WNY

A bit late here but would tend to agree with this comment from @buttock compared to @tth2 (no offense to tth2). If you have ~$150K +/- to spend on this book (that's a LOT of $$$s by the way so most of us won't have this!!!) and you have been hunting it for three years and had some key criteria (good eye appeal, no material size pieces off, no bad staining, no significant fading, no PLOD/conserved), let's look at the sales history of what your options were (this is going three years back): 1) 4/2021 - 7.5 Restored for $90,000 - NO. restored 2) 9/2021 - 4.0 Universal for $180,000 - NO. above limit 3) 11/2021 - 3.5 Pedigree for $240,000 - NO. above limit 4) 3/2022 - 7.0 Universal for $340,000 - NO. above limit 5) 4/2022 - 9.2 Universal for $3,120,000 - NO. waaaaay above limit 6) 5/2022 - 7.0 Universal for $312,000 - NO. above limit 7) 6/2022 - 3.0 Universal for $144,000 - NO. pretty bad looking book (the one referenced by @buttock) 8) 9/2022 - 5.0 Universal for $180,000 - NO. above limit (this is the best price / unit grade value btw, even better than the 9.2) 9) 9/2022 - 8.0 Restored for $78,000 - NO. restored 10) 11/2022 - 5.0 Restored for $72,000 - NO. restored 11) 11/2022 - 9.2 Conserved for $276,000 - NO. conserved 12) 12/2022 - 4.5 Universal for $194,000 - NO. above limit 13) 3/2023 - 7.0 Universal for $300,000 - NO. above limit 14) 6/2023 - 3.5 Pedigree for $168,000 - NO. above limit but close, although has notable stain in back (original Promise Collection buyer took a loss) 15) 6/2023 - 9.2 Universal for $810,000 - NO. above limit 16) 9/2023 - 7.5 Conserved for $168,000 - NO. conserved 17) 9/2023 - 2.0 Universal for $114,000 - NO. piece out and fading 18) 11/2023 - 3.0 Universal for $126,000 - NO. piece out and bad fading 19) 4/2024 - 9.2 Universal for $750,000 - NO. above limit 20) 4/2024 - 3.0 Universal for $156,000 - FINALLY WORKS (although the tape in grader notes is not ideal, you can't see it while in the holder - tape on staples is inside book, not outside) Also, not sure I'd agree it's "common" as this suggests <7 books per year available on average.

It’s now a 10.0

Love it. @DC# always coming in with fact-based responses. Bringing the receipts...

Agree fully. @comicwiz needs that recognition and then some. Others on the boards as well that have been doing the digging.

Been tracking this thread closely over the last week… people have already given them a pat on the back, but I just think it is worth noting again @comicwiz @agamoto you two are doing an incredible job figuring out this person’s misdeeds with hard data and evidence. Really awesome job! Seems thankless I am sure, but I for one feel an immense sense of gratitude.

Agree that surely this is a mistake by the bidders… that seems to be what you would need to pay for a 3.5-4.0 actual proper original print in blue label… I’d have to imagine that’s preferred over a 6.0 GRR?

I enjoy your posts just because I like seeing your username pop-up. Matter-Eater Lad. Legend.

My own personal view, but I think an ongoing price correction is good for the hobby long term. Will allow for more participants, and that’s a good thing. I personally was getting turned off by the crazy high prices and started to feel like the cost of the hobby was no longer worth it, even if the books I owned were theoretically worth more. I guess part of it is that I do think most people should be viewing comics as a hobby rather than an investment. While collectibles is surely an emerging asset class, it definitely falls in the category or alternatives, which means higher-risk and higher-reward. You just naturally see that in asset classes like these that are less liquid and more opaque (as much as grading has helped improve the opacity of the market). Outside of dealers and those who participate in the hobby as a business, I guess it feels like you should buy books at a price point that you would be happy to actually own it for. Getting off my soap box now…

Wait, I want to join this X100 30 Cent PV party (but sadly not a double cover):

Ok, let’s not get too distracted and come back to the topic at hand: @acistaro’s awesome collection. @acistaro joined the boards on Monday and drops that epic collection on our collective heads and all of our minds were blown (at least mine was) inside of a week. This is what this hobby is all about. Awesome stories like this. Whatever you decide to do with that collection @acistaro, how incredible is it that your dad left you this memory and story. Really happy for you man.

Great looking book @alexgross.com! Know you have been hunting that elusive ASM1 in WP! Really is hard to come by in that that PQ. Worth the wait! Congrats!!!

I'd argue that the spread should be bigger than $5K! I don't like being negative so won't say anything about the less appealing one, but that nice 8.0 is a really, really awesome looking book!!! That seems to be a very reasonable premium for all the attributes you cited @DC#!

So a 90x premium to the regular 9.4 that sold on feebay that same day ($559 according to GoCollect)... Nice to see the original true variants getting some respect!

I would guess both factored in. And there’s room for both given that it is 41% down!