lou_fine

I almost wonder if some buyers in today's marketplace actually realize that it's not a crime to own a book for more than a couple of years: https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2021may%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DWonderworld%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1467075&id=1467075&itemType=0#detail Looks like this Jon Berk Church copy of Wonderworld 3 was resold again for $57,111 in May of 2021 or at a slight loss for the owner. If my arithmetic is right, that makes it 3 times it sold in slightly under 4 years. I guess if this sales pattern holds true to form, the book should probably be coming back to market any month now.

That goes double for me, and Iike I've always said, it's pretty tough to beat having an Allentown book in your personal collection.

Well, looks to me like the seller of this copy here did themselves alright since they picked up the book for just $30,200 less than 2 years ago: https://www.comicconnect.com/item/759001

You said you spec'd on these. I said if you did, you did fine. You don't buy a spec book and typically hold onto it for 30 years. That's not really how it works, typically. Come to think of it, you are 110% correct here as I would definitely make a bad speculator. Especially when I have absolutely zippo idea where these copies of Magus 12 and Solar 10 would be. Probably also not much better as a long term collector, financially speaking that is, as paper gains are pretty much worthless until you actually cash out and fully realize your gains. In that sense, a copy of Action 1 would have as much "real value" in the hands of a long term collector as a copy of Spawn 1, but I sure definitely know which book I would much rather have sitting in my collection.

Good price ? Why, what does GPA show for this copy of Action 10 in CGC 2.5? It would seem to be extremely low to me since even Overstreet has his Good 2.0 valuation for this book set at $31K, which basically means this copy here sold for a 25% discount to condition guide value. Especially when CC indicates auctioning off a CGC 3.5 graded copy back in 2018 for $107K or at a 160% premium to condition guide value. This was then followed up by their auction of the CGC 3.0 graded Court Copy of Action 10 in 2020 for $76K or at a 95% premium to condition guide value. Definitely looks low when compared to these 2 price points from the CC Event Auctions during the past few years. Then again, if you compared it to more recent auction results from the much hearlded Heritage, it looks like they were able to auction off their CGC 3.0 graded copy (albeit with the much dreaded Brittle Pages PQ designation) in the pandemic driven peak of June 2021 for only $28,800 or at a huge 31+% discount to condition guide value. This was then followed by Heritage being able to fetch only $21,600 or pretty much half condition guide a few months later in November of 2021 for a CGC 3.0 graded Conserved copy of Action 10. So, who really knows if this sale of a CGC 2.5 graded copy for $28,990 is either good or bad, as I guess it really dpends upon your comparisons.

That's interesting, I wasn't aware of the belated designation. Once the Allentown provenance is lost, it would be tough to reestablish it because Allentown lacks the distinctive markings that many other pedigrees have. As I had highlighted in BOLD, I am actually not entirely sure as this is based upon my memory of something I probably read or saw on these boards here. Although the preliminary Allentown draft portion of the writeup for the long awaited and never to be published Pedigree Book which was sent to me as a courtesy for my input on the Chinatown pedigree back in 2006/07 would tend to confirm this. Especially since it states that the Jim Payette VF/NM raw graded copy of Wonderworld 3 was graded and slabbed as a CGC 9.4 copy, with only one copy in this highest grade in the CGC census at the time: http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/2071/6mo As for regaining the pedigree designation, it's definitely not unheard of as it's really up to the determination, tenacity, and patience of the buyer to trace the provenance trail of the book back through its previous owners. Possibly made easier by the fact that chain of owner for books of this high quality oftentimes tends to be held by far few hands and in most cases, held by long time well established collectors.

Seeing that Wonderworld 5 reminds me that it's going to be time for the new edition of the Overstreet in a few short days from now FWIW. Any bets here if Overstreet will be correcting or will he be doubling down on his obvious top of guide valuation error for Wonderworld 3 in the still current edition of the guide. Very obvious boo-boo on their part as they bumped up the valuations for WW 3 in all of the condition levels except for the top of guide where they dropped it down to $21,125 from the $23K price point in the 2020 guide. Based upon the way his valuation program supposedly works, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it actually doubles down on this error and continues to use the 2021 top of guide valuation point of $21,125 as its base for this coming year, instead of the $25K that it probably should have been. Well, at least it gives me another chance to post this gorgeous copy here which managed to fetched some $25,300 for the lucky consignor on its first go round way back in 2002, and possibly an even luckier buyer who was then able to purchase this exact same copy for a mere $15,525 on its second go round in 2005: Doubly lucky for the winner since I believe this copy was then eventually deemed to be the Allentown pedigree copy if I remember correctly and reslabbed as such. No doubt making it worth a lot more and a sure fire winner as evident by Jon Berk's equivalent CGC 9.4 graded copy which sold for $51K on its first go round in 2017 and then resold for over $64K a few years later in 2020.

To each their own, but from your post it sounds like your mind frame is closer to a Wizard like speculator (i.e. trying to time the market), as opposed to mine's which is definitely that of a long term collector (i.e. spending time in the market). Actually, it's rather funny since that whole Wizard like mentality kind of turned me off from the new comic book marketplace and pretty much completed my move into HG GA during that time in the early 90's. Own only one Image book in my collection with that being a copy of Spawn 1, although I certainly do own most of the pre-Unity Valiant books all brought at cover price or less. Loved the early Magnus issues as I thought they were a great read along with some of the other early Valiants, but left that market part way through the Deathmate issues as I basically got cover priced out of the new comic book marketplace by that point. Figured that spending my money on HTF or higher grade GA would be much safer in terms of being able to get my money back going forward, as opposed to throwing them away on new books being printed with multiple covers and hoarded by countless speculators of the day. Looking back now and seeing the current marketplace, I am clearly glad that I made that move from the new book market into the vintage collectible GA market.

In talking about Blue Bolt 105 and CGC 9.8 copies, I wonder how much this copy here would go for in today's heightened marketplace, especially considering that it sold for $37,500 on CL back in the summer of 2018 before the collectibles world went absolutely crazy town during the pandemic driven locked down craze of the past two years:

Spokane copy previously graded at 9.6 so not surprising if it's the 9.8. Just checked the CGCdata.com website and it looks like you are 100% correct as it indicates a CGC 9.6 copy of Blue Bolt 115 being removed from the Census Population Report and replaced by a CGC 9.8 copy in the first half of 2020: http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/32811/6mo

Well, that's no fun in a guessing game when you give the answer to us right away, although I will definitely say you can NEVER EVER go wrong with an Allentown book, especially when it's an absolutely gorgeous copy like your little beauty here. Just checked the CGC census and your Allentown copy here is still the single highest graded copy to date after all these long years. Even more noteworthy considering the number of different pedigree copies of this particular book out there, with both the Church and Carson City coming in at a very close CGC 9.0 and the Larson and Windy City copies quite a bit further down in the next tier at only CGC 5's and 6's. Unless it was the above mentioned Carson City copy, I also remember seeing another stunning HG copy of Mystery Men 1 on display at the Diamond Galleries grand opening back in the mid-90's. Can't remember off the top of my head, but it might actually have been the Denver copy because there was a blazing yellow Denver copy of Green Mask 1 also on display in the main viewing room. Hard to beat a Fox #1 trio since the display case also featured this Larson copy of Fantastic Comics 1 with this rather 3-D like Samson almost seemingly busting right out of the bright fiery red cover when you actually see this copy in real life:

Like you, I also love the cover mage for Blot Bolt 105 ever since I saw it as the frontispiece for a table top book a la Suspense 3 for the Gerber Photojournal (can't remember the name now ) on GA comic books. The original art for this cover must be absolutely gorgeous as the only part of this cover I really don't care for is all of the rather excessive wording on the cover which kind of takes away from the cover art.

Hey Richard; Big congrats on having the smarts to pick up this absolutely gorgeous copy of BB 115 early on before the price blew up on L.B. Cole books. Just checked the census and totally shocked that they would have a CGC 9.8 graded copy of this book slabbed already. From seeing some of your other books here, would you also have a copy of Blue Bolt 105 with the classic Cole si-fi cover in your personal collection. With your experience and insight, out of these two Blue Bolt books, would it be BB 105 or BB 115 that is worth more in today's hyper classic cover driven marketplace from your POV? Although I would have to say you definitely can't go wrong with either one of these two beauties here:

your dibs are 6th in line for the book. Any hints here as to what this 48th book would be since it's always fun to play this guessing game?

If you are referring to my post from the other page, YES indeed, I was talking only about the supply side of the equation as I think pretty much everybody in the comic book marketplace knows that the SA Marvel time period is at the top of the charts when it comes to demand. Love the charts and greatly appreciate the time and work which it must have taken you to put these two charts together. VERY WELL DONE!!!

Over my collecting "career," I've rarely sold books that weren't duplicates. However, the Valiant madness was an exception. I sold all the pre-Unity Valiant books I had during the peak of said madness, and made a tidy profit. A little over a decade later, I replaced them in my collection at, in many cases, below cover price. Ahhh........you must be referring to the Wizard induced hyped madness time period of the early 90's with both Valiant and Image starting out there. I still remember all of the speculative Wizard fanboys who used to wet their pants because they just couldn't wait to get their hands on the latest issue of Wizard to see their Top 10 Hot to Trot List and their latest updated price guide. Clearly, they were trying to set and lead the spec market on new books upwards as opposed to actually reporting on realized prices in the marketplace. Especially when they were caught with their undies down around their ankles a few times by listing books at the top of their chart with price points of $20 or $50 when it turned out that the actual books never even made it to the shelves of the LCS's until a few months later due to either missed creator or publishing/printing deadlines. Yes, how many of those so-called hot books from that early 90's Wizard induced crazed time period have actually held their value. How much is that skeleton variant cover for The Adventurers #1 going for in today's marketplace when it was once listed in Wizard for either double digit or triple digit value almost immediately after hitting the shelves. My guess is probably worth as much or in demand as much as used toilet paper nowadays. Or like you said, how about the hot Valiant books when I remember that Shadowman 16 was at one time, the super hot book with the introduction of some new character in the Valiant universe even though they ended up printing and selling a ton of this book.

It should be pointed out that like most collectors here, when they are talking about the SA Marvel super-hero books, they are referring to the standard American versions and not any of the associated variants which were printed and distributed. Although my comment was also in reference to the standard American versions only, you would indeed be correct if you also included the non-American cents, pence, and what have you versions that exist out there. Again, you would be correct here except that you missed my qualifier that I was referring to GA books outside the Big 2 GA publishers (i.e. DC and Timely) and your list of GA books are all DC's and Timely except for the Pep 22 and Archie 1. All of your books are pretty much what would be consider ed to be GA keys and as we all know, the key books are usually generally always the ones that finds their way into the marketplace more often than the other ones. The HTF GA books which I would be referring to would be more of the lesser publishers like Centaurs, Prize, and the likes and also really more of the non-keys that don't tend to make their way into the marketplace that often. Especially in the case of books that have either less than 10 or in some cases, even less than 5 copies slabbed to date after all this time.

Maybe a slight exaggeration, but yes they seem to be falling off trees. Well, as we all know here, SA Marvel super-hero books are definitely not a real challenge to acquire as a complete set of them can be acquire in mere days as long as you are willing to open up your wallet and not looking for only HG copies. Definitely not the case for HTF GA books, especially for ones from outside the Big 2 publishers, with some books taking years (if ever) to find their way into the marketplace, and then only if you are lucky enough to be in the right place and time to spot them.

Are you trying to send us a hint that you are willing to meet them head on by offering your copy up for the exact same $21,500? Or are you implying that this obvious and blatant nonsensical price offer should be reported to the Mods so that appropriate disciplinary action can be taken against them?

Well, if you take a closer read of my post, I said that I still highly doubt they would be coming to market anytime soon: Then again, as the old saying goes..................................never say never!!!

If you just need to get your cover price investment back, I'll take them all. With you being such a long time and upstanding boardie here, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if you end up having to pay for my purchasing mistakes. Especially since you might be tempted to send them into that big big CCS/CGC conglomerate which will only end up charging you huge dollars to store the books for you until late 2023 or possibly even early 2024 before you get then back. By then, the value of the books might have cratered by another 50% leaving you so deep in the hole that you won't be able to see any sunlight at all. Now, that's definitely something that I could never ever do to a fellow boardie.

On the topic of strong prices for Fox books, any of you deep pocketed boardies here trying to snag this copy of Mystery Men 26 later tonight: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/mystery-men-comics-26-fox-1941-cgc-fn-65-off-white-to-white-pages/a/122228-13695.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Not sure where it's going to finished up at, but already sitting at a very strong $7,800 with the Heritage BP juice or at something like well over 13X condition guide value and still not done.

I am sure they are well aware of it. They are simply hoping that you, as a potential buyer, are oblivious to any dips/crashes/going to zero in the market.

Or anywhere in gun happy America for that matter, where there were something like over 45,000 shooting deaths just last year alone. Much safer in Canada where there are generally something like only a couple hundred gun shooting deaths a year.

The Chinatown pedigree copy: https://www.cgccomics.com/news/article/8508/