lou_fine

There’s something causing a coffee colored discoloration. I guess it's what the Graders are calling a "long, thin stain center of front cover": Grader Notes light wear spine breaks color long, thin stain center of front cover small crease right top of front cover breaks color small stain right top of front cover very light subscription crease front cover very light wear right bottom of front cover water stain left center of back cover My only question here is.................is it a Tim's coffee stain or a Starbuck's coffee stain and was it from Vinnie's cup or Fishler's cup?

A very astute observation on your part here and one that I would tend to agree with. We've got lots of boardies here who feel that bidders don't pay much attention to competing copies, especially if they are in slightly different grades because they claim that each copy is appealing to a completely different customer base. Perfect case being the CGC 7.0 graded copy of Batman 1 in this coming Heritage Auction which was then completely overshadowed a week later by a CGC 8.0 graded copy of Batman 1 in the exact same auction. If I was the consignor of the CGC 7.0 graded copy, I would be totally pisssed off and yet we had some boardies here saying the presence of having two copies in the same auction didn't matter because the CGC 7.0 copy would not appeal to the 8.0 customer base and vice versa. Bottom-line: I believe potential bidders for a particular book in most cases are generally aware of competing copies available not only internally within the same auction house, but also externally with what the other major competing auction houses have.

Really a case of to each their own, but highly doubt this is going to be changing anytime soon. Especially since as you so correctly stated, that you have "suckers" who are willing to pay irrational (as opposed to modest reasonable) amounts more for a book that is just one subjective opininated condition grade higher, you will always have buyers trying to play the CPR game. And as such, they will look for any angle or shortcut that will help them to identify potential upgrades, and if a sticker on a slab gives them a far far higher batting average, so be it, they will be willing to pay more for the book which in turn encourages the consignors to have them on their books. I guess it's really nothing more than the circle of life when it comes to certified books since grading is still more of an art than an exact science.

Clearly my bad then as I was too lazy to go back through the linked posts and didn't realize you was referring to a post from 2021. Nonetheless, Single Series 20 is a great book from a historical POV and absolutely love that cover although its valuation has clearly not kept up with the super hero genre of books.

Well, I guess you could try to take a look at Vinnie's video promo for CC's copy of Cap 1, unless photo enhancment is also done on videos: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/988064

Did you grab it as fast as your sweaty palms could reach for it or did you tell him to take a flying leap off the nearest bridge , similar to what Hourman was doing on the cover of that book? Especially considering that the Heritage archives indicates the sale of the CGC 9.4 graded Church copy for a mere $10,755 earlier that same year.

scan enhancements ? even the CGC label seems more vivid Maybe this is a good opportunity to see how grading changes over different time periods or not from a strict visual POV at least . The CL 7.0 copy of Cap 1 was graded back in March of 2003 while the CC copy was graded back in March of 2019, while this Heritage copy was graded back in October of 2012: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/captain-america-comics-1-timely-1941-cgc-fn-vf-70-cream-to-off-white-pages/a/40200-83099.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515# Interesting to note that this seemingly not quite as nice copy (relatively speaking) from a visual POV is the current high mark to date for a CGC 7.0 graded copy at $312K sold back in May of 2022. Edit: My bad and a needed correction here as the high water mark for a CGC 7.0 graded copy of Cap 1 was actually set by CC at $339,760.60 (i.e. hammer bid of $295,444) in an Event Auction held back in March of 2022.

You would be correct here, but you left out the relationship between Heritage and CGC which certainly played itself out with the Promise Collection.

You are probably correct here since there was no CVA sticker on the CL copy which they surely would have tried for if it had qualified. The copy on CC had a QES sticker based upon the following noted qualifying factors for what it's worth: QES Certified: impressive prime focal area, deep color strike (red, yellow & blue)

Well, that certainly wasn't the case with the Edgar Church Mile High Collection of comic books since apparently all of the stores refused to go out to the house and it was finally down to some hippie kid apparently working part-time at a LCS who finally did decide to go out there.

Well, looks like we only had to wait a few days for it to surpass the $201K CL price point from last week: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/988064 Already at a hammer price of $211,069 or over $242K with the 15% BP juice in there, and still another 8+ days left to go. Starting to wonder if this copy here is going to surpass the $300K mark of not.

they do not Yes, I think it's a pretty well known fact that GPA stats doesn't include any of the auction sales reauls from CL because they wanted to have the prerogative or control to cherry pick which data which they would send to GPA.

Like they say..................................a picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case, a mere 18 words. Clearly, so much much better from a strict visual POV as compared to that Marvel chipped CGC 6.5 graded copy up above.

Definitely much much better than this CGC 6.5 graded copy with all of the fugly Marvel chipping which the graders tend to ignore:

How about the semi-magical 'Tec 31 then?

As I've always said, nothing ever goes up in a stright line forever, probably nothing but a healthy bit of price consolidation in the $26K to $31K prcie range for CGC 6.0 to CGC 7.0 graded copies copies during the past year or so with that $36K price point being a outlier result of the Promise Collection hangover.

Definitely too premature as you should probably first ask him for the cover price and the measurements to make sure it is not one of those Famous First Edition or a Millennium Edition of Detective 27.

Some people trust the opinions of others (like grading companies). Some don't. I am just rather surprised that it's Heritage who have been knocked for a lot of possible questionable business practices, but clearly not with respect to their raw grading.

The same goes for world wide comics. They know their direct audience doesn't have the deepest pockets. CL, CC, & HA are where the big dollars get frequently spent. The difference I see is that the World Wide books were clearly brought with the full intention of resale and hopefully with a possible upgrade. To me, I view that as being one of his business strategies with these books clearly being part of his business inventory and sold on an ongoing basis. With respect to Schmell, I am referring to his large collections which he had been building over the years and then utilizing Heritage to sell them on his behalf through a one-time huge sale through a Heritage Signature Auction for his SA Marvels several years ago and then through a targeted Showcase Auction for his Dell and Gold Key File Copies. Not really the same thing since it's really not part of his buisness inventory to be sold on an ongoing basis.

Yes, I believe CVA is either directly or indirectly "linked" to CL, similar to how the QES stickers are either directly or indirectly "connected" to CC. I imagine the stickers serves a useful purpose for those who are into the CPR game, but are either too lazy or don't have the required eyes or skills to discern which books are potentially upgradeable. I remember doing a small sample of about 10 or so former CVA or QES stickered books which Schmell was auctioning off on Heritage as part of his Doug's Dell & Gold Key Showcase Auction a few months ago. Talk about a perfect batting average because if I remember correctly, every single one of the books I looked at had either an one or two step increment in their grades. The nice part about it and rather fittingly ironic thing though was that many of the books had actually sold almost two years earlier for more or approximately the same money at CC with the LOWER CGC grade and the QES sticker, although I believe he did end up with a big win on one of the CVA stickered books which made up for the losses he had suffered on the other books which I looked at. The real question I have is why would any rational collector ever consign their books with Schmell's PedigreeComics.com website when he himself has absolutely zero confidence in it whenever it comes to auctioning off his own books, whether it be his uber HG early SA Marvel collection several years ago or his HG Dell & Gold Key File Copies during the past few months.

Well, originally it was thought to be a gimmick but considering it's now affecting prices I'd say it's caught on. Probably the same way that some collectors thought that certification was a gimmick and yet buyers tend to pay more for say a CGC 9.6 graded copy over a CGC 9.4 graded copy of the exact same book. Go figure that!!! Then again, probably not universally true since in some cases with some of the GA auctions we've seen recently, we are now seeing bidders going higher for "equivalent" raw graded books as compared to their certified graded counterparts.

Absolutely gorgeous and stunning copies and all I can say is that you can never have enough More Fun on these boards here, especially on a weekend.

Seriously now and all kidding aside, now that an absolutely gorgeous copy of a classic cover book regardless of the color of the label. When it comes time for you to sell it though, make sure you state that it's in "Much better condition than before" and you'll be able to double your money just like that.

Ahhhhhh Sir, that's not Fantastic..................................................it's Science. Now, this is Fantastic!! https://www.comicconnect.com/item/971894 Ane even much more "Fantastic" since it very rarely ever makes an appearance in the marketplace in this kind of condition grade.

Don't know anything at all about this process here, but if you really can't tell what is real from what is not, then doesn't this sound a bit like what the Meyers were doing and their books were considered to be ungradeable?