Where did Greg go? ... I can't tell you exactly ...

greg · Post by **greg** » Sat May 01, 2004 5:07 pm

Ok, well I can't tell you exactly where I've been...
that's part of the agreement that allowed me to go there.

But I can tell you that I spent over 10 hours
looking through comic books on 4/26 and 4/27...

Here is ONE wall of the books I examined...
http://www.valiantcomics.com/valiant/im ... icwall.jpg

Here is a panoramic view of the warehouse...
(three digital camera pictures spliced together...)
http://www.valiantcomics.com/valiant/im ... oramic.jpg

The collection includes at least 150,000 comic books,
millions of sportscards, and tons (literally) of toys.

I was contacted as an "expert" on Valiant comics, so I went
in order to give an estimate/appraisal of the Valiant books.

Here's what I found... there were about 20,000 Valiant books.

(1) Archer & Armstrong 0 Gold
(1) Turok 1 VVSS
(1) Harbinger 5
(2) Magnus 1
(2) Predator vs. Magnus 1 Platinum
(2) Solar 1
(3 each) Solar 8, 9
(3 each) Magnus 3, 5
(5) Harbinger trade paperback - Second Print
(5) Solar 10 first print
(5) Solar Alpha & Omega trade paperback
(8) Solar Hardcover - sealed
(10) Solar 7

...about 20 copies of...
Harbinger TPB Blue variant - sealed
Rai TPB - regular sealed
X-O TPB - regular sealed
Magnus 6
Rai 1
Solar 6
X-O 1 through 5

...about 50 copies of...
Archer & Armstrong 0
Harbinger 7
Solar 11
Harbinger Trade Paperback - regular sealed

...about 100 copies of...
Rai 0
EACH of the 18 chapters of the Unity crossover
EACH post-Unity issue up to and including Birthquake

...nearly 1,000 copies of...
Turok 1
Magnus 21 through 25
Rai 9 through 11
Solar 23 through 25
Secret Weapons 1

After examining all 15,000 to 20,000 Valiant books,
I did not find ANY copies of...
Unity Diamond Limited TPBs
Chaos Effect Alpha Red or Omega Gold
Unity 0 Red
VVSS issues (besides one copy of Turok 1)
Gold issues (besides one copy of Archer 0)
Armorines 0 Stand Alone or Gold
X-O 1/2 or 1/2 Gold
Predator vs. Magnus trade paperback
Rai 2 through 5
Harbinger 1 through 4
Magnus 0, 12
$2.50 newstand price variants
Valiant Voice issues
Rai TPB Blue or X-O Manowar TPB Blue
Magnus TPBs
Solar Second Death TPB
1996 issues or post-Birthquake issues

I did find a case of Previews (20 to 24 copies)
still sealed containing the Magnus/Nexus preview.

There was also an uncut sheet of the Blooshot 1 Chromium image.
http://www.valiantcomics.com/valiant/im ... odshot.jpg

It was definitely an interesting two days...
strangely, most of the Unity issues were bagged and boarded,
but the pre-Unity issues were not. I'd say most of the pre-Unity books
would be 9.4 or lower if they were CGC graded.

I was surprised by the 20 copies of Harbinger TPB Blue variant...
It makes me wonder if there were many more than 5,000 made.
(As a "Star System" variant, it wasn't necessarily under the same
5,000 rule as the normal Valiant gold issues.)

Also, eight copies of the Solar Hardcover was also surprising...
again, it makes me question the total print run. Hmmm...

I believe the owner of the collection was hoping for a better appraisal
of the Valiant books, but I'm really not surprised that the largest percentage
of his books are the many multiple copies of the 1993-94 issues.
Unfortunately, few are worth the cost of shipping, even media mail bulk.
...as we've always known... supplies far outweigh current demand.

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Sat May 01, 2004 5:14 pm

So how many Solar HC does he still have left?

greg · Post by **greg** » Sat May 01, 2004 5:18 pm

x-omatic wrote:So how many Solar HC does he still have left?

I brought NOTHING home with me.

The owner was actually out of town the days I was there...
(His staff allowed me into the warehouse each day.)

I put the 250 or so important books into two short boxes
and stacked the 8 Solar HC on top. I have emailed the owner
to discuss the two short boxes and Solar HC's, but I got no response.

I assume that means he's not interested in selling at this point.
He had mentioned that he was tempted to just lock up the warehouse
like a time capsule and open it again in ten years...
so who knows?

BodaZoffa · Post by **BodaZoffa** » Sat May 01, 2004 5:31 pm

Sounds like the guy has some money, if he just wants to sit on these...

Boda

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Sat May 01, 2004 5:45 pm

I see hes got Chewy working for him.

greg · Post by **greg** » Sat May 01, 2004 5:49 pm

x-omatic wrote:I see hes got Chewy working for him.

Chewy's just a cardboard standup...
But there is a full-sized Shaquille O'Neal mannequin in there... intimidating!

justin · Post by **justin** » Sat May 01, 2004 5:54 pm

I've seen a warehouse very similar to that one in Kansas before!

-A

greg · Post by **greg** » Sat May 01, 2004 6:18 pm

architect wrote:I've seen a warehouse very similar to that one in Kansas before!

Interesting... but that's not where I was.

(Did you get to search the Kansas one?)

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Sat May 01, 2004 7:23 pm

Wow. What a spectacular waste of time...

I REALLY hope he paid you an appraisal fee. About the only things worthwhile are the Harb blues, X-O 1-5s, Rai 1s and of course the Solar HCs.

I've had (as I'm sure many of you have as well) the opportunity to buy thousands upon thousands of bulk post unity books at pennies (or less) each. The very best thing that could happen with these books is a massive fire destroying all but 5% of their runs.

Yeesh. Poor guy.

Jaknife · Post by **Jaknife** » Sat May 01, 2004 7:27 pm

thats, ummm...alottacomics.

COMICKINGS · Post by **COMICKINGS** » Sat May 01, 2004 10:51 pm

20,000 post unity comics......it makes my 8 long boxes of only 10-15 different issues look good!.....and you can bet there's guys somewhere out there that would make that collection look small!

BodaZoffa · Post by **BodaZoffa** » Sun May 02, 2004 12:05 am

IBP..... Iowa Beef Packers.

Mmmmmmhhhhhh. It's in the midwest somewhere. Arkansas, Oklahoma, maybe Missouri. I'm guessing Texas.

Boda

KO2003 · Post by **KO2003** » Sun May 02, 2004 9:48 am

Hey, that looks like my living room!

Vault-Keeper · Post by **Vault-Keeper** » Sun May 02, 2004 4:59 pm

Hey Greg-
What do you think about posting the warehouse collection to the inventory list as 'The Warehouse Collection'?---Steve G

justin · Post by **justin** » Mon May 03, 2004 9:01 am

greg wrote:
architect wrote:I've seen a warehouse very similar to that one in Kansas before!
Interesting... but that's not where I was.
(Did you get to search the Kansas one?)

I am going back in 3 weeks, I only worked through about half of them. I am giving the owner a bid for his valiants.

crossing my fingers
-A

willyt · Post by **willyt** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 1:34 pm

hey ARc. did you go to the warehouse yet??? let me know if you find a valiant voice 11? hell let us know what you found..

justin · Post by **justin** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 2:08 pm

With the wife pregnant again and her hormones raging last week, (are comics all you think about? don't you want to spend time at home with your family? yada, yada, yada) "I" (ya right

) decided to stay home the past 2 weekends when I was slated to go hit the road and check them out.

I called the couple that has the collection and he was put off by the fact I couldn't make it down, but the misses was cool and told me they would allow me to look at it anytime in June before they have someone else look at it.

I have been told what they have, nothing super hard to find, but they would like to sell there late sons collection. He was a mailman and hit by a truck nearly 2 years ago and they contacted me as he owned a comic shop in Hutchinson KS during the valiant rage I always use to hit when I would see family.

I know they still have his unopened boxes of 1980's football cards, they told me that. The one, 1984 I think, with Joe Montana as a rookie on the cover of Topps they have 6 boxes of. He use to have these in his shop for sale in 1993. Too bad I didn't buy a box then and sell it now, it would pull in some premium dough I bet.

About 22 long boxes of comics (short and long boxes combined) (all companies, including that signed Miss PMS 0 and 1 I gave him from a comic artist in springfield) and tons of cards. If anyone is interested in the cards IM me and once I check them out, I will follow up on them with you and let you know what they are and the asking price.

-A

mrwoogieman · Post by **mrwoogieman** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:04 pm

the football card thing reminds me of an old boss I used to work for who would order cases of Topps and Fleer sports cards and just stack them in his warehouse, unopened. He was doing that from before I started working for him in 1991, I bet he still does it too. And I bet he hasn't opened those other boxes either.........

justin · Post by **justin** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:08 pm

At this shop, we would play the pack game. These is where whoever wanted to play would grab a pack of cards. Lets say Marvel whatever. We would all agree on say.... Stamina. Whomever had the card with the highest stamina rating won all the packs of the people playing, including chase cards. Made for some great fun until you played 8 or 9 games and you thought about how you had to pay for those 8 packs and then the game would end. Oh well, it was always good to get Thanos or Glactius due to the fact there ratings were the best.

-A

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:09 pm

architect wrote:I know they still have his unopened boxes of 1980's football cards, they told me that. The one, 1984 I think, with Joe Montana as a rookie on the cover of Topps they have 6 boxes of. He use to have these in his shop for sale in 1993. Too bad I didn't buy a box then and sell it now, it would pull in some premium dough I bet.
-A

Joe Montana was a rookie in '79, and had his rookie cards in '80-'81.

ZWH <----lifelong 9er's fan.

ValiantFans.com Board - Since 2004

Where did Greg go? ... I can't tell you exactly ...

Where did Greg go? ... I can't tell you exactly ...

Warehouse pics

what happened