Set Description:
https://youtube.com/shorts/4EHfouNp8Qc?si=gfobEYHO3N
This set is simply all the same Aquamans in the larger set without the Showcases, so I won’t repeat the set description here. Like the other set, it has topped the registry for seven years.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 1 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 1 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4278360006
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Owner Comments
Obviously, Aquaman #1 features the start of the Silver Age run of Aquaman in his own magazine after four try-out issues in Showcase (#30-33). It also features the first appearance of Quisp, an undersea creature blessed with magical powers. In the story, "The Invasion of the Fire-Trolls", Aquaman and Aqualad come into contact with a water sprite named Quisp, who asks for their help because his undersea home is being terrorized by fire trolls that were unleashed during an undersea volcanic eruption. After a quick battle, the fire trolls begin heading for the surface world. With the help of Quisp and the army, Aquaman and Aqualad attempt to fight back the fire trolls, but their attacks have no effect. Figuring that maybe a new experimental freeze device would be powerful enough to stop the creatures Aquaman uses the device against the fire trolls.
Spraying the trolls with the chemical, they soon find that it doesn't work, but Aquaman and Aqualad find that their legs have been frozen in place. To save their lives, Quisp uses his magical powers to shrink Aquaman and Aqualad down to size in order to get away. Finding themselves weakened due to their time away from water, the two battle many miniature menaces in an attempt to find water.
Tricking a pelican to drop it's meal (spilling the water in it's mouth on them) Aquaman and Aqualad soon find that the effect of Quisp's magic is wearing off and they resume their normal size. Returning to the sea they're met by Quisp who informs them that the fire trolls stole some experimental rockets in a plot to turn the surface world into a blazing inferno that they will rule. Aquaman sends Quisp to trick the fire trolls to the surface to destroy a lab that supposedly has an even more powerful freezing solution than before. On the surface, they are sprayed with the remainder of the freeze solution, which immobilizes them long enough for Quisp to use his magic powers to shrink the creatures in size.
Gathered up and restrained, the fire trolls are returned to the underworld via a crack in the ocean floor that's later sealed with the help of Aquaman's undersea friends. After the trolls’ defeat, Aquaman and Aqualad bid their new friend Quisp farewell.
Our 9.8 with OW/W pages is currently the only one in grade with three 9.6s. We acquired the book in a private transaction in 2023 and submitted it to CGC ourselves.* As with the case of many of our early Aquaman books, we have been the only registered owner of this one. Not long after acquiring it, we sold our 9.6 on Heritage for $45,600. So while nothing like as valuable as the most valuable JLA, Flash or Green Lanterns, this book probably warrants more than the 17,600 registry points it currently receives.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 2 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 2 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0994403005
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Owner Comments
Issue #2 features a story entitled "Captain Sykes' Deadly Missions". While out patrolling the ocean searching for the cargo of the ship S.S. Vulcan, Aquaman and Aqualad board the ship S.S. Seahawk, owned by Captain Sykes. Sykes explains that he has captured the Vulcan, its cargo and its crew, and refuses to release them to Aquaman until Aquaman gets two items that Sykes is looking for.
While searching for the first artifact, they smash open a hollow cavern which exposes a number of sea creatures to a gas, which makes them grow in size and attack Aquaman and Aqualad. Thinking quickly, Aqualad exposes himself to the fumes making himself grow in size as well to fight off the fish. Eventually, the fumes wear off and all effected by them revert to normal allowing Aquaman and Aquaman to retrieve the first artifact, a treasure chest.
Their next quest takes them to an island protected by a giant sea monster, which the two heroes sneak past by hiding in a school of fish. On the island they are seized by the natives, who will only allow Aquaman to take the second artifact, a giant-sea shell, if he finds a way to defeat the sea monster. Aquaman manages to trick the monster into chasing after him, and uses electric eels to shock the creature out of the boundaries it protects, causing the creature to disappear. He is then awarded with the sea shell.
Taking it back to Sykes, Aquaman refuses to give it to him until he's shown where the Vulcan is hidden. After being taken to the ship, Aquaman gives over the sea shell to Sykes. Sykes explains that the shell controls a flying genie sea-horse that's contained in the box, and plans to use the creature to defeat the them and take whatever he wants.
Attempting to use the shell to summon the creature, nothing happens. Aquaman reveals that he suspected something fishy was up, and so switched the sea-shell with a fake. He and Aqualad make short work of Sykes and his goons. After turning them over to the police, Aquaman and Aqualad destroy the real shell so the creature can never be used again.
Our 9.6 is the single highest graded copy of this 1962 issue. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in a private deal in May 2023.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 3 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 3 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1101079004
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Owner Comments
Issue #3 features a cool cover as Aquaman travels to the mythical Atlantis. In the story, "The Aquaman from Atlantis,"
an Atlantean criminal named Pomoxis lures Aquaman into a trap using a device that sends him backwards in time some 2,500 years. There Aquaman encounters the armies of Greece, who mistake him for the sea god, Poseidon. Meanwhile in the present, Pomoxis attempts to conquer Atlantis by dressing up as Aquaman. Aqualad realizes Pomoxis is not his mentor, and fights against him until such time that Aquaman can return to the present. Commanding an army of fish, Aquaman and Aqualad manage to defeat Pomoxis' battalion and restore order to Atlantis.
Our WP 9.8 copy of Issue #3 is tied with four other books for highest graded, which is an unusual high number of high-grade books for a 1962 printing. We acquired our book off an E-Bay listing on 6/13/2019.
2024 Update: This issue is easily the most common of any of the early Aquamans in high grade, as there are now six 9.8s in the census.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 4 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 4 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2051715011
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Owner Comments
Issue #4 features a story, "The Menace of Alien Island", in which a race of aliens known as the Suvians lands their space ship in the waters near a coastal community. Aquaman and Aqualad investigate only to discover that they are in fact a race of scientifically advanced conquerors, in control of a powerful weapon. Quisp the water-sprite, appears and aids them in combating the alien forces. It appears as if the aliens kill Quisp, but the sprite manages to survive and aids Aquaman in driving the invaders off.
Our 9.8 gem is one of the highlights of our Aquaman collection, being the single highest graded copy of this 1962 issue. We acquired the book from the 9/9/2019 CL Auction.
2024 Update: A second 9.8 of this issue with OW/W pages was graded by CGC in April 2024 and auctioned off by Heritage in June 2024, knocking our book down to 1/2 highest graded. As usual, the second book went for almost 50% less than the first 9.8. We considered buying it and averaging down, or at least bidding and hopefully driving the price up, but there were too many books we wanted in the auction to spend our money on duplicates. Again, the hazards of buying a single highest graded book strike again. You may think that a 60-year old book will be immune from such things, but it happens far too frequently.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 5 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 5 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4418768013
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Owner Comments
A Scorcerer sends a group of killer whales against Aquaman and Aqualad on the cover of Issue #5. In "The Haunted Sea",
Aquaman and Aqualad investigate the mysterious disappearances of several sea vessels. They witness an ocean liner consumed by a gigantic hand made out of water and follow the ship's watery descent only to find themselves trapped inside of bubbles of air. They eventually break free and encounter a sorcerer who calls himself Baron Debois. Debois and his colleagues are trapped inside the microscopic confines of a drop of water. Debois befriends Aquaman but quickly turns on him, using his mystical powers to shrink the two in size. The Baron's true name is Merder, and he is a dark sorcerer who places Aquaman within a dungeon in Red Coral Mountain where he meets the crew of a sunken freighter.
Aquaman managed to escape and finds a serum that will return all of the prisoners to normal size, while Mercer employs his thunder-rod to take control of all life in the sea. But Aquaman discovers that a strong jolt of electricity is enough to free the creatures from Merder's spell. After setting them free, Aquaman and Aqualad hide inside the mouth of a whale shark until they can get close enough to Merder to apprehend him, after which they use his own technology to return him and his followers to their microscopic prison.
Our 9.8 is the single highest graded copy in the census and replaced our Pacific Coast Collection 9.6, which had previously topped the census. We acquired the book from the 6/22/2024 Heritage Auction. Of course, as almost always happens, the 9.8 copy of Issue #5, being single highest graded, went for roughly twice as much as the 9.8 copy of Issue #4. Again, such things are one of the drawbacks of collecting DCs, you do not see anything close to as dramatic with Marvels, as there are more collectors and far fewer single highest graded books.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 6 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 6 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0994441004
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Owner Comments
Issue #6 features a Quisp appearance along with the first appearances of Quirp and Quink. In the story, "Too Many Quisps!", Aquaman and Aqualad are astonished to discover that their Water-Sprite ally, Quisp, has turned evil as Quisp attacks them and hijacks a cargo ship. They soon learn however, that this is in fact, not the real Quisp, but his twin brother - Quink, who is working alongside a pirate named Captain Slade. Slade manipulated the impressionable Quink into believing that Aquaman was evil and set him off to defeat him. Meanwhile, a third Water-Sprite, Quirk is found conducting mischievous acts of his own. Aquaman convinces Quink that Captain Slade is the true pirate, and together they join forces to stop him.
Our 9.8 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection, which is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on E-Bay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
Our book is currently tied for highest graded with one other copy. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in a private transaction in May 2023.
2024 Update: There was a third 9.8 in the recent cache of high-grade Aquaman auctioned off in June 2014 on Heritage. As a third 9.8, the book made just $1,200 plus BP at auction. Again, census is everything in these books, as the sales price was 1/3 of that of the single highest graded Aquaman #5 9.8. Unfortunately, while I very much like these books, there is probably more downside risk than upside promise, as census changes almost always go against the collector’s interest.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 7 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 7 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4242420001
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Owner Comments
Aquaman battles the Creatures from Atlantis in Issue #7. In "The Sea Beasts from Atlantis", Pomoxis embarks upon another daring plan to seize control of Atlantis. He works with the surface pirate, Captain Clay, and provides him with a special variety of seafood. Clay plants the food on several cargo vessels, which lures several large sea beasts to the area. The beasts attack the ships for the food, and Captain Clay comes along later to steal any booty he can find.
Stamar, the ruler of Atlantis, tells Aquaman and Aqualad of the various disasters and they swim off to investigate. When they attempt to calm down the destructive sea creatures, Pomoxis makes his move and takes command of Atlantis and arrests both Aquaman annd Aqualad throwing them into a dungeon. But Aquaman uses his telepathy to summon the sea beasts to aid him, who break down the prison walls allowing Aquaman to once again defeat Pomoxis, after which Stamar is reinstated as ruler of Atlantis.
Our 9.8 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection, which is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on E-Bay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
Our book is currently tied with one other copy for highest graded. We acquired the book in the August 4, 2019 Heritage Auction.*
2024 Update: The copy of Issue #7 in the new cache of books only graded 9.6, so our book is still one of two highest graded.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 8 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 8 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4418768005
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Owner Comments
Issue #8 features the "The Plot to Steal the Seas", in which Lemur and his band of alien thieves arrive on Earth and begins stealing large volumes of water from various lakes. Aquaman and Aqualad investigate, but quickly fall prey to Lemur's attacks. Lemur announces his plans to bring the stolen water back to his home planet, Phrygia. Another alien named Syx - sympathetic to Aquaman's plight, helps him to escape, and together they travel to his home world of Phryigia to reclaim the stolen water. After several daring mishaps, the crew returns to Earth with the water, whereupon Aquaman rounds up Lemur and his gang.
Our 9.8 is the single highest graded copy in the census and replaced our Pacific Coast Collection 9.6, which previously topped the census. We acquired the book from the 6/22/2024 Heritage Auction. Of course, it and the #5 9.8 were the two most expensive Aquamans out of the new cache of Aquamans Heritage auctioned.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 9 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 9 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1101079005
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Owner Comments
Issue #9 features the Secret Mission of King Neptune. In the story, a sea captain named Crane discovers a map that leads him to the kingdom of an ancient sorcerer known as King Neptune. Crane transforms into the living embodiment of Neptune and begins wreaking havoc. Aquaman and Aqualad investigate and find that Neptune is attacking all of the main shipping lanes. Neptune transforms Aqualad into a hideous crab creature and forces him to fight with Aquaman. But Neptune has actually taken control of Crane to prevent a volcanic ecological disaster. Once his mission is complete, he reverts back into the form of Captain Crane and Aqua-Crab transforms back into Aqualad.
Our copy is the single highest graded example and was acquired in the December 18, 2019 CC auction.
2024 Update: A second 9.8 of this issue with OW/W pages was graded by CGC in April 2024 and auctioned off by Heritage in June 2024. I guess I need not tell you that it sold for less than 1/2 of what we paid for our book, ugh!
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 10 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 10 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0994441007
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Owner Comments
Issue #10 features appearances by Quisp and Quirk. In "The War of the Water Sprites", Quirk invents a device that can steal power from other water sprite's and turns the weapon against his own brother, Quisp, removing all of his magic. Quisp swims away to seek the aid of his old friend, Aquaman. When Aquaman and Aqualad return with him to Quisp's kingdom, Quirk's gang attacks Aquaman and succeeds in capturing him. They then imbibe a special form of seaweed that transforms them into giants. More powerful than ever, Quirk and his cohorts prepare to invade the surface world.
Aqualad manages to escape from his prison and frees Aquaman. Aquaman catches up with Quirk's gang and recovers the item responsible for stealing Quisp's powers. He attempts to use it on him again in the hopes of restoring the sprite's magic, but it renders him unconscious instead. Aquaman and Aqualad then consume the same magic seaweed to transform themselves into giants to fight Quirk. Quisp eventually recovers and helps them to end Quirk's threat once and for all. The growth formula effect eventually wears off, and Aquaman and Aqulad return to normal size, while Quisp regains his magic powers.
Our 9.6 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection, which is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on E-Bay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
Our book also makes five of the first ten issues from that Pedigree, and is one of four highest graded copies. We acquired the book in a private transaction with a friend and fellow collector in May 2023.
2024 Update: The statement above about the number of Pacific Coast copies in this set is no longer true since we upgraded our #5 PC 9.6 and #8 PC 9.6 to 9.8s.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 11 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 11 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0191708013
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Owner Comments
Issue #11 features "The Doom from Dimension Aqua", which starts out on a watery world known as Dimension Aqua, where a criminal named Leron seizes control of the kingdom, deposing the reigning queen, Mera. Mera is exiled and flees to the Earth dimension where she enlists the aid of Aquaman and Aqualad.
Leron pursues Mera to Atlantis and engages in battle with Aquaman, Aqualad, Mera and the water sprite, Quisp. He captures them all and brings them to Mera's homeland. But Aquaman discovers that traces of lead commonly found in oil, can remove the hard-water super-powers of people from Mera's home dimension. He makes use of this knowledge and succeeds in defeating Leron. Returning to Earth, Aquaman invites Mera to stay with him in Atlantis.
Issue #11 is a mini-key, in that it features the first appearance of Mera, who was a prominent figure in the Aquaman movies and played by the now infamous Amber Heard. Because of the black cover, it is a particularly tough issue to find in high grade and tends to be the most expensive of any Aquaman issue, excluding #1. The top copy in the census, a 9.4 Pacific Coast pedigree (now 1/2), recently came on the market and sold for about $30,000. While this copy was much cheaper, it is currently one of the four highest graded copies by CGC (now 6). We acquired the book in the September 19, 2019 CC auction.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 12 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 12 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4418768007
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Owner Comments
Aquaman and Aqualad tangle with the Cosmic Gladiators in Issue #12. In "The Menace of the Land-Sea Beasts", a
Lab assistant named Kirk, uses the technology of his employer, Dr. Cyrus Beard to evolve lab animals into hideous creatures. Taking control of them, he stages several attacks on sailing vessels, looting the ships after the creatures destroy them. Aquaman arrives in time to stop Kirk and returns the animals back to normal.
Issue #12 also contains a full-page ad for Flash Annual #1 and is one of the toughest to find in high grade-it was one of the last three issues we acquired to complete this set. Our WP 9.6 came from the newly graded cache of Aquamans auctioned in June 2024 by Heritage. It is also the single highest graded copy in the census and replaced our WP 9.4, which was previously 1/2 highest graded. Obviously, we acquired it in the 6/22/2024 Heritage Auction. Of note, even though the book is single highest graded, it sold for less than half of most of the 9.8s in that auction. Obviously, while census is important, it does not overrule grade, at least not entirely.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 13 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 13 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0994442002
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Owner Comments
Issue #13 features the second appearance of Mera. In “Invasion of the Giant Reptiles", a gigantic seaquake opens a multiple time-warp that admits aquatic dinosaurs from the ancient past and Niccol and other criminals from the year 2098 into Aquaman's present. The seaquake is even felt in Mera's fourth-dimensional world, and she comes to Earth to investigate. The criminals take control of Mera and the dinosaurs with a thought-control ray from their era and briefly turn them all against Aquaman and Aqualad, until they seize the weapon and free them from the villains' domination. The dinosaurs and criminals are restored to their proper eras, and Aquaman destroys the futuristic weapons.
Our 9.8 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection and is the single highest graded copy in the census. The Pacific Coast Collection is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on E-Bay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
We acquired the book in a private transaction with a friend and fellow collector in May 2023.
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 14 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 14 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4418768008
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Owner Comments
Issue #14 features the Tyrant King of Atlantis, in which Aquaman suffers a concussion that causes him to believe he is the tyrannical king of Atlantis, and that Mera is his queen.
Black covers are always exceptionally hard to find in high grades and this book is no exception. We owned the single highest graded copy of this issue, which was just a 9.4, until it was supplanted by this 9.6 in April 2024. We won this gem in the 6/22/2024 Heritage Auction. For whatever reason, it cost us twice as much as the single highest graded #12 9.6. Again census changes, NOT GOOD!
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| Slot: |
Aquaman 15 |
| Item: |
Aquaman 15 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0994442004
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Owner Comments
Issue #15 features “Menace of the Man-Fish", in which Aquaman and Aqualad are present when Dr. Deering, a scientist, is turned into a water-breather by a backfired experiment. Deering, who has also created a gigantic underwater construction machine, is maddened by his fate, and uses his machine to steal skyscrapers, and then builds a "city" of his own beneath the sea. When he tries to populate it with persons from a stolen ship, Aquaman and Aqualad intervene. Deering captures them, but Mera arrives on a visit from her world and frees her friends. Finally, Deering's ability to breathe underwater wears off, as does his madness, and Aquaman saves his life, while Aqualad helps put back the skyscrapers with Deering's machine.
Our 9.8 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection and is the single highest graded copy in the census. The Pacific Coast Collection is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on E-Bay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
There is also just a single 9.6 in the census, which we swapped, with a little money, to get this book in a private transaction with a friend and fellow collector in May 2023. This book is also our seventh Pacific Coast copy and the first of six straight books from that collection (Issues #15-20).
2024 Update: A second 9.8 of this issue with OW/W pages was graded by CGC in April 2024 and auctioned off by Heritage in June 2024. It goes without saying, the second book was relatively cheap.*&^%$#@!)*&^%$#
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