What was your GREATEST COMIC FIND EVER????

[bminor]

You know the story. Somebody you meets has a bunch of comics they read as a kid. FF #1, early Spiderman, etc.
You ask, "Do you have them"
They answer, " Nah, my Mom threw them out years ago"
You now weep silent tears to self.

This happened to me.
In the early 1970's I asked my older sisters boy friend (who was to become brother-in-law) "Do you have any comics?"
"Well I did, but my Mom threw them out" He remembers having all those great early Marvel books,  "sigh".

Well what kind of great finds have you had in your past, or perhaps a near miss.

I remember going to a rummage sale when I was a kid and buying a few comics, Archie and the like, nothing to exciting.
Later going through them at home, I discovered when I opened a Archie, inside was a coverless X-Men #2, pretty dog gone neat!
B.

[KingFaraday]

I've never had one involving comics although I know of one. A friend had an older sister who left him some prime funny and teen comics but his big score was from an advertisement he placed in the newspaper back in the late 60s offering to buy old comics. A guy out in the state responded that he had a bunch of old comics he wanted to get rid of. He ended up with a huge cache of 40s and 50s comics.
I used to have a fantasy that the old Fawcett printing plant here had file cabinets of old Captain Marvel comics and I would somehow acquire them. Everyone I ever talked to that had worked there told me they new saw any comics there.
My big scores were in sports cards. My uncle passed on his 50s baseball cards to me and my brother in law gave me his 50s-60s baseball and football cards one year for Christmas.

[Yoc]

Nice stories guys.  Thanks for sharing.
Back in the early 80s I traded a Byrne X-Men (forget which) for a good condition X-Men #19 (1966)(vs The Mimic).  I was happy with the trade.

[erwin-k]

Back about 1967 a college friend told me about a box of old comics up in the barn of a family member. A month or two later he brought it in. A History Professor and I bought the box from him.

The Prof, who wrote multiple books about films, took all the movie cowboy books. That included several issues of the Buster Crab and John Wayne titles. I got a number of Fawcett books including Master Comics, plus the Shadow & Green Hornet, all titles I collected at the time.

[narfstar]

Late 70's I bought a Showcase 6 and 7 for $2 each while paying $5 for then hot comic Howard the Duck #1. I bought a copy of Brave and Bold 28 in the mid 80's for $100 and bought Harvey Hits #3 at a flea market for $30. 

Unusual find that was special to me was at Heroes Con a few years ago Sparkman #1, because I love oddball stuff.

[OtherEric]

Although I wound up selling it later to pay rent sadly...

Early 90's, my local mall was having a sort of mini-con; lots of dealers setting up tables.  One of those tables had one of those charming assholes who price everything at double guide hoping that they sucker some of the casual browsers who wouldn't normally see a comic dealer to overpay.  So I felt exactly zero guilt at paying $20 for his Justice League #29 he should have priced at around $10 or so.

Mind you, the idiot missed the small "Brave & Bold" logo at the top above the Justice League logo.   

[narfstar]

Good job Eric. Sadly, I know longer have my B&B 28 as I had to sell it many years ago to buy a car after my engine blew. I do still have poor grade copies of 29-30.

[bminor]

My best day in collecting ever was a cool autumn evening in Minnesota.
It was about 1976 or so, I was in high school, worked as a janitor at a local medical clinic ever other night to get some spending money.
Well, it was the day the local shopper newspaper came out, you know rummage sales, local want ads, etc.
In this particular issue there was a ad of a guy selling his old comics, he had about 300 or so and wanted $100.
I had just been paid from my job, still had my check, about $90 or so, had not even had a chance to cash it yet.
So with payroll check in hand I called this guy up and went to his house.
I looked the the pile of comics, this guy really liked D.C. comics, not one Marvel in the bunch. What he did have, was o.k. though. I asked him if I signed the check over to him would that be o.k.
What he did have in the pile was
Late 50's to early 60's stuff.
Detective, Batman, Action, Superman, Adventure (some early Legion of Super Heroes)
Justice League of America 2,,4 5,7,9,13,20,21(JSA!),22, 28,29,30
Flash  111,113,114,115,120,121,123 (first golden age Flash crossover!), 124,137,
Green Lantern, 2,3,4,7,9,10,13,19, 40(GA GL!),
Some various Showcase and Brave and Bold
He was a sporadic reader up to about 1964 or so. Sadly no number 1's anywhere.
These books reside to this day in my collection. I have never parted with any of them! Though have I come close at times.
B.

[CBpop]

The best single comic find that I have experienced was in 1965 -1966 when I bought “Porky Pig of the Mounties”,  the Dell 4 Color (series II) Porky Pig # 48  with Carl Barks art.  As a starving college student working in a book store for credit ( to buy comics of course ;-) the $2.00 cash I paid for it was very expensive.  This was the days before Overstreet and other guides so I had no proof  that it was Barks art but it sure looked like it to me.  I was fortunate to have made contact with Don and Maggie Thompson through their Newfangles fanzine and was able to get a partial confirmation that it was “most likely” Barks. I still have it and it's still in excellent condition – glossy cover, white pages.  One of my key Barks issues that I have kept.

I really enjoy these stories... keep them coming !!!

[Geo (RIP)]

In my earlier days I had some friends who's father worked for a paper recycler, he would bring home piles of comic books that were turned in as destroyed by the drug stores and supermarkets. So I would go over to their house and come back with a pile of my own. I got some early Blackhawk, Atom-Age Combat, Brave and Bold #28-30 to name a few. The only problem was most had there covers removed, but not always. When I was in the service my mother threw out most of those comic books I had gotten from them. My one book I've had since I bought it new is dog eared Showcase #17, Adventures on other Worlds. Since then I've got the other two issue of Showcase that continued the stories of Adam Strange (Mystery in Space series too when Adam Strange was added), Space Ranger (2 issues), Rip Hunter Time Master (all, loved the art Kubert did on the 2 issues). Also I did buy the first issues of Spiderman series (Amazing Fantasy), Fantastic Four and other first issues of Marvel Super Hero's series starts which got sold to pay off some bills at the time, so they are all long gone now. That's my story and I going to stand by it thank you.

Geo

[darkmark (RIP)]

Don't know about ever, but in 1964, I walked into a nickel-a-book store and walked out with an ish of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1.  Wish I still had it.

[bminor]

Well, these things do still happen. Very rarely though.
Last Saturday, my wife and I were out in the country, small town, very small town. A hundred miles from the nearest big city.
Went into a small shop/part antique store.
Saw some cool old plastic models from the early 70's still in the box! Cool!
Saw a basket with some comics, 80's, 90's vintage, $2 each, beat up. Nothing exciting.
Kept looking, saw a bin with a pile of comics in bags. Must have been about 30 or so in there.
Just about all Dell 10˘, what was so unusual is that they were all in near mint condition! Looked like they had been read once and put away in a drawer!
Looking through the pile, first I see Bugs Bunny(a few Bugs Giant Size), Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry. They are all looking oh so nice. I am thinking it would be really nice if there were something special in here. A few beautiful Tarzans with painted covers, some Lone Rangers.
I see a couple of Walt Disney Comics and Stories, Barks! 
Then the best, Uncle Scrooge 9 and 11! Huzzah!
Best part of the deal, the Tarzans and Lone Rangers are $11 each, but everything else is $4 each!
I told my wife, (who was patiently standing next to me) that I was shaking with excitement!
She said Happy Birthday, and bought them for me!
B.

[CBpop]

Happy Birthday B 
You have a good wife. I have experienced the same gift event from my wife. We were at the Big Flea where I found several Uncle Scrooge and 4-Color Dell Grandma Duck books by Barks for $2.50 each. It was close to Valentine's Day, so it was my Valentine gift.  Although not what you would call a fantastic find, they were complete and in VG condition.. good enough for re reading.  I still like to have the book in my hand and smell the pulp   

Finds like yours and mine are what keep me searching.... which is part of the fun. I keep hoping to find a Mint copy of 1949 Dell 25 cent Christmas Parade # 1. An all time favorite of mine.
Happy reading

[Poztron]

I belatedly happened upon this thread.

Probably my best, purely "lucky" find, was the box of old MAD magazines put out on the street next to our flat. We live next door to a SRO welfare hotel (yes, it's very urban), and probably some hotel resident had died or had been evicted, and this precious box of MADs that had been saved for decades was given the boot. It included several issues in the #25-#30 range, when MAD had just switched to magazine format. Nice to find for free.

Aside from that, I think my best comic finds were at a few (very few) comic cons in the early '70s where I snapped up Quality comics in merely "fair to good" shape for $1-$3. These were old '40s issues, like SMASH, CRACK, FEATURE, The BARKER, HIT, NATIONAL, BLACKHAWK, etc. Perfectly good, though with rolled spines in many cases, due to enthusiastic reading in their past history. Also plenty of Fiction House titles. When "condition is King" one can obtain some marvelous stuff in mediocre condition.

[erikpsmith]

My biggest find? Well, it was actually a friend of mine who found it.

At a thrift store in the '70s, he found a copy of Flash 105 -- the first issue of the revived Flash, continuing the old numbering of the '40s. He paid $1.

I traded him for it. The first comic book store in Spokane had just opened, and my friend really wanted a title they had on display. Something from Marvel, a sleepy title no one really cared about. I paid ten whole dollars for X-Men Number 1, which seemed a little overpriced to me, and immediately made the exchange.

I still have my copy of Flash 105. My friend, alas, sold his copy of X-Men years ago.