Active Comics #6, Bell Features, August/September 1942, Graded CGC 5.0 Cream to Off White pages sold for $326 on last week’s big ComicLink auction.
I won this auction but I actually didn’t mean to, I mean I’m glad that I won it but I didn’t expect my bargain basement bid to actually win the day.
I’m not sure why this “Canadian White” did so poorly compared to the prices the “Whites” have been getting in the last year and a half worth of ComicLink auctions.
The rest of the “Whites” on this auction did not fare much better though there were only a handful of them.
Was that it? Where there too few “White’s” available to draw in all the buyers?
I’ve heard a few people say that this spells the end of the crazy prices these comics have been getting. I personally believe this is a combination of a small blip and a bit of a much needed correction. I can point to the great Dreamer cover on the CGC 8.0 Wow #26 fetching $2,322 as an example of another strong “White” result.
I guess we’ll have to see what happens on the next big offering of “Canadian Whites”
Advantage Buyer
think Wally is correct. This is a small correction or blip in pricing. I think prices will go up as new collectors rally their collecting interests around the bargains recently aquired.
Because the number of collectors of Canadian Comics is very small, and dealers need a certain mark-up for resale, prices will swing more widely than on American books listed in the Overstreet Guide.
I could see this Active #6 going from $300 to $3,000. Why such a huge range! Five factors make this particular book a half-full half-emply paradox. This book has the 5 problems of being a 5.0 midgrade, with cream pages, rusty staple, not so interesting cover, and #6 in the run is not so rare.
Most of the whites sold recently at comic link auctions are repeats of books appearing before. There were no fresh exciting issues to peak collectors immaginations. We had 2 Dime 1’s sell in prior auctions within the past year. Likewise, with most other whites recently offered. Only Wow 26 in 8.0 with the skelatal card playing death dealer holding all 4 aces was compelling enough to break through the $2,000 ceiling.
With these low results, sellers will dry up the whites supply. Whites books available for resale from auction have room for muliple profit layers which in the long run will support happy new whites investors.
Stevie V.
Can some one bring me up to speed on term Canadian Whites.
Hi Jeremy
Canadian Whites it the collecting term used to describe Canadian comics published during World War II. The books were published to fill a void left by the Canada’s ban on all non essential imports which included comic books.
Here is a good article on these books.
http://www.comicbookdaily.com/collecting-community/whites-tsunami-weca-splashes/why-weca/
Jeremy
Comic books printed in Canada during WW2 are called whites because from 1941 to 1945 they were produced in black and white. They were locally drawn, and sold exclusively in huge numbers all across Canada. American comics were not sold in Canada until after that. Whites are now rare. They are not listed in overstreet price guides.
Thank you very much. Interesting.
Jeremy
Thanks Walter and Stevie, I had the same question as Jeremy. Sounds like an interesting genre to collect.