lou_fine

And that's the exact reason why I always wanted to pick up a copy of this book when I was still willing to spend "big money" on books back in the early to mid-90's. Well, ok that plus the fact that I would never be able to afford the much earlier first appearances of the other DC super heroes. And yet I could never find myself willing to part with the $4K or $5K that was being asked for the book in only something like VF condition at the time. Somehow, I always managed to convince myself it was just not quite HG enough considering the money that was being asked at the time. Obviously being el cheapo again and not willing to step up to the plate as it was always past my unofficial spending limit of roughly $1K or thereabouts per book.

I think the book will manage to find its way into the 6-figures, but not sure how much further it will go after that. After all, it's already at $35K and in the #8 spot right (based upon valuation) now in terms of CC's current auction. Still got another 3 weeks to go although the middle 2 weeks are usually the cool down period where nobody really does much bidding at all. With CC's extended bidding auction format, most of the real action is done during the extended bidding time, so I guess we will just have to wait see what happens in a few weeks from now.

Might not be the case anymore as apparently CGC has really tightened up on the grading of these more common recent books. Not sure if this is true, but what used to be sure fire CGC 9.8's, are now mostly coming out as CGC 9.6's only.

That's an understatement as it's a coup in today's market if you can pick up classic cover books for less than condition guide. I still remember when Overstreet sold his set during the Diamond Galleries grand opening back in the mid-90's, they sold for something like almost 3X top of guide price according to CBM. Of course, guide prices were a lot cheaper then, and if I remember correctly, they were generally in pristine minty fresh file copy condition fro what I saw of them.

With so many great auctions and fantastic HTF books which have turned up over the past few years,I am starting to get the feeling that many of the collectors and boardies here are just starting to be a bit jaded and getting used to all of these quality books popping up that it's no longer seen as anything special. I remember we used to have a separate thread on each one of these major auctions with a lot posts and a ton of analysis. Definitely not so much anymore. I don't even remember a thread being done up for the last CC Event Auction. Of course, that was probably due to the fact that the auction was limited to the Second City Collection which is really nothing when compared to CC's Jon Berk Auction from last summer which was talked about ad infinitum and deservedly so as that was most definitely what I would call a generational collection. The auctions so far this year seems to be a bit weak in terms of their offerings. Yes, we are still seeing the same big GA keys, but there doesn't appear to be much depth after that. Just take a look at the recently completed Heritage Auction and I noticed that in their Scoop summary this week, they talked about all of the original art and Star Wars action figure sales, with nary a mention of any comic book results save for the catalogue cover lot featuring Hulk #1. Besides the lack of chatter on the More Fun 73, I haven't seen any chatter at all for this upcoming CC Auction. Since their last Event Auction was dedicated solely to books from the Second City Collection, I thought they would have a backlog of nice books for this next auction here. Not so much the case after you get past the usual Action 1's and the other GA DC keys. There does appear to be some nice higher grade pedigree copies of Nickel Comics (if you are into that) along with a few nice Nedors which don't show up that often, but only a limited smattering of true vintage quality GA books after that. Of course, it's a possibility that it's just me that has become jaded to all of these nice GA books that have shown up in the past.

Hmmm........second appearance of Aquaman and a Church copy to boot. Methinks this book will do just fine considering that Aquaman is basically a second tier DC hero and as such, I suspect his upcoming solo movie in December might just turn out to be a bit of a surprise hit. Looks like you just might have a real winner here in your hands with a lot of positive momentum and demand going forward.

Are you indirectly asking if the consignor of this book will be able to come out ahead based upon the $99K they had paid for this exact same copy back in the summer of 2015: https://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?referral=EAlist&id=605836&title=MOREFUN COMICS Since the last VF 8.0 graded copy managed to hit $104.5K on Heritage back in 2016, my guess is that it should hit 6-figures, but it might be touch and go if there's going to be any profit made after the auction fee is paid. If I was the consignor of this book, I probably would have waited until the next Event Auction in late November or early December to have put this book out there. By then, hopefully all of the ads and hype for the upcoming Aquaman movie due out in December would have provided the consignor with some timely and free advertising for the book.

From a collector's point of view, it's certainly sad and alarming to hear about your loss. It's rather unfortunate they were not able to track down your books for you even though they ended up catching the culprit in the end. Certainly glad to hear that he is doing an extended stretch in the big house though.

I rather suspect the former as More Fun was definitely one of the more in-demand DC GA titles a couple of decades ago. Definitely not the case anymore as many of the DC titles, especially the 2nd tier old standbys like Adventure and More Fun seems to have lost some of their collecting pizzazz over the years. As a result, collectors are probably just holding onto their copies for now and hoping something will come up that will re-ignite interest in these titles, as their is no point in selling them off for under guide prices when they have cooled off. As for my favorite Spectre and Dr. Fate cover, I would have to go with the classic More Fun 65 Spectre mirror cover and the bright colorful More Fun 61 Dr. Fate cover. Personally, I also wouldn't throw the pre-hero More Fun books into the waste bin just yet, as not only are these much rarer to find, but some of them also sport some wonderfully drawn covers. Especially in terms of More Fun 47 and even more so, with More Fun 48 in terms of Flessel's classic dinosaur cover. Overstreet really needs to break some of these pre-hero books out as it's clear that certain copies are in much more demand in the marketplace relative to other copies in his groupings. Especially when he has so many breakouts in his guide for much more recent or common books.

From my point of view, this drop off in the average condition level of the books being submitted is a healthy sign for a comic book as it indicates a broadening of strength in the valuation of the underlying book itself across the entire condition grading spectrum. Unlike most Modern or non-key common CA books where the average condition grading levels seems to be in the uber high grades, which to me indicates that the underlying comic book itself doesn't actually have much value and what's really being paid for is primarily just for transitory value of the CGC label itself.

Well, both of these were in CGC 9.2 graded condition and still sold for below last year's top of guide price wince the new guide had not come out yet when these Hake's auctions closed about a month ago. Looks like the FF 210 actually sold for a few hundred dollars more than what the FF 209 was able to fetch at only $2,478. Actually, out of all of the these Frazetta FF covers, FF 210 would be at the bottom of my list since the pale blue colors just don't do it for me relative to all of the bold strong colors on all of the other covers.

Congrats on your 2 beautiful pickups here. Not sure what you mean by elevated premiums though, as you managed to get both of them at discounts to condition guide, especially in terms of the Famous Funnies 209. Interesting to see Hake's pre-auction estimated valuations on these 2 books. They had the FF 209 with a pre-auction estimated valuation of $2K to $5K, and then had the FF 210 one full tier lower at the $1K to $2K valuation range (or at only 35% to guide for the bottom range). Not sure if I would want Hakes to be the consignor for any of my books, if I had a say in it.

Well, now that this big (or not so big) Heritage Auction is a wrap, shall we all move along to the CC Summer Event Auction which just seems to be starting up. Interesting to note that this auction seems to be closing earlier this year at the end of August, as opposed to their usual closing date approaching mid-September. Maybe they are hoping to catch some of the summer heat, as opposed to ending their auctions in the post-summer doldrums of early Fall.

Here you go: https://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=772289 Wonder if it'll beat the $90K mark that this copy was able to get when it changed hands back in 2007?

That is just so absolutely gorgeous in its original pencils. Any idea what this would be worth in today's red hot original art marketplace?

People pay for Millie the Model? Not so much if you had brought it a decade ago: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/millie-the-model-2-davis-crippen-d-copy-pedigree-marvel-1946-cgc-vf-80-off-white-pages-millie-becomes-the-blonde-p/a/16113-17340.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 But just imagine if you had been the astute buyer and held onto the book until now: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/millie-the-model-2-davis-crippen-d-copy-pedigree-atlas-marvel-1946-cgc-vf-80-off-white-pages/a/7177-93031.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Archive-ArchiveSearchResults-012417&lotPosition=0|0

Well, the price is definitely a lot less shocking when you considered that this is for the 30 cents price variant issue, as opposed to the regular version of Eternals 1.

Where did this sale take place? Was it through one of the major auction houses like CL or just on eBay since you mentioned July 2017?

Certainly can't argue at all with your first choice here. If you can find this particular issue in uber high grade condition with strong vivid colors, it is absolutely gorgeous as the bright red moon just seems to pop right off the front cover.

I was the underbidder so blame me I guess you weren't interested in the slightly lower graded CGC 7.0 copies that they had available on Heritage a few years ago? I believe they only managed to fetch only in the $1K range or thereabouts at the time.

I noticed and was rather surprised at the following sale of Famous Funnies #213 in the just recently completed Heritage Auction: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/famous-funnies-213-eastern-color-1954-cgc-vf-80-cream-to-off-white-pages/a/7189-91035.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 From my point of view, that was a rather astounding price of $6K for a CGC 8.0 copy of Famous Funnies 213 since the census report indicates 3 higher graded copies along with a total of 6 copies in this same VF 8.0 grade. In addition, this appears to be the first time that one of these Frazetta Famous Funnies covers have gone past the $3K range without being somewhere in the uber high grades (i.e. CGC 9.4 or 9.6). Just wondering if this auction result is just an one-off between 2 overly aggressive bidders or if these multiples to guide are going to once again be an indication of the new normal for these classic Frazetta covers? I remember these particular issues going for huge multiples to guide a couple of decades ago and then seem to slow down to only slight premiums to guide as Overstreet began raising the valuations for them. Or is it possible that this is being considered as the best cover out of this classic bunch and hence, is finally getting recognition as this Frazetta run has not exactly been setting the marketplace on fire recently? Of course, it doesn't really help that most of their sales occur well over a full decade ago with not many copies coming into the marketplace during the past few years. Since we are on the topic of the Frazetta Famous Funnies covers, which issue out of this classic but short run is everybody's favorite cover image? My own personal choice would be between this FF 213 and the FF 214 red moon cover (especially in eye popping high grade colors), although I do absolutely love the color combinations of Famous Funnies 211. What say you and any technical geniuses here that knows how to set up a survey?

I bless the day he went away. I believe he moved to China. The AF15 market over there is thriving. Wouldn't that only be for the fake Printed in China copies of AF 15's?

Though I gotta say, I don’t think the colors on that HA copy could be any better or brighter, insane copy - huge congrats. Well, let's hope for jhm's sake that the colors are truly that bright in real life on the book and just not on the scan. Just wondering since I can barely make out the CGC label on the top right due to the bright glare, as compared to the label on the Church copy which is much more distinct and clear.

Well, isn't that almost every single Fight issue along with the rest of the other FH titles, except for the really early issues that is.

So, are you really saying that most buyers would be willing to pay full CGC graded prices (less estimated slabbing fees & postage) for a raw book even though it hasn't been officially graded by an independent 3rd party grading service? If this is indeed the case, I assume the grading companies would not remain in business for much longer.