lou_fine

BAM! and there we go! 100k next Seems rather strange that this appears to be the same copy with the EXACT same front cover scan, lighting, and serial number that CC currrently has for sale with a BIN price of $85K: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/873442 Of course, since the one on CC didn't come with a back cover scan (go figure that for a $85K book ), their back cover scan looks exactly the same as the back cover of the TMNT #1 that sold on Heritage last year for $90K: BAM! BAM!! And there we go!!! Maybe NOT $100K next?

Yes, not sure what is going on here with the back cover scans for both the All-Star 8 and the Sensation 1, since you certainly don't seem to see the same "out of focus" problems with all of their other books. Since these 2 books are apparently coming from the same source and they have a Reserve Price set in place on them, I suspect it's quite possible that CC might not even have the books in hand and what we are seeing is a scan of another poorly done scan or picture which the consignor themselves probably did not bother to take a close look at before flipping it out to CC for posting.

Actually, this part here doesn't really bothered me that much, as it's at least a hundred times better than that useless magnify glass which they were initially using. The size doesn't really bother me that much as I found the old super size that they use to have or the unlimited zoom on Heritage was rather overpowering or fuzzy and just resulted in you seeing things that weren't actually there at times. I think their current on-size Zoom is alright and big enough for me to see what I need to see.

If you are referring to their upcoming Event Auction #43, that's probably because they still haven't yet taken scans for most of those books since they are just starting the process of loading the individual lots now. If past years is an indication, this next auction won't actually be starting until late July or mid August and then won't actually be ending until late August or early September. As the CC header clearly says, it's only a preview for now and I am quite sure that all of the images will be loaded and ready to go by the time the auction is closer to its actual start up date and open for bidding. So, pretty much the exact same situation with the Heritage previews which they also put up for their upcoming Signature Auctions, even though most of the images are also not available there at the time.

To where, pray tell???

I saw that. It's not a book I watch closely so I can't say if it's a good price, but it seemed to get allot of interest. I would tend to agree with your conclusion here, especially in the case of CC or Heritage where the bidding goes on until the last man is left standing. Especially since this was on a lower profile eBay auction from a so-called "no-name" seller without any hype at all and hence, the deeper pocket money bidders might not have even been aware of this auction here. Not so sure about CL in this particular case though since it has the exact same auction format as eBay, and this is only the 3rd highest graded copies, whereas CL bidders usually only goes bonkers with their bidding when it's the highest graded copy of a book. Notwithstanding the 2 copies which you have already pointed out to us in your post above, this final price of $22,655 or just over double condition guide price looks relatively strong when compared to the CGC 8.0 graded Billy Wright pedigree copy which sold for $11,950 back in the Spring of 2017. Not so much though when you compare it to the more recent lower grade CGC 2.5 graded copy which sold for $5,160 late last year or in particular, the 2.0 graded copy from the other company with the much dreaded Slightly Brittle Pages for $4,320 near the end of 2018 on Heritage which represented huge mutiples to condition guide for both copies.

Well, with the Seller's Notes stating the following: “The finest known copy of the most sought after comic book in the world. A 1938 museum piece with PERFECT WHITE pristine pages.” Well, with a bold and definitive statement like that, it's quite clear to me that Darren Adams must have never heard of the Church copy of Action Comics #1 then.

Looks like it did as it jumped from $16,600 with about 12 seconds left and moved right up to $22,655 with a couple of last second bids thrown in there for good measure. Wonder how long the 3-minute extended bidding or how high it would have gone if this copy had been auctioned off on either the CC or HA websites, especially since there were at least 2 bidders in there tossing in additional bids in the last few seconds?

That first appearance always confused me. Put the Thanos appearance in FF, and you've got the hottest bronze Marvel this side of IH181. This reminds me of a few years ago when I was going through one of my boxes and came across a copy of both Iron Man 55 & Iron Man 56 which I never even knew that I had. I was well aware of the fact that I had a copy of Iron Man 47 with his retold origin and the artwork done by Barry Smith which was clearly the hot mid-run Iron Man book to go after at the time. Had to look inside the interior of IM 55 because I certainly didn't buy it for the Thanos appearance because he was an absolute nobody at the time and couldn't think of any other reason for me to have brought it at the time. Then I saw the credits for Jim Starlin which brought me back to the days when artists was one of the key driving factors for collectors to chase after a book. Probably one of the main reasons why there are so many high grade copies of IM 55 around because they were originally saved by collectors right from the get go. All I can say is Thank God that it was Starlin who had done the artwork on IM 55, otherwise I certainly wouldn't have a copy of the book in my personal collection. Actually, turns out to be 2 copies as I was digging through another box last year and found a second copy of Iron Man 55 by itself. Clearly, I must have brought this solo copy as a back issue a bit earlier and had forgotten all about it as the price tag on the poly bag with both the IM 55 and IM 56 was a huge 50% more than the poly bag with just the solo copy of IM 55. Not much for buying dups at the time, but I guess that's what happens when you don't store your books in alpha order and simply toss them into a box based upon when they were purchased. Definitely a nice feeling to go from thinking you own zero copies of Iron Man 55 to actually owning 2 HG copies of Iron Man 55.

Hey Mitch; Did you see the tag team duo of Adams and Nelson when they did up that big "crock and bull" 5-minute eBay video for the CGC 9.0 copy of Action 1 that ended up seling for $3.2M, but somehow conveniently left out some rather critical details in their timeline history of the book?

Does this mean that the CGC 9.0 graded copy of Wonder Woman is waiting on the on deck circle or was this book brought by somebody else back in 2017?

Myabe that's why they tend to sell for less than condition guide whenever they do come to market, which definitely seems to be the trend for many of the second tier DC titles with superhero characters which most collectors in the marketplace have probably forgotten over the decades.

Appreciate your humility but my current Fox PL collection is complete but with more than a few filler copies. I am astonished at the price acceleration on PL 17 which was always an "expensive" book. But I do think there are some relative "bargains" remaining in the run. If only Matt Baker did more of the covers on the run. The closest I ever got to having a Phantom Lady in my collection was a killer copy of PL 16 which Mark Wilson was offering to me for something like $500 or $600 which I remember was a tad over top of guide at the time. Absolutely gorgeous lingerie cover but decided to pass on it since it did not feature Phantom Lady on the cover and was not aware of hot hot GGA covers would become, had this thing at the time about never paying more than guide for a book, and most of all, Mark's well known reputation at the for not being able to keep his hands off a book to make it even nicer no matter how nice it already was even though he had told me that this book was completely untouched at the time. Looking back on it now, I definitely still should have gone for the book since it was an absolutely cherry copy of a gorgeous classic GGA cover book.

This phenomenon seems to work primarily with more recent books that are actually plentiful in supply and relatively easy to find, even in uber high grade. Doesn't seem to work so well with TV shows which are constantly introducing new characters, especially when it comes to the GA comic book characters since these books are clearly not as easy to find. If it actually works this way, then since the new Stargirl TV show has an episode entitled "Hourman and Dr. Midnight", then shouldn't books like Adventure Comics 48 & 61 and All-American 25 wake up from their decades long slumber and see some type of spike up in prices. Definitely don't see much action on all 3 of these books, although truth be told, they hardly ever show up in the marketplace. Sad to say, but even when they do, they don't really seem to set the marketplace on fire.

Not sure why you would get the impression that a ton of copies means the book is no longer hot. Isn't it an indication that the book is red hot and that all of the consignors are simply hoping that they can also snag a HG for their copy and have it sell in the tens of thousands of dollars?

Well, here's another raw VF+ copy of "Police Comics #1" which you can have for a drop dead bargain price as compared to the current copy on eBay: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/813718 Too bad it's only the Alan Light reprint copy, but it can be yours with a BIN price of only $30 as current offers (8 in total) is only sitting at a piddly $25.

Now, I know that you most definitely must have me confused with somebody else on the boards here. Especially since it sounds as though my personal collection would pale in comprison to yours by far. Absolutely no sightings of a single Phanton Lady in my collection, let alone the much in demand and classic cover PL 17 or PL 23 books.

Well from not only the books which you have had in your collection, but also along with your tantlizing Spicy Mystery Stories avatar, I can definitely tell that you have quality taste when it comes to your collecting interests. Being the contrarian collector that I am, I have somehow always personally prefer the PL 23 cover image over the much more popular PL 17 cover image.

Fully agree with you in terms of the key first appearances for this book here, but I guess if it had the classic Baker GGA version of Phantom Lady on the cover in the mode of PL 17 or PL 23, this book would not have seemingly been banished to the deep freeze for decades on end until a few years ago and would have been rightfully soaring in the stratosphere instead. I was definitely aware of Flash 86 just taking off like a rocket the past few years, but not so sure about these other books you mentioned here including the Police 1?

Now, this copy here with its beautiful classic front cover image certainly presents extraordinarily nice relative to its assigned low CGC technical grade.

Well, it looks like you've got another chance now with this CGC 8.5 graded copy right here. And for those who don't have the same deep pockets as Mitch here, it seems as though CC has a CGC 5.5 graded copy being served up in their next Event Auction: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/883800 With either of these 2 copies being a good buy in the long run, I have always felt that Police Comics 1 is a much under appreciated book and seemingly almost forgotten GA key, especially in comparison to the much more high profile DC and Timely GA first apeearance books.

According to the census there is a 9.4 and a 9.2 (unless the 9.4 was the 9.2 via CPR) Definitely not the same copy as the CGC 9.4 graded copy is the Church copy which appears to have sold on 3 separate occasions through HA between the 2006 and 2014 time frame, each time in the $30K+ price range. The CGC 9.2 graded copy is the Windy City copy which also sold on HA way back in 2002 for $19,550 and then resold a couple of years later for the lower price point of $14,950. Looks like the last big sale was the CGC 8.0 graded Billy Wright copy which sold for $11,950 or almost double condition guide which was then followed by a couple of mid-grade copies selling at multiples to condition guide over the past 2 years. So, it will be interesting to see what this copy sells for, although I somehow suspect it might have done better if it was sold on one of the big 3 comic book auction sites instead. BTW: Wasn't there supposedly rumours of a big screen Plastic Man movie in the works a couple of years ago or has this now been placed on long term hold with what's happening in this current pandemic driven business environment?

While this is true, CGC's market is collectors. And I would like to believe their employees and Matt are people who care about the integrity of collecting. This is obviously a growing problem in the industry and given CGCs position, I think they have an obligation to address it. And I understand CGC never wants to bring down the price of a collectible, but the industry can't incentivize this practice. Hate to be the bearer of bad news here, although we may indeed wish that CGC's primary market would be the true collecting base, clearly this is NOT the case because if it was they would have been out of business a long time ago. Collectors, and in particular, vintage quality comic book collectors are primarily interested in a grading service on a "one and done for all time" basis. CGC's primary target customer base, on the other hand is much more geared towards the graded label collectible market speculators for much more recent and readily available books that actually don't carry much value except for that hopeful big number on the top left corner. Especially in the case of flippers who treat these books as nothing more than vehicles or tradeable commodities to flip back out in their CPR+ game as soon as they are acquired. As such, we have the current grading service in place which is really based more upon the concept of the "grade once and resubmit multiple times" business strategy which serves to satisfy their CCG ownership in terms of helping to maximize their top and bottom line numbers. With respect to Matt and the CCG employees, I believe you are forgetting there is a world of difference between "working for money" and "playing for fun". In a business working environment, even though you might enjoy partaking in what many would consider to be a fun activity, believe me that there are still overall corporate goals and individual targets which you would have to strive to meet as an employee working in an employee to employer relationship. If it was really all about the integrity of the hobby and collecting comics for what it is irrespective of the money aspect of it, do you really think we would have all of the ubiquitous and rampant acceleration of pressing and other forms of artifical manipulation of books that is not only so prevalent in today's marketplace, but also strongly and fully driven by the grading companies themselves? Sad to say, but all you have to do is to "follow the money" to see what is happening to this wonderful hobby of ours. Since there's really not much we can do with respect to the "money dynamics" of this current marketplace, as long as we go into it with our eyes wide open and still able to get as much enjoyment out of these funny books as we can, it's still okay and good for me because of our strong underlying and ever undeniable love for the hobby itself.

Decided to give a bump to this thread here since the Allentown Collection is probably my #1 favorite pedigree out there given its small size and high quality. Also because I was searching out some Allentown books and came across this article which some of you may not have seen yet: http://www.comicpedigrees.com/images4book/pedi_allen_sm.pdf Although it's a rather dated version from around 2007 with an interim draft copy of the Allentown chapter (including updated graphics) that was destined for the never to be published Pedigree Book , I figure some of the comic book pedigree aficionados here might still find it of interest. Especially with regards to the invaluable original Allentown Master List which included the initial grades assigned to each of the individual books by Payette. This definitely confirms that Jim was a strict grader as an overwhelming majority of the grades which he assigned to the individual books were lower (and some by a rather substantial margin ) than what they eventually got from CGC.

I would definitely buy this theory if everybody across the board was suffering the same porportionate amount from this pandemic economic crisis. This is definitely not the case though as clearly pointed out in the following post from just above: If you are both a lucky and agile investor in the equity markets over the past few months, you probably could have made a ton of excess spending money looking for a place to spend it, especially since many stocks have done a double or triple from their bottoms back just a few short months ago in the latter part of March. Unfortunately for me, I am neither the lucky type or the agile enough type to qualify here.