Tarzan & the Crystal Vault of Isis

Spart

Hi, I'm new to the forum. My elderly father has asked me to find out if there is any interest in his childhood card collection: Tarzan and the Crystal Vault of Isis. (TCVI).

This was a Schutter-Johnson 1934 era card collection. He is the original owner, having collected these cards when he was a boy. He has the entire collection of (50) cards all together.

Here is my local Craigslist ad (Madison, WI area): http://madison.craigslist.org/clt/2862662593.html

If anyone is interested, please contact me via the CL link and I will get back to you.

Thank you!

thedutymon

Morning,

You need to activate your PM's. I have an interest and would like to see some scans.

Please turn on your PM so I can give you my e-mail address.

Thanks

Neil

Spart

Hey Neil, pms activated.. I dont have any scans yet, but I could probably get some when I visit my Dad again. When you PM, please send me your name, email address and phone number. I can then try to put you in touch with my father if I cant answer your questions. While I saw the cards years ago, I havent looked at them recently.

thanks!

Spart

I just talked to my father on the phone a short time ago and got clarification about the TCVI set. He said that he knew of the set and remembers playing with some of the cards as a kid. He said he remembered these cards as "flipping cards" and that many of the boys in the neighborhood would flip with these as they didnt think they were worth as much as their other cards at the time. He also said that during the WWII paper drives, many of the kids tossed these Tarzan cards into the pile in order to show being patriotic vs giving up their favorite cards. So when he came across a complete set years later, he bought it. He said he doesn't recall there being any creases, broken edges, wrinkles in the cards. The next time I visit, I will see about getting some pic scans of the cards for those that are interested. He does want to sell the complete set, not single cards.

Hope this fills in the blanks for the history of these cards.

For anyone interested, PM here, or email through the craigslist ad and I will respond. I encourage people to look at the cards in person if interested.

Thanks!

thedutymon

Morning,

What does everybody think? I have my opinion but will keep it to myself for now.








Neil

CNote

I don't like 'em. They almost look like they're printed on news print. I'm sure that's not the case, but yuck. And, I think my kid cut some of those out with Crayola scissors before. heh

scooperqpr

cut by a blind retard with blunt scissors. but I would take them to fill holes but at a MASSIVE price reduction

AwfulBits

They are trimmed. They should have a white boarder all the way around the card. As for the news print look. They weren’t printed on a standard thick cardstock, but rather on a thinner type paper. Link to how the cards should look.

http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/R147/go.html

As far as value, on a good day on ebay maybe you could hope to get between $50-$100 for the set. Sorry for the bad news.

-Mike

Spart

In talking to a couple of the different auction houses that have seen these cards, they stated that it wasn't that unusual to have the cards trimmed over the course of 80 years. btw: My father didnt trim those cards, they were like that when he purchased the set decades ago. And if it was done by a kid, it was done back more then 50 years ago, so be kind.

My father had his friends who worked in the printing business back in the 40's and 50's verify the inking, and blocking. As for the color, those are exactly, exactly the same as some of the original era collector cards of that era. The printing is original, absolutely no doubt, as again, they match up to the cards of that era. So theres no doubt these are authentic cards.

As for the pricing, I've reduced the set price to match the opinion of the auction people (based on the trimming). If they hadn't been trimmed, they would have been in the $4-6K range. But with the three sides trimmed they're worth somewhere between $550-600 for the entire set of (50) cards. My Dad said he would entertain "intelligent" offers.

AwfulBits

Not trying to be rude, but what the card could have been worth has nothing to do with what they are worth. If in gem mint perfect condition the set would be worth 15-20K or more.

I have no doubt the are genuine. Just trimmed.

Below is a recent auction for a lot of 23 on eBay. they have tape stains, but other wise they look like really nice high grade cards. Now is tape worse then trimming? I would take the tape stain cards over trimmed cards. Some would probably take the trimmed cards over the stains and others the stains over the trimming. You/your dad have slightly over double the cards, so you do the math. If some auction house told you they can get you $500 or more for them, you should let them sell them, and hope they can.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item5ae4dc4b96&item=390386699158&nma=true&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&si=zqGB8m7tJwgkbHe9b06X4XTNFGk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc#ht_500wt_1111

-Mike

Spart

Mike thanks for the comments.

I'm merely going by what I've been told by different sources and people who have contacted me about the cards. I'm being completely honest when I say that until someone shows up with cash and offers me a firm price, everything is just speculation. The actual purchase price will dictate the value. Right? If someone is serious about the cards and shows up with cash, Im going to listen to what they have to say.

...Tape residue, trimmed edges, faded colors, ink smudges, ...quite frankly, it really doesn't matter to me. I just want to sell the cards and give the money to my Dad. End of story.

So if anyone else is interested in looking at the cards and making an intelligent cash offer, please let me know. I'll listen...

thanks!