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Rune

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Posts posted by Rune

  1. And today's Census overview, only Universal & Signature, 9.8 or better, a total of 364 books (drum roll):

     

    Conancensus_zps672f19d7.png

     

    Not many differences here since last year, although #1 still seems to be increasing - to break it up:

     

    Max. 5 books in Census: #11-12, and 18 (thus these books are the most scarce of all).

    6 - 10 books: #4, 6, 10, 14, 20-22, and Annual 1.

    11 - 15 books: #2-3, 5, 15-17, and 19.

    16 - 20 books: #23

    21 books or more: #1, 7-9, 13, and 24.

     

    Or an average of 15 books per issue... (median 12, with interquartile ranges 7 to 18, sorry I'll stop now :facepalm: )

     

    PS. Could not help it, currently 7 new books have arrived in 5 months, so Census is increasing about 1.4 books per month, wonder when it'll stop... hm

     

    One full year has passed - and currently Census looks like this - black colors mark last year's results, red colors mark November 2015:

     

    Conan_zpseoo1wdwy.png

     

    Now there are 400 books in total, last year 364 (difference = 36 books), thus Census grew 3 books each month during the last year.

     

    During the last year, each issue had the following number of new books added to the Census:

    #1 - 4.

    #2 - 1.

    #3 - 1.

    #4 - no changes.

    #5 - no changes.

    #6 - 2.

    #7 - 1.

    #8 - no changes.

    #9 - 1.

    #10 - 1.

    #11 - no changes.

    #12 - no changes.

    #13 - no changes.

    #14 - no changes.

    #15 - no changes.

    #16 - no changes.

    #17 - 1.

    #18 - no changes.

    #19 - 1.

    #20 - no changes.

    #21 - 2.

    #22 - 2.

    #23 - 3.

    #24 - 8.

    Annual #1 - 8.

     

    So for the Census regarding Annual #1 and #24, each issue grew by 8 more books - #1 grew by 4 books - four issues grew by 2 books - six issues grew by 1 book - and Census for 11 issues did not change during the year.

     

    And what to learn from this ??? Maybe that Annual #1 will be easier to get soon hm

     

    Can't wait to continue next year, this is so exciting :whee::facepalm:;)

  2. Just added two new #1s to the library:

     

    0171309004F%20WP_zpswup1qags.jpg

     

    1206084002F%20WP_zpsur5dxidw.jpg

     

    Get them here:

     

    http://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/conan-the-barbarian-1-marvel-1970-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/7152-91238.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

     

    http://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/conan-the-barbarian-1-marvel-1970-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/p/7124-21001.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

     

    The first was graded in 2010, the latter in September 2015. Census 37 Universal book in 9.8 and one SS.

     

    On a side note, I think Obama made some great statements in relation to yesterday's terrorist attacks in Paris:

     

  3. After 6 weeks in the framing shop (they had to back order Museum Glass and the golden frame :taptaptap::censored: ), it has finally arrived :whee:

     

    photo 2_zps0cx53xq1.jpg

     

    Now, how do I hide it best from the wife? :ohnoez:

     

    Looks great!! I think it clashes with the carpet and I don'r think you wife will let you hang it up so you might as well get rid of it. hm

     

    Thanks lol - Get rid of it? Over-my-dead-body :sumo:;) (and I once believed that money can't buy happiness :screwy: )

     

    It's in the man cave and I did show it to her, she did not say much - but that's not a bad sign by any measure, guess it's a keeper :cloud9:

     

    Maybe there's a new saying to support the marriage hm

     

    "What happens in the man cave stays in the man cave" :preach:

  4. love this thread -- great place to pick up tips on how to frame art.

     

    We recently moved back to Miami after 14 wonderful years in NYC, so I have lots more wall space to work with. I just put up four framed pieces up. I still don't know how to post pix in a message here, but here are the links to the pix on my CAF showing the framed art:

     

    Dazzler #1

    Dazzler #3

    Prime TpB Painting

    Silver Age Batman Splash

     

    I have a few more pieces to get framed at some point....

     

     

    Love the painted Dazzler :applause:

     

    Yes, amazing art :applause: - and you can just "enter an image" and paste the url to the jpg, like this:

    oFmh7Oiv_2510151555521.jpg

    x6GxR7L2_2510151553131.jpg

    2aIB2riS_2510151601121.jpg

    Lfx0pAXJ_2510151550161.jpg

  5. My JND is huge! Over our bed we had two pastels of us for a number of years. One done just after I proposed and one done on our honeymoon both from artists in Jackson Square in New Orleans. I like them.

     

    We moved the bed from one wall to another. The pictures stayed where they were and a desk took the bed's spot.

     

    Time passes...

     

    I'm getting dressed. I noticed that the pictures aren't on the wall; I'm sad because I like them, but if she wants them down, I'm okay with that, too.

     

    I go to the kitchen. Kathy and the girls are there. I say, "You remember those drawing from New Orleans." She says, "Yes." I say, "What happened to them?" She says, "What? They are one the wall." I say, "No, I just looked." Everyone stares at me like I'm an insufficiently_thoughtful_person. She says," They are on the wall over the bed." I say, "Really? How long?" She says, "Six months or so."

     

    I suffer from high-JND. That's my reason from now on!

     

     

    Oh, and on the equation point, I've found that in my case an equal amount on my wife's collection works well. Her collection is anything that sparkles especially jewelry. She likes to point out that hers takes a lot less space!

     

    That's a great story, thank you for sharing it!

     

    Well, had a glass of red wine this evening and I thought better show the piece now than when she's completely sober :whistle: - and although she did not say it directly, I think she (kind of) liked it :whee: We have been watching Comic Book Men together, so she knows a bit about everything ;)

  6. Why would any wife object to a sabertooth biting a dragon hanging on the living room wall? Go for it. :)

     

    Yes that's exactly the equation I'm working on, thanks for the support lol Something like:

     

    Wife slightly accepting "sabertooth biting a dino-dragon while a half-naked long haired blonde Swede clings on to some truly weird-looking guy" painting = ??? (number of flowers? Gallons of perfume? Jewelry? :censored: )

     

    Once she looked at some of my inked pieces and said "why didn't you get them in color?" :facepalm: So color must be a good thing, right? hm

     

    I'm doing the same thing I did with the 33" Galactus Maquette statue :idea: - I'll just put it up in my man cave and pretend it's always been there :whistle:

     

    I'm convinced that the painting must be less than a JND (thumbs u

     

    "In the branch of experimental psychology focused on sensation and perception, psychophysics, a just-noticeable difference or JND is the amount something must be changed in order for a difference to be noticeable, detectable at least half the time. It is also known as the difference limen, differential threshold, or least perceptible difference."

    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-noticeable_difference

     

    Strange, but suddenly I got this quote from Star Wars running in my mind :screwy:

     

     

     

     

    C-3PO: Sir, the possibility of the painting being less than a JND to your wife is approximately 3,720 to 1.

    Han Solo: Never tell me the odds.

     

     

     

  7. Speaking for my set only, (Lone Wolf and Cub), I can say that reprintings ARE integral to a run.

     

    Reprintings, especially before the era of manufactured scarcity of current comic publishing, tell an important story. LW&C number 1 had four printings, simply because First Publishing underestimated the demand for the book. There really was no way they could know how successful the book would be as they were preparing to publish it.

     

    I understand the reasons for keeping trades out of competitive sets, (though I disagree there as well- and that is a discussion for a different day) but I do NOT see any reason to keep out reprints from competitive sets. These were actual comic books printed at the time, by the publishers, to be read. They are quite simply, "part of the run".

     

    My second print Secret Wars nu. 1 bought by me off the rack in a 3 pack bag was loved by me then, and loved by me now, and was and is most certainly part of "Secret Wars".

     

    I do understand your opinion. My problem with the DKR set is that it for years was a set made just for 1st printings, but then CGC suddenly changed the rules. I would have preferred that they did not change old and established sets, but instead made a new set with all kinds of reprints etc (like "DKR (complete with variants)"). Many persons have spent years building their sets, it does not seem very respectful to suddenly expand and drastically change old sets.

     

    So every reprint we see of Spidey #1 should be in this set?

     

    http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetTypeDetail.aspx?SetTypeID=34

     

    Seems like other rules apply to that Spidey set - like I wish they would to the old DKR set.

     

    Well, did discuss the matter with my old DKR mentor, the one person who got me into collecting CGC books many years ago. To my great surprise he did not back me up, but told me that he changed his mind about some of the DKR reprints, those from 1986, and had actually bought a few. So his message was simply - more or less:

     

     

     

     

    photo keep-calm-and-bite-the-bullet-26_zpsvoodncjo.png

     

     

     

     

    And after going through the Census, he may have a point - the 1986 reprints are very rare. Maybe because they long sold for next to nothing, thus CGC'ing those books could cost you more than you could get by selling the books.

     

    So with both CGC and my old mentor against me, I've decided to play the reprint game for some time and have rebuild my DKR set - guess my DKR set is something I truly love, and buying much the same books again may be some sort of fun. And I do feel kind of bad when taking down a set that CGC awarded me for just last year - most of all I would prefer to support this hobby. So for now - maybe this picture says it all ;)

     

    photo DrStrangelove_zpsyoffp4hc.png

     

    Still hope Gemma will remove those TPBs - one thing is the reprints, TPBs are still in a class of their own. And don't get me wrong - I have nothing against graded TPBs, but these should have their own set and not be mixed with ordinary comic books 2c

     

    My rebuild and updated DKR set - now with new reprints - can be seen here:

     

    http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetTypeDetail.aspx?SetTypeID=59

  8. I voted no because then it would open the floodgates.

    Multiple printings.

    International versions.

    Multiple printings of international versions.

     

    +1 - it completely ruins everything, making it impossible to complete anything, because potentially there's always a tpb coming up.

     

    Just like adding all those 2nd, 3rd etc printings to original sets - so if some books are reprinted for the 234th time, then they get added too? :censored:

     

    I wouldn't mix reprints with the original printings, it dilutes the sets and reduces the fun of collecting. :sumo: It should be quite easy to make sets where collectors can register all kinds of reprints - oil and water do not mix 2c

     

    (One example could be having these two sets:

     

    1. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1-#4

    2. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1-#4 Reprints

     

    Probably a very clear way of separating books)

     

    Thanks, Gemma,

     

    Personally I still find it difficult to see all those 2nd, 3rd and possible soon 4th printings etc. mixed with the original 1st DKR printings - and of course I know you have already made a special DKR set only for 1st printings, thanks (it'll be my primary focus in the future).

     

    I can see that some amazing DKR sets (like Mitol's set, all 9.8 1st printings signed by Miller) have been dethroned by sets with far inferior 1st printings, but containing several reprints, and to me that's a sad development (I fully understand that other collectors may love reprints).

     

    Guess I have to walk the walk, so trying to separate reprints and 1st printings I just removed all my 1st printings from my DKR (with reprints) set leaving only the reprints behind - and thus changed my set from being the number 1 set to being the new the number 67 set.

     

    http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/PeopleSetDetail.aspx?PeopleSetID=11212

     

    I'm not much into all those DKR reprints, and if other collectors love DKR reprints I will not stand in their way.

     

  9. (Gemma asked that all requests are entered in this thread - so here it goes...)

     

    Hi Gemma,

     

    There are two TPBs in the Dark Knight Returns set - I would be very happy, if you could remove them or make them non competative:

     

    http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SlotScoreDetail.aspx?SlotID=204984

     

    http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SlotScoreDetail.aspx?SlotID=204985

     

    Sincerely and thanks,

     

    Rune

  10. I voted no because then it would open the floodgates.

    Multiple printings.

    International versions.

    Multiple printings of international versions.

     

    +1 - it completely ruins everything, making it impossible to complete anything, because potentially there's always a tpb coming up.

     

    Just like adding all those 2nd, 3rd etc printings to original sets - so if some books are reprinted for the 234th time, then they get added too? :censored:

     

    I wouldn't mix reprints with the original printings, it dilutes the sets and reduces the fun of collecting. :sumo: It should be quite easy to make sets where collectors can register all kinds of reprints - oil and water do not mix 2c

     

    (One example could be having these two sets:

     

    1. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1-#4

    2. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1-#4 Reprints

     

    Probably a very clear way of separating books)

  11. Those frames look great, but they actually violate my framing principles so I am not interestwed myself. I believe that the frame should be only that, a frame for the eye to delineate where the art starts. I don't want my frames competing with the framed content for the eyes attention; I want that directed towards the art.

     

    For almost all of my framed comic art (33 pieces or so at this point) I use simple black frames with white mattes that match the background of the piece as close as possible. It is the Jeffrey Catherine Jones approach to framing, which I learned about on the comicart-l yahoo group but only after Jeffrey Catherine stopped posting there.

     

    But I understand most people like colorful frames, and as I said these art pretty spiffy.

     

    I fully agree - all my original art is framed to distract as little as possible from the art (black passepartout and black thin frames), I only have two CGC books on display, and they are quite small next to the art - and most persons seeing them are not much into superheroes, so my thoughts were to enhance only these two books by adding the Batman and FF logos (one is the DKR #1 which isn't the easiest book to identify, if you're not much into comics).

     

    I do not expose my better books to much light - so the two books on permanent display are low-value books displayed for fun - also the kids find it interesting (also when their friends are visiting), hope the new frames can help inspire the next generation even more ;-)

     

    And good luck with the grading! :wishluck:

  12. It's nice with books on display - actually I've just ordered two custom frames - handpainted etc. - I think such frames look amazing on books - here are some examples (I've ordered the Batman and Fantastic Four frames, unfortunately without the books, sigh ;) ):

     

    988104cd142e2c1a3b37564f442529d1.jpg

     

    c3c9764aae380bd6c4fc32e53f4da67b.jpg

     

    3a000ed08b91986f7490b2473867147b.jpg

     

    10edcceba4681e5664615f773b93a7a6.jpg

     

    d783e7fa06adaa417c057c8f455a09f7.jpg

     

    Each frame is $60 plus shipping ($50 if it isn't a CGC book). More info here:

     

    https://www.facebook.com/CustomComicDisplays

  13. A new Annual #1 has emerged - maybe the best looking so far - had to reconstruct the scan, because the seller provided the label and the book in two seperate scans, did my best :angel:

     

    photo 0258231015F WP_zpsrpm8nxgf.jpg

     

    Graded July 22nd 2015. Get it here:

     

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/CONAN-THE-BARBARIAN-ANNUAL-1-CGC-9-8-WHITE-PAGES-SMITH-COVER-1973-WOW-/111777228262?

     

    Seems like the Annual #1 Census just exploded from 9 to 17 - so now there's enough for everybody :whee: Well, sort of... ;) So maybe one collector just dumped a lot of Conan Annual #1s on CGC and got 8 9.8 books back, in that case we might be seing many more in the next months... hm At least it's very rare for the Census to jump so high in such a short time - I mean for 15 years only 9 books were found, and suddenly that figure doubles in less than a year...

  14. Still, I'm not sure the poll in this thread really reflects members of the Registry - although members of these Chat Boards of course my be different hm (in the Registry you walk the walk - here you can talk the talk lol And of course an entire collection may be much more than comics)

     

    Regarding the Registry I started this thread some time ago:

     

    http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7869591&fpart=1

     

    And made an update with this post:

     

    "So what has changed during the last year? Here's an overview:

     

    Registry2015_zps1zdwnc9t.jpg

    "Points needed to be in [...]" refers to the minimum number of points needed to be part of a category

     

    Forgot to include the top 10 % :sorry: - To fit in that category, today you need 38,091 points or more.

     

    The number of Registry members increased 11 % the last year making it slightly easier to reach for example the top 5 %, 25 % and 50 % (indicating that most new members did not register large collections). And it shows that the Registry is expanding. (If the Registry expands another 11 % the next year, then there will be about 5000 members.)

     

    Even though Cheetah lost a lot of Registry points the last year, it's probably not a trend of high end collections having reduced their Registry points, because today it requires more points to be among the top 1 % than last year (even though the number of members in the top 1 % high-end club also increased 11 % - from 41 to 46).

     

    As written in an earlier post, using average values are not a good idea due to the enormous difference between the lowest and highest amount of Registry points (nearly 3,000,000 to 1). For example, if we (as a thought experiment) include the two highest collections and set all other collections to just 1 point, we can calculate that the average member has a collection worth about 1200 points. So the largest collections introduce a severe bias to an average value, and using average values may be quite misleading. As shown 50 % of all members have less than 1500 points, and every 4th member has less than 250 points. Guess we could say that a normal (IQR) collection now has between 250 and 8300 points."

     

    So I'm betting that 50 % of all Registry members have CGC comic collections worth less than $2k :sumo: And that extremely few persons (less than 1%, probably close to 0.003 %, of current Registry members) have CGC comic collections (made public in the Registry) worth more than $ 1 mill. Well, something like that :)

  15. I am amazed at the numbers of collectors here who state that they have no idea how much their collection is worth.

     

    No clue? I find that hard to believe.

     

    Once I tried to do the math and ended up with having paid something like average $1 to 1.5 per Registry point. It's not an exact measure by any means, but may help as a rule of thumb - maybe not so, if you only have a few special books 2c

  16. Thought I'd start this poll as a BASELINE since the bellcurve on the other collecting polls [GA, SA, BA] seem to indicate that most of the members here are in their mid-thirties. That would of course skew the results of the other polls (i.e. if most of the collectors here are in their mid-thirties then there would be little chance that they wouldn't make up a large percentage of any poll).

    .

    .

    .

     

    33 - when this thread was started 9 years ago ;)

  17. "If a train left New York at 300 miles per hour, and accelerated speed 15 miles per hour, and traveled a distance of 683 miles, tell me sir: should I tell my wife how much I spent on comics?"

     

    unless you're on that train, I'd say no.

     

    Agreed.

     

    The key to a successful marriage is never to let the wife know how much you spend on comics and art :preach:

     

    "The data in Table 1 reflects that the primary cause of conflict in the individuals surveyed was finance. With 39 percent listing finances as a primary conflict and 54 percent listing it as their secondary conflict, it is evident that most couples find finance to be a primary cause of conflict. At 31 and 35 percent, communication was also a key factor. Only 1 percent felt lack of commitment as a primary conflict. Other issues included children, step children, abuse, and lack of sexual relations; these issues were less than 1 percent of primary conflict listings."

    http://ncsu.edu/ffci/publications/2008/v13-n1-2008-spring/Washburn-Christensen.php

     

    So now you know :gossip:lol

     

    These are a lot of number for 3am

     

    I live in Europe, posted 8:19 AM :baiting::grin:

  18. "If a train left New York at 300 miles per hour, and accelerated speed 15 miles per hour, and traveled a distance of 683 miles, tell me sir: should I tell my wife how much I spent on comics?"

     

    unless you're on that train, I'd say no.

     

    Agreed.

     

    The key to a successful marriage is never to let the wife know how much you spend on comics and art :preach:

     

    "The data in Table 1 reflects that the primary cause of conflict in the individuals surveyed was finance. With 39 percent listing finances as a primary conflict and 54 percent listing it as their secondary conflict, it is evident that most couples find finance to be a primary cause of conflict. At 31 and 35 percent, communication was also a key factor. Only 1 percent felt lack of commitment as a primary conflict. Other issues included children, step children, abuse, and lack of sexual relations; these issues were less than 1 percent of primary conflict listings."

    http://ncsu.edu/ffci/publications/2008/v13-n1-2008-spring/Washburn-Christensen.php

     

    So now you know :gossip:lol

  19. Just added three more books from the CLink auction to the library:

     

    1108420002F%20WP_zpstaxmj9em.jpg

     

    1332675002F%20WP_zpspex1zpjw.jpg

     

    1336933004F%20OW_zpsqljb7p3z.jpg

     

    I hope the winner is happy about getting #3 for such a low price, especially because it is a perfectly centered book with great colors. Did consider dumping 1.5k on it, but decided not to - I already have 3 copies and thought I do not need more (and I do like an OW pedigree book more than a non-pedigree WP book)...

     

     

     

     

    My #3s:

     

    494774_Full_Obv.jpg

     

    Still have not seen a high grade #3 with more perfect centering and orientation than this book (perfect orientation meaning that horizontal lines are truly horizontal - not going up or down across the cover):

    1661761_Full_Obv.jpg

     

    My Northland 9.8:

    1799797_Full_Obv.jpg