Thus far anyway...

So I recently sent a couple of books to be signed and graded through DesertWind; Hulk 181 and Amazing Spider-Man 122 to be exact. Both were raw eBay purchases. The Spider-Man being a solid VF and the Hulk 181 being a very nice looking near mint. I was going for the elusive quad-signature with the 181: Stan Lee, Herb Trimpe, Len Wein and John Romita.

Now to back up a second, before I got to a position to send this in for grading I sent the Hulk 181 to Matt Nelson (before they relocated to Florida and were draped under the CGC banner) to make sure it wasn't restored in any way and to be pressed for good measure. Matt estimated after pressing it would get a 9.4. This made me giddy because of what I paid for it.

So cut to today and the books were returned. I opened the box carefully and was hoping the 181 would not be on the top. I slid the invoice enough to tell it was. My heart is racing and all I can think is "please don't be a 9.2, gimme that 9.4 oh please oh please". As I was chanting this mantra, I began sliding the invoice slowly down to reveal this newly acquired beauty and things took a turn...

9.6?

Huh. That's...odd. Really? Hmmm that's good I guess?

Now you are probably thinking I would be turning cartwheels, but I was so locked in to a 9.4 or possibly a 9.2 that I never entertained it being HIGHER. It honestly wasn't registering what I had. Of couse as the minutes and seconds ticked by I got more and more excited to the point I closed my store for a long lunch and went out the celebrate.

I cannot believe what I now own. This is undoubtedly the new crown jewel of my collection. Like many that post here, I am not made of money and don't just buy a lot of the better graded books I own. I wait for an opening, find that good raw candidate and take the long (and more rewarding) do-it-yourself road. I am certainly not hating on anyone that buys slabs, as I do as well, but on the BIG books, it's just not practical/afforadble for me.

Which again makes this all the more satisfying/shocking. You will not be seeing my copy turn up on eBay or comiclink, etc. I am so happy to have this in my collection and have no intention of flipping it even though I got the deal of a lifetime on it.

So this one goes out to any fellow journalists who acquire a grail the "hard way", you know how I feel right now...isn't it wonderful?

And on yeah, my ASM got an 8.5 signed by Gerry Conway, John Romita and Stan Lee.

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