489 replies to this topic

[Patrice Louinet]

Gulp!
How many WT does this cost?

[theagenes]

Gulp!
How many WT does this cost?

Too many!

I also got CGC 9.8 Sparkler comics with a Hogarth Tarzan cover (Mile High/Church copy ) as part of the trade. Not many 9.8 GA comics out there.

Now I have to start rebuilding my Weird Tales run.

[sonny sixshooter]

So i went to Megacon this weekend and traded some of my WTs for this.

Impressive. Original Frazettas are not easy to come by. Well, not financially anyway.

[THE KID]

So i went to Megacon this weekend and traded some of my WTs for this.

I hope it's authentic. Caveat Emptor. The reason I say this is because there are so many forgeries and fakes. Even the certificates of authenticities can be fake. This must have set you back quite a bit. Even if if came from a reputable source I'd stlll have it certified and graded on it's authenticity for peace of mind. I notice some type of stains on the paper and the pencil sketch isn't very clear or detailed. The autograph is on the paper that's very white in color. http://fritzfrazetta...ic-pencils.html

http://peterdeseve.b...tta-expert.html

Ted William's (Baseball great - Best single season batting average 406 in 1941.) son John Henry could sign his dad's autograph better than Ted could. Also, Mark McGwire rarely signed memorabilia yet thousands of his fake autographs started showing up after he broke the home run record. He was looking at some autographs of his at a store and said, "I didn't sign these." He then reported the store to the authorities. http://www.artbusine...om/certaut.html

I only purchase autographs of my favorite athelete Cal Ripken Jr. if it's out of a box of wax pack cards from a major card company like Topps, Don Russ, or Upper Deck and is numbered. I get these from the owner and a good friend of mine of a reputable local mom and pop sports card store. He's been in business for 25 years.

http://www.museum-se...te-fantasy-art/

http://richardsimons...om/hofauto2.htm

I do hope you got a receipt and the name and phone number of the person who sold it to you.

v/r Richard

Edited by Richard, 20 February 2012 - 12:44 AM.

[deuce]

So i went to Megacon this weekend and traded some of my WTs for this.

Very cool. Having studied Friz's work for 30+yrs, I'd say it's probably authentic.

[THE KID]

So i went to Megacon this weekend and traded some of my WTs for this.

Very cool. Having studied Friz's work for 30+yrs, I'd say it's probably authentic.

I got taken advantage of many years ago so I'm very leery about high dollar items especially autographs. Even though it's very likely to be authentic for peace of mind I'd personally get it certified by an expert and have the documentation to go along with it. http://peterdeseve.b...tta-expert.html

Maybe there is documentation. Will wait to hear from theAgenes for more of the details and story..

I'd show my Howards but it's nothing not listed here before. I believe I have all of the REH Foundation books with the most recent Mark Finn's Blood and Thunder Vol 2.0 signed .

Always curious to know if there's a book somewhere that has Robert's signature in it? Maybe the one he gave to Novalyne? Any autograph of Robert's would be awesome to show here!

Edited by Richard, 20 February 2012 - 12:58 AM.

[theagenes]

Richard, forgeries are a legit concern, but I have no doubt as to it's authenticity. As Deuce said it's a typical Fritz figure study The seller was also one of the most reputable and well-known names in original comic art. I have three other authenticated Fritz signatures as well. I have as high a confidence level as you can have without having seen him draw it personally.

That earlier pic was from my cell at the con. Here's a real scan now that I'm home.

[Patrice Louinet]

@Theagenes: That's a beautiful sketch. I can certainly understand how a Frazetta original is a Grail for many people. Congratulations!

@Richard: There were a number of REH autographs (people asked for them in the 20s and 30s), but surviving examples are harder to come by! There was a set of tear sheets of "The Shadow Kingdom" (from Weird Tales), autographed by Howard, last known whereabouts: early 70s.

[THE KID]

Theagenes; Ok - That's great as I didn't want anyone to take advantage of you. I had it happen to me years ago. I hope you have fire, flood, and theft insurance or a big safety deposit box.

Patrice; Ok - if those Shadow Kindgow tear sheets ever reappear we'll have to snatch them up for Project Pride.

Thank you.

Edited by Richard, 20 February 2012 - 11:53 PM.

[THE KID]

Patrice!!!! I googled REH autograph on tear sheets and this website appeared: http://www.raresf.com/bgallery2.html

Black Colossus for $125,000!!! Holy Moly It would take me 50 years to raise this kind of money mowing yards and washing cars. How can we raise this kind of money?
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FANTASY MANUSCRIPTS
EVER TO HAVE COME ON THE MARKET

If I had this not only would I show it but would donate it.

Edited by Richard, 21 February 2012 - 12:06 AM.

[theagenes]

I don't want anyone to take advantage of me either. Richard, you need to come to MegaCon one of these years---it's a lot of fun.

[Patrice Louinet]

Patrice!!!! I googled REH autograph on tear sheets and this website appeared: http://www.raresf.com/bgallery2.html

Black Colossus for $125,000!!! Holy Moly It would take me 50 years to raise this kind of money mowing yards and washing cars. How can we raise this kind of money?
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FANTASY MANUSCRIPTS
EVER TO HAVE COME ON THE MARKET

If I had this not only would I show it but would donate it.

Yeah, this has been on the market for a number of years now. It's not the final version, but the first draft, inscribed to Robert Barlow at the request of the latter. I have a photocopy of it, and it is referenced in the Del Rey collection (in the section at the end where I indicated the number of extant pgs and drafts.) I also feel it's vastly overpriced.



There are a number of REH tss. out there, most of them not on the market. Btw, if you are offered an original ts. for the poem "Laughter in the Gulf", be advised that it is NOT by REH, despite what the seller might be telling you.

Patrice

[theagenes]

I'm sure it's one of those "I don't really want to sell this, but if you're crazy enough to pay this much I guess I'll let it go" price tags.

[Patrice Louinet]

The missing link between the pulps and the paperbacks of the 60s is The Avon Fantasy Reader. Once again, this was a Donald Wollheim publication. Wollheim was the one man who systematically pushed for Howard from the 30s to the 60s. He published Howard in fanzines (Fanciful Tales, the Phantagraph), in booklets ("The Hyborian Age), he reprinted poems in the 40s ("The New Hieroglyph"); he was there in the 60s as well, and would probably have published the Conan tales had not a greedy Campman imposed on having his own tales published alongside Howards.
At any rate, on the wake of the publication of Skull-Face and Others, in 1946, Wollheim launched the anthology title the Avon Fantasy Reader, whose contents were mostly reprints from the 1930s and from the best authors in the genre (REH, Lovecraft, Keller, Smith, Bradbury, Bierce, etc.) The publication allowed readers to read those almost forgotten classics at an affordable price. And Howard was there in 7 out of 18 numbers. Ready?

The Avon Fantasy Reader 2, reprints "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune"

Edited by Patrice Louinet, 28 February 2012 - 01:41 PM.

[Patrice Louinet]

A few months, then #7 hits the newstands. Another Howard reprint in there, another text taken from Skull-Face and Others: "The Cairn on the Headland".
Rohmer, Merritt and Moore on the cover, not REH. (If you squint hard enough, you'll see there is a man in the background of that cover.)

Edited by Patrice Louinet, 28 February 2012 - 01:14 PM.

[Patrice Louinet]

Things change with the next issue, #8,
There is a REH story in there, it is a reprint, but this time it is a reprint from Weird Tales, not Skull-Face. Wollheim didn't feel as frightened as Derleth about the Conan stories, and he knew a Howard masterpiece when he saw one.
REH grabs the cover illo, with one very strange Conan, and a Belit coming back from the dead... almost naked.



Wollheim also had this to say about the story, interesting words from the man who was the first to publish "The Hyborian Age"

[Patrice Louinet]

Howard is not present in #9, but is back with #10, once again grabbing the cover and accompanying illo with a Conan story!
"A Witch shall be Born" had only been printed in Weird Tales, and the story is one of the most famous of the Conan series.
This being said, lookit that Conan (I think it's Conan), and that should be Taramis in his arms. The angry creature of the back lagoon in the background must be the lovecraftian monster of the story. At least I like to think so....




But here is again Wollheim being much more perceptive about the Conan stories than everyone else... This is the same guy who would later publish The Lord of the Rings in paperback. Who could think that he wouldn't have had the Conan stories reprinted in the 1960s with a care to present them in a respectful way, had he been given the chance (and without being forced to include the editing/rewriting/censoring of a certain editor...)

Edited by Patrice Louinet, 28 February 2012 - 01:17 PM.

[Patrice Louinet]

No Howard in #11, but REH is cover-featured in #12 (easy pattern here).
"The Gods of Bal-Sagoth" becomes "The Blonde Goddess of Bal-Sagoth", and the cover shows plainly what was important about the blonde stuff...
It will take you at least a minute to spot, but Wulfhere's helmet (and torso) alone is worth the price of admission.



The inside cover blurb changed REH's grim tale into a rather exploitative piece of purple prose...



While the blurb heading the story reads much more like Wollheim's usual prose...

Edited by Patrice Louinet, 29 February 2012 - 02:01 PM.

[Patrice Louinet]

If you thought "Blonde Goddess" was exploitative, what can you say about #14's "Temptress of the Tower of Torture and Sin" ????
Under this ludicrous title and alluring Wally Wood-like cover, was hiding "The Voice of El-Lil", an Oriental adventure originally published in the very first issue of Oriental Stories in 1930.
The, ah... er... belt of the lady is a weird one indeed, covering(?) what it can.



And in case you didn't know what you were supposed to find in the story...


And as usual, the blurb heading the story is a model of restraint compared to the above.


Interestingly enough, the story is reprinted "by permission of the Estate of Robert E. Howard" whatever this was...

Edited by Patrice Louinet, 28 February 2012 - 01:32 PM.

[Patrice Louinet]

No Howard story in #16, but the magazine was dying, which may very well explain the incredible covers and blurbs of the later issues. #18 concludes the run with a bang and a never before published REH story, "The House of Arabu". This was bought from Otis Kline who had been Howard's agent, but was rewritten to some extent, it is not known to what extent exactly.
The story was of course published under a weird title, here "The Witch from Hell's Kitchen" (!) and was © 1951 Avon Novels, another strange thing.








"Arabu" dated from late 1932, btw. It was not a prototype for Conan, but perhaps the first Conan imitation/ersatz...

This concludes the Howard run in TAFR.
After timid beginnings, Howard was clearly a major star of the magazine, grabbing the cover on 5 issues, the last 5 ones where he is featured (from 08 ro 18). So 11 issues, 5 covers for Howard. Not bad.
These Avon Fantasy Readers are very nice publications in their own rights, with very nice if exploitative pulpish covers. Issues are not particularly expensive, around $20-25 for a copy in high grade. Given the pulp paper used, expect some browning the the pages, but, hey, that's what pulp is all about.

Edited by Patrice Louinet, 28 February 2012 - 06:07 PM.