CBCS posted this image to Facebook yesterday. To which I responded:
When I started working on the Church data project it always seemed weird to me that there was that hole in the Suspense Comics listing. It's a full run otherwise, but there was no #3. As far as I've seen old Edgar didn't skip many months on many titles so that seemed crazy to me. I'd love to hear where it's been and why it wasn't in the original catalog.
To expand, the Suspense run, up until yesterday, looked like this:
Title | Issue # | Original Catalog Grade | Catalog Price | CGC/CBCS Grade | Notes | Year | Publisher
suspense (continental) 1 NM+ $30.00 1943 Continental
suspense (continental) 2 NM+ $15.00 1944 Continental
suspense (continental) 4 NM $15.00 1944 Continental
suspense (continental) 5 NM+ $12.00 9.2 OW-W very minor glue and very minor color 1944 Continental
suspense (continental) 6 FN $6.00 1944 Continental
suspense (continental) 7 NM+ $12.00 9.4 W Old grade NM- 9.2 OW-W 1944 Continental
suspense (continental) 8 NM+ $12.00 1945 Continental
suspense (continental) 9 NM+ $12.00 1945 Continental
suspense (continental) 10 NM $9.00 1946 Continental
suspense (continental) 11 NM $9.00 9.4 OW 1946 Continental
suspense (continental) 12 NM+ $12.00 8.5 CR-OW 1946 Continental
That's weird, right? I know what you might be thinking, isn't Suspense #3 one of the biggest "cover keys" of the Golden Age? Wouldn't it have been snapped up for a big premium right off the bat? It might seem like that now, but Suspense #3 began its rise to megastardom with the release of the Photojournal Guide to Comics so whoever bought this before it hit the catalog had a good eye. I've seen multiple people categorically state there wasn't a Church copy of this book. And yet, here it is…
Hopefully Heritage (where it will apparently be auctioned) will provide some details.
By vfighter March 17, 2017 - 3:24 pm
If you read about the discovery of the collection, he talks about how he let a few select collectors come and cherry pick books so he could pay for the collection. http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg12.html etc.
So even though Suspense #3 isn't a key Golden Age book from the stand point of the 1st appearance of some costumed super hero, it is totally possible that some moneyed collector still enjoyed the cover enough once he saw it in 1977 that he bought it outright on the spot, thus the book never made it into the catalog.