lou_fine

Wouldn't copies of Star Spangled fetching condition guide be the equivalent of double guide for most other titles? Yes indeed as these newbie NFT traders probably really don't know what they are doing when they are willing to pay $2,640 or more than triple condition VF guide for this copy of Leading Comics 2 when this not so much in demand DC title normally seems to sell at only a big discount to guide: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/leading-comics-2-mile-high-pedigree-dc-1942-cgc-vf-80-white-pages/a/7242-96035.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Archive-ArchiveSearchResults-012417&lotPosition=0|0 Sure, it's the Church Mile High copy here, but then again, it's a Leading Comics that we are talking about here.

Totally agree with you and although I still see CGC as a net benefit for all of us here, this is the part of the whole grading game that I do indeed hate. Not a big surprise and totally expected though when this whole pressing fiasco was outed on these boards here way back in 2005 and CGC gave the process its seal of approval by calling it as nothing more than "maximization of potential". Although most of us called potential conflict of interest when CCG bought out Matt Nelson's Classics Incorporated back in 2012, I am sure what we saw as conflict of interest, the ownership group at CCG saw what they say in the Corporate business world as business synergies just waiting to be unlocked. This was clearly done when they upped their game in 2016 when Matt took control of grading at CGC and from that point forwards, their undisclosed grading standards were subtly changed to ensure that pressing became a key and critical part of the entire grading game. And that there is one of the primary reasons why I hate this whole current grading game since pressing is now so embedded within the grades that I have been told on many occasions that it would be totally absurb to submit a book straight in for grading without at least having a pre-screen for pressing (for a fee of course ) done on the book first, unless you don't mind receiving punishment grades on your books. Absolutely makes no sense from a collector's point of view to hammer the grade of a book by 2 or 3 grade decrements for a few tiny NCB spine ticks that can only be seen when the book is held up at a certain angle to the light, and yet give a pass or even a grade increment to books with visible pressing related defects on them. Although Borock initially claimed that books that were improperly pressed would be downgraded for these associated defects during the grading process, it has become quite apparent that this is now no longer the case ever since Matt shifted over to the grading side of the business and left the CCS work to a bunch of seeming newbies who are just simply not as qualified when it comes to pressing. Makes perfect sense from a coporate business point of view though since you certainly wouldn't want to have in place undisclosed grading standards that would serve only to hurt your top and bottom lines. Especially when this whole grading game means more money for everybody involved who plays by their rules. Speaking of possible grading defects, is that a squashed bottom staple area from an improperly executed pressing job that I am looking at here: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DGIANT-SIZE%2BX-MEN%2B1%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1468605&id=1468605&itemType=0 If so, I guess it didn't really matter though since the CGC graders still gave it a 9.8 grade and the consignor must have been ecstatic with it since this copy here still managed to fetched a record $67,900 (for now ) in the just completed CL Focus Auction.

Well, since I have a MTU 1 and possibly even a Defenders 1 in my personal collection, I am quite sure they are NOT keys. Since I don't believe I have a Subby 1 in my collection, than that one there must be the keyest of key books.

Well, looks like the TMNT 1 market is still on the rise with the new influx of deep pocketed buyers even pushing the CGC 9.6 graded copies up into the price territory of where the CGC 9.8 graded copies once resided, as this copy here just sold for $66K on April Fool's Day: https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-1-mirage-studios-1984-cgc-nm-96-white-pages/a/7242-91047.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

Looks like this one-shot book managed to fetched more than 10X top of guide and also more than double what it went for in the Berk Auction a few years ago: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/captain-courageous-comics-6-mile-high-pedigree-periodical-house-ace-magazines-1942-cgc-nm-96-white-pages/a/7242-96017.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 A nice tidy return for the consignor as it sold for $20,400 this time as compared to only $8,100 when sold by Berk. I guess it was probably helped along by the fact that it might possibly have gone through the CPR process as it was only slabbed as a CGC 9.4 graded copy on the first go round in the big Jon Berk Auction back in 2017.

With a splash by Kirby. The word balloon does not make it better. That and the bottom insert in green where it looks like she's either crying or already assuming the position for some back door loving!!!

Hey Allan; Sorry, as I definitely can't be of much help to you here since I haven't really paid much attention to the pulps at all, and in fact, did not even realize that there was a Pulp Forum on these boards here. Although I did indeed have a passing interest in some of the Spicy related pulps a few years ago, my inability to acquire any of them at reasonable prices in the grade that I wanted kind of dampened my interest in the entire Pulp field.

Well, maybe not quite that far yet as the sports card traders, Gamestoppers, and crypto investors probably haven't discovered Star Spangled yet since this one here barely managed to fetch condition guide, although those staples do appear to be a bit of a problem:

I was only kidding about the potential impact of the eventual Hourman movie since movie hype seldom ever go as far back as the GA books, but did somebody finally breathe some life into these Adventure Comics after being dormant and pretty much dead for longer than Rip Van Winkle: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/adventure-comics-59-dc-1941-cgc-fn-60-off-white-pages/a/7242-96001.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Open-ThisAuction-120115 Can't believe this one here sold for over guide, let along more than double condition guide when the GA Adventure run of books normally have a tough time even fetching guide over the past couple of decades.

Well, although the highest graded Archie's have apparently joined the party at Heritage, it would appear that some of the non-highest graded copies are still waiting to receive their invitations at CC: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/902644 Looks like this copy of an Archie first issue along with quite a few other GA Archie's must be feeling a bit stood up like poor Betty here as they are still sitting at $1 awaiting their first bid.

Hey Sharon; It's really very very simple. All you have to do is open up your webpage to their current Event Auction 45 (i.e. not their daily listings) which indicates a total of 3,058 items for this auction. You then simply move your mouse to the left and select the sort that you want as their default sort is set to Ending Soonest. From here, you can select sort by Price Highest/Lowest, Grade Highest/Lowest, or whatever else you want. Another favorite of mines is to go a bit lower and filter by the various pedigrees. The first pedigree which I usually look for is the Allentown since that is my favorite GA pedigree due to its limited size and HG condition, which in this case indicates none in their inventory as it doesn't show up. Or if you want the Church Mile High books (cheap Westerns for me ), it looks like they have 30 in their inventory with 7 of them up in this current auction. Another that I usually look for are Dell File Copies, but only from the late 30's and very early 40's due primarily to their blow away condition and strong bold Church-like colors, because for some reason the later time periods do not appear to be consistently as strong. Still hoping to get me a bargain San Francisco one day since that's one of the few GA pedigree samples that I still don't have in my collection yet. Well, you should get the idea by now and definitely makes it a lot easier to filter and search for your favorite pedigrees to see if their are any cheap ones that you might be able to snap up under the radar.

I know you mean Oh, come on now, you guys are trying to compare night and day here. That Transformers 1 sale for $44K took place way way back in February and in today's hyper fast moving CA marketplace, that's like a whole lifetime ago and that Transformers book has probably already moved way ahead of this oldy moldy fugly 0.5 Bat 1 at a price point of only $51,600.

More than doubled, as far as what I am looking at. Then again, since we were talking about the good old Westerns, maybe Sean does have a point if this current pricing after almost 2 full weeks holds: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/820377 Very early 1939 appearance of Red Ryder who had debuted a few months earlier in Crackajack 9, with this being not only a File Copy, but also the highest graded copy by a long shot with only a total of 5 copies graded to date. And yet for this 80+ years oldy moldy book, it looks like you would have to see your bank manager to arrange for a second mortage in today's hyper red hot comic book marketplace as this copy is sitting at a monstrous high bid of a whopping $6.

I've always wondered if the cover photographer knew exactly the shot he was taking here and decided to go with it on purpose anyways to see if it would get pass the editors at the time?

Exactly Sounds pretty much like the Peter Principle of comic book grading whereby a book will be continually upgraded upon resub for a fee of course, until the book reaches a point whereby it looks nowhere even close to the grade that's been assigned to it.

Since I know absolutely zippo about submitting a book to CGC for grading, can you guys explain how you come up with a 2022 turnaround date if you truly believe your copy of Spidey 300 is worth $5K in today's marketplace? After all, should your book being going through the Walkthough so-called same day service atx this point then? The way I see it actually, this whole CGC submission process appears to be rather convoluted and backwards because I am paying them to grade my book and to determine if there's any restoration, and yet it seems like I have to do all this in advance myself if I want to submit a book into them for grading. Now, let's see if I got this right or not: 1) In order to send a book in for grading, you first have to decide on the grading tier for your book; 2) The grading tier to be selected is based upon the estimated value of the book; 3) The estimated value of the book is based upon the condition grade of the book and whether there is any restoration or not; and 4) Being a collector who knows nothing about grading or restoration detection, and the exact reason why I am sending my Spidey 300 in to them for grading, do I now go back to Step 1 and repeat this endless loop process all over again? Seriously though (or not ), how the heck am I supposed to know whether it's going to be a CGC 9.0 graded copy in the end with some slight restoration on it and I should be submitting it under the Value tier and like you said, wait until 2022 to receive the POS book back. Or should I really be submitting it under the Walkthrough tier for their so-called same day service because all you guys talk about are CGC 9.8 graded copies which sounds as though they should be worth more than $5K in today's red hot marketplace. Don't see how they can expect me as a submitting customer to be able to tell the difference between a CGC 9.0 book from a CGC 9.8 book when we've seen the exact same CGC 9.0 book turned into CGC 9.8 copies by the time it's all said and done and you've paid all your dues to them.

Everything that I was tracking and thinking about buying went for prices that shattered existing records. I've never seen the GA market this hot. Even books for which I thought I paid way too much in the past now look like brilliant investments. Well, if you take a look at the current results for the CC Event Auction after almost 2 full weeks in, you certainly wouldn't think the market was that RED HOT. With a total of 153 pages of items up for auction, if you do a sort from Lowest Price upwards, the first 22 pages or over 14% of the auction lots are still sitting at a loonie as they are still awaiting their first bid. The next 24 pages or a further 16% has still to hit double digits as they are sitting there with high bids of under $10. As for the GA market being hot, I think it really depends on the book in question as I can see highest graded copies of GA pedigrees or file copies from the late 30's and early 40's with only a handful of copies graded to date (i.e. 5 copies or less) still sitting there with low single digit dollar bids. It looks like what's really hot with today's generation of deep pocketed crypto investors and sports card traders are more recent highest graded BA and CA issues with that big #1 first appearance and thousands upon absolute thousands of copies already slabbed in HG condition.

So, are you saying that I will now be able to pick up a copy of Transformers #1 in the loonie bin box again instead of trying to save up my $44K? Hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but it was indeed a CGC 9.9 graded copy that sold for $44,000: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dtransformers%2B1%26ItemType%3DCB%26CGC%3DYES%26CBCS%3DYES%23Item_1452303&id=1452303&itemType=0 If yours is only a piddly CGC 9.8 graded copy, you'll be lucky if you can find somebody to pay you even $44 for it. Dag gone these CGC label chasers!!!

So, are you saying that I will now be able to pick up a copy of Transformers #1 in the loonie bin box again instead of trying to save up my $44K? Especially since I thought I had a copy of that invaluable book, but guess I must have stopped buying the first 3 issues of all of those countless new series that Marvel was trying to offload to the collecting public back then. Totally pissed me off as they were also raising prices at the same time and seemingly trying to bankrupt poor collectors like me by trying to make us fork over another dollar for another one of their crapola new books back then.

Is someone actively trolling for a strike? No need for me to troll for a strike since it would seem that the CGC sin bin is pretty much a regular pit stop for me. Although Mod1 seems to be trolling me when it comes to threads about Covid-19 or the Post Office, I have yet to be banished for any of my posts when it comes to grading. Although I do indeed jokingly point out some of the negative aspects of CGC, I do admit that all of us here as collectors or buyers and sellers of comic books are far better off and safer with CGC here, then if we did not have them here. Although nothing is ever perfect, just wish that they can sometimes be a bit more consistent when it comes to some of their grading. Of course this is difficult to achieve since grading is just a professional subjective opinion at a particular point in time, as opposed to an exact science. Especially when it comes to grading over different time periods, as that Four Color 22 was graded back in 2019 as compared to the More Fun 73 which was graded just a couple of months ago. Then again, this book which I saw in another thread here was graded only about 5 weeks ago and yet the front cover scan (no back cover scan as per usual with a CL auction ) sure looks much more presentable with its sharper corners and much much less spine wear than the slightly higher 7.5 graded copy of More Fun 73: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dzip%2Bjet%2B%26ItemType%3DCB%26CGC%3DYES%26CBCS%3DYES%23Item_1467850&id=1467850&itemType=0 I I know, it must have been that nasty looking "S" done with the black felt pen marker that brought the grade all the way down.

Knowing my luck when it comes to these kinds of things, it would probably come back as a CGC 4.5 instead of the CGC 7.5 gift grade that More Fun 73 received.

Terrific copy! Yes indeed, a fantastic and gorgeous pickup and definitely the way to start your collection by searching out books that presents much higher than their assigned CGC grade. You can never go wrong when you buy the book, as opposed to buying the label.

Well, considering that GSX 1 is the actual first appearance of the New X-Men and has normally sold for more than X-Men (except for the first several years back in the 70's and early 80's), I imagine it should in theory sell for more than this $63K amount. Especially since the last one on CL with the crushed bottom staple still managed to sell for $67.9K just last week. Then again, don't know if the supply factor will come into play here as I believe GSX 1 was part of a large warehouse find back in the day and probably accounts for the fact that there's already over 200 copies slabbed in CGC 9.8 with almost another 400 slabbed copies knocking on its doors in CGC 9.6. In comparison, X-Men 94 has only 37 slabbed copies in CGC 9.8 with another 122 copies in CGC 9.6 prepped and ready for the steamroller. So, I imagine this copy here on CC that's still sitting at only $34,500 (no crushed spine here ) for now will end up finishing a lot higher by the time it's all said and done in a couple of weeks from now: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/895455

Are saying that Matt's no longer with CGC? Have they transitioned to Jason already and looking for their next maximization of potential opportunity to solicit regrades?

Totally agree with you when it comes to the paper covers with the New Comics 1 -6. The other ones that I really love and seemingly not appreciated at all by collectors today are the cardboard covers on the 100 page squarebound books like the early World's Finest up to issue 17 and the New Book of Comics squarebound 100 pagers.