lou_fine

What......no love for the '39 and early 1940's Fox books?

Yes, probably climbing, but at a relative snail's pace compared to the off-the-cliff fall it has taken when it was a hot so-called "rare" book back in the day. Looks like it is still selling for only a fraction of what it went for 25 years ago when it first came out.

Well, so much for some of the talk going around last year or at the beginning of this year that Hulk #1 might eventually be challenging AF 15 for the top SA title one day, especially considering its relative rarity in high grade as compared to AF 15.

That was the weakest of five otherwise strong sales this week. And for obvious good reason! Regardless of the tape, that book must have been graded during one of CGC's extreme loose grading time periods. In no way does that even look close to a CGC 2.5 copy compared to what we are seeing from them nowadays.

Yes, the Modern market is now completely dominated by variants and multiple covers and that is the reason why I am 100% gone from buying any new books. I have absolutely zero interest in picking up a book that has something like 50 different covers, let alone all of the individual store covers that are now also being done. The new comic book market is completely based upon gimmicks and multiple times worse than what took place in the early 90's when the entire industry almost crashed by the time it was all said and done. It is obvious that the comic book publishers have not learned from their past mistakes.

The variant bubble is much more likely to burst than NM 98 ever being a cheap book again. NM 98 is based purely on the 1st appearance of a very popular character. Not sure what variant bubble you are referring to unless you are talking about a constantly moving bubble that keeps shifting to the next latest hot variant title. I was reading Jamie Newbold's market report in the latest Overstreet where he did an analysis of the variant titles. Based upon his analysis, it sounds as though all variant books, without any exception, started out hot and at the top of the market, flatlined almost immediately, and then trended downwards from there as they were replaced by the next hot variant title. So yes, NM 98 would definitely have a much longer bubble life than these so-called "rare" manufactured variants.

You should have supplied one. I got this....

Well, not quite 20 years since NYX only started back in late 2003. I remember it being quite a hot book when it first came out and then cooling off for several years after that. Looks like most of the rapid price increase jut took place during the past 2 or 3 years. I picked up a perfect looking copy for something like only $5 back about 5 or 6 years ago during its extended cool down period. Only problem is that I've got absolutely no idea where it is in my collection as I just tossed it in with everything else assuming it was just worthless drek, which it basically was at the time.

Congrats on your pickup! Junior is a run which I have always wanted to get, but always seem to be just past my price range. My favorite covers are issues #11, #13, and #15. Not sure why Overstreet calls them headlights covers when they show more legs than anything else. They really do need to be broken out in guide as opposed to simply lumping them all together, except for the first issue.

Trickle down effect. I am not surprised I mean CGC 6.5's have been selling for over 50 000$ in the last 4 to 5 months.....you could get a 6.5 for about 35 000$ to 40 000$ 6 months to a year ago. I would not be surprised to see 7.0's hit a 100 000$ in a few years....maybe even sooner. I would not be surprised either to see 8.0's hit the 175 000$ to 200 000$ mark in the next few years as well. +1 Absolutely no surprise to me either. After all, AF 15 is without question the top SA book out there and in this marketplace, collectors are more than willing to mannup just to get a copy of these keys in an affordable grade. Especially now that the uber HG's are out of the range of 99% of the collectors out there. If collectors are willing to pay silly money for non-key HTF GA books, then I am certainly not surprised to see them paying a premium for a super key like AF 15. For example, if a 4.0 graded copy of U.S. Jones #2 can sell for over $4,700 when it guides for only $258 and a raw 1.0 copy of Amazing Mystery Funnies Vol 2 #1 can sell for $2,000 when it guides for only $80, then I am certainly not surprised that a 5.5 graded copy of AF 15 can sell for $33K since it already guides at almost $20K in that condition.

135 value is continuing to rise.... I know I have one of these books, but can't remember which one of them I have and also no idea where it is. Oh well, at least I know that I have a nice HG copy of Spidey 129 and I do have some idea of where this one might possibly be.

I had not seen this video before. I look forward to watching the whole thing. I do like Chuck's statement that he raises the prices on his books until they stop selling. Yes indeed, he calls it his floating theory to pricing. Almost sounds like the Peter Principle applied to the pricing of his comic books: In a free market system, every comic book shall rise to its level of overvaluation until it can no longer be sold.

You really need to read the FF 52 thread. And you may also want to read the GL 76 thread in the BA forum. Yes, there are some post-1965 issues that are relatively scarce in 9.8, but they never turn out to be all that scarce once there is some real financial incentive for more copies to appear. There is certainly an incentive to slab 126 in the hopes of getting a 9.8. I bought the second 9.8 raw, graded it and sold it for $18,000 years ago. How many years ago was this and do you think the purchaser would be able to resell it for a profit in this current high flying market, given how rare these Thor books supposedly are in 9.8 condition? 6 or 7 years ago maybe? The Boston 9.8 has sold since, for a smaller number. From a strictly ROI point of view, it seems that lowest graded copies of HTF vintage comic books are much more of a sure fire winner over time than these highest graded copies of what would otherwise be common books in anything below uber HG condition. Being a high grade collector myself though, it's certainly hard not to be enticed by these pristine minty fresh looking books.

You really need to read the FF 52 thread. And you may also want to read the GL 76 thread in the BA forum. Yes, there are some post-1965 issues that are relatively scarce in 9.8, but they never turn out to be all that scarce once there is some real financial incentive for more copies to appear. There is certainly an incentive to slab 126 in the hopes of getting a 9.8. I bought the second 9.8 raw, graded it and sold it for $18,000 years ago. How many years ago was this and do you think the purchaser would be able to resell it for a profit in this current high flying market, given how rare these Thor books supposedly are in 9.8 condition?

+1 from Canada. Oh, wow!!! Is that the centerfold for Action Comics #13? If so, then well done and an excellent move on your part.

No, Don Rosa was no dummy and knew from the get go that condition would be of primary importance in the valuation of older collectible comic books. He also knew that if there was a higher number of mint condition books out there, the subsequent values of these uber HG books would be rather limited. As such, being the sly and ahead of the times person that he was, it was in his own best interest to encourage collectors to read, damage, and tape up their books in order to increase the value of the books in his own personal collection.

It would be if it was the Nicolas Cage copy of Detective Comics #27 Action Comics 1 Don't think he owned a Tec 27 He actually did. One that was stolen along with his Action Comics 1. I believe there were also rumors that there was a third book that was also apparently stolen at the same time. Not sure why nobody has named this apparent third book, but probably part of the police investigation that they hold back on some details in a criminal investigation in the hopes of identifying the perpetrator later on.

It would be if it was the Nicolas Cage copy of Detective Comics #27.

I think in 2002 he was more or less compelled to sell his entire collection of comic books and cars due to huge debts, or something like that. I think he is back into collecting now though. Of course the other rumor going around is that he was compelled to sell off his comic book and vintage car collection by Lisa Marie. If this was the case, it didn't work as the marriage was over in 3 months anyways.

Trying to figure out what the last bullet point means. An auction house would always prefer the consignor to send them books that have already been graded because it saves them both a lot of work and a lot of ancillary costs. If the books are already graded from the consignor, then the auction house simply has to list them and do a write-up. If the books from the consignor are raw and still need to be graded, then the auction house would normally also have to review the book on behalf of the consignor, ship them to the grading company and then wait to get them back from the grading company before they can even be listed. Virtually all of the sales related and grading submission work would now have to be done by the auction house, along with absorbing the additional shipping charges. Bottom line: Graded books always preferred over raw books.

Looks like a nice 3.5 copy to me. Gratz! Probably back in the loose CGC grading period of 2012 or thereabouts, but definitely not in their recent tighter grading period.

A well-deserved bump to this thread after more than a month, as we are all missing the fantastic postings from BZ.

Not a pedigree but there were some high grade Fox books found in Atlanta and they had a nice copy of that Zago. When were these Fox books found and do you have any idea as to its extent? Does it include any of the early Fox books such as the Mystery Men & Wonderworld runs?

Looks like they are the Edgar Church or Mile High equivalent for the Men's magazine collectors. Big difference in valuation though as they seem to range in price from only $15 up to $100 for those Napa copies that are still available for sale. Definitely some pretty spicy and enticing covers there.

+1 Must have cost you a pretty penny considering what the raw low grade copy sold for on eBay a few weekends ago. Gino: Are you after only the later Fox books are just Fox books in general, when they become available? Congrats again on your latest pickup as it's going to look good in your rapidly growing Fox collection.