Ripley's Believe it or Not

Andy Madura's Comics & Paper Collectibles

Andrew Madura, 1265 Fran Mar Ct, Clermont, FL 34711

e-mail: am@Oldsundaycomics.com

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Ripley's Believe it or Not  by Robert Ripley (1220-) (1st Named daily October 1919) - Sources claim that Ripley's Believe it or Not originates from a strip by Robert Ripley called 'Champs & Chumps' from 1918.  Ripley actually started drawing his sports frames long before that, as early as 1912,  perhaps even earlier.   Robert Ripley was a a single frame artist who happened to have a passion for the exotic.  It was this passion that drove Ripley to transform his sports strip into a frame centered around the unusual sights and facts of the world.  He renamed the strip in 1919 to 'Ripley's Believe it or not'  the signature strip of the odd and unusual.   Ripley hired researchers for much of his content, however by the early 1930's the strip was writing itself thanks to the contributions of thousands of letter-writing fans around the globe.  The strip started in many papers as a black and white daily and sunday.    The sunday strip soon graduated to the front or back page of the magazine section for a few syndicates giving it even more exposure.  It finally reached the color comics section in the later 1930's.   The phenomenon that Ripley created expanded into pop culture through books, magazines, TV and even Themed 'Museums'.    The market for Believe it or Not is actually fairly good.   Offered mostly as halves or smaller, the magazine section-front fulls exist from the 30's and sell at a modest premium.  Other than those,  collectors look for runs where available.    Dailies sell equally well as sundays.   Because of the nature of the strip, these were fodder for quite a few scrapbooks in their day.    If in good condition, those scrapbooks actually retain the loose strip value. (33/19)
Newspaper Comics Links ---> Ripley's Believe it or Not - Sundays Ripley's Believe it or Not - Dailies

Sunday Comics
Item # Date-#-size* Condition* Price Notes
S1220-0001 1931 - 5F BW G/G/G $10.00 On reverse Dumb Dora(5TT) (5/24-6/21)
S1220-0002 1932 - 1F BW G/G/G $2.00 No reverse (undated)
S1220-0003 1933/09 - 4F BW G/G/G $4.00 4 Tab on Full w/Sports News, No reverse
S1220-0004 1934/05 - 4F BW G/G/G $4.00 4 Tab on Full w/Sports News, No reverse
S1220-0005 1938 - 12H FR-G/FR-G/G $12.00 On reverse Tippie(1H), Henry(1H), Stars & Stripes Contest(1H) (9/11, 10/2-10/30, 11/6, 11/13, 12/4-12/25)
S1220-0006 1939 - 24H FR-G/FR-G/G $23.00 On reverse Tippie(10H), Little Annie Rooney(1H), Room & Board(2H), Squirrel Cage(2H) (1/22-2/12, 2/26, 3/5, 3/19-4/2, 4/16, 4/30, 5/7, 5/28, 7/2, 7/30, 8/13, 9/3, 9/24, 10/1, 10/29, 11/5, 11/26-12/10)
S1220-0007 1940 - 30H G/G/VG $30.00 On reverse Pete the Tramp(7H), Barney Google(1H), Squirrel Cage(1H), Little King(1H), Toots & Casper(2H), Room & Board(1H), Dinglehoofer(4TH), Hall of Fame of the Air(3H), Little Annie Rooney(4H) (1/14, 1/21, 2/4-2/18, 3/3-3/31, 4/14, 4/21, 5/19, 5/26, 6/23-7/7, 7/21, 8/4, 8/25, 9/1, 9/15, 10/13-10/27, 11/17, 12/1, 12/8, 12/22. 12/29)
S1220-0008 1941 - 27H G/G/G-VG $27.00 On reverse Thimble Theatre(1H), Toots & Casper(1H), Bunky(1H), Pete the Tramp(2H), Family Portraits(14H), Squirrel Cage(1H) (1/5, 1/12, 2/23, 3/16, 3/30-4/13, 5/18, 5/25, 6/8, 6/22, 7/6-8/10, 8/24, 8/31, 9/14, 9/28, 10/19, 11/2-11/16, 11/30, 12/28)
S1220-0009 1942 - 22H G/G/VG $22.00 On reverse Toots & Casper(1H), Little King(2H), Family Portraits(2H), Tippie(3H) (1/11, 1/25, 2/1, 2/15-3/1, 3/29, 4/5, 4/26-5/17, 6/14, 7/26, 8/9, 8/30, 10/25-11/8, 12/13-12/27)
S1220-0010 1943 - 28H G/G/VG $28.00 On reverse King of the Royal Mounted(1TH), Barney Google(1TH), Room & Board(3TH), Lone Ranger(4TH), Little Annie Rooney(1TH), Tim Tyler's Luck(2TH), Jungle Jim(2TH), Henry(1TH), Aladdin Jr(2TH), Col. Potterby(2TH), Toots & Casper(1TH) (1/3, 1/10, 1/24, 1/31, 2/14, 2/28-3/14, 3/28, 4/4, 5/2, 5/23, 5/30, 7/4, 7/11, 8/15, 8/29, 9/12, 9/19, 10/3-10/24, 11/7, 11/21, 11/28, 12/19, 12/26)
S1220-0011 1944 - 14H, 2TH G/G/VG $15.00 On reverse Right Around Home(3TH), Little Annie Rooney(1TH), Little Iodine(1TH), Tim Tyler's Luck(1TH) (1/2, 1/16, 2/6, 3/12, 3/19, 5/7, 6/4, 6/11, 7/16, 8/6, 8/13, 8/27, 9/24, 10/15, 11/5, 11/19)
S1220-0012 1945 - 29H, 3TH G/G/VG $30.50 On reverse Squirrel Cage(2TH), Barney Google(1TH), Out Our Way(1H) (1/7, 1/21-2/4, 2/18, 2/25, 3/11, 3/18, 4/8-5/20, 6/3, 6/10, 7/1, 7/22, 8/12, 9/2, 9/9, 9/23-10/21, 11/11, 11/18, 12/2, 12/23, 12/30)
S1220-0013 1946 - 24H, 10TH G/FR-G/VG $29.00 On reverse Jungle Jim(1TH), Little Iodine(2TH) Col Potterby(1TH), Henry(1TH), Tillie the Toiler(1TH)(1/6-2/10, 2/24-3/17, 3/31, 4/14, 4/21, 5/5-6/16, 6/30, 7/7, 7/28, 8/11, 9/8-9/29, 10/13, 10/27-11/10, 12/1, 12/22)
S1220-0014 1947 - 1H G/G/G $1.00 No reverse (10/12)
S1220-0015 1948 - 1TH FR-G/FR-G/G $1.00 No reverse (9/26)
S1220-0016 1949 - 2TH G/G/G $1.00 On reverse Thimble Theatre(1TH) (3/27, 4/3)
S1220-0017 1952 - 2Q VG/VG/VG-EX $1.00 No reverse (6/15, 7/13)
S1220-0018 1953/11/22 - F G/G/VG $2.00 TT on Full w/Zerex ad(TH). On reverse Joe Palooka(TH), Jackson Twins(TH), Ben-Gay ad(TH)
S1220-0019 1953 - 1H, 1TH, 5Q G/G/G-EX $2.50 On reverse Grin an' Bear It(1TH) (1/25, 2/1, 3/1, 5/3, 5/31, 8/16, 12/6)
S1220-0020 1954/02/07 - F G/G/VG $2.00 TT on Full w/Ford ad(TH). On reverse Joe Palooka(TH), Dixie Dugan(TH), Bromo Sletzer ad(TH)
S1220-0021 1954 - 6TH, 6Q G/G/G-EX $4.00 On reverse Joe Palooka(1TH) Rex Morgan(1TH, 1Q), Dixie Dugan(1TH), Jackson Twins(2Q) (1/10, 1/17, 2/21, 2/28, 3/14, 6/27, 7/11, 7/25, 8/8, 8/22-9/5)
S1220-0022 1955 - 2H, 9TH G/FR-G/G $4.00 No reverse (2/13, 2/27-3/13, 3/27, 4/24, 6/5, 6/19, 7/24, 8/28, 11/13)
S1220-0023 1956 - 5H, 12TH, 1Q FR-G/FR-G/G $6.75 On reverse Scamp(1H) (1/22, 1/29, 2/12, 3/25, 5/27, 7/8, 7/15, 7/29-8/12, 8/26, 9/9, 9/23, 10/7, 10/21, 10/28, 11/11, 11/18)
S1220-0024 1957 - 2H, 2TH G/G/VG $2.00 No reverse (2/24, 3/3, 6/16, 6/30)
S1220-0025 1958 - 1H, 11TH G/G/G $4.50 No reverse (1/12-1/26, 2/9-3/2, 10/19, 4/20, 11/2, 11/9, 12/21)
S1220-0026 1959 - 1TH G/FR-G/G $1.00 No reverse (9/20)
S1220-0027 1960 - 37TH G/G/G $12.50 On reverse Scamp(1TH) (1/24-2/7, 2/28-3/13, 3/27-5/1, 5/15, 5/22, 6/5, 6/19-7/10, 7/24, 8/14, 8/21, 9/4-10/23, 11/6-12/18)
S1220-0028 1961 - 3H, 42TH G/G/G $15.50 On reverse Little King(2TH), Katzenjammer Kids(1TH), Buz Sawyer(1TH) Hi & Lois(1TH), Right around Home(1TH) (1/8-7/2, 7/16-8/6, 8/20, 8/27, 9/10-11/19, 12/3, 12/17)
S1220-0029 1962 - 2H, 2TH G/G/G $1.75 On reverse Barney Google(1H), They'll do it ev'ry time(1TH) (1/14-2/4)
S1220-0030 1963 - 1H, 4TH G/G/G $2.00 On reverse Mickey Mouse(1TH) (8/11, 9/1, 11/10, 12/1, 12/29)
S1220-0031 1964 - 3TH, 2Q G/G/G $1.75 On reverse Beetle Bailey(1TH) (2/2, 10/4, 10/25-11/8)
S1220-0032 1965 - 2Q G/G/G $1.00 No reverse (1/17, 6/13)
S1220-0033 1970 - 1HT G/G/G $1.00 No reverse (12/6)`

Daily Comics Sets
Item # Title Date-# Size* Condition* Price Notes
D1220-0001 Ripley, by Robert 1913/05 - 5 6x11R G $25.00 Sports Strip by Robert Ripley
D1220-0002 Ripley, by Robert 1917/04-06 - 22 6x11R G $22.00 Sports Strip by Robert Ripley
D1220-0003 Ripley's Believe it or Not 1943/04 - 13 4x6R G $2.50 by Robert Ripley
Newspaper Comics Links ---> Ripley's Believe it or Not - Sundays Ripley's Believe it or Not - Dailies

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