THE COMIC PRICE GUIDE FOR GREAT BRITAIN 5 (D)

(see The Comic Price Guide for Great Britain 4) Please vote if you find it interesting!

DANDY COMIC, THE. D.C. Thomson. 1 4th Dec 1937-presentThe longest-running British comic title approaching its 70th anniversary. Not quite as culty and popular as The Beano though. About 15 copies known to exist of issue #1 (compared to 16 or 17recorded Beano #1's). There is also a copy with two centre-spreads missing so it's basically the first four pages and the last four. It still sold for 148! An issue in solid VG Plus was sold at auction in June 1996 for 2,420 which helped put this item on the map. It was descibed as having "tanned dusty front/back covers with three small tears. Interior pages lightly tanned with edge wear". June 1999 saw 4,840 achieved. In 2004 a world record price was established for a British comic at a staggering 20,350 for a Fine Minus grade copy with the only known surviving free gift Express Whistler. A VG copy was sold at auction in May 2005 for 6,366. The Dandy title currently holds the record highest sale for both comic and annual, putting The Beano firmly in its place for once! Dandy is now Dandy Extreme and monthly. The desperation of the free gifts that are piled into the pre-bagged package makes you fear for this title's long term survival.PR GD VG FN VF NM MINT1.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 1 4th Dec 1937 rare, about 10 known copies; 1st Korky the Cat by James Crichton, Keyhole Kate by Alan Morely, Desperate Dan by Dudley Watkins, Jimmy and his Grockle by James Clark, Smarty Granpa by Dudley Watkins500.00 3,000.00 6,000.00 20,000.002 rare; only a handful of copies exist. In Sept 2004, a Fine Minus copy with the free gift Jumping Frog (one of only 2 known examples) sold for 3,76880.00 400.00 1,500.00 4,000.003 rare; only a handful of copies exist. In Sept 2004 a lovely Fine Plus copy sold for 1,81550.00 250.00 750.00 1,500.004 rare; 1st Christmas issue40.00 175.00 500.00 1,000.005 rare30.00 150.00 350.00 750.006-10 rare25.00 130.00 275.00 500.0011-15 very scarce22.50 120.00 225.00 450.0016-20 very scarce20.00 90.00 200.00 400.0021-30 very scarce15.00 60.00 125.00 250.0031-40 very scarce12.50 50.00 100.00 200.0041-50 very scarce10.00 40.00 80.00 175.00

Free Gifts#1 (4th Dec 1937) - Express Whistler#2 (11th Dec 1937) - Jumping Frog#11 (12th Feb 1938) - Dainty Dandy Nougat#12 (19th Feb 1938) - Dandy Tasty Toffee#39 (27th Aug 1938) - Red Indian Bow and Arrows#40 (3rd Sep 1938) - Dandy Nougat Bar#53 (3rd December 1938) - Dandy Fruity Lollipop#78 (27th May 1939) - Korky Balloon#90 (19th Aug 1939) - Flying Balloon#121 ( 23rd Mar 1940) - Nutty Nougat#990 (11th November 1960) - The Dandy Whirlybird#991 (19th November 1960) - The Dandy Thunderbang#1529 (13th Mar 1971) - Dandy Thunderbang#1530 (2th Mar 1971) - Red Racketty#1662 (29th Mar 1973) - Korky's Squeaky Squawker#1663 (6th Oct 1973) - Whirly Twirley#1771 (1st Nov 1975) - Korky Glow Mask#1772 (8th Nov 1973) - The Funny Face Maker#1894 (11th Mar 1978) - Dan's Nutty Nougat#1895 (18th Mar 1978) - The Zooming Boomer

Key issues

#1 (4th Dec 1937) - 1st Korky the Cat, 1st Keyhole Kate, 1st Desperate Dan, 1st Jimmy and his Grockle, 1st Smarty Grandpa#4 - 1st Christmas issue#18 - 1st April Fool issue#207 (7th Feb 1942) - 1st Peter Pye by Dudley Watkins#227 (14th Nov 1942) - 1st Dick Whittington by Dudley Watkins#272 (1st Aug 1944) - 1st Amazing Mr. X by Jack Glass (1st British costumed crime-fighter)#280 (25th Nov 1944) - 1st Black Bob text story#285 ( 3rd Feb 1945) - 1st Danny Longlegs by Dudley Watkins#447 (17th Jun 1950) - titled shortened to Dandy#500 (23rd Jun 1951) - anniversary issue#603 (13th Jun 1953) - 1st Westward Ho! by Paddy Brennan#721 (17th Sep 1955) - 1st all-picture issue#745 (5th May 1956) - 1st Black Bob picture story#990 (12th Nov 1960) - 1st Corporal Clott by David Law#1000 (21st Jan 1961) - anniversary issue though no special acknowledgement on the cover - Nov 2007 E Bay sale 14.85 (VG)#1010 (1st Apr 1961) - 1st Winker Watson - Nov 2007 E Bay sale 28 (VG/FN)#1202 (5th Dec 1964) - 1st Brassneck#1771 (1st Nov 1975) - new look; free Korky Cat Mask; 4 new stories#2000 (22nd Mar 1980) - anniversary issue#2287 (21st Sep 1985) - 1st Dandy

baby alive

Recently my daughter put her baby alive in the bath causing her to break, while looking for the best price for a replacement i noticed that some on ebay cost much more than the current retail price of 24.99 in boots and toysrus which is half the normal selling price.

Please shop around before buying.

Laying Turf

Clear the surface, don't worry about any digging at this stage, using shears, secateurs and if you have one a strimmer, these can be hired quite cheeply and really do cut out a lot of work.

Dig out Roots. You need to dig to a depth of 4 to 5 inches, this adds air to the soil as well as removing most of the old roots. You do not need to get every little bit of root. While you are doing this pay attention to the levels of the site, if you have high ares use the excess soil to level out lower areas.

Rake and Tread the Site. You now need to rake the site 4 times, once from each direction. This will give you a reasonable level on which to lay your turf. Once raked go over the whole site walking a bit like Charlie Chaplin, heavy on your heals and close steps to firm the site.

I have chosen to use a ton of topsoil as well for this site. Rake it out starting at the highest point to get a really level surface.

Lay Your Turf. Lay all around the perimeter first then up and down the longest length of the site. Use a half moon or an old bread knife to cut the last strip into the outer strip. Do not tread on newly laid turfs use scaffold boards to move over the site.

Water until 2 to 3 inches of soil below the turf is soaked then for 2 hours everyday unless it has had very heavy rainfall for 2 to 3 weeks. Once the turf has knitted with the soil it is safe to walk on.

Enjoy your new Lawn.

Counterfeit/Stolen razor blades

Here's our second attempt at writing a useful guide

Razor Blades, they are the most stolen item in the UK today - and guess where most of those blades end up?? Yes, right here.

Obviously in most cases you have to take the seller at their word as most of us sellers use pictures from the net rather than the actual item.

I have come across several security proceadures that the High street stores use to prevent/identify stolen blades.

1. The most widely used method is the 'soft tag', a sticker that looks like a barcode - when the sticker is removed it will leave slivers of metal behind. These tags activate the Security barriers at the stores entrance.

2. 'Pencil Tags'. These tags are much more of a deterrant as theay are actually fixed to the product by way of a pin attached through the product to a magnet. Obviously if they are removed correctly they will leave a small (almost invisible to the eye) hole. If they've been stolen there will usually be a rip from the hole to the outside of the pack.

3. 'Store Numbers'. In certain circumstances some stores do not use any type of physical security as they 'trust' their customers. They will simply mark the item in biro or with a purpose made sticker with their store number.

My advice is this, if the item you've bought had visible tears, sticker marks of indeed a store number then i would recommend you contact the seller and request clarification.

Usually a sellers feedback will be a great indication of their honesty

Hopefully you'll find this guide of some use to you.

The RAW Trading Co

FOOTY SIGNATURES HOW TO TELL IF THERE AUTHENTIC OR NOT

Hi I am a huge football fan I buy football shirts signed football programmes really anything that is about football and is signed I buy! HOWEVER...There are people on ebay who are fraudsters they reprint the signature on a football shirt programme etc. It is extremely difficult tofind out who are the scammers and who are the sellers selling authentic signatures on shirts... DO NOT JUDGE PEOPLE ON THEIR FEEDBACK WHEN YOU WANT TO FIND OUT WHO ARE SELLING THE AUTHENTIC FOOTBALL SIGNATURES AND WHO ARE THE FRAUDSTERS! Furthermore this is because people do not know who is scamming them and who is not and when the item comes quickly they open the package and think the signature is real they leave positive feedback not knowing the package they received is fake!This is where you need to use your initiative if the seller keeps on listing Ronaldinho signed football shirts and signed boots then its 98% positive that its a fake question the seller who is selling the goods ask him how do you keep on getting Ronaldinho signed football shirt for example and if he comes back saying he is linked with Barcelona or Real Madrid for example do not go near him.A lot of power sellers sell signed football merchandise and say they have pictures of them being with the true football stars but how do you know that that picture they have shown you is authentic they might have just taken it from someones else's website!I therefor finish by saying thank you for reading this guide and please rate whether you thought it was helpful or not once again thank you and be aware when purchasing football signed goods.

Fake Lacoste Touch of Pink 100ml

I recently bought a bottle of Touch of Pink because it was a really good deal, little did i know that it would turn out to be a fake. The seller i bought from was 25tek. I e-mailed the seller twice within a 2 day period and heard nothing back (that should have been a clue but hey!)

I haven't yet saw a real 100ml bottle anywhere in any shop so as far as i can tell they DO NOT exist.

The bottle came in a realistic Lactose box but the bottle is a completely different shape and has no markings apart from 'Touch of Pink', not even 'Lacoste' or '100ml'...nothing. It smells alright but it's not what i paid for.

Beware of this seller

Memory Card Speed What Does it mean ????

What Is Memory Card Speed? // Why do we need different or higher speeds cards? // So who really needs high-speed memory cards?

What Is Memory Card Speed?In a few short years since the launch of the first 4Mb flash memory card, the number of flash memory cards available for digital cameras and other devices has exploded with a number of different formats and speeds of memory card. It's no wonder the average person is totally baffled by this plethora of memory cards.

Not only are there different shapes (the format) and sizes such as Secure Digital (SD) Compact Flash, Memory Stick etc, but also different speed ratings.

Memory card speed is the card's performance with regard to how quickly data can be transferred to or from it. The card speed is often stated in -Times- ratings i.e. 12X, 40X etc (just as the speed of recordable CD's and DVD's is measured), and sometimes more specifically in megabytes per second (Mb/s). By today's measure, sub 20X represents a standard speed, 20X to 40X is mid-high speed and over 40X is high speed. The chart below shows the relationship between the two figures.

8X = 1.2 Mb/sec12X = 1.8 Mb/sec20X = 3.0 Mb/sec25X = 3.8 Mb/sec30X = 4.5 Mb/sec40X = 6.0 Mb/sec60X = 9.0 Mb/sec66X = 10.0 Mb/sec80X = 12.0 Mb/sec90X = 15.0 Mb/sec133X = 20.0 Mb/sec

Why do we need different or higher speeds cards?This is mainly due to the advancement of our digital devices, especially digital cameras, camcorders and music devices. As manufacturers develop higher and higher spec devices (i.e. higher resolution cameras and more intense multi-media functions), they are creating increasingly larger amounts information to store pictures, movies, music and so on. This in turn takes longer to record onto the memory card. For example if you have ever used a high megapixel camera with a standard speed card you may have noticed the time lag between pressing the shutter button and being able to take the next picture. This lag or delay, in most cases is caused by a slow write speed, similarly copying your photos to your PC could take time too and is caused by a slow read speed.So who really needs high-speed memory cards?Professional photographers and enthusiasts using professional grade cameras such as digital SLR's should use high-speed memory cards of at least 40X speed. If you own a camera with a megapixel rate above three million pixels, you will certainly benefit from a card with a higher speed rating. If you're like most of us using a compact camera under 3 million pixels, you'll get great performance from standard cards with 12X or more.

Those using digital camcorders and devices recording MP3 music or video will also benefit from higher speed cards. It used to be the case where very few people would actually benefit from very high-speed cards, typically only professionals who used expensive, specialized products benefited, but it's fast becoming a requirement on many of the latest PDA's, Cameras, phones and other mobile devices to make use of the extra speed made available by high speed cards.

People using high speed memory cards with equipment that has been on the market a while may not notice any difference in performance, but this has more to do with the limitations of the device than the flash card itself. This is because not only does your memory card have a maximum speed rating, but your camera or mobile phone will also have its own speed rating. When these products are combined, they'll work at the "slowest common denominator" e.g. if you use a 12X flash card in a camera with a designed for a maximum of 8X speed, you'll be transferring data at the slower 8X speed.

You should always check the capacity of your device before splashing out on mega fast cards, but determining the speed compatibility of your device can be tricky. Most manuals just don't tell you what speed of flash card you should use, now that would be far too easy, but they do tell you to buy their brand, which isn't much help! So a general rule of thumb, if your camera is less than three megapixels the speed rating of the flash card doesn't matter much. Most modern cameras have the ability to support far higher speeds than the cards available to purchase today, therefore, if speed is of importance, go for a faster card. Most mobile phones, PDA's and Satellite Navigators are fine with standard speed cards although some newer models will benefit from higher speed cards but not generally over 60X speed.

The internet is a good resource to find out about your device, but in our experience the device retailer and forums are not always the best source of information, you would be better to seek information from the manufacture's website or from dependable review sites.