lou_fine

The MF #73 was a book that was for sale at the NYCC with another dealer a couple of years ago IIRC so it's not Berk's. The Detective #27 CGC 5.0 was a Universal 5.0. Also not Berks. Metro had it available at their booth in NYC last October. Well aware of that as we were talking about books on display by Metro that were apart from Jon's collection:

Compared to the vintage comic book market (i.e. not the newsstand variant market ), I see a lot more volatility when it comes to the equity markets and even in some cases, the real estate market. Just ask any investors who put their money into Enron, Nortel, Bre-X, etc. or simply ask Bill Ackman and see how he is doing with his Valeant Pharmaceuticals investment: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-valeant-ackman-idUSKBN16K2KT A $3B+ loss is a ton of lipstick to be wiping off a pig. Or should we ask Steve Geppi how he is doing with his real estate investments or many of the other homeowners in some of the inner cities where their property values have just climbed back into the 5 figure range. Then of course, you have people like my better half who never fails to away all day with her friends about all of the missed opportunities since virtually all homes even on the poorer East side of the city are now into the 7 figures, while many homes on the west side are starting to see 8 figures well within their sights. Thanks gawd prices have finally started to stabilize with government regulations coming into place. As they always say, diversification is always a good strategy to reduce risk or volatility by putting your money into a variety of different assets. As comic collectors, I see absolutely no problem with allocating a reasonable portion of this to vintage comic books, especially since we have "inside knowledge" when we comes to this particular marketplace due to our love for this hobby and can hopefully use it to our financial advantage at the same time.

I am not too sure about this one, but I would definitely take an All-Star 8 over either a Sensation 1 or a 'Tec 38. But then I would be the first to jump at a Pep 22 over an All-Star 8 or even a 'Tec 31. So, I guess it really depends on what books you are comparing and after that, how deep you are going to have to dig into your pockets to obtain the book in question . But since we were talking about a 'Tec 31 versus a 'Tec 38, as I have already stated, I would go for the underdog 'Tec 38 myself. It should be emphasized though that I am talking from a percentage valuation increase point of view going forward and relative to the current cost that it would take to pick up these 2 books in today's marketplace. Of course, I have always prefer buying low and looking forward to the ride up at an increasing pace, as opposed to buying high and hoping that the ride continues upward at the same accelerated pace.

Very intriguing post. This is certainly a way to look at that sale. It's in a very select club by your assessment. Probably a few more of the pre hero DC's and certain Centaurs could be candidates too. Yes, indeed! Speaking of pre-hero DC books, when was the last time you saw a New Fun Comics #2 or a New Comics #2 available in the marketplace? I guess we'll finally see some up for sale since I believe Jon Berk had acquire some of his copies way back in the late 80's. This is why I call Berk's collection a generational collection because many of the rarer books such as these early pre-hero DC's and magazines like Wow only comes around once in a generation.

31 wins and it's not even close. From the point of view of the past 10 years, you are most definitely right! For the next 10 years going forward, I believe the 'Tec 38 is going to win out from a valuation percentage increase point of view. I have always held to the belief that the comic book market moves in cycles. And in this sense, the hottest area within the GA market during the past 2 to 3 years has clearly been the classic covers, with 'Tec 31 being one of the key books leading this march. But what is hot right now does not mean that it will stay hot indefinitely. And right now, I am starting to see some heat turning back up on the long cold dead traditional keys such as Whiz 2, All-Star 3, and the likes. This latest heat was probably ignited by the recent movie hype phenomenon that has swept parts of this market, as evident by the trio of Wonder Woman related keys which are now definitely on fire after being stone cold dead for the past couple of decades prior to this phenomenon. And the embers of this fire is starting to spread back to some of the traditional GA keys, of which Detective 38 is definitely one of them. If you look back to 20 years ago in the Overstreet guide, Detective 38 was either tied for 2nd or at least the 3rd most expensive book in the Batman run of Detective, and always well behind 'Tec 31. Definitely not the case anymore as 'Tec 31 is now clearly ensconced in 2nd place, while 'Tec 38 has fallen all the way to #6 spot. Although Overstreet prices are not necessarily market prices as we all know, they are still useful as a guide in terms of relative prices. Collector interest in classic covers is definitely the main factor that has pushed prices up for 'Tec 31, to the point that it is now the 2nd most valuable Detective book by far. Interesting to note though, that it was only 20 short years ago that a survey was conducted by the readers of CBM in which they elicited something like 175 separate votes for the Top GA Cover of all time. Guess what....'Tec 31 received only 1 single vote out of the 175 votes cast, and if I had not voted for it as one of my Top 5 covers, it would have been shutout completely. Definitely not the case anymore as a recent survey conducted by Heritage placed 'Tec 31 now clearly at the top of the poll for Top GA Covers. Amazing how collector interests are so finicky and changeable over time. As the old saying goes, it's best to buy when something is out of favor, as opposed to buying when something is scorching hot and you are going to have to pay top dollar. In this scenario, 'Tec 31 is most definitely scorching hot and it's going to cost you big money to pick one up. Although on a price per point basis, it does appear to have plateaued a bit or not quite increasing at the rapid pace it was. Detective 38, on the other hand, was definitely a relatively cold book a couple of years ago. Doesn't appear to be the case anymore as there are now clear signs of life with increasing price per point being seen on this book over the past year or so. I strongly believe anybody picking up a decent presenting copy of 'Tec 38 in today's marketplace will not regret their purchase in a few years from now as the flames seems to be growing with increasing strength on the traditional keys after having rested in the doldrums for an extended period of time. Although 'Tec 31 will still beat it from an absolute dollar valuation increase point of view due to its current big head start, I feel that 'Tec 38 will win out from a percentage valuation increase point of view going forward.

Lou, I'm not a big follower of the book, but I think it's even less seldom offered than the two #3's. Didn't CC auction a copy along with an ashcan recently to gangbuster returns, or am I thinking of another book? I assume you must be talking about this CC auction listing from December of 2016: http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=678005 Looks like the pairing of the 2 Double Action's sold for $80K. Not sure how representative this dollar value since there are apparently less than 10 copies of this Double Action 2 and hence, they hardly ever show up in the marketplace. Rarity to a certain extent will often times increase the value of a book as they show up in the marketplace, but extreme rarity will often result in decreased demand and decreased value since the book hardly ever turns up in the marketplace. especially since you need some kind of market turnover in the book to maintain interest and to drive the prices up. Hence, if you have no book, collectors lose interest after awhile and prices do not go up as fast.

I guess Ernie's magic didn't work with the Double Action Comics #2 since that was the book that was featured in Volume 2 of the Gerber Photo-Journal Guide to GA Comics, similar to how Suspense 3 was featured in the first Volume.

low ball with the intention of buying is just fine, NP....its the 'PLAYSTERS' who just pretend to be big fish...push the limits of the bidding to feel big..knowing they won't or don't intend to really buy. In my case the bidder was given the opportunity to make monthly payments...and still declined saying he thought somebody else would bid higher, they kicked out of Ha.com and he just come back as somebody else and keep YOU AND ME PAYING MORE FOR AUCTION ITEMS THAT WE REALLY INTEND TO OWN. The other time...was also at Ha.com....the bidder did not mean to put that amount...1.e the next bid four days later prior to the auction...then Ha just adjusted the bid back...that is the type of bidder that is testing the limits of the underbidder...what a bunch of scum. Wow, so you are basically saying that Heritage does not have a very good vetting process as to who is allowed to bid on their auctions. Surprised to hear that a major auction house would allow this type of activity to take place without checking the credentials of their bidders, or is it only being done on lots which you happen to consign to them. Based upon your consignments to Heritage so far, approximately what percentage of them would you say are resulting in this type of activity whereby the bidder is refusing to pay for the lots which they have won. So, when are you going to relist these unpaid lots so that we can get a second crack at these runs of Hit's and National comics?

Holy S!!!! Incredible! How much did this CGC 9.2 graded copy set you back? If you are patient and wait for a few more months, you can most probably go after a 9.8 graded copy of this book.

Well, anyone of the 3 books on top in the picture below should take care of your needs then: I believe none of those books are extensively restored, quite the contrary. A-1. I knew that, but I was just trying to point him in the right direction. In actual fact, the Action 1 is no longer considered to be Restored based upon CGC's new Restoration Grading Scale, as it is now only considered to be Conserved.

It's a magnificent appearing copy with the appearance of a nm+. I have seen it out of the mylar and don't recall any defects but I wasn't looking for them either. Definitely not surprising to me since all of the Allentown books which I have seen all look magnificent, with the only visible defect being the occasional ones with a very slight dust shadow on the edge(s). As for the grades themselves, since I am no real expert at it myself, it all seems like a act sometimes to me. For example, when I was looking at both copies of Wonderworld's 13 & 14 in front of Harley's booth, they both look pretty much in the same HG condition to me, with the #14 exhibiting slightly stronger colors because of the deep blue. Made the mistake of only taking the #13 since it was an earlier issue, when I really should have taken both of them. Although Payette had graded both copies as NM copies according to his Master Allentown List, CGC gave a NM+ 9.6 grade to Wonderworld 13, and yet only a VF 8.0 to Wonderworld 14. Of course, there might possibly have been some damage done to the Wonderworld 14 in the interim from the time I saw it until years later when it was subsequently graded.

Hehe See, Like I told you. Gator is faster than a speeding bullet when it comes to answering questions like yours.

From that gawd awful bottom spine and the piece out of the front cover, it looks much closer to a 0.5 Poop as opposed to a 1.0 Fair. Not sure about the price though, might be alright since these entry level pre-Robin 'Tec's are indeed going for crazy money in today's marketplace.

Well outside my comfort zone, that's for sure. Where are the extensively restored books? Well, anyone of the 3 books on top in the picture below should take care of your needs then:

Well, in that case, the Fantastic 3 is definitely calling out your name then. Definitely not the right tone to be sending on a public message board. You gotta act and talk like a confident whale in order to bluff your way to the big win. Especially if you want to scarce away all of the Big Fishes from even daring to place a bid against you.

I actually put together a pretty nice war chest for this one Well, in that case, the Fantastic 3 is definitely calling out your name then.

Instead of dancing away like a crazy banana, your other half might be being giving you the old smackdown if you still have any of the high bids left at the end of any of these auctions.

That's only because you are supposed to be 3 steps in front of Fishler, as opposed to being 3 steps behind him.

The best place for you to get a good answer to your question here is on the Ask Gator thread below, since he is the acknowledged expert when it comes to the Price Per Point concept: https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/197530-ask-gator/?page=325

Only about a week to go until CC's upcoming big Event Auction. Is this one of the only times they have not had a copy of 'Tec 31 in their recent Event Auctions? Looks like pretty slim pickings here on this particular go round for the pre-Robin 'Tec fans.

You have the Larson WonderWorld 7 And probably a top notch copy at that, as it was listed in NM/Mint condition in the Larson List. The Allentown copy of Wonderworld 7, on the other hand was graded as only a VF+ copy. Since Payette has always been noted as a pretty tough grader, who knows where the book will fall out on CGC's grading scale.

+1 You guys definitely need to change the title on this thread here. BTW: Bobby Orr is the greatest of all time for hockey since he completely revolutionized and changed the way the game was played from the back end.

Sad did not occur to me when I saw that picture. I thought he was simply undertaking a deeper and thoughtful analysis of the artwork he was looking at and appreciating it for all it is.

My take on this which has not changed ever since I got here is that when you are buying the single highest graded copy of an in-demand book like AF 15 or IH 181, you are really also paying a huge additional premium for the label, as opposed to the true value of the underlying book itself. This is the exact reason why additional copies of the same book showing up in the marketplace within the same time frame will normally result in lower prices, as evident with the subsequent private sales of the 9.6 graded copies of AF 15. This is also why many here feel that if the CGC 9.9 graded copy of Hulk 181 were to hit the market again, it would not yet be able to receive the same 6-figure price it got the first time. This is also the same reason why 9.8 graded copies of Hulk 181's were dropping or staying flat, and yet at the same time, all copies below the 9.8 condition grades and even raw copies continued to move up in price. For the uber high grades, as additional copies come into the marketplace, the value of the premium attached to the label will continue to shrink. For in-demand books in these nosebleed grades, their valuations in the marketplace will only increase when the true value of the underlying book itself increases by a larger amount than by how much the decreasing premium value of this label has dropped by.

My 2 cents: I've always felt that Fantastic 3 was one of many great Lou Fine Fox covers. It never struck me as standing head and shoulders above the rest. My impression has been that Fishler's hoarding created a mystique that significantly enhanced collectors' perceptions and the book's reputation. +1 Both of these points you have indicated above are absolutely bang on.