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My 50 Year Junk Obsession
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4,504 posts in this topic

Hey, BB-Gun. Have you ever spotted Steranko out and about there in Reading? I was visiting Dan Adkins , after his move from East Liverpool (Ohio), in the late '80's. And, true to form, he was working on a Shadow painting.... while wearing a white suit (Jim, not Dan).

 

He was seen at Carbo's church cons back in the 90's always well dressed and

all around good guy

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Wondering what RM and others might think of the Birnkrant Collection - also assembled through flea markets and whatnot.

 

http://melbirnkrant.com/collection/page1.html

 

 

His collection was used (in part) in this book:

 

MMCover1268x1441.jpg

 

and internally he's pictured with "lots 'o' stuff":

 

MMCollector748x636.jpg

 

I believe that is Bob Lessor another legendary junker in in his own right. Yellow Kid will know.

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Ha! Bob Lesser was one of the first great collectors and wrote an early book, A Celebration of Comic Art and Memorabilia, which is a classic you need to have in your library.. Just look at what he did to his tiny little NYC apartment.

 

Mel Birnkrant is an old friend of mine who has the world's greatest collection of comic figures, especially Mickey Mouse. Dolls, toys, etc., and if you haven't visited his web page, you should. A truly great guy with an amazing collection, one that I doubt will ever be equaled.

 

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Ha! Bob Lesser was one of the first great collectors and wrote an early book, A Celebration of Comic Art and Memorabilia, which is a classic you need to have in your library..

I had never heard of this but just ordered one. Thanks for the tip!

 

I have his book on pulp paintings which is marvelous and also a must have for anyone interested in pulps.

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You are lucky. The book used to sell for $100+ but recently someone must have made a warehouse find because I now see them for $10-$20 routinely. The first tb visited me I gave him a copy and I know he has enjoyed it, and I'm sure you will as well.

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You are lucky. The book used to sell for $100+ but recently someone must have made a warehouse find because I now see them for $10-$20 routinely. The first tb visited me I gave him a copy and I know he has enjoyed it, and I'm sure you will as well.

 

Just ordered a copy, as well.

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Mel and I were talking yesterday about becoming older collectors and wondering about the future of our collections. His dream is to find someone who would keep it intact and make a museum out of it but I told him I didn't know any dot com billionaires. Even though you may not want to think about it, it is an issue that all collectors have to confront and resolve eventually.

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Hey, BB-Gun. Have you ever spotted Steranko out and about there in Reading? I was visiting Dan Adkins , after his move from East Liverpool (Ohio), in the late '80's. And, true to form, he was working on a Shadow painting.... while wearing a white suit (Jim, not Dan).

 

He was seen at Carbo's church cons back in the 90's always well dressed and

all around good guy

 

I have only seen Steranko at the NYC Con and never at the local Philadelphia Cons or flea markets. A dealer I knew in Baltimore said Steranko purchased a lot of rare pulps from him. Some of these may be in his comic history which I enjoyed. It should be republished as a smaller size or hardback so it would fit in there with my other comic history books. I would like to hear more about comics shipped to service men during WWII. You occasionally hear a reference but Wertham pooped on their positive reinforcement of patriotic attitudes and other stuff. hm

Edited by BB-Gun
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Is it me or is it just harder to find swap meets and fleamarkets now?

 

I guess it depends where you live. Seems like there are the most on the east coast. Out here in So Cal there are ones every weekend all year round. Pretty bid ones like The Rose Bowl and LB Veterans Stadium as well as smaller ones in the other Sundays. When the economy took a dive, there seemed to be a lot of new sellers at these shows. I would google them in your area as I'm sure you can find at least one monthly.

 

The problem I am having is a real lack of quality stuff. Seems like more and more "garage sale" sellers. It is getting harder and harder to find good stuff. Also probably because of eBay, everybody seems to be a dealer or flipper. LOT more compettition these days. The key is to hit as many as you can on a regular basis. Get up early and move quickly through. The best stuff comes right out of the trucks.

 

I went to a "special" show on Sunday. Not too "special" for me. Hit a guy with a few boxes of just OK sci-fi pulps for $3. each. got one pretty good one and about 6 more that were alright but nothing to write home about. I got two 1956 Action Comics in low grade real cheap. And a friend had 6 beautiful shape average title BLBs that were just too nice and too cheap to pass up. That was it. No toys, no advertising, sports, political, rock 'n roll stuff. I do a lots of stuff besides comics so if I can't find anything, it's got to be pretty dim. Got plenty of excercise though...

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This ought to be a fun subset that I'm sure many of you can add to. These are some of my favorite "Women in Tubes" covers... Here's an excellent example by one one of my favorite artists, Woody!

 

comstrangeworlds4_zps8zpnwtud.jpg

Edited by Robot Man
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