Phil-Comics have listed their latest round of auctions on eBay, with bidding ending next weekend, and there are, as ever, a few British comic rarities on offer.
This latest auction features some 320 listings, with a great selection from the DC Thomson archive and several really rare free gifts, not least a Beano Clickitty Clicker from 1960, the 1961 Victor #1 Squirt Ring with even rarer envelope (featuring Dennis the Menace), Kelly’s Crackshot Pistol from 1966 Topper and both sweet wrappers from the first Knockout (1971).
The free gift on sale with Victor No. 1 is an oddity, from the collection of a vendor who collected free gifts for 25 years, scouring the market high and low and throughout that time he never saw another one. He has seen the odd Victor No. 1 being sold with a slightly different squirt ring packet, but he believes that may have been confused with a Wizard squirt ring gifted in 1970.
It is his belief that this was the genuine squirt ring that came with Victor No. 1 – interestingly it features Dennis the Menace, from the Beano comic, in a vintage style very similar to the period, or recent years, and no other DC Thomson comic of that time gave away this gift.
“As we’ve not seen another then we can’t be 100 per cent sure, but feel the vendor is right,” say Phil-Comics. Ultra rare, then?
There auction also features some rare Printers Proof Pages – one for Lion, cover dated 27th August 1966 featuring Robot Archie, drawn by Ted Kearon, another the Roy of the Rovers Front Cover for a 1957 issue of Tiger.
The “Robot Archie” proof comes from the estate of the late David Slinn, a fantastic contributor to downthetubes, who, sadly, passed last year, his friend Steve Holland paying tribute to him here.
Despite numerous attempts to discover more about David’s comics career, largely, I believe, in girls comics, he never could be persuaded to be interviewed, preventing a full tribute when he died. But his advice and input into numerous articles for this site was always much appreciated, and he is much missed.
The auction also includes a number of items from surplus material held by the DC Thomson Archive in Dundee, including bound volumes, professionally bound at the in-house bindery by the publisher.
Run by Phil Shrimpton, the award-winning Phil-Comics specialises in vintage comics and related items such as annuals, holiday specials, free gifts and original artwork.
Here are just some of the items in the current auction. Check out the current full Phil-Comics catalogue here on eBay
Original Art
A copy of Wonder, No. 1494, a rarity in itself as a wartime copy (many recycled in response to appeals during the conflict) is paired with a preliminary trial artwork by highly esteemed comic artist Roy Wilson, executed prior to his final drawing for publication. The piece corresponds with the first panel of the front cover story.
As we’ve previously noted, Roy Wilson was a perfectionist and would often draw half, or even a full, strip but decide it wasn’t quite good enough for his own high standards and consequently would re-draw it. So these are very close to the final version used for the comic and have the benefit of showing how he constructed his drawings. Indeed, whilst you can find almost endless examples of completed original artworks (wonderful in their own right) on the market, you rarely see half pencilled / half inked pages which show the process first hand.
Comics With Free Gifts
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Other Gems…
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• Check the latest Phil-Comics auction on eBay
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Auctions, British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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