| Everyone has their particular horror-story about | | | | there wasn't a tear or crease in any of |
| something they owned as a child that got thrown | | | | them.After Mickey Mouse, the ones I liked the |
| away and is now worth a small fortune. It's | | | | most were Scrooge McDuck and his square vault. |
| usually some trivial thing that was worthless at | | | | I had every one, including the jumbo issues. I'm |
| the time and became a collector's item and very | | | | not sure why, but unca Scrooge seemed to hit a |
| valuable later. The only thing valuable that I saved | | | | responsive chord. Maybe that's why I'm now a |
| from my youth was a windup GI Joe in a jeep. | | | | very frugal traveler. I also liked Batman, |
| It's still in mint condition, although the box | | | | Superman, Spidey and once in a while I'd buy a |
| disappeared many years ago. But I had tons of | | | | Tales from the Crypt. The horror books scared |
| things that I kept for years and then threw out. | | | | me, so I didn't buy many of them. At any rate, I |
| Usually at the prompting of my mother. | | | | had more than three hundred by the time I quit |
| Collectibles dealers know that boys usually threw | | | | buying them at around age fifteen in 1954. |
| their stuff away. Girls still have their Barbies. | | | | Probably about the same time I stopped watching |
| That's why there's so many of them still | | | | Howdy Doody. In 1961 I went into the army. |
| around.When I was very young I had all the | | | | When I came back, I lived at home until I got |
| Wheaties premiums that came out, starting with | | | | married. Every once in a while I would visit that |
| the clear-plastic goggles and the WWII patches | | | | treasured stack of newsprint over the years. I'd |
| that came in the boxes just after WWII ended. | | | | take a look at them every time I visited the |
| Every time the Lone Ranger announced a new | | | | folks.Sometime in the '80s I happened across a |
| gizmo, I'd send off a box-top and a dime. It really | | | | store that only sold comic books. Intrigued, I went |
| hurt when they raised the ante to a quarter. My | | | | inside and started to go through the thousands of |
| favorites were a six-shooter ring and the one | | | | book in their plastic jackets. Holy ****. A hundred |
| with the miniature atomic-bomb that you could | | | | dollars for a Walt Disney Book?I told the owner |
| see sparkles in the dark if you looked into it in a | | | | about my collection. He gave me a dubious look. I |
| dark closet. I had a great assortment of | | | | expect he had heard the same story from quite |
| magnifiers and whistles, but my favorite was a | | | | a few people. When I told him about the Disney |
| complete set of the Lone Ranger western town. | | | | books and the Uncle Scrooges, his eyebrows shot |
| It was a Cheerios premium. I didn't like Cheerios | | | | up. "You really have them all?"Everyone, I told him. |
| that much but I ate many boxes just to get the | | | | No lie.He reached under the counter and showed |
| buildings that came on the back of the box. They | | | | me a book he had with prices. Scrooge number |
| only put some of them there, like the barber | | | | one catlogued nearly $2000 in mint condition. The |
| shop. The rest, like the grain elevator and the | | | | others in the hundreds of dollars each. One of the |
| map for the town, you had to buy from General | | | | jumbos was worth nearly a thousand. My Barker |
| Mills by mail. Whatever I got, I kept in immaculate | | | | Ducks, which I also had a complete run, were all |
| condition. My buddies really hated me for not | | | | worth at least a hundred dollars each. The owner |
| letting them play with my things. I suppose that's | | | | said he would have been happy to take any or all |
| where the collector in me started.Needless to say, | | | | of my comics on consignment and sell them for a |
| all the things I've mentioned are very collectible | | | | 20% commission, but he would have to sell them |
| now. The complete frontier town sold for nearly | | | | at about half the book price. He wished I had put |
| $1,500 in an on-line auction. But the one sold was | | | | them into bags, but seemed reassured when I |
| never cut out from the cereal boxes or removed | | | | told him that the basement had a dehumidifier and |
| from the cardboard frames. I played with my | | | | they were still in mint condition.As you can |
| town. Plastic soldiers regularly fought pitched | | | | imagine, I rushed to my parent's house and |
| battles in the streets there until the Lone Ranger | | | | headed straight for the basement. To my horror, |
| would show up to put an end to hostilities. Today, | | | | the comics were gone and my baby picture was |
| the six-shooter ring regularly sells for up to $200, | | | | sitting where I kept them."What did you do with |
| the atomic bomb ring for slightly less. Somewhere | | | | my comics?" I shouted."I didn't think you wanted |
| in some land-fill there's a box with all my box-top | | | | them anymore so I threw them away."Do you |
| premiums. Worse, I expect there's another one | | | | know how to say matricide? She felt terrible |
| there, too. The one with my comic-book | | | | when I told her what she had done. She said that |
| collection.I loved the Sunday funnies and liked the | | | | she had wanted to do something with the |
| pictures, even if I couldn't read them. Oddly | | | | basement for years and finally got around to it. |
| enough, my favorite was a little green man called | | | | Couldn't she have waited just a bit longer?What's |
| Peter Pain in the Ben-Gay ads. Others were Dick | | | | the point of the story? I'm not sure, except that |
| Tracy, Winnie Winkle, Li'l Abner and Terry and the | | | | I am convinced that what your heart treasures |
| Pirates. Mom or Dad would read me the captions. | | | | the most must have some value beyond it |
| When I could read myself, I spent all my | | | | physical manifestation. I visited my comics for |
| allowance (and then some), on comic books. The | | | | years before I found out how much value they |
| one's I liked the best were the Disney comics. I | | | | had as a collectible. I imagine I would have kept |
| could talk Donald Duck talk so I really liked Donald. | | | | on, even if they hadn't become so valuable. Follow |
| But I had a special soft spot for Mickey Mouse. | | | | your heart. It may not be worth as much in |
| At one time the publisher used to run serials with | | | | dollars as my comic collection, but it will give you |
| Mickey and PegLeg Pete and I could hardly wait | | | | pleasure all your life.Oh yeah. GI Joe? He's got a |
| for the next episode. This was during the period | | | | special place in a showcase in our living room. The |
| that comic-book experts call the Barker Duck era, | | | | last time I had him appraised he was worth about |
| and I had complete runs for several years from | | | | $200, but I would never sell him.Cheers from |
| the late 40s into the mid-50s. (I used to watch | | | | John.John Anderson is now a full-time writer. He |
| Howdy Doody until I was fifteen, I'm ashamed to | | | | has also been a Teaching Assistant at the |
| say.) As I mentioned, I didn't let any of my | | | | University of Minnesota, a noise- pollution |
| friends read my comics. I knew they would | | | | consultant, a census enumerator, computer |
| damage them, somehow. They retaliated by not | | | | operator, stock clerk, Army and Navy Reservist, |
| letting me read their's, but I didn't care. Over the | | | | and a dealer in collectibles. His first novel, The |
| years they remained in just-printed mint condition. | | | | Cellini Masterpiece, was published under the pen |
| The last time I looked at them, when I was in | | | | name of Raymond John. |
| my forties, the paper had yellowed a bit, but | | | | |