The Dell Comic Book Covers find in New York.
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The Big deal Comic book cover find in New York
The story about the discovery of the Dell covers in New York in 1989/90 is somewhat vague. However, the following is a more accurate account based on information from various anonymous sources. The names of these sources are known to the webmaster of this website, but they will not be revealed publicly.
To protect the privacy of those involved, certain passages and pieces of information have been removed by the editor. Some typos have also been corrected for clarity.
Source # 1 :
This was the situation. In the US we have what we call “pickers”, people who go to garage sales, estate sales and homes that go up for sale, looking for collectibles.
In the town next from me is one such person. I had dealt with him on paintings and toys as he specialized in decorative arts.
Around 1989 or 1990 there was a comic book convention in NY.
That same picker walks in and has a dozen pages of art with him all Dell covers.
He walks up to the two first tables he sees, …. …. , who at the time was partners with …. for many years and another dealer I will not name.
I was also set up as a dealer. He did not call me prior as he did not realize I dealt in and collected comic art!
Rather than fight over the price with each other the two dealers decide to go partners.
The person says he has more, one box all Dell and gold key art. He went to a home estate sale, walked into the basement and saw pinned up on the walls crayon covered pictures that looked like coloring book pages. He then came across a box full of uncolored pages.
Knowing nothing about them he took a chance. Left the ones on the wall and bought the box.
The owner explained that their father had worked for the printing company in Poughkeepsie and would bring them home for them to color when they were young.
The instructions at the factory were that after a piece of art was photographed it was to be discarded as they kept the negatives.
The “other” dealer told…. that the owner of the material only wanted to meet with him.
…. gives him what he thought was half the money and dealer 2 meets the picker and buys the art.
…. offer to buy all the art paying a premium for the other half. Apparently, the two best pieces, the CS 45 and FC 367 Cover were not “included” in the deal and …. had no knowledge of them.
Source # 2 :
The story starts with the fellow walking into a comic show in New York.
Apparently he approached dealer 1 first, who expressed interest in buying the comics. Then, he ran into dealer 2, and the guy expressed interested in having the two bid against one another to dealer 2, explaining dealer 1`s interest in the art.
Dealer 2 tells the guy that if he waits, perhaps the two of them can combine resources. The guy wants $xx,xxx for the lot of comic book covers. Then dealer 2 goes to dealer 1..
He tells dealer 1 that the guy wants the two of them to bid against one another, and that this isn`t good. Why not split the comics ? He tells dealer 1 that the guy wants $xx,xxx. Dealer 1 agrees.
Dealer 2 takes dealer 1`s cash and goes back to the guy. He buys the comic book covers for $xx,xxx.
Over the years, various trades, buys and shifting of the material occurred between the two dealers and others.
So, it`s hard to say which Barks covers were had by which of the two, on the original day of the find.
But the source believes that there was about 6 – 8 Comic book covers by Carl Barks in the find from New York.
It seems logical that the following 8 Barks covers were among :
DDFC # 356, DDFC # 367, WDC # 133, WDC # 135, WDC # 165, WDC # 214, US # 7 and US # 20.
The Dell Covers in chronological publ. order : 1944 - 1958.
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1) 1944 : WDC # 45 ( June ) Walt Kelly.
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2) 1948 : WDC # 88 ( Jan. ) Walt Kelly.
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3) 1949 : Tom & Jerry # 64 ( Nov. )
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4) 1950 : WDC # 115 ( April ) Walt Kelly.
5) 1950 : Looney Tunes # 108 ( Oct. )
6) 1950 : WDC # 122 ( Nov. ) Walt Kelly / Carl Buettner.
7) 1950 : WDC # 123 ( Dec. ) Walt Kelly / Carl Buettner.
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8) 1951 : Tom & Jerry # 81 ( April )
9) 1951 : Looney Tunes # 114 ( April )
10) 1951 : WDC 128 ( May ) Carl Buettner.
11) 1951 : FC Woody Woodpecker # 336 ( June/Aug. ) Dan Gormley.
12) 1951 : Looney Tunes # 117 ( July )
13) 1951 : WDC # 133 ( Oct. ) Carl Barks.
14) 1951 : Tom & Jerry # 87 ( Oct. ) Harvey Eisenberg
15) 1951 : FC 356 Donald Duck ( Nov. ) Carl Barks.
16) 1951 : WDC # 135 ( Dec. ) Carl Barks.
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17) 1952 : FC 367 Donald Duck ( Jan. ) Carl Barks.
18) 1952 : POGO # 8 ( Jan./March ) Walt Kelly.
19) 1952 : POGO # 10 ( July/Sept. ) Walt Kelly.
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20) 1953 : Looney Tunes # 142 ( Aug. )
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21) 1954 : New Funnies # 206 ( April )
22) 1954 : FC # 562 Goofy ( May ) Paul Murry.
23) 1954 : New Funnies # 207 ( May )
24) 1954 : Porky Pig # 34 ( May / June )
25) 1954 : WDC # 165 ( June ) Carl Barks.
26) 1954 : Tom & Jerry # 119 ( June )
27) 1954 : Bugs Bunny # 37 ( June / July )
28) 1954 : Porky Pig # 35 ( July / Aug. )
29) 1954 : Woody Woodpecker ( Back Cover ) Back to School # 3 ( Aug. )
30) 1954 : FC # 581 Chip`n Dale ( Aug. ) Harvey Eisenberg.
31) 1954 : Woody Woodpecker # 26 ( Aug. / Sept. )
32) 1954 : Mickey Mouse # 37 ( Aug. /Sept. ) Dick Moore.
33) 1954 : FC # 585 ( Back Cover ) Bugs Bunny Album ( Sept. )
34) 1954 : New Funnies # 211 ( Sept. )
35) 1954 : Looney Tunes # 155 ( Sept. )
36) 1954 : Andy Panda # 27 ( Sept. / Okt. )
37) 1954 : Tweety & Sylvester # 6 ( Sept. / Nov. )
38) 1954 : Uncle Scrooge # 7 ( Sept. / Nov. ) Carl Barks.
39) 1954 : FC # 595 PLUTO ( Oct. ) Paul Murry.
40) 1954 : New Funnies # 212 ( Oct. )
41) 1954 : Woody Woodpecker # 27 ( Okt. / Nov. )
42) 1954 : Tom & Jerry # 124 ( Nov. )
43) 1954 : Looney Tunes # 157 ( Nov. )
44) 1954 : Andy Panda # 28 ( Nov. / Dec. )
45) 1954 : New Funnies # 214 ( Dec. )
46) 1954 : Tom & Jerry # 125 ( Dec. )
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47) 1957 : New Funnies # 245 ( July )
48) 1957 : FC # 819 “Mickey Mouse in Magic Land” ( July ) Tony Strobl.
49) 1957 : Chip`n Dale # 11 ( Sept. / Nov. ) Harvey Eisenberg.
50) 1957 : Tweety & Sylvester # 18 ( Sept. / Nov. )
51) 1957 : Uncle Scrooge # 20 ( Dec. `57 / Febr. `58 ) Carl Barks.
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52) 1958 : New Funnies # 252 ( Febr. )
53) 1958 : Tom & Jerry # 167 ( June ) Harvey Eisenberg.
54) 1958 : WDC # 214 ( July ) Carl Barks.
55) 1958 : Mickey Mouse # 57 ( Dec. `57 / Jan. `58 ). Paul Murry.
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Unpublished cover intended for :
56) 1954 New Funnies 212 ( Oct. ) Another drawing was used for this issue.
The majority of the covers ( 27 ) are from 1954. 21 covers are with Disney characters : FC, WDC, Uncle Scrooge, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Chip`n Dale.
