at a mere £291, so it's now approaching £6000.

I think the bidder is Ronnie Rich from Smash! trying to get rid of his money so he can inherit a million.

[Raven]

Or the Bumpkin Billionaires, Ma and Pa bidding against each other. I can picture their bank manager anxiously checking eBay every few minutes.