The PulpFest 2023 Auction will take place on Saturday, August 5. It will begin at 9 pm and feature 75 lots from the Carl Joecks estate and 80+ lots consigned by Scott and Linda Edwards of Dearly Departed Books. We will also have 45 lots submitted online by members of the convention. Additional lots may also be added during the convention itself.
Auction Preview Sessions
We will have daily preview sessions in the Willow and Walnut Rooms at the DoubleTree. Watch for the auction banner in the corner of the hotel’s restaurant and lodge area. We’ll have paper catalogs there.
The preview sessions will run from 3:30 – 4:40 pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The times are also listed on our program schedule that you will find on the back of your convention badge. Everyone will have over 4 hours to view the lots.
We’ve also added a fourth preview to our schedule, due to a programming cancellation. You’ll have one last look from 8:05 – 8:45 pm, just before the start of our Saturday night auction. This session will not appear on your convention badge.
You can also view photographs of the first 196 auction lots on the PulpFest website. Visit pulpfest.com/pulpfest-2023-estate-and-consignment-auction/ and scroll down to our auction photo catalog. Click here to download a PDF of our catalog. The catalog includes including the Joecks Estate, the Dearly Departed Books consignment, and member submissions placed online.
Submitting Items to Our Auction
All members of PulpFest 2023 can submit items to our auction. All member auction lots must have a $25 minimum value. If a lot is submitted with a reserve price, it must be able to meet that reserve.
If you want a reserve price, it must be $50 or more. If the bidding does not meet your reserve price, your item will be passed. There will be a $5 charge for all reserve items that do not meet the reserve and are passed in the auction. This will be deducted from any sales you might achieve during the auction.
The convention will also charge a 20% commission based on the selling price for anything sold or the minimum value of any item that receives no bids.
Pulp magazines, vintage paperbacks, digests, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, genre books, first-edition hardcovers, series books, dime novels, original art, Big Little Books, Golden and Silver Age or pulp-related comic books, old-time-radio shows, gaming materials, and film serials, B-movies, and related collectibles will be allowed in the auction. Sexually explicit material, including Playboy, Penthouse, and Oui, will not be allowed.
To submit your material to our auction, you can get consignment forms from Mike Chomko. Our auction banner will be at Mike Chomko’s dealer tables to show members where to submit their auction lots.
When submitting your lots, we will need your name, your PulpFest badge number, and a description of the items included in the lot that you are consigning to the auction.
Any PulpFest member will be able to submit auction lots to Mike Chomko on Friday from 9:30 am until 4:30 pm. On Saturday, August 5, PulpFest members will be able to submit auction lots from 9:30 am until 1:30 pm.
The sooner you submit your material to our auction, the sooner your material will come up for bid.
PulpFest reserves the right to reject any auction material that does not meet its standards, including minimum values and reserve prices.
Bidding in Our 2023 Auction
During our auction, your PulpFest badge number will serve as your bidder number. If you are the winning bidder, the auctioneer will ask for your badge number.
After paying for any lots you win, you can pick them up in the Willow and Walnut Rooms. Our auction banner will be there.
People who desire to attend the PulpFest auction — but not the convention itself — are also welcome to attend. If non-PulpFest attendees want to place bids during the auction, they will have to register as bidders. There will be a $5 non-refundable registration fee to bid during the auction. However, the $5 fee can be applied toward a single winning bid.
Non-PulpFest attendees will be able to register to bid during our 2023 auction at the convention’s front desk from 10 AM until 4 pm on Friday, August 4, and Saturday, August 5. Non-PulpFest attendees will also be able to register to bid immediately before the auction begins on Saturday evening, August 5. You may register to bid from 8:30 – 8:45 pm.
We will also be accepting silent bids for all of our auction lots. We will have forms at our auction previews. You will be able to submit multiple bids on each form.
When placing silent bids, you will need to provide your name, badge number, and the lots you are bidding on. For each lot, please provide your opening bid and your final bid. Bids less than $10 will be rejected. When you complete your silent bidding form, you should give it to one of the PulpFest attendants in our auction preview rooms. All silent bids are binding.
If you make a silent bid, you will be asked to pick up your winnings by Sunday, August 6, or make arrangements with our registration desk to have the material shipped to you. You will be responsible for the shipping costs.
Online Bidding
For those unable to attend the PulpFest 2023 auction, the convention will accept online bids placed through the PulpFest Auction Online Bidding Page. Online bids can be placed on every auction lot in our photo catalog, including the Joecks Estate, member submissions, and the Dearly Departed Books Consignment.
For additional information concerning online bidding, please see our post “Online Bidding for PulpFest 2023” by clicking here.
Tonight is the deadline to place your bids through the PulpFest Online Auction Bidding Page. We will close our online bidding page at 11 pm Eastern time on Friday, July 28.
General Convention Guidelines
Any dealer who wishes to display a banner or signage must have a stand to display the sign or banner. Absolutely nothing can be attached to the dealers’ rooms walls. If you attach something to the wall, you will be asked to remove it.
Our attendees come to PulpFest to celebrate and learn about popular culture, socialize, and enjoy themselves. Therefore, all attendees of PulpFest are asked to keep opinions of a political, religious, or societal nature to themselves. Any attendee who harasses any other PulpFest members will be asked to leave PulpFest.
Although you have a right to your opinions, our members — including dealers — are not at the convention to be lectured about politics, religion, and so on.
Our program schedule will be on the back of your PulpFest 2023 badge.
You can also access our PulpFest 2023 Mobile Schedule at pulpfest.com/schedule/.
Questions?
See Mike Chomko if you have any questions about the PulpFest 2023 auction or our general guidelines. You can also reach out to him by email at mike@pulpfest.com.
Our featured image is excerpted from John Falter’s cover for the August 5, 1944 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.
The PulpFest auction banner was adapted by William Lampkin from Rafael DeSoto’s cover art for the January 1934 issue of Standard’s The Phantom Detective.
Lot #88 in our 2023 auction features 3 issues of The Shadow Magazone from 1934 each in very good condition. The lead novels of each issue were written by Walter B. Gibson, while the cover art of each issue is by George Rozen. Included in the lot are the May 15, 1934 issue featuring “Death Clew”; the July 1, 1934 issue featuring “Charg, Monster”; and the August 1, 1934 number, featuring “The Crime Master.” There is a reserve on the lot which was submitted by a PulpFest 2023 member.
Our final image is Norman Rockwell’s cover art painted for the April 29, 1922 issue of The Country Gentleman.
