Fw: Quick Gold Key Numbering question (CArchivist@aol.com)

[Martin Olsen]

The information contained in the email below may be of interest to some of 
you dcml'ers, so I'm forwarding it here.

Best,
Martin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Martin Olsen" <martino at olsen.tdcadsl.dk>
To: <cdbl at lists.comics.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 4:25 AM
Subject: Re: Quick Gold Key Numbering question (CArchivist at aol.com)


>> In a message dated 11/3/05 11:32:00 PM, frankmotler at btinternet.com 
>> writes:
>>
>>
>>> Frank Motler <frankmotler at btinternet.com> wrote:
>>>  CArchivist at aol.com wrote:
>>>
>>>  A quickie
>>>
>>> 10176-605
>>>
>>> means May 1966 right?
>>>
>>>
>>> my best
>>> -Ray
>>>
>>>
>>>  Dear Ray,
>>>  Correct, as regards highest on-sale date.
> [snip]
>> Tanx!
>>
>> -Ray
>
> A slight modification to the earlier replies seems appropriate:
> Since Goldkey/Whitman published comics for over two decades (1962-1984), a 
> code like 10176-605 is ambiguous when it comes to deciphering the date. 
> However, the publisher was aware of this, because beginning with the March 
> 1972 issues of monthly and bi-monthly titles and the April 1972 issues of 
> quarterly and irregular titles (i.e. issues hitting the newsstands from 
> January 1972) the title code numbers were moved from the 10000-range to 
> the 90000-range. Thus, full code numbers contain (almost) exact 
> information about the cover date, and the code of the example above does 
> indeed mean that the cover date (latest return date) is May 1966. The full 
> information of the month and year of issue is also carried by the full 
> code inside, hand written in one of the bottom panels of page one.
>
> To elaborate: Mickey Mouse #114 has cover code 10027-708, i.e. August 
> 1967, while Mickey Mouse # 174 has cover code 90027-708, i.e. August 1977.
>
> Towards the end of the run the date code was skipped, so for the very last 
> Whitman issues (1982-1984) it can be difficult to know the exact date of 
> issue, especially if an issue contains only reprints, so the copyright 
> years are old. In addition, Goldkey introduced a non-existing "13th month 
> of 1981" as can be seen for example in the cover codes of these 
> consecutive issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories:
> #493: 90011-112 (on sale October 1981?)
> #494: 90011-201 (on sale November 1981?)
> #495: 90011-202 (on sale December 1981?)
> #496: 90011-113 (on sale December 1981?)
> #497: 90011-203 (on sale January 1982?)
> #498: 90011-204 (on sale February 1982?)
> #499: 90011-205 (on sale March 1982?
> #500: 90011 (on sale 1982, no month given)
> At this point the inside code was shortened so that the exact month and 
> year of issue is no longer visible - in the case of WDC&S, the first issue 
> with no month inside is - naturally - #496. Effective with WDC&S #500, the 
> information of the month of latest return was also removed from the cover 
> code, leaving only the title code. I believe this is because the comics 
> were by then distributed (in the USA) only in packages of three issues (of 
> the same or different titles), so the information about the month of issue 
> became unnecessary.
>
> For this title there are in fact three ambiguous cover codes:
> 90011-203, -204, and -205 are the cover codes of WDC&S # 497-499, 
> March-May 1982 as mentioned above, but they are also the cover codes of 
> WDC&S #378-380, March-May 1972. Similar cases exist with other 
> long-lasting titles.
> For the reason mentioned above and maybe other reasons, I think the 
> publisher had by 1982 lost interest in keeping track of issue dates.
>
> Martin Olsen
> Frederiksberg, Denmark