E.C. Fan Addict THREAD

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From 1990; look at the end of the third paragraph in the second column, regarding Vault 12.

There are too many pages of this for me to want to scan and post, but Russ Cochran stated,

"Gaines has decided to keep four sets of each EC title for his family. All of the other copies will be sold".

At another point in the narrative, he said, "While Bob was ranking the copies of each issue, Anne and I applied labels to the outside of mylar sleeves."

The green colored pages displaying the issues for sale and their prices, along with copy numbers from the packages, listed zero issues available for VOH #'s 12, 13, & 14.

Interesting. Contradicts Metro's statement in the other thread. Hard to interpret their statement other than to mean that sole GFC on the census is actually not a true GFC copy because it was bought from them. I wonder how they are certain that the high-grade copy they sold to Gaines is the 9.2 GFC on the census?

OK gang. Still waiting to hear back from Russ about my theory on these other reported "Gaines File Copies" reported. It has been reported by at least four people over the years that Bill bought or attempted to buy high grade copies of VOH 12 to at least complete the sets that he had set aside for his family members, Metro being one of them. While it may make sense to Metro that the file copy is one that they sold them, it's highly unlikely, in fact, nearly impossible. As stated above, Russ reported that they pulled a single copy from the stored boxes, which was then labeled along with the rest of the books at the time of opening. They were there, and that's that as far as I'm concerned.

 

My theory is this. The several copies that Bill obtained over the years may have been added to the sets for family members to complete them, even though they weren't part of the original file copies. As to whether or not they ended up having certificates and mylars made up after the fact, I don't know. That's what I'm hoping Russ can clear up. Wondering if the two people reporting their file copies might have any photos or scans of certificates or mylars, which would also help.

 

Up until now, I have never seen the certificate included with the one known copy owned by James Halperin. James was kind enough to share it with me and here it is.

 

Was this copy ever graded? Is it the 9.2 on the census -- the GFC that was auctioned by Heritage in 2002? Or is that still to be determined?

Most interesting thread to date...

Thanks for all the info so far! (thumbs u

I will let you all know what Russ has to say. I think we can put this mystery to bed once he has weighed in.

 

Thanks for running this to ground! I knew that if you didn't have the answer that you'd at least know where to get it (thumbs u

Something else worth considering; almost all of the certs were pre-initialed by Gaines, Overstreet and Cochran, and had the other data hand written, possibly by Cochran's assistant, Angie Meyer. But I have a cert belonging to Weird Fantasy 13 (1952), copy 7 of 12 (originally sold as an individual issue), which has had the other data hand written by someone else, possibly Russ himself, since the writing is big, bold, and a little sloppy; totally unlike the ever-so-neat handwriting on all other certs I've seen.

The three initials are evidently authentic, as is the printed cert, so I can only assume that, at least in the case of this one issue, the body of the cert was filled in at a later date, meaning they had to have held back some of the pre-initialed certs with the other fields left blank.

It's also interesting to note that Annie Gaines Ashton along with Roger Hill confirm that Bill traded a file copy of VOH 12 to Jerry Weist for some wine. I'd heard this before and continue to wonder what has become of this copy along with others that Bill may have given away to eager EC Fan Addicts begging for a copy to complete their collections. I would imagine they're out there in collections somewhere. Of course, they wouldn't have the certificates or mylars that came later when the boxes were opened to catalog and sell.

I'd always thought that Bill was the recipient of the comic(s) in the Weist trade... because he knew he needed to come up with those extra issues to complete his VOH sets.

No...?

It's also interesting to note that Annie Gaines Ashton along with Roger Hill confirm that Bill traded a file copy of VOH 12 to Jerry Weist for some wine. I'd heard this before and continue to wonder what has become of this copy along with others that Bill may have given away to eager EC Fan Addicts begging for a copy to complete their collections. I would imagine they're out there in collections somewhere. Of course, they wouldn't have the certificates or mylars that came later when the boxes were opened to catalog and sell.

 

I'd always thought that Bill was the recipient of the comic(s) in the Weist trade... because he knew he needed to come up with those extra issues to complete his VOH sets.

 

No...?

 

I thought that as well, but they are both saying that it's the other way around as of this morning.

That means we should try to locate and identify that particular copy, because it's a lost Gaines File Copy!

So, as I understand it:

1. At the official disinterring (or whatever you call it) of the GFCs, there was only a single copy of VOH 12. Overstreet's account coupled with the GFC cert shown earlier seems to establish this point.

2. In July 2001, CGC graded a copy of VOH 12 and labeled it a GFC. (The copy was auctioned by Heritage in March 2002 and is the 9.2 copy on the census.) Would they have done so without the cert? I would guess not.

3. The conclusion would seem to be that this copy is the only verified GFC copy. (Metro believes that CGC erred in labeling this copy a GFC because it is actually the copy they sold Gaines. Seems likely they are mistaken, though, because they believe there were no VOH 12 copies certified by Overstreet and Cochran when in fact there was one.)

4. Gaines probably distributed copies of VOH 12 from what became the GFC stash to various people prior to the formal disinterring. So there are likely unrecognized GFC copies of VOH 12 out there.

5. But complicating the identification of these lost copies is the fact that Gaines apparently purchased high-grade copies of VOH 12 after the GFCs were originally cataloged by Overstreet and Cochran.

This one beat Santa to the door this year.

WOW.

This one beat Santa to the door this year.

 

 

 

Resourceful as he is, I don't think even Santa can top that one.

This one beat Santa to the door this year.

 

 

 

There aren't too many Johnny Craig covers I especially like, but that's one of them. Nice pick up!

I've always loved that cover. It's very creepy. Great book Don.

I don't think you can upgrade that one (thumbs u

To have a 9.8 with that black cover is truly incredible. Congrats!

This one beat Santa to the door this year.

 

 

 

That's an incredible book Don!

This one beat Santa to the door this year.

 

 

 

Gorgeous copy, congrats!

Beautiful book, Don.