lou_fine

If you check his comic book publishing history, The Phantom is actually possibly in every single comic universe that's out there. The big one though and the one which we are talking about is Street & Smith, with its other more recognized character being The Shadow.

Even if that rumour is true, since it's not part of the fan boy hyped MCU and not part of the readily available and easily found BA or SA books, I highly doubt that speculative interest would go back all the way to the GA Doc Savage books. Actually, from my own personal point of view, a much better comic book character to adapt to the big screen would be The Phantom, and there are definitely also a lot of comic books published on The Ghost Who Walks.

With one key exception being GSXM 1, as I had already alluded to in a post from a few days ago: Looks like it is still continuing its downward drift with this copy managing to hit only $37K in CC's auction tonight after the previous CGC 9.8 graded copy sold for $38,400 in Heritage's Signature Auction last month: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/935661 In this current environment, it would appear that the relatively huge number of GSXM 1 with over 200 slabbed copies already slabbed in CGC 9.8 has resulted in a situation where the supply is greater than the demand at this current price point. Kind of makes me wonder what or when the equilibrium is going to be reach where the demand is going to equal the supply for this book, as I guess only time will tell.

Although there's still a few hours left to go, it looks like the spread is still widening between GSXM 1 and XM 94, with one of them continuing to rise while the other seems to be easing back down: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/935661 GSXM 1 finally moving up a bit now, but still at only $30K and quite a bit behind the X-Men 94 which has moved up to a record $72,111 so far: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/935594

Yes indeed, as that would be the Allentown copy of 'Tec 27 since he booted the Church copy out from his collection when he picked up the AT copy.

Yes, highly doubt this story here and who or what in the world is Key Collector? Somebody should just call up Dave to confirm that this story is total B.S., based solely upon the price alone.

Are you sure that does not already include the 15%? I saw it close then I added the 15% hence my $2.6 price all-in. Unlike their first auction when they first introduced the 15% BP and didn't include it in their final auction price, I believe they have now corrected this for the last couple of Event Auctions, if not for all of them retroactively now.

I very much highly doubt that there would be 25 copies of this book in NM or better (i.e. CGC 9.4), especially considering that after more than 2 full decades of certification, only a meagre 6 copies of this book have been slabbed in this NM grade or higher. Especially also considering the fact that Sim had already shot his wad years ago when he certified the HG copies which he had apparently gone through the entire 2,000 print run to meticously and carefully select the best copies for his own personal collection. Unless that is, he's still got more copies squirreled away that the collector base is not aware of.

Definitely so in the case of HG copies (i.e. CGC 9.0 or higher) due to its rarity in grade, but not so sure when it comes to the mid-grades. Looks like it's still well ahead of the HG Hulk 181's, as a copy in CGC 9.4 just sold for only $14,600 earlier this evening in the CC Event Auction.

Amazing to think this was a 3k book 2 years ago To each their own, but even more mind blowing amazing to think that somebody would pay $30K for a copy of this book considering that there's already 175 slabbed copies of this book in this exact same graded condition. Wonder what the buyer will think 2 years from now after the new Spidey movie is long gone from the big screen and CGC clears up some of their massive backlog from their 100,000+ square foot holding facility and crank out a whole bunch more of this book in equivalent or possibly even in higher grade.

Well, in your defense, it probably is or at least close to it when it comes to Cerebus 1.

Looks like you had missed the part which I had highlighted in bold right at the start of my post as I was referring to HG (i.e. 9.0 and above). Not so much in terms of the upper mid-grade copies like the 7.0's or thereabouts as they are much more common and clearly not the ones which Sim had scarfed away for his own personal collection.

When was Cerebus 1 in high grade ever worth less than Albedo 2 in equivalent grade? I still remember there use to be a big long running discussion on the BA boards here on which was the more valuable BA book, Hulk 181 or Cerebus 1. Clearly the answer during the past few years was the Hulk 181, and yet, if you look at these 2 books in equivalent high grades, the answer might still not be that clear cut. And most definitely yes, the clear cut scarcity of Cerebus 1 in high grade is the reason for this. Exacerbated by the fact that the entire Cerebus 1 run was subject to poor printing production and the fact that Dave Sim himself apparently went through all 2,000 copies to pick off all of the best copies for his own personal collection. As a result, if you compare the population census report for these 2 books, there's only 8 Universal copies of Cerebus 1 graded at CGC 9.0 or better (i.e. 2 in 9.4, 1 in 9.2, and 5 in 9.0) as compared to a whopping 126 Universal copies of Albedo 2 in CGC 9.0 or better with even 12 of these way up there at CGC 9.8. Note that I did ignore the 15 HG Signature Series copies because virtually all of these were the ones snapped up by Sim himself even before they made it into the distribution channel. Also no need to mention the thousands of high grade Hulk 181's already slabbed out there, so it's definitely all about true rarity when it comes to Cerebus 1 in high grade. As for actual sales in equivalent grade, it looks like CL auctioned off a CGC 9.4 graded copy of Cerebus 1 for $29,130 back in February of this year, while their CGC 9.4 graded copy of Albedo 2 managed to hit only $11,872 on the same day. Although the Hulk 181's have certainly surged in price, I am not sure if they are approaching anywhere close to the $30K mark in 9.4 yet, because they certainly weren't there earlier this year. Of course, higher graded copies of these 2 books have sold for more than the Cerebus 1 record of $29,130 with a CGC 9.8 graded copy of Albedo 2 managing to hit $31K and we all know that Hulk 181's in CGC 9.8 are starting to head closer towards 6-figures, but that's a completely different story with these nosebleed grades.

Like I had alluded to on another thread here....................do you really think all deep pocketed bidders scour through countless pages of eBay comic book listings to search out random key books that they might be interested in bidding on, as I would very much highly doubt it. It's almost like saying high end shoppers who are used to shopping on Rodero Drive or at other brand name designer fashion clothing stores would go to regular department stores to search out fashion clothing for themselves, although I am sure some probably do.

This was my first thought as well. I guess we’ll find out after the next direct 9.8 sale Depends if it's on the same auction platform as one of the three major auction houses which are frequented by most of the more deep pocketed bidders, as opposed to a site like eBay where some of these same bidders don't even ever bother to go onto to look for their vintage collectible comic books. As for 2 or possibly more bidders not realizing what they are bidding on, when you are talking about close to 5-figures for a book, I find that kind of hard to believe when it's relatively easy by just looking at the front cover or even easier by just reading the big bold auction desciption comments on the side. It's not like they are trying to figure out the difference between an authentic Cerebus 1 or Errie 1 from a counterfeit copy here, which would clearly be a much more difficult task.

On a more serious note, I find that the current comic book market can oftentimes seem more like the equity stock markets in terms of its volatility and how money can sometimes cycle around from one sector to the other, and not everything need to be either hot or cold at the same time in terms of its bifurcation. Perfect case in point where so many of the relatively more recent so-called keys which are related to movie hype or high population count speculative books seems to be cooling off a bit as per some of @DC# charts, and yet the GA market still seems to be firing on all cylinders for now at least, with a perfect example being this GA book here which just sold in this past weekend's Heritage Sunday/Monday Auction: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/doc-savage-comics-10-street-and-smith-1942-cgc-fn-65-off-white-to-white-pages/a/122150-13426.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Sold for a rather astonishing $1,680 or some 4.3x OPG condition guide which is especially surprising for what is basically a non-key mid-run mid-grade non-classic cover GA book from a seemingly long running frigid cold GA title that used to sell for barely condition guide value unless it was a primo name pedigree copy.

As some others here would say, we need look no further for our benefactor and saviour..................... And as a long time collector, every night I thank my lucky stars and pray that his bidding fingers get a good nights rest and are ready and raring to go in the morning on another hard days "work".

Probably more seller's remorse if he was hoping to beat and surpass the last 2 higher record setting sales results that CC got for this book back in August and October of this year. Then again, if the seller had only paid cover price for the book way back when it first came out, than

If you believe what many others have already alluded to, especially if you've got Halperin in there pushing the bids upwards and possibly even "winning" the book so it can go back into inventory to be used again in future auctions.

Not sure what you mean by multiple venues here since if listed on any of the big 3 auction platforms through one of their open auctions (i.e. not BIN or with a reserve), it would have sold for whatever the final bid came in at. The big 3 auction houses quite often gets higher prices because they tend to set the marketplace for the next runup since the bigger eyeballs with the much deeper pockets tends to look at those auctions platforms and not even bother to waste their time looking at smaller auction sites scrolling through endless listings with either BIN's or reserve prices locked in place.

From what I hear, this really depends on how good of a negotiator you are, which is also highly dependent on the quality and dollar value of the books you have. Since the final auction realized price came in at $7,200 this simply means that the hammer price on the book was $6,000 plus the 20% or $1,200 for the Heritage BP juice which is normally their take and which you never see. Then there is the Seller's Premium which I believe is normally 15% or $900 (others said only 10% or $600) which would bring the net amount into your pocket of only $5,100 or $5,400 out of the this big $7,200 sale or for total combined fees of 29%+ or thereabouts of the overall take. I have heard from boardies though that it is possible that you can keep the 20% BP or a good portion of it if you also have other nice quality books for them to auction off. The Heritage SP is also negotiable or apparently some combination of both, and even hopefully get both of them a bit closer to the 10% standard fee which both CC and CL charge if you say have books amounting to 6-figures or thereabouts.

Did you ever find out the answer to your above question here, and if so, would you mind sharing with the rest of us here? Just wondering since it would appear that Cerebus 1 is still going great guns and firing on all cylinders, as evident by this sale on HA this past Sunday: https://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/cerebus-the-aardvark-1-aardvark-vanahem-1977-cgc-vf-75/a/122150-13331.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Sold for a rather astonishing $7,200 or at something like 7.5x OPG condition guide value and also close to what Dave Sim's CGC 9.4 highest graded Signature copy had sold for back in 2010.

I believe you would be correct in your statement here since this copy here sold for a whopping $9,200 earlier in today's CC Event Auction: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/931507 Especially since their last 2 CGC 9.8 graded WP Direct copies sold for only $5,100 and $5,300 respectively in August and October of this year.

I hope it wasn't another TMNT 1 owner deciding to throw in a thrill bid to up the value of his copy on the assumption that the auction would surely have some activity once the finall bell rang for the 3-minute extended bidding sessions. If so, they must really still be peeing their pants right now.

Well, I clicked onto the link and it does state that it is only an Auction Preview. And as such, it goes on to clearly state that the "item many not have yet been properly described or vetted" and "they are continuing to add and correct information as they approach the auction posting date." Glad to see that CGC has stepped in and taken the book back to ensure that the label and infomation therein is proper and correct.