lou_fine

Still way too early in the auction for most of these books, but I always like to sort their auction offerings by Highest Price first and was rather surprised that this book here was already way up there on Page 1 in their Top dozen lots or so: Have always loved this classic Solomon Grundy cover and a book which seems to be rising up in the demand charts with a bullet as evident by the strong prices which it has managed to fetched over the past couple of years or so.

Ummm..................you do realize that you already identified a clear difference between the 2 copies in your post above. A Bethlehem pedigree copy of TOS 39 in CGC 9.4 graded condition is not the same as a non-pedigree in CGC 9.4 graded condition. Then again, I don't know the premium attached to a Bethlehem pedigree book, but if it was say a Church copy or an Allentown copy of a GA book, the premiums (if not multiples) attached to the pedigree copy as opposed to a non-pedigree copy in the same grade would be substantial.

Not sure, but if you check the GoCollect website for their FMV's, it seems to indicate that a CGC 8.0 copy is worth $190, while $260 should be for a CGC 9.0 graded copy: https://comics.gocollect.com/guide/view/925209

How many offers to buy at $100K are out there for CGC 9.8 graded copies right now? If it's zero out of the entire comic book collecting community, it just might be time for a price adjustment back down to only $10K.

But a 100% increase in 1-2 months, and just because lower grades copies are more affordable to a larger group of buyers? I don’t see how that’s an answer to the sudden massive increase. From what I can tell it seems to be something else. Yes, it's called FOMO and we have seen it throughout time when it comes to the stock market and we had also seen it with AF 15 and Hulk 181 on an on and off basis during the past few years. The only problem with FOMO is that buyers need to be very careful as prices can clearly overshoot at times due to irrational exuberance and you certainly wouldn't want to be caught buying at the wrong time when prices can be a lot cheaper later on.

Another perfect example would be this raw VG+ copy of a mid-run 3rd or 4th tier title like this Crackajack Funnies 34 that was still able to fetch more than double condition guide: I am sure prices weren't this high on these kinds of mid-run GA titles in mid-grade condition a few years ago, but something that is definitely good to see.

Increase is not random at all, and the answer is right here:

This is exactly why I think the 'lower grade' copies of this book are the true gems - still 'affordable' to a larger group of buyers that want in Exactly right, especially when you have such a "relatively high" number of uber HG copies out there and only the elite few willing to spend that kind of money on a comic book. My bet is that if we take a poll here to see how many of us would sell a CGC 9.8 graded copy of TMNT 1 for $100K, as opposed to buying one for $100K, the poll results would be very very heavily weighted to one side.

High grade copies for this book are not rare that book itself is htf but from 9-9.8 there are a good amount . A lot more 9.8 TMNT than AF15s that’s for sure I guess the real question is whether the supply of TMNT 1 in CGC 9.8 graded condition ends up being higher than the demand for it once it hits $100K. Especially since the CGC Population Census Report already includes 32 copies (and counting) in CGC 9.8 condition, with this count no doubt going higher by the time the book hits $100K. I can't think of any other comic book (including Action 1 or 'Tec 27) that would have anywhere close to this many copies of a graded book that would be able to fetch $100K per copy. Hence, the reason I think collectors will be much more tempted to sell their copies of TMNT 1 once it hits 6-figures, as opposed to paying 6-figures to acquire, especially with the "relatively high" number of copies out there. Like we have seen with so many other truly vintage collectable comic books, the air is much more rarified when you reach these stratospheric price levels. What usually happens at this point is that it tends to bring up the prices for the lower graded copies as collectors just wants to be able to pick up a copy which they can still afford to buy. This is where the much larger percentage gains will be going forward.

Any chance yet that you found some time to dig your copy out of the safe so that we can take a look at it? Especially since "nice" copies of Ace 11 seems to be a rare as hens teeth and we have yet to see a copy in VF 8.0 or above after some 20 years of certification.

This reasoning implies that those of us who continued collecting comics during this time period were somehow attracted to Theo's manly physique. Come on, you guys.................don't you know that a picture is worth a thousand words, especially in this particular case here: BTW: After giving it serious consideration, I've now changed my mind after all these years and will now happily pay those prices for all of the books he has listed in his ad here.

So, it would appear that the book has apprently gone up in value since CC's last auction of an Ace Comics 11 with this copy here only selling for $562.60 back in the summer of 2015, or just before the big explosion in GA prices: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/568503

So, I imagine it just might be a bit more than $2,650 if it was say a nice CGC 7.5 graded copy?

They both sold on eBay for record prices with the All-Star 8 selling for $936,223 and the Sensation 1 going for $399,100. Not sure how much success they would have if the reserves were set at higher than these price points, especially since 2017 was right at the height of popularity for Wonder Woman with all of the hype and sucess of the movie that had accumulated just in time for the big eBay auction back then. As per past pattern with many of these books that have benefitied from related movie and other media hype, I believe they have dropped back down in prices since that time.

I would venture a guess that one of the main reasons is its extreme rarity which oftentimes tends to keep the price of a book down as it hardly ever comes to market. Although scarcity usually tends to increase the value of a book, extreme rarity can at times limit its value. After all, you need market acitivity or action in order (e.g. Hulk 181, ASM 300, AF 15, etc.) to reinforce the prices driving upwards when it comes to collectibles comic books and having only one sale every few years would certainly not qualify. From the CGC Census Population report it would appear that there's a total of only 15 copies graded to date, with the highest graded copy being only a CGC 7.5 to this current point in time. Looks like there's a couple of pedigree copies out there with the Church copy which was graded as a Fine by Chuck back in the day and also a Lost Valley copy that was listed in the catalogue as a raw F- copy for the grand sum of $230. I still remember receiving a newsletter from Metro quite a few years ago listing a few of the GA books that they were specifically looking for. Besides the usual key mainstream super hero runs, they had a a very small handful of specific single issue GA books which they were looking for and included in here was Ace Comics 11 along with a couple others like Master Comics 27 and Fantastic Comics 3. My bet is that if a nicely presenting half decent copy of Ace 11 came to market, it should probably have no problems reaching 5-figures in today's robust marketplace. So, there is some quiet, but hidden respect for the first appearance of the Phantom.

Would the Church copy of Wonderworld Comics 3 be one of these 9 quality books? Well, not sure where this copy is going to eventually finished up at, but already one of the top books in the current CC Event Auction at $8K with still a long way to go, I would imagine:

Well, if you are interested in 2 out of the 3 books in this Wonder Woman Trinity Club, it looks like Darren Adams former copies of All-Star 8 and Sensation Comics 1 are leading the pack out of the gates at the big CC Auction which just opened up for bidding yesterday: Looks like they both have Reserve prices on them though which kind of takes the fun out of it a bit. Any guesses as to where those reserve prices would be in terms of being higher than what the consignor paid for them back in 2017 or are they just trying to recoup some of them money at this point with slight lower reserves?

That offer is a joke. Clink has a lowly CGC 2.0 they are asking $995.00 for. Just about everything has gone up since that 6.5 sold in 2017 for 3k too... I laugh at some of the Heritage offers I’ve received in the past... Well, since I believe the HA Make Offer to Owner system allows the owner to make a counter offer, why don't you simply toss in a counter offer of say $5,000 or possibly even higher.

Since we are only on these boards as a guest, has your mother never taught you that it is not in good form to speak ill about your hosts in their own home?

I believe the one that you are looking for would be the Manufactured Gold thread which is the granddaddy of them all. Since my Search ability is rather limited, you would need one of the other boardies such as @MasterChief to hunt it down for you who is the expert when it comes to these types of things.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Yes. lots of potential bidders sitting at home with nothing much to spend their "play" money on, so why not toss a bit into some of the comic book auctions. Must be a seller's market when you can see 2nd or 3rd tier GA titles like this Doc Savage book in non HG condition selling for almost double condition guide: If I remember correctly, didn't these kinds of books sell for much closer to condition guide or were even lucky to hit guide back in the day, or was Doc Savage always a hot title?

This whole conserved thing is new to me. Is it a GLOD? And you joke but its true. Glue and slight colour touch already get blue fir GA, no telling how leniant things will get. No, a Conserved book comes in one of those hybrid blue/grey labels. I believe the rationale was that they wanted to separate Conserved from Restored because conserving a book meant that you was doing something positive and to the book in order to extend the life of the book, whereas restoration really does nothing to the book except to improve its appearance for purposes of obtaining a higher grade. I wonder where that leaves pressing then as it certainly does not extend the life of a book and is done only for pure upgrade purposes. I guess that's why they call it "maximization of potential" for everybody involved in the game and simply leave it in a blue slab. As for color touch and glue receiving blue labels in the case of GA books from the get go, these are definitely the exception, rather than the rule and only applies in very limited cases where there are very very small or a tiny amount of glue or color touch. Anymore than a tiny amount even for a GA book would end up with the book being placed in a PLOD slab at the time. Perfect example being the Church copy of Adeventure Comics 40 which came back in PLOD identified with very small amount of color touch and glue on spine of cover and ended up selling only at a huge discount to condition guide. Yet, the Church copy of More Fun 52 has something like only a tiny amount of color touch and glue on the spine and hence came back in a blue label and ended up selling for a nice premium to condition guide at the time. Yes indeed, if you are getting bored with playing the CPR game, you can also have your former restored books join in the fun as long as you are willing to pay the price to have your book regraded and reslabbed. Likewise, if you have any of those ubiquitous mid-grade copies of Cookville, Eldon, or Harold Curtis books, you can also send these back in for a fee of course, and have then regraded and reslabbed as full pedigree books in those nice new CGC Pedigree labelled slabs. Makes perfect business sense since CCG is a business after all, and why in the world would they want to make money off a book only once when they can come up with a never ending series of changes to ensure that the CGC generation of OCD collectors will keep sending the exact same book back in time and time again. Most definitely not as PLOD books will generally only sell for huge discounts to condition guide with the odd exception for truly rare books like some of the Centaurs or in-demand GA books like Action 13 or Cap 3 which consistently sells for multiples or premiums to condition guide even when in Restored condition. The pecking order when it comes to valuation would be the blue unrestored books on top and the PLOD's on the bottom. I believe the hybrid blue/grey Conserved books tends to sell for more than the GLOD's, but not 100% sure about this and I believe it most likely depends on what was done to the book in these 2 cases. All I can say is that I have seen many Conserved GA books sell for over condition guide (or at least the ones that I want ) whereas this definitely would not have been the case in the past when they were in PLOD's and did not have the Conserved labels out yet. Nowadays, the astute collector will knowingly pay more for these particular PLOD books knowing full well they will no long being PLOD's once they send them back in for regrading and reslabbing.

No problem and if you are patient enough and CCG is looking for additional revenue streams, there'll probably be nothing left in the Restoration bucket by the time it's all said and done.

This is especially true and most definitely the case when it comes to GA books which simply don't sell often enough in order to guage a truly accurate value with full confidence.

Why would only the last sale matter? Do you price YOUR books solely on the last sale price achieved? Of course you don't. Just because the last sale for TMNT 1 was $52K does not mean that is the FMV of the book. Just like when it sold for $95K or whatever that crazy price was last year, that didn't mean that was its FMV either. There is no one fixed price for ANY book in any grade. So it's difficult to say that they are marking it up by 20%. Yes, especially when the last 2 sales for this book were actually for $59K for this RallyRd copy back in March of this year while CL had their copy sell for $58K a few weeks ago. The $52,800 sale which Bob and most boardies seem to be referring to here actually took place back in November of 2019 in a HA Signature Auction.