lou_fine

On the biggest one you could fit approximately 19 slabs Yes, just imagine paying those kinds of fees to store some of the otherwise worthless drek that makes up the bulk of CGC's business.

Ok, that gives me optimism The only problem is that most of these early Archie big page squarebacks and annuals are not that easy to locate, especially in any type of half decent shape as clearly evident by the single digit census count on most of them. Like Archie digests nowadays, that's probably because they were well read and passed around to be read, as opposed to the more popular super hero books which some astute collectors of the day decided to collect and keep in good shape.

I have 2 and 4 and 2 seems a little bigger than 4. That's most likely because the first 2 issues were 100 pagers while the later issues starting with issue #3 shrunk down to only 84 pagers.

Speaking of Mark Wilson and some of his comic book optimization techniques. With the new restoration guidelines which were put in place a couple of years ago, has CGC now moved wet cleaning out of the Restoration category and into the Conservation category: https://www.cgccomics.com/news/article/4084/ I know that Mark was notorious for wet cleaning virtually all of his books back in the day on the premise that he did not considered that type of work to be restoration. Is CGC starting to also lean that way if they are now saying that water or solvent cleaning of covers and interiors now falls under Conservation? Or does it depend on the type of material used and could still fall under Restoration if the wrong type of material is used?

That's perfect until your stack is too high and the bottom slabs crack. I've had them there for years and no cracks at all. I do only put a few in there so the weight is fine I also keep my books laying on their backs, but all in mylar. I would never put a slabbed book in a safety deposit box because that takes up a ton of space. Besides that, any slabbed book that I have would be worth a lot less than the ones I have stored away in mylar in a safety deposit box.

You really can't be serious here. So, are you trying to tell us that we should keep the books we brought of the shelves of the LCS last week or the worthless drek from the 90's in a expensive safety deposit now for safekeeping? I imagine some collectors here would have to rent out the entire vault in the bank then.

From how snugly that "magazine" is fitting into the slab, I am 100% sure that it was encased in a GA comic book sized holder. If I remember correctly, I believe I also have one of those early Archie Christmas Giant issues and they are pretty much the same size as any other squareback comic book annual that was released back in those days.

If this is the case, then how about the Poughkeepsie and Dell File Copy books as I believe these are clearly designated on the CGC labels where the pedigree notation usually goes? Since these were file copies per se, I don't believe they ever hit the newsstands. Or has this now changed since I also don't see it as part of CGC's current Pedigree List on their website?

I think the only person that actually pays for a CVA sticker is the sumittor who sent the book in for verification. I don't believe that most potential bidders will bid a higher amount just because a book happens to have a CVA sticker attached to it. At least, I certainly don't when it comes to bidding. But then again, that's just me. What I find that most members who complain about CVA don't seem to understand is that they assume all books with a CVA sticker must look exceptional. As far as I know, I believe they are superior presenting copies RELATIVE TO THEIR ASSIGNED GRADE. Yes, everybody can use their own eyes to look for exceptional copies, but I assume the rationale for CVA is that collectors might not necessarily know what a 4.0 graded book or a 6.0 graded book should look like from an visual point of view. In this particular casethen, the CVA sticker just might add a bit of value to potential bidders who are not fully conversant with the look of books across the entire grading condition spectrum.

I really doubt that's the books he's thinking of I know, but I still remember way back when these 3 were considered to be the absolute go to Marvel BA books to have in your collection. Interesting how times change and collectors valuations of books also change along with them.

Hard to believe there is that many suckers out there. I've always said CVA is a joke, and based on some recent examples posted around the boards, it seems like they'll sticker anything. It's actually hard to believe you would think this in today's CGC generation of collectors and speculators. Especially when there are collectors/investors who would pay multiples more for an inferior looking CGC 9.8 highest graded copy of a book as opposed to paying far less for a clearly superior presenting copy of a CGC 9.6 graded copy of the exact same book. I assume you would then consider collectors who chase after highest graded copies of books, irregardless of their visual appearance, to also be a bit of a sucker?

There is a reason I left them off.......... I am still accumulating copies. Would you be referring to former hot BA books from decades past like Avengers 93, ASM 121 &122 which definitely seems to have fallen off collector's radar over the past few decades?

That's perfect and good to know. So, from this it sounds as though Heritage gave you back the entire 19.5% or 20% buyer's premium which they had received from the buyer. Was the 16% based upon the hammer price or the final end realized auction price? Do you remember what the approximate value of your consignment was at the time or the type of books involved?

Those pressing defect signs were actually pointed out by jimbo in his original post and I was simply responding. Unfortunately, I am probably the worst person to ask about the detailed technicals of grading since I tend to base my purchasing decision on the overall visual appearance of the book and how it presents relative to grade, as opposed to barely perceptible tiny little defects. To each their own, but I am definitely much more of an old school type of collector as opposed to the current CGC generation of speculator/investor who seems to be in it more for the CPR game in a lot of cases.

I already knew about the Larson copy of Fantastic Comics 1. Interesting to note that it looks like only 2 of the supposedly NM/M Larson copies have shown up in the marketplace to date. Especially considering that there were a baker's dozen of the early key first issues that I was able to find in my quick perusal of the Larson List. I assume they must still be locked away in private collections for now.

Yes, and CGC overlooks pressing-related damage, like stress around the staples and shrunken covers, and gives books higher grades even when they look worse. Not sure if this is still happening or not, but you must be referring to the time a couple years back when the personnel changetoo place at CCS and CGC. Yes, as a few threads had pointed out at the time, it was quite evident that a free grading pass was being given to books that had signature pressing defects coming from their sister company at the time. What made it worse though, was that books which had other signs of pressing, but without the more significant pressing defects were then apparently being hammered for their slight tell tale pressing signs. Not sure if this problem still persists to a lesser extent or is this is simply the new normal now and part of the money game. I guess it did prove one thing though, it certainly confirmed the board members initial suspicions here about potential conflict of interest when CCG combined both CCS and CGC under the same ownership umbrella.

Hard to believe that anyone would consign books of this caliber to Heritage without negotiating a deal. Getting them to waive the SP would be the starting point for the negotiations. I believe it really depends on the extent of your collection and the overall estimated value of it. If you only have 1 or 2 of these books (not talking about Action 1 or 'Tec 27 in this case) I seriously don't think you are going to get much of a discount (if any) from Heritage. If Heritage waives the fees the way some of you seem to think think here (i.e. for almost everything), it makes it sound like they are only charging the consignor 15% all in by the time it's all said and done which is something I don't really believe. Now, if you was John Veryzl's estate, Jon Berk, Bedrock, and the likes who have signed a contract to consign all of your collection through Heritage, I can definitely believe this 15% figure that seems to be thrown around here. For the rest of us poor smucks out here, not so much. I was talking to somebody here who had consigned a whole bunch of Vancouver pedigree books to Heritage a few years back. I asked him what his fees were and if he managed to get back a portion of the buyers premium which seems to be the going theory on these boards here. He simply stated that he only had to pay the seller's premium and the buyer's premium had absolutely nothing at all to do with him since it was paid entirely by the buyer. No matter how I tried to explain that he was in fact indirectly also paying for the buyer's premium out of the final realized auction price, he simply could not understand that. Bottom-line: I bet you he ended up paying the full shot for the 19.5% buyer's premium along with probably the entire seller's premium whatever that turned out to be. Since most of us seems to be buyers here, has anybody here ever actually consigned some book to Heritage and can tell us what kind of fees they had to actually pay?

Do you have a link to the auction and what did it sell for this time? Wow, now that is some pretty nice price progression there. From only $23.5K back in the summer of 2010 all the way up to $175K less than 9 years later for a pretty impressive ROI.

I've seen it from your scans posted here and I certainly can't blame you for missing it.

You need to understand that this is a business after all and if you want to get your books graded "properly", you need to understand how the game is played and be willing to play according to their rules. It was clear that Doug knew this and was more than willing to get down and dirty and keep wallowing around in the mud of the pig pen until his Pacific Coast copy of X-Men 1 eventually got the bump from a CGC 9.6 up to a CGC 9.8. It's really imperative and up to each individual to understand the rules of the game and then decide if they want to play the game or not.

You have handled more Larsons than probably anyone. You have to admit that saying 99% of them have moisture damage, even as just your opinion, is misleading. This discussion here reminded me of a Larson article written by Pat Kochanek on the Larson Collection back in the Pedigree issue of CBM #32. Looks like he said the average condition of the books in the collection was about Fine + with white pages if strictly graded or about half to a full grade lower than the condition listed in the original Larson List that came out. Personally, I though most of the Larson books which I have seen for sale in the various auctions were in the VF- to VF range or thereabouts. Kochanek goes on to state in his article that there were some high grade copies among some of the early key first issues. Cross referencing the books which he had mentioned with the HG's listed in the Larson List would indicate uber high grade copies of All-Star 1, More Fun 52 & 53, USA 1, and Wonderworld 3 since all of these books were listed as NM/M in the Larson List. Besides the ones mentioned by Kochanek above, a quick perusal of the Larson List also indicated several other NM/M copies of key or semi-key first issues such as All-American 1, All-Flash 1, Catman 1, Exciting 1, Fantastic 1 (Mint), Marvel Mystery 1*, Pep 1, and Thrilling 1. Besides these NM/M copies, it looks like there were several other key first issues listed as being in NM condition. Just wondering if anybody here has come across these supposedly uber HG key Larson books and if they actually stand up to the test of time from a condition grading point of view and if they would make it past West's tough to achieve 9.2 grade?

Do you have a link to the auction and what did it sell for this time?

No, not quite right in terms of your calculations here. Both CC and CL would simply take 10% off the final price here of $40,625 which would leave the consignor with $36,562.50. If the consignor had gone with Heritage Auctions and did not receive any special deals and the hammer price came in at $32,500, Heritage would receive a total of $39,000 (the $32,500 hammer price plus the 20% buyer's premium). From here, the seller would have to pay a standard 15% seller's premium (unless they have really nice books and can negotiate the fees down) on the hammer price or $4,875 and they would then receive only $27,625 (i.e. the $32,500 hammer price less the 15% buyer's premium. All told and once again if we assume no special deals are made which is the likely scenario for most consignors here, Heritage would receive $11,375 out of this sale or almost triple what CC and CL would have receive since they have no buyer's premium and only the standard 10% seller's premium. No wonder why Heritage can have the huge staff and fancy catalogues which they send out gratis to all of their potential bidders.

If you really want to sell these books, you should probably contact somebody like Chuck Rozanski. I believe he buys all types of books, even ones like these which he would probably pay something like 25 cents a pound for if you are lucky enough to catch him in a good mood.

Not sure why you had to post pictures of all 25 books to solve your mystery here. Especially since the first book which you posted here so obviously answers your question. The only question I can't figure out is why you was willing to accept only $8.99 to take those 25 crapola drek off the seller's hands. If it was me, I would have certainly asked for a lot more money than that as a disposal fee.