lou_fine

I was just on the CL website earlier today to check out their GA offerings for tomorrow and the first thing I noticed was this copy of Ace Comics 150, especially since I love these last few HTF issues of Ace Comics with the Phantom covers since they hardly ever come to market: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FPREVIEW.ASP%3Fcode%3D2021apr%26session%3D2%26x%3D24%26y%3D10%26pg%3D1%23Item_1477099&id=1477099&itemType=0 Okay, probably would not have seen it but it's pretty hard to miss since the Ace books are right at the top of the first page when you open up the GA portion of their auction here. Checked the pricing action history and it looks like this copy here was sitting pretty much at only $112 until earlier today when some bids went in and took the price up to $432. Interesting as this looks like the exact same price point at which a slightly lower graded copy sold for on Heritage just over a year ago. Too bad it's not an copy of Ace 151 because that one has only 2 slabbed copies to date and ended up selling for $900 in the Heritage Auction last year and also sports a brighter cover which I would prefer more, but will still be interesting to see where this second highest graded copy of Ace 150 finishes up at tomorrow evening.

@tth2 Hey Tim; If some no good comic book thief broke into your place and stole one of your "worthless" old Mile High smelling GA books, no worries as we can tell you exactly where it is, for a price that is.

Figured this would be a timely bump for this thread here since CL has the GA portion of their Focusd Auction up on deck today and ready to go to bat tomorrow. Or will there be some deals and steals here with everybody focusing in on the Promise Collection and closing up their wallets for now. And as one boardie has laready mentioned, it seems that since the Mask Comics are starting to show up in every single auction now, it makes me wonder where this copy of Mask 2 is going to finished up at by tomorrow night when it's all said and done, with it sitting st $3,800 right now: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FPREVIEW.ASP%3Fcode%3D2021apr%26session%3D2%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26pg%3D7%23Item_1476745&id=1476745&itemType=0#detail Or are all of the big spenders going to wait for the Promise copy of these 2 Mask books to come out since they both appear to be pretty cherry from the grades and scans that we have seen so far.

Unless they also got a huge bulk discount on the pressing and grading fees, it should definitely work out to a whole lot more than this by a long shot. Especially since I don't think a single one of these books posted so far would qualify for the cheapo Standard tier of valuation under $1K. The only thing I am more concerned with is the newbies that they got operating the steamrollers at CCS, considering how fast they are going to have to go in order to squeeze these books through in time for their June Signature Auction.

Like you, I am quite sure that Jon was quite happy and probably pretty ecstatic with the results that he got for his books. For him, being a comic book historian and caretaker of his books for all those long years,I believe it was never so much about the money for him, and really more for his love of the books and passing them onto the next generation of collectors. I think letting them all go in one shot was a lot less painful for him, as opposed to dragging them out over an extended period of time.

The part I am wondering about, is that with everybody here constantly complaining about CCS's and CGC's deadly slow turnaround times in terms of waiting months on end to get their books back, how are these books able to get pancaked, graded, and slabbed just like that. Especially when their online submission system is apparently crashing on a regular basis due to all of the submissions coming in before their deadline to raise prices. I guess when you have such a massive quality collection like this, you get to set not only your own turnaround times, but also get to have their undisclosed grading standards personalized to take into account some of the visual pecularities that appears to be inherent with most of the books that we have seen so far from this collection.

This will exceed that, if Heritage takes advantage of it. I think they are working on a significant marketing campaign, which is why we haven't seen anything from them yet. Not even close since Berk's collection was offered all in one shot which clearly will not give you the top prices possible, as evident from subsequent sales of the Berk books where virtually all of them have gone for higher dollars. From what I am hearing, Heritage will not be doing this all in one shot. In addition, although Berk was an early collector, he was not an OO and still had to compiled his collection second hand like what most collectors have to do. As such, the books are clearly not as HG, with some being restored as Jon was really more of a comic book historian and true collector when it came to his purchases. With the new money and new players entering into the comic book marketplace, no doubt Heritage will indeed do their best to market these books not only to the traditional comic book crowd, but also to the big money that's outside the hobby right now looking for places to put it. My bet is that some of this new money will not be dipping their toes in and test the waters, but going right over to the deep end of the pool and plunge right in.

I would tend to agree with @GreatCaesarsGhost in his post below that this just might not be the best time to be selling or putting books up for auction as serious buyers will be holding their money back hoping to catch one of these books if they hopefully fall throuigh the cracks since there are just so many of them here: Then again, that just might mean it's a good time to be a buyer as there'll be a lot less competition around for any books that you bid on.

I would tend to think that on an individual book by book basis, these copies here will surpass the Church books, but not in terms of the collection as a whole simply because it's a quarter of the size of the Church and also doesn't go back far enough to have all of the major GA keys in the collection in grade. The major difference being that Edgar's family sold them all off to Chuckles for full cover price just so that he could cart them away from the house. No doubt the original owner here is a lot more on the ball and will end up getting top dollar for all of his books here.

I believe the mistake both of you are making with respect to your thinking is that this colection will be brought up by the old long time comic book collectors of yore. I think this second ever post from MadGypsy here is probably going to be closer to what's going to take place as a lot of the new money that's been venturing into this marketplace will probably have their FOMO eyeballs stretched to the limit for these once in a lifetime books: After all, do you really think it's the old time comic book collectors that are taking GSXM 1 up from the $20K mark of last year and into the $40K's a month ago and then into the $60K's a couple weeks after that. Similar path for TMNT 1 in CGC 9.6 grade (i.e. not even in CGC 9.8 grade) which went from the low $20K's if that last year, and into the mid $60K's last month, and now at $88K on its last sale a couple of weeks ago. Is it really long time collectors like Mitch who all of a sudden decided to MANNUP and pay $44K for a copy of Transformers 1 last month. No way in heck as this is big time money from new players with deep deep pockets entering into the market and not really having a full understanding of it yet, but more than willing to open their wallets wide. If there's one thing about people with money though, is that they definitely don't tend to be the dimmest bulb in the room, and tend to be pretty much on the ball and fast learners with whatever takes their fancy. In this sense, I think they are going to be pretty quick at picking up the fact that it's probably a better move for them to be paying less money on CGC 9.6 or CGC 9.8 graded copies of much older and HTF GA books that are most likely the highest graded by a long shot, as opposed to spending more money on highest graded copies of BA and CA books where there are hundreds of copies in equivalent highest grade and possibly several hundred more copies just one grade down that's knocking right on its doorstep. Especially since this is pretty much like an once in a lifetime opportunity for some of these books in this kind of condition, as opposed to the BA and CA books which can't help themselves, but to show up in every single auction going forward.

Have you posted this concern of yours on the SA boards yet where all of the Marvel zombies hang out and asked them the same question in realtionship to Marvel chipping on the early Marvel books where the graders give the books a pass even though chipping goes down the entire page of the book.

Since it sounds as though you were the submittor of the book here, you can simply contact CGC and they will then send the Graders' Notes out to you for free. That way, at least you can have some idea of the noted defects and the the rationale for why it received what appears to be a very very tight grade of only CGC 7.5 on this nicely presenting copy relative to the assigned grade. Almost makes me wonder if it's the type of minor defects that the CGC graders would tend to overlook if this was submitted as part of a much larger consignment involving thousands of books in similar condition.

Well, hopefully some sense of sanity is returning to this marketplace as this copy of GSXM 1 in the same equivalent CGC 9.8 and OW/W PQ only took a small little hop at the end as it finished up at only $47K: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dgiant%2Dsize%2Bx%2Dmen%2B1%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1476308&id=1476308&itemType=0 Touching on $21K lower than the last copy that sold on CL about a month ago and about $13K lower than the copy that sold on CC a couple of weeks ago. I wonder if all of these new money players entering this marketplace just got wind of the newly designated The Promise Collection pedigree that's about to hit the auction block and figure that it's probably a smarter play to pick up a CGC 9.8 graded copy of an much older and HTF GA book at a lower price point. Especially when they are most likely going to be the single highest graded copy by a long shot, as opposed to picking up a GSXM 1 or any other BA key in 9.8 when there's hundreds of other in equivalent highest grade condition and several more hundreds knocking right on its doorstep at CGC 9.6.

Is anybody here going to be celebrating their big win for this CGC 9.8 graded copy of GSXM 1 here at the same time tomorrow night: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dgiant%2Dsize%2Bx%2Dmen%2B1%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1476308&id=1476308&itemType=0#detail Currently sitting at only a meagre $42K and a relative steal, as compared to the $67.9K in the last CL Focus Auction about a long long month ago or the $60K that an equivalent graded copy sold for on CC just a couple of weeks ago.

Why, you ungrateful no good ignorant imbecile. Don't you realize who is hosting these very boards here and you are only here at their pleasure.

Until you open up the slab and the book disintegrates into a cloud of toxic and pungent dust upon contact with the air.

WTF: Now you tell us after all these years. How about those old slimy yellowing poly bags that I am using to store all of my BA books that I cherry picked off the shelves of the LCS some 45+ plus years ago, or do you think I still have a few more good years of life left in them before I need to switch them out?

Since you've been around here even much longer than me, I love the scarasm in your post above. Most boardies around here used to think that Steve was God's gift to grading when he was working for the "good guys" here, and then when he switched over to the so-called "bad guys", he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 1.8 graded book from a 9.8 graded book even if his life depended upon it.

Well, the books from this latest GA pedigree (i.e. The Promise Collection pedigree) also looks pretty pristine from their dripping wet colors and I can't wait to hear how this collection of some 5,000 GA beauties were stored, as it looks like the majority of them are going to be graded into the high 9's: It should be pointed out that the Church books, the Chinatown books, and I bet that the books from this newly designated Promise Collection were all stored raw in large piles with comic book against comic book with no air coming in between them. Unlike now with the slabbed books, where they are stored NOT through stacking on top of other comic books, but by themselves individually within these fabricated manufactured slabs.

Unlike this one time since working for the new company, since Borock used to say this about the CGC holder and microchamber paper on a regular and ongoing basis when he was in charge of CGC, he must have been a lot more unreliable and an even dumber cookie when he was working at CGC as compared to now.

Yes, but he also didn't have them locked and sealed away inside a slab where potential problems could arise with the storage of the books over an extended period of time.

So let's recap - per Borock, company Borock used to be affiliated with substandard, company Borock now affiliated with superior. GTFOH. Well, this is for the newbies here who obviously were not around when Steve was in charge of CGC. Although this is probably the first time I remember him pointing this out about the CGC slabs since he's gone to the new company, he actually brought up this same point on a regular ongoing basis when he was with CGC. Especially in terms of the need to change out the microchamber paper every 7 years or thereabouts.

The only thing that the FOMO crazed crypto investors and deep pocketed sports card traders want to know now when it comes to comic books is if they can use their Bitcoins to buy all of those newly slabbed highest graded copies that's about to hit the marketplace from the newly designated The Promise Collection pedigree, with blowaway copies such as these from this 5,000 GA pedigree collection:

While possible, that's not the way I'd bet... Well, let's hope not as it would certainly be nice to finally get some true fresh "virgin" books into this "maximized to the full potential" focused marketplace of ours. To be totally fair though, he was looking at only the few raw copies that had been posted at the time like the Catman 28 and the Suspense 8, as none of the slabbed copies had been posted yet by tthat time. He said that it would be interesting to wait and see what the slabbed copies of these books look like as that would give us a much better idea.

That would be wonderful if it were the case, but that hasn't been my experience with CGC lately. Are you saying that CGC is letting your books go through with clear pressable defects without factoring them into the grade like this collection here? If you read my post more carefully, I am saying that due to the consistency of these bends throughout all of the books, they are for some reason giving them a pass for this so-called "non-defect", but if it was you and me submitting the odd book here and there, it would clearly be seen as a big whackable defect and graded as such. Not necessarily, becuase if books from this pedigree collection have been graded as if these bends were not there, then that means if you go smashed them flat, they would probably still be graded the exact same way because you have now given them a pancaked fully maximized book without the bends which they did not take into account when the book was first graded for this round here. Now, if I was a crafty and astute businessman with linked ownership in certain companies, I would certainly prefer these books to go through looking fresh off the printing press with easily fixable defect to entice today's buyers who's so much into this whole CPR game. Just imagine it's always better t0 make money on the exact same book multiple times, as opposed to being dumb and making money on the book only once.