BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES

On 1/8/2022 at 10:42 AM, Rick2you2 said:

You could say the same about Peanuts’ strips. Schultz reduced clutter to get to the essence of what he wanted to say/show. Rothko’s art gets to an almost intuitive gut—if you are willing to welcome it in. One is just more fun than the other.
 

With that said, I still can’t understand the prices, but it’s out of my league anyway. Like Banksy and his self-destructive stunt piece.

I've seen things on people's refrigerators which were created by children but were nonetheless compelling to look at.  Many that I've seen had an equal "gut" quotient to me as any Rothko and some had far more.  

Peanuts strips with badly written scripts would not be collected now, because the strip would never have been as successful.  A strip not only has art but tells a short story that is all self-contained within the piece.  

FWIW, I like Banksy's work just fine.  And I applaud how he made some fool pay for work that self-destructed, especially since the buyer most ironically honored their insanely high bid and considered it even more valuable for the way it mocked the very same modern art bandwagon mania that caused them to bid so high in the first place.  

On 1/5/2022 at 12:38 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

Right.
 

yes, I think there should be an allowance for kids honoring their books in the fashion you suggest. But I guess CGC has made a business decision to steer away from trying to determine motive, and instead adopt a bright line approach that any trimming on the top or bottom or outside edge(away from spine) gets a plod no matter what. But by CGC looking the other way when the spine side of the page is cut, shenanigans ensue. 

I can't get in their heads any better than you, and maybe not even as well as you.  But I heard many times that the purpose of the PLOD was to determine the motive behind defects in order to punish those who had sought to deceive (and by extension any books they altered accordingly) in order to disincentivize people doing it any more, so that fewer books would be "desecrated" in the future.  Cut to a few years later when there's a hobbywide scandal involving o/w high grade books that were deliberately trimmed and got slabbed with as unaltered.     That was such a shock to some that it generated a deep feeling of "never again!" outrage and the idea that any trimming should get, as you say, "a PLOD no matter what".  But that, unfortunately, reinforces perceptions that the point of the PLOD is to punish disapproved behavior more than it is to identify something which is not easily determined just by looking at the book.   

So in the case of kiddie-trimmed books it doesn't really sidestep any determination of motive as much as it inaccurately ascribes a motivation which wasn't there, and at the same time it inaccurately implies the item has been improved.    Not the intent, I am sure, but unquestionably the result.

On 1/7/2022 at 1:37 AM, bernoulli said:

It is interesting how comic book people are insecure enough that "comic book art is real art" is still a sore topic but are quick to s**t on fine art that they don't like or understand. Rothko is great. You don't like his work? Fine. But there is nothing strange about his art yielding U$88 million in action. At least it was not created for children. 

True.  It just looks as if it was created BY children, and belongs on a refrigerator.

On 1/4/2022 at 5:02 AM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

Ok, it’s official. The price of a page is thru the roof on certain books.
 

There have been a lot of Bat 1 pages showing up on the market lately, and the prices have jumped.  Since there are are 2 Joker stories, there’s a total of 14 Joker pages to every Bat 1.  Up until the last few months, most of the Joker pages could be had for less than a thousand bucks. Now all of a sudden they are bringing $3k-$5k.

there are some who speculate that the price of a page will encourage people to cut up their Bat 1s and sell the pages individually. To them I say “have you seen the prices Bat 1s are now bringing?”      $240k for a 2.0!!!

with only 130 copies on the census, demand for a full book will not motivate sellers to piece their books out.

But how about AF 15? Not the same story. There’s 2265 Universal copies and another 918 restored copies. Since most restoration is on the cover, that’s 3000 AF 15s that could be a source for pages!  Compare that to the 130 Bat 1s on the census. 
 

and now the AF 15 pages have started to hit ludicrous highs. There’s currently 2 or 3 Page 1s offered on the Bay with $10k BINs. And a page 2 just hammered for $5k in an old fashioned auction on the Bay. 
 

time will tell, but the financial motivation to piece out an AF 15 might become a thing. With so many possible sources for pages (over 3000!), I don’t think it makes sense for these pages to continue to bring big money, but who knows

 

I always thought these had value but thought the market should be or would be contained to pages which had already become loose due to wear or because back in the day kids clipped the pages because they didn't want the backup pages.  That was common enough pre-collecting that you'd see key stories appear fairly often.  What I would not have predicted would be slabbing policies that punish the found clipped pages that were destroyed by well-meaning fans by misidentifying them as "restored" while ignoring (and effectively rewarding) the deliberate destruction of coverless pages so they can be slabbed individually.    

On 1/2/2022 at 8:41 PM, aardvark88 said:

Quite a good video that looks back at Bob Kane 'borrowing' concepts for the plot and art of Detective Comics #27 from the Shadow pulp, Kane's ghost artists like Shelly Moldoff.

 

Since the ---script is credited to Bill Finger, it's interesting how the "borrowing" of the plot for Detective 27 is supposed to be taken as proof that Kane -- but not Finger -- plagiarized the story.

On 12/29/2021 at 4:42 PM, Dr. Love said:

Well that's different.

If this was 2018 on I could see that argument, as perhaps he was trying to wrap your head around the fact that the Tax Cuts and Job Act removed the ability to apply hobby deductions against hobby income.

Otherwise, if this was pre 2018, or if you are classifying your comic/collectible sales as business income, then you should seriously consider a different accountant.

This was pre 2018 but it was a business expense, not a hobby thing, and he was basically saying I should presume every return will be audited and that the agent overseeing each audit will be a total hardcase who doesn't care if the cost is documented on the card because a hardcase will say you need the receipt as well.  

On 12/28/2021 at 9:29 PM, esquirecomics said:

CGC Qualified Grade 9.0 (staples replaced).

Highly sought-after Playboy #1 'Page 3 Copy' (HMH Publishing Co., December 1953) with white pages, featuring Marilyn Monroe on the front cover and inside.

Of the several variants of Playboy #1—a newsstand edition, a 'Red Star' copy, and a 'Page 3' copy—the 'Red Star' is considered rarest, followed closely by this 'Page 3' edition; the newsstand edition is much more common. The Page 3 Copy is one of three variants of the initial printing of the groundbreaking first issue, so named because unlike the more common newsstand copies, the "3" is actually printed on the page! These were actually the first copies printed, but were largely pulled from circulation almost immediately on Hefner's orders. For page count purposes, the front cover and the inside front cover were counted as pages 1 and 2, meaning the first inside page was considered page 3. It seems Hef did not want to confuse readers into thinking pages 1 and 2 were missing when they noticed a "3" on the first inside page, so his intent was to simply not number that page at all! To Hef's dismay, a conscientious employee "corrected" what he thought was an error and inserted the "3" just before the initial print run!  Try as he might, Hefner was unable to retrieve all the original "Page 3" copies, but relatively few survived. The "Page 3 Copy" version comprises only an estimated 5% of the total copies sold of the first issue. 

CGC census records only one example of this Page 3 version graded higher. That copy, a CGC 9.2 which is signed by Hefner, was sold by Heritage last month for $60,000!!

Hefner didn't know how well his concept magazine would be received, especially in the beginning, so the print run for the first issue was just about 50,000 copies. That was only about 5% of the print run of Superman comics in the mid-1950s. Do the math, and you can see that high-grade copies of Playboy #1 are not very plentiful, and the fact has been borne out with the recent and ever-rising demand for copies of #1.

Some other recent sales to compare:

CGC 8.5 (Newstand Edition), 2/15, $28,680

CGC 9.0 (regular edition), 11/16, $26,290

CGC 8.5 (Page 3 copy), 5/17, $20,315

This was one of my holy grails to own, and it is a great investment as well! 

It can be yours for $30,000! 

Payment can be by wire transfer or check. Payment plan is available (1/3 nonrefundable deposit, 1/3 due in 30 days, final 1/3 due in 60 days). FREE shipping domestically (and insurance) via overnight carrier. Inquire for international quotes. Returns will be accepted within three calendar days.

First wins but I will consider offers.

 

 

 

 

 

First time I ever heard that bit of history.  I've owned Pl;ayboy 1s in the past but never knew to check the inside page numbers

On 12/29/2021 at 11:12 AM, cstojano said:

Don't worry, even if you saved the receipts they are made from that heat sensitive paper/ink that fades over time anyway...

Yes.  Which my accountant pointed out to me once as he argued against taking a deduction, even though it was also reflected on the credit card.  Basically, if you're selling on ebay you're safest if you presume nothing is deductible and it's "income" even if you're just getting back a fraction of the money you spent on something.  

On 12/29/2021 at 8:22 AM, vodou said:

nothing else has changed.

Not everybody on ebay is selling things that have gone up in value.  Some people are selling old video games and the like for less than they paid, just to get back some of the money they spent.  They will be able to get refunds on the taxes that will be taken (on the presumption it's all profit) but only if they can prove it's not profit.  How many people are going to have receipts for every DVD or video game they bought years ago and are selling now for pennies on the dollar?   

To the women of the Furyverse.  They seldom appeared but when they did they were memorable

On 11/17/2021 at 7:05 PM, Sauce Dog said:

Ah, excuse me.....but, what is going on.

 

I've been touting the affordability of coverless keys for years, especially for TOS39 due to the EPIC first page (the best of all SA keys, including AF15), but this is some next level stuff (just ended tonight on clink)

For context, this copy ended 1 minute after another low grade TOS39 in the same auction:

The only splash I know of that has a hero coming forth from a, ahem, birth canal

On 12/2/2021 at 5:40 PM, Surfing Alien said:

He scanned the Superman #2, the pic was still up there and it was pretty sharp

Ah, the rare photobucket variant

It may not have Iron Man but those top 2 panels are prime Tony Stark art

On 11/13/2021 at 5:53 AM, APDallas said:

Thanks for the info. This is proving to be very interesting to me. So for decades it was considered that OWAW #81 was the agreed 1st appearance of Sgt.Rock and I can see that. It has "Rock" on the cover and it even says "THE ROCK OF EASY COMPANY". DC even reprinted that issue but NOT #83. Why would they do that if issue 81 was not considered the "first appearance". Who decided that issue 83 was the first appearance? Was it just a general consensus? Did the market decide? 

 

Normally, you'd think the actual owners of the character would get to say what his first appearance was, and if they said 81, that should be that.  It certainly looks as if issue 81 was the first time they first thought this guy would be a continuing character, and that they finessed details of that character in 83. 

On 11/12/2021 at 9:16 AM, Mmehdy said:

From an early GA collectors standpoint, I would say 1972...73 Irving Bigman, who was a very famous GA comic book dealer would bring his Action 1 and Whiz 2 with him to conventions. Early on, Whiz 2 was neck and neck with Action #1, with the overall numbers and I asked him after going up to his room and him letting be flow thru A1, Whiz #2 they did not mind it,  which is better, his answer I never forget his answer, no one is better but Whiz 2 is rarer. I consider the origin story of Whiz #2 one of the greatest if not second greatest stories and art in the GA period. That was so good in my opinion, everything that came after that was not on that level. If you have not read or looked at this story for a long time, check it out on the web....

 In answering your question, I consider Whiz #2 the most underpriced GA comic book today. It never caught up, the rarity factor helped keep the price down, because of the less sales of the book vs A1 or D27. Dont get be wrong, I still am a champ for Cap #1 as the best GA buy out there in the long run, as the difference between 1938...1939 and 1941 in terms of years difference fades away Cap #1 and the year 1941 stigma vs Marvel 1939 etc.

The cover and origin story for Whiz #2 is just fantastic, and that is why collectors, especially older collectors respect this book, its the man that beat superman at the newsstands and over time, will reclaim the proper value and recognition it deserves.

At a glance you can say that the movie Shazam is "totally different" from the Captain Marvel character, but then as you see the origin in the same, the super details are the same (kid that says Shazam to become here), the kid's name is the same; the "family" of heroes is the same; the villains are the same; the tone is very similar, etc.  It's essentially the 1940s character brought to life with some changes made during the 70s

On 11/13/2021 at 1:46 PM, Lazyboy said:

Oh, the are way ahead of you on that. They've been pushing that  for quite some time. Luckily, most people aren't dumb enough to fall for it.

Of all the reactions I might've expected from that, I wouldn't have put anger in the mix.

Possible trend in the future.  Sell your big "FIRST APPEARANCE" and buy a nice house, while chuckling to yourself that you still have the actual first appearance.

On 11/9/2021 at 11:52 AM, Straw-Man said:

cool!!!   how 'bout some watcher covers??

One of my favorite FF covers.

I love how they felt the freedom to swing periodically into WW2 science fiction but never lost their touch with grounded and gripping tales (and sometimes they'd combine them in one story)