lou_fine

You wish..........in your dreams!!! As supported by Gator's statement which stated that the CC 5.0 $57K auction sale was the emotional trigger for this current phase of the AF 15 markeplace: And as further evidence, the biggest amount of buzz was for the CC 5.0 $57K auction result, relative to the murmurings for the other AF 15 auction results. This point is again supported by Gator's statement as follows: And yes, 25% is not a big deal when compared to an 100% increase. I also believe that the 9.2 and 9.4 AF 15 sales had less of an impact because that is a completely different sandbox where the majority of the AF 15 collectors do not play in. The CGC 5.0 $57K sale had a much bigger impact with respect to the CGC 2.5 to CGC 7.5 sandbox because this is where the overwhelming majority of the AF 15 collectors play in.

Yeah, we probably all got caught up in that early 90's hype with the red hot Valiant books. Although I normally only picked up one copy for each of the early Valiant books prior to that horrid Deathmate debacle when I jumped off, I still remember picking up duplicate copies of the first few issues for each title. And to top it off, I really must have drank too much of the Valiant kool-aid as I remember running around to a few of the local comic shops just in order to cherry pick a handful of the much highly hyped, but plentiful Magus 12's and Solar 10's right off the shelves as they were coming out. Thanks goodness I didn't fall for much of the Image hype as the only ones I picked up was a copy of Spawn 1 and the Cerebus related issues from Spawn 8 to 10.

I strongly doubt that any collector in their right mind would ever think that a Conserved book would be worth the same as an Universal unrestored copy of the same book in the same equivalent grade. But I certainly believe that a Conserved book would sell for more than a Restored copy in the same equivalent condition grade. What is your thinking on the fact that many of the Conserved books and even some of the Restored books were able to sell for well over guide or even at multiples to guide in the recent Jon Berk auction? Do you believe this is just an one-off due to the rarity for some of the books being offered or is this signalling a turning point in the slow acceptance for Conserved and Restored books, or a bit of a combination of both of these factors?

So you're saying it's better to buy a bunch of worthless Valiants rather than a Cap 3? Nah, just saying that if I have to claim the capital gains on my GA books whenever I get around to selling them, then I should also be allowed to claim the capital loss on my MA books whenever I get around to disposing of them.

That's the problem with relying too much on GPA, as it missed the sale of the CGC 5.0 copy that was auctioned off on CC for $57K back earlier in March of this year. That was the key landmark record setting AF 15 sale that was the starting gun which shot the entire AF 15 market into the stratosphere and set the tone for the AF 15 marketplace after that point.

I'd think he'd have to keep receipts for all of it and I'd think he'd have to have bought them as part of a business plan rather than for personal consumption. I can't imagine trying to claim my newspaper subscription, paperback purchases, cable TV, etc as a capital loss. The fun part of the tax code -is that if you sell for a profit.... they want a piece of that. That's so typical of the tax department. So, if I sold off my worthless B&W and Valiant books which I brought for speculative reasons since they are unread, I wouldn't be able to claim a capital loss on them. And yet, if I sold off say a pedigree copy of Captain America 3 which I brought way back in the day for personal consumption purposes as I read every single page, I would have to claim the capital gains on the book if I sell it. Even if I am sure that I must have spent more on my B&W's and Valiant's than I did for my Cap 3.

Maybe it's got something to do with the book that's being shipped back to the customer, as CGC is obviously trying to cut down on their shipping costs. Any bets that if it's a single copy of an Action 1 or 'Tec 27, even in low grade, it would have gotten the full box treatment. For last week's copy of the latest Action or 'Tec book, you are probably lucky it was shipped with any type of protection at all.

+1 Definitely a good question to be asking the bank. Especially with some of the smaller bank branches since many of these would probably be trying to cut down on their costs. I believe the big head office branches of the banks would be a much safer bet since they keep a lot of their own paperwork along with other companies paperwork in the safety deposit boxes, and hence pretty much a requirement to keep the vaults air conditioned at night and during the weekends. Ok, hoping so at least.

If this was the guide value back in 1970 when the first price guide came out, then it must have been too high as the guide was often referred to as the Overprice guide since it was claimed that nobody would ever pay this kind of money for the books.

Taking the 'easy path' is why people never really educated themselves on restoration. Those that did educate themselves on restoration started to realize that even within Purple Restored labels there were huge valuation swings. The move to the conserved label IMO forces people to better understand techniques and gives them more choices on what they want to purchased / collect. +1 And that's also my other point: "Forced education" is sometimes a good thing. My bet is that if CGC had implemented an uni-color label system with both a 10-point condition grading and 10-point restoration rating system, collectors would have educated themselves on all of the nuances of restoration, similar to how they "seemingly" know all the nitty gritty nuances of grading a book. On the other hand, any bets that if CGC had introduced an even greater breakdown of their multi-colored label system for universal unrestored books such that Black labels would have been assigned as follows: say for any MA book grading less than 9.8; for any CA book grading less than 9.6; say for any BA book grading less than 9.4; say for any SA book grading less than 9.0; and say for any GA book grading less than 8.0; the valuation of universal unrestored books would be completely different from what it is in today's marketplace. It's clear that it was not necessary for CGC to tell us what is good for universal unrestored books through the use of a more detailed breakdown such as a Black label for books below a certain so-called third party "accepted" grade level, since the assigned grade was already good enough to allow the potential purchaser to make a fully informed purchasing decision on their own in terms of grading. Similarly, a formal 10-point restoration rating system would have been ideal for allowing potential purchasers to make a fully informed purchasing decision in terms of a restored book on their own, without the need for the easy, but stigmatizing multi-color label system from a third party which they ended up with.

+1 This is why I have said all along that CGC should have gone with the uni-color label right from the get go, in combination with both a 10-point condition grading system along with a 10-point restoration rating system. This way, potential purchasers would have had all of the required information to make a fully informed purchasing decision. And at the same time, all of the books (both restored and unrestored) would have been on a level playing field without any stigmatization being affixed to a particular grouping of books. Although I am sure that the colored labels were implemented with all good intentions, it unfortunately resulted in significant unintended negative consequences on the restored books. Even though Borock attempted to correct this mistake when he started up the other grading company through his use of uni-color labels, it was too late as the concept of multi-colored labels were already too entrenched into the grading mind frame by that point in time.

I see some stuff I like but a couple hundred would be right. Serious question here. If he's got 2,000 books here and if he had to pay full retail price for them, then he must have at least $5K into this so-called worthless collection of his. If he sells it for $500 in the end if he's lucky, then he should be able to claim a capital loss of at least $4,500 to offset any other capital gains that he might have elsewhere. Has any board members ever tried writing off their comic book purchases as a taxable loss, and if so, was it accepted by the tax man without any problems? And for this scenario here, let's say that you are a comic book collector, as opposed to being a full or part-time dealer.

Well, looks like the population count has pretty much doubled on this book in the past 9 years. The CGC census population now indicates a total of 112 copies of this book: 58 unrestored and 54 restored (with 12 copies now in unrestored 6.0 or better).

Very nicely put and can't say it any better than this.

Actually, this change in their definition of restoration and adding in a separate category for Conservation doesn't really bother me that much since this change was clearly communicated to the collecting base, as follows: https://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=4084& What totally bothers me is when they make subtle, but obvious changes to their undisclosed grading standards so that certain defects will be given either lesser or greater weight in the determination of their final grades. To me, this is really changing the rules in the middle of the game as it pretty well invalidates their previously graded books. Doesn't really matter if this is due to a change in their grading teams, a shift in their business agenda, or a response to their competitor, it really shouldn't be done from my own personal point of view. Maybe I am just old school and can't change with the shifting winds like the newer CGC generation of collectors, but I prefer that things remain consistent over time, especially when it comes to the grading of the books. I guess the grade of a book is what it is, until it no longer is.

Any idea when this book was graded? From the extremely low serial number, I assume this must have been very early on. So early in fact, that it looks like pressing was still considered to be restoration at that time as it is clearly included as one of the listed restorative work done on the book. So, it looks like both the Cleaned and the Pressed restoration notations were removed from the book when it was regraded.

Sounds as though the seller has been reading too many stories from Mile High Chuck's Tales From the Database. Somebody should tell him not to expect $2,000 for his drek collection just because Chuck was willing to offer $2K for all of Edgar's 20,000 comic book collection. From what it sounds like he has, is the seller even aware that most people would charge him money to haul away "trash" like what he is talking about. The one good thing he has here is that if he accepts whatever anybody is willing to pay for the books, he can at least use the difference from what he initially paid for them and use it as a tax write-off to hopefully lower his taxes payable.

What I find absolutely surprising is how much these 2 books are going for in today's marketplace, especially considering the thousands of copies that have been graded so far. And with a good portion of them in uber high grade condition to boot. Not sure why, but I remember picking up a minty fresh copy of NYX 3 for something like $5 at a local con about 5 or 6 years ago. Most definitely a borderline purchase at the time which I was going to pass on since the book was on the decline from its initial stage when it was once an ultra hot book. Only decided to pick it up after the dealer agreed to taking a few dollars off his marked price. Also figured that I better go home with something or else my better half would complain that I wasted a few dollars going to a con and coming home with absolutely nothing to show for it.

In one of the very few times that I did purchased the CGC grading notes, I was absolutely surprised that the paid grading notes was nothing more than a shortened and abbreviated version of the notes that was a;ready on the CGC label itself. Talk about paying for nothing in this particular case.

And yet at the same time, we see so many cases with the early SA Marvel books such as AF 15 with extensive Marvel chipping down the entire right edge of the book, and yet CGC still give them grades into the 6's and 7's. Whenever I see a book with Marvel chipping, I personally feel that it renders the assigned grade to be absolutely meaningless. Especially when it's totally absurd to see a book with a tiny corner of the cover chipped away come back as a CGC 2.0 graded book, while an early SA Marvel book with the entire right edge chipped away come back as a CGC 6.0 graded book.

It's really old news, lol. Some of us knew this story for a while. The Jill Lepore book is pretty detailed. I wonder if the movie goes into his relationship with Margaret Sanger? I'm looking forward to seeing it, but I have a feeling my husband is looking forward to it more. Marston was not exactly as good looking as the actor. https://www.google.com/search?q=william+moulton+marston&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiloIzI8e_WAhVF7CYKHbfAA-YQ_AUICigB&biw=1603&bih=710#imgrc=oNSLi0KK_ACU1M: And needless to say, I am also quite sure that both of these women in real life were not as good looking as the 2 actresses that portrayed them in the movie, especially in the case of the one playing Olive Byrne. Yes, although the majority of long-time comic collectors like ourselves were already aware of Marston's background, I am quite sure that the general movie going public would have no idea at all. Especially in the fact that he was an internationally noted and recognized psychologist at the time, although a very prurient one at that.

Now, this is an absolutely gorgeous poster for the movie and the best of the three: And I love the line: The True Story of the Women Behind the Man Behind the Woman. Not sure about the so-called sexual revolution of the 60's because it looks like the old pysch professor himself was already pretty kinky and open-minded back in the 30's and 40's. Now, I guess we have a much better understanding of the origin of Wonder Woman's costume and her Lasso of Truth, and it certainly looks like old Charles, shall we simply say, had a much more passionate and submissive use for it in real life: http://m.imdb.com/title/tt6133130/videoplayer/vi678344985?ref_=m_tt_ov_vi Along with a much better idea of how the Amazon inhabitants kept themselves "busy" during their "free time" on Paradise Island.

But unfortunately, it will certainly not do anywhere close to the Gal Gadot Wonder Woman movie box office numbers from earlier this year, as this movie will definitely not appeal to the rabid fan boys of the super- hero and action related movies.

Agree 100% Agree 200%! One can make it just as fast as they can lose it. You're right: you gotta be ON TOP of buying/selling as a speculator...the market will change in an instant Well, from this discussion here, it's quite clear to me that I must not be a speculator then. Especially since I tend to sit on my books for not only several years, but rather for many decades. Yep, got in way back then on the first handful of issues for the Marvel Inhumans series and even some of their earlier run in the Adams portion of the Amazing Adventures series, but didn't get off the boat in time when it was cresting the past couple of years. Even though I knew it was a good time to sell, I guess I must be more of a collector since I just find it so hard to let something go from my collection. Actually, I would hate to be a speculator because it's really all about timing the market which I believe is probably more difficult than it sounds. I much prefer being a collector which is really more about spending time in the market and definitely a much more enjoyable task to undertake.

Yea, same with the stock market. Yet some people make a living off it. Yes, most definitely. And then you've got investors like Warren Buffet who acts more like a collector and seemingly holds onto some of their stocks for decades.