Show Us Your Ducks!

15 15

I was the under bidder when it last sold around 2008. I bid with some frustration after having lost almost everything else in the prior 18 months when prices went crazy. That result might go down in history as one of the most absurd from the Great Duck Bubble of 2006-08. It is a beautiful book, though. Many copies of this issue have a printing flaw with annoying white streaks that ruin the blue background for me.

 

Who was driving that duck bubble? Maybe Uncle Scrooge was shorting Disney books!

Nah, he gave up after that incident with the 1916 quarter.

Some of you might recall the trouble I had running down a nice Uncle Scrooge 6 when I was putting that run together back in 08/09. Because of a common production flaw there were only two in the census then - a 6.5 and an 8.0. Today there are four blue labels in total, two 8s, a 7 and a 6.5. There are also two SA 7.5s - I'm willing to bet they're trimmed to get rid of the production overhang.

 

Anyhow, I recall joining Heritage a week after the 6.5 was auctioned and was sorry I'd just missed it when I checked the archives. Oh well, I thought, I'll just make sure I buy the next one... In the meantime I bought a VG+ copy which presented well but is almost certainly trimmed. It filled the hole in my collection but I always wanted a better one.

 

Fast forward almost seven years and thanks to the for sale section on these boards I got a second chance at that book. Here's what will be winging its way to me soon:

 

 

I feel like I just won a lottery.

Having another close look at this book, I was being an optimist when I thought it might go higher than 6.5. I'm happy to get a grade even this high.

Very nice! Love the date stamp!

One of my favorite WDC&S covers

One of my favorite WDC&S covers

 

One of my favorite WDC&S covers

 

I never noticed that cover before. When I was 12, I would sneak my Beagle inside and she would sleep at the foot of the bed. She was a good girl.

Sneaking the dog in the bed while Mom or Dad (or Uncle!) isn't looking is a classic of childhood. I'm sure you must miss that dog.

I've made this point before, and I know a lot of people disagree with me, but I've never been a fan of the early Kelly WDC&S covers (much as I like most of his other work). Kelly's theme was almost always mayhem between Donald and the boys. This approach was in synch with the early cartoon shorts by way out of synch with the direction in which Barks had taken the DD 10-pagers. I really wonder whether Kelly even read Barks's stories. Since the covers weren't meant to illustrate incidents from the stories, I imagine he didn't bother.

Having to put across the gag with no dialog also increased the degree of difficulty. Again, Barks's covers were more subtle, while Kelly tended toward almost Three Stooges' style slapstick.

I've made this point before, and I know a lot of people disagree with me, but I've never been a fan of the early Kelly WDC&S covers (much as I like most of his other work). Kelly's theme was almost always mayhem between Donald and the boys. This approach was in synch with the early cartoon shorts by way out of synch with the direction in which Barks had taken the DD 10-pagers. I really wonder whether Kelly even read Barks's stories. Since the covers weren't meant to illustrate incidents from the stories, I imagine he didn't bother.

They worked on opposite coasts, Barks from California and Kelly from Connecticut and I suspect that editors were fine with having gag covers as they could use them with any issue. When Barks was doing both covers and stories for them there were times he was forced to do gags even when he brought both together into the office.

This one of my favorite of the Uncle Scrooge covers -- very simple, nice money gag, and a deep rich green background.

 

and what do you think about the story?

This one of my favorite of the Uncle Scrooge covers -- very simple, nice money gag, and a deep rich green background.

 

 

 

and what do you think about the story?

2005? That's a post from long ago!

I like the story but it wouldn't make my Top 10 favorites were I to ever put together such a list.

I've made this point before, and I know a lot of people disagree with me, but I've never been a fan of the early Kelly WDC&S covers (much as I like most of his other work). Kelly's theme was almost always mayhem between Donald and the boys. This approach was in synch with the early cartoon shorts by way out of synch with the direction in which Barks had taken the DD 10-pagers. I really wonder whether Kelly even read Barks's stories. Since the covers weren't meant to illustrate incidents from the stories, I imagine he didn't bother.

They worked on opposite coasts, Barks from California and Kelly from Connecticut and I suspect that editors were fine with having gag covers as they could use them with any issue. When Barks was doing both covers and stories for them there were times he was forced to do gags even when he brought both together into the office.

As far as I know, all the covers from this period were gags -- or meant to be.

Not so much that Kelly needed to pay attention to the details of what was happening in Barks's stories, as he seemed to have missed the sea change in approach from the cartoon shorts. Hard to know, but I think if Kelly had noticed that Barks wasn't writing stories that involved Donald and the boys in full-scale warfare, as the shorts typically did, he might have taken a different approach to the covers.

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale. It came out of a box of mostly coverless comics. Is it really as scarce as Overstreet says it is? I go to a lot of conventions and have never actually seen one for sale before, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of this Barks giveaway out there.

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale. It came out of a box of mostly coverless comics. Is it really as scarce as Overstreet says it is? I go to a lot of conventions and have never actually seen one for sale before, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of this Barks giveaway out there.

 

Supposedly rare. However, the kite fun books were distributed in grammar school to young students. My brothers and I have a few. The Donald Duck book was distributed before I was born, but I did purchase a SCE version from a board member. I have seen a few at conventions, but they were out of my price range.

Congratulations!

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale. It came out of a box of mostly coverless comics. Is it really as scarce as Overstreet says it is? I go to a lot of conventions and have never actually seen one for sale before, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of this Barks giveaway out there.

 

 

Supposedly rare. However, the kite fun books were distributed in grammar school to young students. My brothers and I have a few. The Donald Duck book was distributed before I was born, but I did purchase a SCE version from a board member.

I believe there are three versions: PG&E, SCE, and Florida Power

I have two copies of the SCE, I've seen the PG&E, but I've never seen a copy of the Florida Power or run into anyone who has.

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale. It came out of a box of mostly coverless comics. Is it really as scarce as Overstreet says it is? I go to a lot of conventions and have never actually seen one for sale before, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of this Barks giveaway out there.

 

As per my comment above, you may want to check the interior where the specific power company is mentioned to see which version you have.

And, yes, congratulations on a great find, whichever version it is.

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale. It came out of a box of mostly coverless comics. Is it really as scarce as Overstreet says it is? I go to a lot of conventions and have never actually seen one for sale before, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of this Barks giveaway out there.

 

 

As per my comment above, you may want to check the interior where the specific power company is mentioned to see which version you have.

 

And, yes, congratulations on a great find, whichever version it is.

Cover says PG&E.

Nice book. I don't think the PG&E version was included in the recent discovery of the larger set of high grade SCE copies, which would make it considerably harder to find.

I have two copies of the SCE, I've seen the PG&E, but I've never seen a copy of the Florida Power or run into anyone who has.

I read somewhere, during one of my visits in Yellow Kid's library, that Kim Weston purchased all known copies of the Florida version sometime in the 70s or 80s. They were included in Overstreet because he provided credible documentation of their existence. I've seen Weston selling on eBay from time to time and he might be the only person in the world who knows where they are.

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale. It came out of a box of mostly coverless comics. Is it really as scarce as Overstreet says it is? I go to a lot of conventions and have never actually seen one for sale before, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of this Barks giveaway out there.

 

 

As per my comment above, you may want to check the interior where the specific power company is mentioned to see which version you have.

 

And, yes, congratulations on a great find, whichever version it is.

 

Cover says PG&E.

Or ... he could just look at the cover!

I remember that there is a significant difference between the PG&E and SCE versions. I think the SCE version is longer with a utility repairman rescuing the boy's kite from the electric wires. For some reason, that was written out of the PG&E version, leaving it shorter.

It's been a while since I looked at them, so I may not have that quite right.

At any rate, it would be interesting to see the Florida Power version.

Thanks for the info and comments. I had never heard of the Florida Power book. Overstreet lists mine as scarce and has the interior pages that were redone to indicate PG&E.

Just looking at GPA and unless I'm missing something, rather remarkably, no sales are listed for the Florida Power or SCE versions. There is one sale of the PGE version listed: $900 for a 7.0 in Feb of this year.

You would think there have been more sales of the SCE and PG&E versions but I guess they must either have been raw or the sales occurred in venues that don't provide data to GPA.

At any rate, it would be interesting to see the Florida Power version.

A b/w xerox of the cover was among a mixed lot of otherwise unremarkable papers (from Gemstone's or Overstreet's archives?) that sold 5-8 years ago. I am pretty sure it was purchased by a board member who may have posted a scan somewhere in this thread. There was nothing unusual about it aside from the different company name.