lou_fine

Yes, when it comes to vintage comic book collecting, I find that it's a lot better to spend time in the market, as opposed to trying to time the market.

Can you please interpret this chart for me since the only number I have an inking to is the $3,840 figure for February 2022 and is that current bid of $2,550 the finaal winning bid? Don't know what the other 3 numbers mean since I don't subscribe to any of these pricing services?

Well, from my own personal POV, it's really a case of to each their own, as long as everybody knows what they are buying and having fun while doing it. As for hunting down rarity when it comes to comic books, although I don't have any interest in price variants, limited manufactured cover variants, reprints, distribution type variants, so-called rarity in CGC 9.8, etc. as the content of the comic book is already readily available in its original format. Even if it's not for me though, I certainly don't begrudge or have any issues with other collectors chasing after them, as it's all good to me. When it comes to rarity in comic books, although my personal collecting preference leans much more towards original format in any condition books like say a New Comics 2 or an Amazing Man 26 where the total number of graded copies to date is still only a mere handful, I am sure that most boardies here would have zero interest in acquiring these types of HTF moldy oldy books. Definitely okay with me as that means less competition for me whenever they do show up in the marketplace, as it gives me a slightly better chance of obtaining a copy for my personal collection.

Well, you just wait until I get my copy squashed flat as a pancake by the biggest steamroller in the world and then graded after that.

Nope, nothing new as I've been married for decades now and isn't it really the younger generation that doesn't tend to believe in the institution of marriage.

I remember back in the day when Todd were signing the Spidey 300's at the local con's for free and he was always very careful with how he placed the books afterwards and told his fans to be patient to make sure that they wouldn't smudged. Not sure about nowadays with these private signings and the involvment of CGC because it just might be all about the money and cranking out as many as they can.

Well, if that's the case, then it does make all the difference in the world as money is indeed not everything when it comes to something personal like this.

Well, from the $39K winning hammer bid, it would work out to somewhere between $44K to $46K depending upon both your method of payment and timing of your bid. I guess this would be FMV since I still remember a CGC 3.0 graded copy selling for $66,010 in a CC Event Auction back in the Spring of 2017. Not sure about the possible grade of 2.5 since without having the actual book in hand, but it would be pretty tough for me to see the difference between equivalent graded CGC 2.5 copies from strictuly a visual POV even if my life depended upon it: I guess the CVA/QES superior quality sticker must have fallen off this copy of Action Comics 1. Now, this is an example of a rare HTF low grade beauty that I'll take all day long any day of the week for under $200 or thereabouts.

Like my better half keeps trying to tell me......................it's always better to be a landlord, as opposed to being a tenant and this would certainly apply in your example here.

Yes, can you please explain your rationale to us as although slabbing costs are indeed important, what's even more important is the added value (if any at all which does NOT appear to be for your Spidey book) to the book by having it certified. From what I am seeing here, it would appear that your Spidey book would have to be at least in CGC 9.8 to have any chance of breaking even on the cost of slabbing. The Hulk 102, on the other hand would appear to be an easy money maker for virtually all grades across the entire condition spectrum right down to something as low as CGC 2.0.

That he most certainly is!!! So, I guess you are also going for the "Under" then, especially after factoring in the auction commission fees.

Wowza indeed...............but have you considered the possibility that the purchaser didn't have much of a choice as some "better halfs" might not be quite as understanding as your better half? That's going to be a really huge stretch for this book and my bet is that it's going to hit the "Under" when it comes to your $90K price point: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/cartoon-character/four-color-178-donald-duck-rockford-pedigree-dell-1947-cgc-nm-96-off-white-to-white-pages/p/7283-30001.s?ic16=ViewItem-Auction-Archive-OtherAvailable-081514 Unless you are having a bad case of seller's remorse and now willing to pay anything at all to get this copy back into your hot little hands.

Being an long time old school type of collector, looking at something on a screen is simply not the same as having the touch and feel of the actual comic book itself as you are flipping through the pages.

Were they all in the same valuation category as mid-grade or higher Hulk 181's or potential 9.8 HG copies of Spidey 300 because I believe books in this tier category would go through the CCS/CGC "storage warehouse facility" a lot faster than that, especially when submitted by the auction houses on your behalf who apparently has a large volume favored customer status? I definitely do get the illiquidity problem from a turnaround POV (i.e. pressing, slabbing, auction) when it comes to comic books as an investment, especially when it makes no economic, storage, or pure enjoyment sense at all to have every single book in your comic collection graded and slabbed in one of those bulky industrial looking holders of theirs.

I would definitely agree with you 110% that these types of books do indeed get graded and slabbed, but only upon time of sale. If you are referring to copies being held in the private collections of long time collectors though, they are most likely still in raw HG condition as there is absolutely no reason to have them graded until it comes time to sell them.

A sign of an undervalued and in-demand book when even a Restored PLOD copy can fetch almost double condition guide value: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/hit-comics-1-quality-1940-cgc-apparent-gd-vg-30-slight-c-1-off-white-pages/a/7335-88083.s?type=bidnotice-tracked-endofauction#

Nah..........way too early to put in a serious bid as I am just trying to feel it out a bit at this point in time.

Well, it would appear so as I went in earlier this morning to place another bid on this book here and it just automatically got bumped up: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/master-comics-27-fawcett-publications-1942-cgc-vf-80-off-white-to-white-pages/a/40212-82093.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Now already at $6,300 with the BP juice in there and still another 20+ days to go in this second phase of the Harlan Ellison Auction, which makes me think that this HTF classic cover Fawcett book is going to hit 5-figures by the time it's all said and done.

Unlike the World's Finest with no further bids, not so much for the case with this Police Comics 1 since it looks like it must have gotten some action at the end as it moved up from $10,500 or $12,600 with the BP to a final price of $18K: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/police-comics-1-quality-1941-cgc-vg-40-white-pages/a/7335-88095.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Archive-ArchiveSearchResults-012417&lotPosition=0|9 Not too bad of a result and within range of what I had been expecting even though I thought it might have had a chance at hitting the $20K mark, considering that the CGC 2.5 graded copy had sold for $11.4K last year.

Well, I guess we must have jinxed it as it didn't get another singe bid and that was the final price (i.e. $1,860 with the 20% BP juice) that it got in the end.

Well, with the "SN" marking on there, this means that this copy is from the Cookville pedigree collection, although I believe that books from this particular pedigree didn't used to really carry that much of a premium in the old days due to its relatively low grades.

I was thinking something like 1.5 to 1.8 myself after some "prep work" to get rid of some of the waves, with that sizable split the biggest problem.

Any guesses as to what this copy would grade out to if certified and slabbed?

Just took a look at the Harlan Ellison Auction scheduled to end today and it appears that this is the "top" comic book by a long shot so far: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/police-comics-1-quality-1941-cgc-vg-40-white-pages/a/7335-88095.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515# Probably going to be another strong finish and result for this once relatively underappreciated and undervalued key #1 GA first appearance book, although it's probably not going to be as strong (from a relative POV) to the CGC 2.5 graded copy that sold for $11,400 at the end of December last year. Then again, that copy did appear far nicer than its assigned CGC grade from a strict visual point of view.

FTFY........and as I had posted the other day in another thread talking about She-Hulk 1 and any other readily available HG movie/TV related hype book: And as we've seen, this same pattern has also happened to other movie/TV related hype books if you take a look at Eternals 1, SME 15, MSH 13, etc. and these are clearly not DC books after all.