lou_fine

Okay, on a more serious note since some of us at least were talking about the nutso price being paid for some of the later Phantom books, I will say that the one Phantom book that I would certainly like to see hitting the marketplace would be Ace 11 with the first comic book appearance of the Phantom back in 1938 and even a few months before Action 1. Doubt that this is going to be happening anytime soon though since the last copy to sell at Heritage was this CGC 7.5 highest graded copy for $1,673 way back in 2010 which was then resold at CC for $4,800 a few years later in 2014: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/562988 Not sure about some of the other auction sites without public archives, but it looks like the last copy that CC sold was only a CGC 0.5 graded copy in 2015 for some $580. So, not sure how long we are going to have to wait for another half decent copy to enter into the marketplace, especially since there's a total of only 12 Universe graded copies out there and the last time a copy crossed a CGC grading table was back in 2019.

Well, not just in THAT way, but also in so many other ways and let's not forget most of all, simply this:

Looks like I still win by a tad as I'll see your Hulk 181 for $75K and raised you a Marvel Super-Heroes 18 for $76K from last week: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dmarvel%2Bsuper%2Bheroes%2B18%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1707644&id=1707644&itemType=0 Seriously though, remember when it wasn't really that long ago when we were all shocked as Hulk 181 finally smashed its way through that $40K ceiling threshold that it kept bumping up against and finally soared all the way right through to something like $59K on CL.

So, I imagine he must have finally hooked up with Fishler who must have fleeced him for his BSD deep pockets because he claimed that he was personally responsible for that seemingly ridiculous valuation that Overstreet had in his guide for the first appearance of Krypto (whoTF????)

Only because Jimbo and Lou haven't had a chance to blow up the scans yet. Well, I certainly wouldn't want to do that because that would most probably bring the bids well back under $100K with bidders retracting their bids after seeing it for what it really is.

Yeah, but is it really that nutso in this current GA marketplace where paying something like only $1,400 is probably deemed to be nothing more than chump change when trying to go after a GA book? Especially when you have buyers today bidding thousands of dollars for what were once former dollar bin romance books not that long ago or bidding tens of thousands of dollars for non-HG PCH books which already have "tons" of graded copies slabbed to date so far. At least with this CGC 6.0 graded copy of Ace Comics #147, it's the second highest graded copy with a total of only 3 copies graded to date so far. Heck, it looks like all of these late Ace issues with the rather simplistically drawn Phantom covers have only low single digit copies graded and slabbed to date. Not sure, but isn't this lower graded copy of Ace Comics #148 selling for $960 in the same Sunday auction last night as the Ace 147 just as nuts, if not more so since it is tied with another for the lowest graded out of a total of only 5 graded copies: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/ace-comics-148-david-mckay-publications-1949-cgc-vg-fn-50-off-white-to-white-pages/a/122336-11002.s?type=lotlink--bidnotice-dailystatus It would appear that your purchase of the single highest graded copy by a long shot of Ace 146 out of a total of only 4 graded copies appears to be more of an outlier than anything else. Big congrats to you on being able to snag your copy for a steal of a deal and probably in a lower profile sale/auction back then in 2019. Especially when you compare it to this beautiful looking blood red highest graded copy out of a total of only 2 graded copies back then which was still able to fetch $900 in 2020 considering that it was nowhere close to your 9.4 copy in terms of condition grade: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/ace-comics-151-david-mckay-publications-1949-cgc-fn-65-cream-to-off-white-pages/a/122009-11004.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

I guess it's all relative as that's still about $150K below what Metro/CC were selling their copies for in non-auction private sales back in 2021. Then again, the fat lady still hasn't got off her duff to sing yet, so I don't think it'll have much problems passing the $131K price point that CL auctioned their 9.8 copy off for about 5 days ago, but not so sure about it being able to surpass the $155K+ price point that CC got for their 9.8 copy in their Event Auction about 10 days ago.

Never watched any of the Lost in Space shows, but remember him from his Leenier character in the Babylon 5 TV series from the 90's which was an absolutely amazing space opera TV show and was of the goundbreaking series to shift TV shows away from the long standing traditional single episode stories they had back then. Also nice to see that he is still married to the same girl after all these decades which is definitely not the trend when it comes to the Hollywood scene.

Looks like somebody must have been offloading their collection of Phantom books as their were a total of 8 of them in yesterday's Heritage Sunday Auction, with relatively strong results on all of them, including these two here: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/feature-books-39-the-phantom-david-mckay-publications-1943-cgc-nm-94-off-white-to-white-pages/a/122336-11048.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Can't really say that I care much for the cover, but an early Phantom issue from 1943 that still managed to fetch a whopping $4,560. https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/ace-comics-147-david-mckay-publications-1949-cgc-fn-60-off-white-to-white-pages/a/122336-11001.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Archive-ThisAuction-120115 Another non-classic Phantom cover that sold for a very very strong $1,440 or some 48X condition guide value of only some $30. Looks like the consignor of this copy, if not all of the other Phantoms in this auction here made out alright, considering that they paid only $264 for it back in September of 2018 after winning it from an obvious speculator who had paid only $144 for it a few short months earlier in June of 2018. Have always loved the The Ghost Who Walks Phantom character and feel that it is still much under appreciated in the comic book marketplace and probably still has a lot of untapped potential from a valuation point of view. Maybe it needs a good movie or TV series to boost awareness for this character, although I guess they did give it a shot with the Billy Zane Phantom movie back in '96 which didn't really catch on with the moviegoers back then. Probably time to give it another shot now that the superhero movies are much more in vogue as compared to the 90's.

Just took a look at Heritage's Promise Collection retreads coming back into the marketplace and all I can is that our own @MasterChief is going to be pretty busy with updating that spreadsheet of his since there's some 70 Promise Collection books or thereabouts hitting the auction block in the next month or so: https://comics.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?No=50&Nty=1&Ntk=SI_Titles-Desc&N=1060+793+794+791+1893+792+2088&Ntt=promise+collection&limitTo=all

Nice to hear that he's probably still kept his collection of comic books intact after all these decades.

So, it looks like you've confirmed what many boardies have already said here, that you can indeed get a better ROI when you go for the lower grade as opposed to the higher grade.

So, if what you are saying is true, then we should have no problem at all to see this CGC 9.8 highest graded copy of this book here hit 6-figures (let alone getting anywhere even close to $200K), especially considering that a CGC 9.6 second highest graded copy at the time had sold for a rather astounding $31,111 back in 2018: https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/superhero/marvel-super-heroes-13-marvel-1968-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/7341-92183.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Must still be a steal at a current hammer of only $9,750 with still another 10 days to go and my thinking is that it might even have a tough time beating the $31K price point that the 9.6 copy hit back in 2018 and definitely worth watching.

On CL, I tend to see the crazy prices more for books that are the highest graded copies, especially if they are the single highest graded, even though these same books might not carry much value in anything say below NM- 9.2 condition grade. It's really a case of to each their own, but I always fnd it better to buy a book whereby if additional roughly equivalent graded copies comes into the marketplace, it actually helps to reinforce and continue to push up the price which I had originally paid for the book. I find that to be a much better scenario than buying a book whereby if an additional equivalent or higher graded copy comes into the marketplace, it serves pretty much only to destroy the original price which you had paid for your copy.

Too many auctions nowadays with too few hours in the day to keep track of them all. As such, the CL auctions don't tend to be near the top of my viewing priorities because I don't really care for their auction format, although I have certainly won books from them in the past before.

The only thing I know about AI and the changing of an era is that if I had invested $10K in Nvidia (i.e. 833 shares at $12 each) back in 1999, I would be sitting on a nest egg of something like $20M made up of almost 40,000 shares (i.e. post stock splits) at close to $500 a share today, and that would definitely be life changing for me.

Not sure what your concern is here since it looks like you've already identified and addressed the reason for this grade on your own. After all, this is a book from the Promise Collection and submitted by Heritage for certification, and as such, all identified defects such as this is to be deemed as part of the printing process and to be ignored for grading purposes. Of course, if it was just a regular Joe Shmoe like you or me submitting a book with multiple tears in it, it would be clearly flagged as a post-printing defect and pummeled with a sledgehammer when it came to grading, like this beauty of a book here: Clearly I must be out of the loop because I am not sure what "Pre-Marvel tears" are as this is the only item listed on the Graders Notes for the 'Tec 167: Grader Notes Pre-Marvel tear top of back cover Actually, if you scroll to the left of what you posted, that whole top back edge is all "messed up" for a uber HG book.

Definitely a very strong price at $21,250 for the 2nd highest graded copy of Suspense 4, especially when you compare it to the $3,100 that it was able to fetch at both HA and CC back in 2006 and 2009 respectively when it still was the single highest graded copy at the time. Of course, that was a few lifetimes ago in this fast paced moving comic book marketplace when books were selling at much more reasonable prices back then as compared to the rather crypto-like crazed marketplace tat we find outselves in right now.

The reason for falling prices for these kinds of books may have a lot to do with the fact that they tend to show up in every single auction, with some having even multiple copies in the same auction. So, no real reason to go out of your way to big too high because if you miss this copy here, another one will be coming along before you know it.

In total agreement with your view on CL's method of bidding and the reason why I don't care to participate in any of their auctions. Especially since I prefer to give myself some time for controlled and rational bidding throughout the entire auction till the end , instread of feeling the need to just toss out a blind Hail Mary bid at the end.

I would tend to agree with you here, but I also believe that the Suspense 8 in grade also has a lot of room to move up, especially since there's only one copy graded above 7.5 (i.e. the Promise copy in CGC 9.2) after two plus long decades of certification.

Isn't this how you get what are headline grabbing 6-figure sales of CGC highest graded BA books of what are otherwise relatively common books except for thier assigned subjective CGC grade? To each their own, but my preference would be to spend my money where the overwhelming value is derived from the underlying book itself, as opposed to being derived almost entirely from that subjectively assigned number on the top left hand corner of the slab holder.

Any bets these two pre-Robin 'Tec's would have gone for more money except bidders were holding some money back to nab this one here: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dmarvel%2Bsuper%2Dheroes%2B18%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1707644&id=1707644&itemType=0 Sold for just a piddly $76K and who said the more recent comic book marketplace was crashing with still no stop in sight.

Sounds as though they are similar to the Alan Light GA Timely facsimiles reprints then which came out decades ago at the turn of the 70's.

Any bets that it was just two crzed bidders out there trying to beat the out of each other's wallet as it shot up by more than $40K in 20 bids within the final 2 minutes of the auction close: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/history.asp?item=1707644&back=%2Fauctions%2Fitem.asp%3Fback%3D%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH%2EASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dmarvel%2Bsuper%252Dheroes%2B18%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item%5F1707644%26id%3D1707644%26itemType%3D0