lou_fine

Wow, over $71K for a NM CGC 9.4 graded copy of the first issue of Playboy magazine. Now, I really regret calling too late and missing my opportunity to pick up a supposedly uber HG copy of this first issue for the grand sum of only $1K back in the late 80's. By the time I called, it was already gone, but then again, that was probably an exorbitant price even for the first issue of Playboy magazine in those days.

One of the main reasons he got the designation is because he had the highly sought after Gerber Photo Journal (Philly) copy of Suspense Comics #3 in his collection. This was before the once thought to be non-existent Church copy came out of nowhere and was unearthed about a year later. In addition, he also had an uber HG collection of SA Marvels including the then highest graded copy of ASM 14.

Why would you expect anything else in this scenario? After all, the majority of us here are collecting comic books, not CGC labels.

. Thx Woo Went back and read it a bit more carefully as there's a ton of words in there. Based upon the following quote from his auction description: So this auction contains 60 of 64 pages of the interior) It would appear that both the front and back covers are missing along with another 4 interior pages of 'Tec 27.

So it’s a complete Coverless. Awesome. Sounds like it except for the part that's been trimmed off. to fit the binder. Never could figure out why they didn't bothered to simply look for a bigger binder, as opposed to the invasive practice of always trimming the books instead.

Yes, it's clear that the 4 missing pages would be the front and back covers as in his description, he clearly states that "unfortunately he removed the covers".

Probably done a LONG time ago when these books were worthless. Yes, and if you read his detailed description, it contains every single Batman story from May 1939 right through to March 1943. Being a serious Batman fan, why in the world would he want all of the non-Batman backup stories to interrupt his reading enjoyment. It's obvious he was not careful enough though, as he did keep 'Tec 27 complete except for the 4 pages out of the 68 which he did not include.

Seller clearly states that all of the pages have been trimmed. In addition, all of the backup stories (excluding 'Tec 27) from the Detective run and the World's Best/Finest run hav been removed, along with all of the ad pages (excluding Batman 1) have bben removed from all of the books.

Still waiting patiently for the details as further confirmation of this good news.

Certainly hope this is true, but the latest word in the Comics General thread about a hour is that all of the books have now been recovered.

Al invited over to his wonderful house one day to view his comics and original animation cels collection (his Snow White cels were amazing). A nice fellow. Told me that he was a musical jingle writer for top advertisers and companies. But then he completely dropped off the radar, never saw nor heard from him again (public records show the home as being sold three times since 1996). Based upon this ad, I remember calling him up one day way back when and he told me that he was never ever able to acquire a single book (or was it just one book only ) in all the years that he ran this ad. Not sure how true this statement was, but he certainly didn't get any books out from me.

Ahh............one of your 7 keepers. I can definitely see why as it's a truly beautiful copy.

Kudos to you for providing Harley with some solace and some of your professional guidance based upon your prior years of experience with law enforcement. Based upon the fact that they already have 3 of the fcking culprits in custody already, I hope they tightened the screws on them so that it leads the authorities to the rest of the gang and and to all of the stolen books.

Those look awesome together! Well, if those two look look awesome together, how much more awesome would a threesome look: Especially when this one could probably be picked up for a fraction of what it would cost for the other 2 books. Plus it looks good when you have a blue, red, and green trio of books like these 3 books here. Of course, that's also assuming you can find one in the marketplace today since I believe there hasn't been one sold through the major auction houses in years.

the worlds finest run is pretty amazing +1 Especially since this World's Finest run is from the scarce and HTF early 1950's time period with books which you hardly ever see available in the marketplace. Of course, that early World's Finest #9 with the classic WWII gruesome threesome cover also looks pretty tempting. And a 100-pager cardboard cover book to boot.

Well, all I can say is that although it may not have finished at your projected $6K mark, it definitely would have finished higher than the final $3,200 price if the wifi internet signal I was using at the time was stronger. Had just arrived in Hong Kong the night before and had no problems upping my bids for a few lots then. Worked up in the hotel room right at the start of the auction prior to leaving for my cruise figuring that I would bump up my bid for the Star 3 a bit more if necessary. Managed to get to the first page of the bid process, but the frigging thing just kept spinning when I tried to click onto the second page to input my bid. I guess I should never depend on free wifi in a hotel as signals could be weak or possibly too many other users trying to access the same server at the same time.

Rick; Also my sentiments exactly! First day back from an extended trip overseas and wonderful to see your detailed assessment of the auction results. Extremely happy to see that you made out alright by the time it was all said and done.

Well, you certainly can't go wrong with any of the 7 beauties which you've decided to keep. Just a bit surprised to hear that you didn't keep a single Centaur as one of your final 7. Especially that AMF V2#2 which looks like an absolute keeper in the eyes of most collectors, but I guess you can't keep them all. Even in the case of Jon Berk and Gator who are both Centaur lovers to the relative extreme. Best of luck to you in your auction sales.

Second paragraph - Fish has the cover to JIM 89? Is that correct? That's a real classic and so early? How about that picture above of his cover to Detective Comics #28 which is prominently displayed in the Metro offices hallway. Apparently his first OA cover purchases for something like only $800 at the time.

Surprised and sad to hear that you have decided to go into hibernation for now as you have been quite active here lately and I've always enjoyed seeing the scans of your purchases. Hope it's only for a short while, as opposed to being on a permanent basis. After all, once you have the collecting bug in you, it's often like an itch that need to be scratch every now and then. I thought I was done 20+ years ago, but I still find myself going back in every now and then, especially with all of these enticing books that are being made available in the marketplace right now. Any hints as to which 7 books which you will be going into hibernation with?

Well, that's quite an interesting cross country story then. Wonder in the comic shop owner knew in advance that they were stolen and how much he paid the culprits to purchase them? Hopefully, the LCS owner is not out any money from all this although I am quite sure that Metro would cover that for just getting the books back.

Are you referring to Arizona or somewhere else? I assume the owner must have been honest enough then to have contacted FedEx to inform them about the misspent parcel.

Since we are on the topic of how Red hot and on fire 🔥 the L.B. Coke books have been for the past while, what is everyone's educated opinion as to the most valuable Cole book of it became available in today's marketplace? Would it be the Mask 1, the BB 115 or 105, the Suspense 8 or 11, or possibly another one of his amazing covers?

Since we are on the topic of how Red hot and on fire 🔥 the L.B. Coke books have been for the past while, what is everyone's educated opinion as to the most valuable Cole book of it became available in today's marketplace? Would it be the Mask 1, the BB 115 or 105, the Suspense 8 or 11, or possibly another one of his amazing covers?

I am quite sure if you posted this same question in the GA threads, you will get an endless slew of examples from board members here who have definitely brought the book without paying much attention (if any at all) to the label. Especially in the case of classic cover or HTF rare books. Just go back to the just completed CC Auction and you can see countless examples of uber low grade books or even PLOD books selling for multiples of their condition guide prices. For example, take a look at the CGC 0.5 graded copy of Mask Comics #1 with a bottom of guide Good 2.0 valuation of only $400 but still managed to fetch something like $2,260 in the last CL auction. Now, I am quite sure the purchaser brought the book at that price for the actual book itself, as opposed to the number on the label.