lou_fine

Yes, since I started my vintage comic book collecting by skipping the entire SA and jumping from the MA books off the shelves of the LCS right back to the pre-hero GA books, I also absolutely loved those books from the 1930's. Especially the earlier ones from prior to 1938 where each year you went back just seemed like a whle lot more than just the one year, considering how rare and HTF those early books were. Definitely tough to acquire a book from 1936 and even so much tougher to find one from 1935 and I guess that's why I jumped back into the regular GA time period from 1938 onwards after my short foray with the pre-hero books.

Yeah, look like it sold for slightly lower than condition guide at the time for a copy with the much dreaded PQ designator of Slightly Brittle. As you have stated, will probably sell for a lot more in todays' more robust marketplace if this nicely presenting copy of Speed 3 with the even worse PQ desigantion of Brittle Pages is any indication: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/speed-comics-3-harvey-1939-cgc-gd-20-brittle-pages/a/122233-15611.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Sold yesterday for $456 or a rather surprising almost 3X condition guide value for a CGC 2.0 graded copy with BRITTLE PAGES. Makes me wonder when and what a copy in decent shape would go for considering that both the HA and CC archives indicates only VG+/CGC 4.5 raw/graded copies or lower have sold save for only one CGC 6.5 copy on Heritage and that was all the way back in 2004.

Actually, I am absolutely shocked at some of the prices that sellers scammers are trying to get for copies of their Marvel Golden Age Reprints; https://www.ebay.com/itm/352566794830?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338846873&customid=ad09b2ca-2755-4f5b-afe7-459eb6914c1d&toolid=10050&gck=ad09b2ca-2755-4f5b-afe7-459eb6914c1d https://www.ebay.com/itm/292645241157?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338846873&customid=45165092-d09a-452d-92b9-ec08b98d6eb3&toolid=10050&gck=45165092-d09a-452d-92b9-ec08b98d6eb3 https://www.ebay.com/itm/185536237738?hash=item2b32d250aa:g:m3cAAOSwxj5insKP&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338846873&customid=38d8db6c-03d9-4773-a411-704653549218&toolid=10049&gck=38d8db6c-03d9-4773-a411-704653549218 https://www.ebay.com/itm/275423240021?hash=item4020811f55:g:4woAAOSwxlFhBuNK&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338846873&customid=2d024e94-75cc-4de4-9d65-a65125313c64&toolid=10049&gck=2d024e94-75cc-4de4-9d65-a65125313c64 I can't see any sane buyer paying anywhere close to the 5-figure amount like the $18.5K for ASM 1 that's being asked for these GRR copies here. Then again, since buyers are ready to pay $40K+ for a variant copy of Ultimate Fallout 4 barely 10 years old with almost 200 copies (and counting) graded in CGC 9.8 already, I guess paying 5-figures for a CGC 9.8 graded copy of GRR Avengers 4 with just a total of only 3 copies in this exalted nosebleed grade (inc. one graded 9.8 just last week) for a 55+ years old book should look dirt cheap on a comparison basis. When I think of sealed video games being worth a ton more than opened used games, it then makes me think that the sealed original copies of these books with the books still sealed in the original wrap with the record should in theory be worth a lot more. Which then begs the question as to how CGC would be able to grade these books, hence I guess the graded unsealed books by themselves would be worth more than the original sealed record and book together which sounds kind of looney to me.

A definite steal if you was able to acquire a graded pedigree book for less than condition guide value. Especially since you have to factor in the cost for grading along with any other ancillary services. This book here would definitely go counter to the argument made by many that the Overstreet valuations tend to be understated as they are always so far behind the curve.

Tip Top 62 was graded as a raw Good+ copy and listed for only $70, so it would appear you did alright if you brought it raw. Especially since that's a pretty substantial difference in terms of their G+ or 2.5 raw grade as compared to the CGC 5.5 grade that it got in the end.

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't even think of that. With these early Jumbo's and hopefully the large quantity of Centaurs (if accurate ) that you were talking about in this upcoming CL Auction, it looks like you've got a lot of super rare books that we haven't really seen since the Berk Auction and also when Gator had to dispose of his entire Centaur collection. I think it's time for me to finally start paying some much closer attention to a CL Auction for once.

Now, a Good- copy of King Comics #1 for $750 makes a lot more sense than a top of guide VF condition copy for only $750.

Since you seem to be so knowledgeable about this early pre-hero DC penciled "S" collection, would you also happen to know much about the "grease penciled S" collection for some of the early Fox books like Mystery Men and Wonderworld?

Oh wow, those are certainly some beautiful and HTF early issues that you was fortunate and astute enough to nab for your personal collection. As for New Comics 2 and whether it even exists or not (apparently no Church or Larson and with the Lost Valley copy being only a CGC 1.8 graded copy), I guess that's why it's considered to be the true hen's teeth of the early New Comics run. While checking on the possible existence of a Larson copy of New Comics 2, noticed from Joe Tricarichi Larson's List that there is supposedly a VF raw copy of New Adventure Comics 12 which I never realized until now.

Oh wowza, that's an absolute beaut and one to die for, considering it's all the way back from 1935. Hopefully, it's one of the "vast majority" portion of the penciled "S" collection that Mark did not have to work on. Since it went all the way back to New Comics 1, was the run complete and if so, was you able to nab the "S" copy of New Comics 2 which appears to the super rare hen's teeth out of the early issues of this run? If so, I guess it would still be a raw copy since I just checked the CGCdata.com website and it looks like there's only 5 graded copies in total with the single highest graded copy still being only a CGC 2.0 after all these long years.

Certainly good to hear and just doubled checked the scan of my copy of NA 12 and no penciled "S" like what's on this cover of this New Comics 5 here: Any idea if this collection went all the way back to New Comics 1 since there's a copy of New Comics 5 in there? I remember talking to Mark when he had this collection and although he did hint at doing some minor work on some of them, he said most were already so nice that it was not necessary and I should really pick up some of them because even Jon Berk was buying to fill in the missing holes in his collection. But by then buying from Mark was such a red flag because other dealers always made the assumption that Mark couldn't let a book go without at least "cleaning" it to make it present even nicer, even though they couldn't identify the work done. Not sure if it was just jealously on their part or just trying to keep your business by warning you away from a competing dealer. I remember having Bill Hughes send in a dozen or about 15 books for me in time for their big Greg Manning Auction later that Fall when CGC first opened their doors back in 2000. Every single one of the books came back graded between CGC 9.2 to CGC 9.6 with the blue Universal label, with the sole exception being a CGC 8.5 graded (looked every bit as nice as all the other books in my submission ) PLOD labelled copy of Cap 19. Met up with Hughes in the SD Con that summer who handed the Cap 19 back to me since they didn't want restored books in that auction. Took the book and walked over to show it to Mark Wilson who asked me how much I had paid for it and when. Told him that I had paid something like $450 for the book about 10 years ago, to which he replied that the work was not considered to be restoration back then, butt he would take the book back and give me $900 in return. Agreed to the deal and when I walked by Mark's table later that day, saw the book marked with the work done and priced pretty much at what he had paid me for the book. Interesting to note that I just checked the CGCdata.com website and it shows a CGC 8.5 PLOD copy of Cap 19 being removed from the census in the exact same time period that a Universal CGC 8.5 Universal copy was added into the census population report: http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/7911/6mo

No, not from the small penciled "S" collection as it came from the Mark Wilson "Can't Keep My Grubby Hands Off It" collection. Seriously though, is the small penciled "S" collection infamous for restoration work or what would now be considered as Conservation work?

Yes sir, only 6 graded copies in total with your copy here being the highest graded by a safe comfortable margin and certainly presents nicely relative to its assigned CGC grade. That is, until I finally get around to having my copy graded which from just a front cover scan only, appears to be just as sharp as your copy here, but with a slightly better spine. Then again, since I got it from Mark Wilson way back in the day, no worries for you at all as I am quite sure that my copy will come back encased in one of those beautiful purple labelled holders. Even though I asked him at the time if there was any restoration on the book and he swore to me up and down that it was totally unrestored. Since I knew that everybody has a different definition for restoration, I then asked him if he had touched the book in any way and when he told me the book was completely untouched, I knew right away it was a lie as he must have touched it in order to mail it out to me in the first place. It's a good thing that time can be a good panacea for so many long term collector's purchasing mistakes.

When it comes to the Marvel Golden Record Reprints, does anybody here know much about the valuation for these books? Noticed that Overstreet jacked up their valuations by quite in this year's edition of the guide ranging from 25% for both the Spidey and Avengers up to an increase of 65% in top of guide for the Fantastic Four Golden Record Reprint. Needless to say, GoCollect indicates a Fair Market Value of almost double the Overstreet valuations save for the Journey Into Mystery 83. The other question which I have is that since these originated as sealed records, shouldn't these in theory be worth more money if the books are still SEALED inside with the actual record. If this is the case, then how woud CGC be able to grade and certify the book if they were sent in for grading without having to break open the sealed package and hence, devaluing the entire item (i.e. record and book together) as a whole?

Looks like you've got some truly HTF GA books coming up in this CL Auction, and as such, they should all do quite well. Especially when it comes to these rare Centaurs like you Funny Pages which you very seldom ever see come to market. Totally not surprising for your V3#3 issue since there's been a total of only 2 copies graded to date after two plus decades of certification. Being a baseball cover, this one should probably also do quite well if what David Alexander is saying in his Overstreet market report is actually accurate when he states that he sold a 0.5 copy of Funny Pages 11 with the baseball park cover for $2,200: From my point of view though, there must be some kind of typo here in terms of this price point for such a low grade entry level copy. Then again, you never really know and by now, I guess nothing should really surprise us anymore in this marketplace for rare or in-demand books. How's that for pimping your book for you, and I'll collect my commision fee at the end of the auction.

Ahhhh..................don't we miss the good old days when books could still be acquired for substantial discounts to condition guide. I guess both Al and Jeff must have had their own pricing moidel because they clearly was not following the "Overprice Guide" at the time as books were listed with prices that beared no resemblance to guide at the time, with many listed at a premium or a huge discount to guide valuations. Looks like he had the odd strip reprint book priced higher than guide like the CGC 5.0 graded copy of New Comics 1 listed for $7,300 when Overstreet had his Fine valuation at only $6K. Yet if you look at his Famous Funnies 1, they had their CGC 4.0 graded copy listed for $4K when the Overstreet equivalent valuation would have been up at $6K. The big winner though would have been the purchaser of the King Comics 1 with their VF copy listed for only a mere $750 in their catalogue while Overstreet had it valued light years higher at $9K in VF or listed at a whopping discount of 92% lower than condition guide valuation at the time. Especially considering the fact that the less than a handful of Universal copies that have sold over the years have ALL (save for one copy at a very slight discount) been sold at a premium over condition guide prices. Interesting to note though that out of the 12 Universal copies of King Comics 1 graded to date, the highest graded copies so far is a pair of them at only CGC 6.5. Makes me wonder if this Lost Valley copy of King Comics 1 has been graded yet or not?

That would appear to be a possible mistake at this point in time as I believe it's really the much more common BA and CA hot books that have taken a big hit as the infinite scads of them sent into CCS/CGC for pressing/grading are now finally making there way into the marketplace. The much harder to find GA and in particular, the classic cover books, still appears to be going great guns and holding their own for now at least.

Ask and ye shall receive:

Well, this is either a typo here or the lucky buyer managed to scoop themselves a steal of a deal here with the Ace 11 listed at only $230. Especially considering that it is the first comic book appearance of the Phantom and considered to be a relatively rare book with only a meagre 12 Universal copies graded to date so far. Probably impossible to find in HG as the highest graded copy to date after 22 years of certification is still only a single CGC 7.5 graded copy, so a Fine- copy at $230 for a Lost Valley pedigree would have definitely been a steal back then, considering that top of guide for this book is now at $9,500.

On the other hand, it could also be great for long term collectors who have been sitting on this book for decades ever since buying them for what was then probably considered to be rip-off prices of $2 a pop or thereabouts for such a common back issue book. Then again, the real real big winners out of this FOMO driven rocket rise and eventuall fall would be the pressing and grading companies, especially since they've probably got thousands of copies still waiting to be processed even as market prices are falling on these books.

Maybe because it's a movie related hype book and it's pretty hard to beat the past historical trends for these books after the movie comes out. Just take a look at the prices for Eternals 1 and a book like Marvel Super-Heroes 13 which used to sell for multiples to condition guide during the hype prior to the release of the movie, but now can sell only with a big discount to condition guide value.

Umm........FYI: Clearly visible pressing defects caused as a result of improperly performed pressing, similar to books with production defects from the printers, are to be ignored for grading purposes in fear of killing the cash cow machine they have going. Near invisible tiny barely perceptible NCB creases or ticks which can only be seen when the book is held up at a certain angle to the light is taken out to the CGC grading woodshed in the back and have the living dickens blundgeoned out of them when it comes to the final grade, with the only exception being books submitted by a certain auction house which shall remain nameless here. Seriously though, if you blow up any book to the nth degree like you can with the Heritage scans, you are bound to see defects which you otherwise wouldn't normally noticed.

Definitely gorgeous and more than presentable eye appeal with a deep strong color strikewhich is what I tend to go for. Of course, if I had submitted these two books with that number of noticeable spine creases on them without even having to zoom in, I would certainly not be seeing a 9.2 in that top left hand corner. Then again, since the books were submitted by Heritage, probably undergraded and should have been a CGC 9.4 at a minimum.

It also doesn't hurt that it's the centrepiece in the promo ad for the "All-Baker" auction along with the Giant Edition Comics 12 and another book.

Yes, I remember calling Al immediately right after receiving my copy of the catlog in the mail and asked for the Lost Valley copy of Wings 90 which was a CGC 9.0 graded copy listed for only $475. Needless to say, I was informed that he had already sold it and received tons of calls from other collectors on the Wings 90 asking for it.