Ultra rare non variant CGC mislabeled book cause e-Bay prices to soar.

At Wizard World Philadelphia 2012, I decided not only to get some signatures for books I previously had graded, but I also decided to use Classics Incorporated to get some of my comic books pressed. Pressing is something I am still at odds about, but apparently not against. My best result was an issue of Daredevil that I purchased at the same show. After getting my books back, one of the things I didn't notice right away was my copy of Uncanny X-men #132... I mean #137.

The book in question was purchased at the first LCS I was loyal to. This was in the late eighties. I decided to buy this comic after I purchased my first two trade paperbacks, The Dark Phoenix Saga and Demon in a Bottle. I loved both stories but it was Chris Claremont's writing, the combined artwork of John Byrne and Terry Austin, along with the characters that made me desire the back issues between #129 and #137. This was especially difficult to do, not only because their popularity had them priced a bit higher than I wanted to pay, but my mindset was against paying so much. I was naïve (which is a nice way to call myself stupid).

As I got deeper into collecting CGC slabs I wanted these issues again in a 9.8, but was always outbid or the prices were too high in the first place. I decided to go through my collection and pick the best one and bring it to Wizard World Philadelphia 2012. While at the convention I picked up a copy of Daredevil #3 and used Matt Nelson of Classics Incorporated to press the book. I added the Daredevil along with about 16 others from home.

I was doing this for a few reasons; one was to see the results and the more I had to use as a reference about pressing the better informed I would be. Of course the other reason could probably be attributed to my slight addiction to slabs. Even so, I was more than happy to turn over what I thought were my best chances of getting a near mint/mint grade but, in no way did I ever think my Uncanny X-Men book would get a 9.8.

After the on-site pressing and the on-site grading were finished, (money well spent) my copy of Uncanny X-men #137 was returned to me a 9.4. I could live with that, in fact I was ecstatic. A month later I finally put my encapsulated books in order by title and number when I realized the mistake that CGC had made. There, as plain as day, on the beautiful crisp blue label was the information for issue #132, this iconic cover where Cyclops and Marvel Girl fight for the last time clash against the wrong information. I have seen some errors on e-Bay try to go for a premium price and as much as I thought it would be neat to have one of those mistakes I didn't want to pay what people want for them. Now only if I can get them to grade my #132 as #137.

Thanks for Reading

Tnerb