sfcityduck

I have heard of the "Pay Copy" of MC 1 which is a Nov. copy. But I have seen "checking copy" stamped on other GA comics.

The catalogues by Ivan for these auctions are great, they provide GPA info, Gerber scarcity, prior prices, CGC census populations, notable aspects of the issue, and they liberally mine this site for information. And I'm not saying that just because I was quoted for one description (as were other posters on this site on other lots).

Congrats if you got it.

They are getting strong prices.

Conventional wisdom is you're right about the "first printing, first state" but that they interrupted the print run to chisel off the dot because it was misplaced. In fact, there is even a "misplaced dot" house ad which clearly came out before Batman 1:

I don't think there are enough Superman 1s out there to cause a "stagnation." While a spread might develop, like with Oct. and Nov. copies, it would likely only be with similarly graded copies and not be that big. More of a premium, but one that is not going to render the MH MC 1 less than the most valuable copy. I believe the most valuable MC 1s sold were Nov. copies, right?

As time goes by, I would expect the market to assume that unless a note says its an "On Sale June 2" version than it is not. So if you don't know, you lose nothing by finding out.

Yes Oct. copies say Oct. where Nov. copies have a black circle.

I think it is will be just like MC 1 Oct. and Nov. copies. The highest graded is a Nov. and that will trump all others. But, an Oct. copy is likely to have more value than an equivalent Nov., right?

and Archie 1 and Captain Marvel 1 (in fact I assumed he owned the top 2 because his son was selling the second best copy on his eBay site for a while).

Hope not given his legal troubles. I'd hate to see it get tied up in a pre-judgment writ of attachment.

Edgar Church was the Original Owner of the group of books bought after his death by Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics which were initially called the "Mile High" pedigree but for reasons we don't need to delve into (many pedigree names are not those of the OO) have evolved into being called the Edgar Church/Mile High pedigree. The "Dentist" or "DA" etc. is the owner of that comic. Steve Borock was the chief grader for CGC & CBCS and Stephen Fischler is part owner of Metropolis Comics/Comic Connect who invented the numeric grading scale, and both have seen the book and offered their 9.2-9.4 views on the grade. Most folks believe the MH is the "best existing" Action 1, but you never know. There have been rumors of other longtime collectors than DA who are sitting on really nice Action 1s. The perception of the number of high grade GA comics generally gets deflated due to the perception that almost all are encapsulated, which is certainly not the case. Action Comic 1s were a lot more available then people think they were back in the early days of comic collecting. They were also a lot more affordable. Mitch Mehdy's Guiness Book of World Records Action 1 cost but a fraction of the cost of a house in 1973 at $1,800 and change, but ten years earlier Action 1 was available in the low hundreds and less. Who knows where those are? Richard Kyle bought his copy off the stand and still had it according to Xero 8 which came out in 1962. The best collection ever seen on these boards, Bangzoom's, is entirely unencapsulated and I don't think he ever denied owning an Action 1 even though he did not admit. The guy did, however, own the check paid to Siegel or Shuster for work on Action 1 and I just don't think he'd have that if he didn't have an Action 1. BZ is a guy, after all, who was collecting in the early 60s and dealing nice key GA books (which suggests he had great books before he picked up the key group of OO books in the 1970s that wowed everyone on these boards). The problem with estimates of the number of Action 1s is that a lot of numbers were thrown out at various times that were based on just local guesses. Mitch Mehdy, who I am not picking on here but he did get a lot of press so what he said entered the zeitgeist, told the press when they covered his purchase that his Action 1 was one of only 9 known copies. That wasn't true then. Wasn't a lie, just that Mitch didn't know the true numbers because he was a Sacramento teen in 1973 and there were collectors all over the country but no internet or reliable sources of information for him to tap. My guess is that there are other high grade copies out there, but one likely to top a 9.2 MH Copy? Unlikely, but not impossible. The two 9.0s are owned by Hariri and one is the stolen but recovered "Nick Cage copy" and the other was brought to market by Darren Adams after several upgrades in its holder (the book has a spine split but blinding white pages and the 9.0 might be technically generous but seems to have some beauty contest accuracy). The copy Adams sold was owned for many years by an established dealer who kept it in the same cedar blanket box in which he found it. This has added to the perception of the magic power of cedar to preserve comics as the MH comics were, in part, stored in a closet with cedar paneling.

While there are some pretty famous stories of owners of large stocks of art by one artist in the fine art world propping up prices at auction, Mugrabi who owned 800 Warhols is imfamous, I don't see the need or motive for anyone to do so with Action 1.

As far as anyone knows you are describing one book, the uncertified Mile High Action 1 estimated by Borock and Fishler to be a 9.2-9.4 (few others have seen it), and it appears the owner and his son will never sell.

Yeah this also was discussed long ago. The argument that “no dot” was the fix for “misplaced dot” seems indisputable.

I call that a win-win.

For the record I never called you corrupt. And I'm impressed by your responsiveness!

Wise man. Do what makes you happy.

You missed your calling. But we both know saying "if someone has x motivation, then they are corrupt" is different than saying "if I don't know someone's motivation, then they are corrupt." C'mon, you need to do just a bit better before you change careers and head to law school. But I do think you are ready to run for Congress.

The context has been given, Marwood's opinion, and my "if" statement: "If that's what drives CGC ..." Seems clear to me. I don't know what does or does not drive CGC, but I know what I view as improper motivation if it is coming into play.

Context is everything. I wasn't accusing CGC of being corrupt. I was reacting to Marwood's comment that: I would be surprised to learn that you'd suppress information that might inflate the value of a comic you are selling for yourself or a consignor because you don't want to hurt the feeling of some existing Superman 1 owners who might get upset at information about two versions being disseminated (are their really any?). Just as I'd guess that you'd have no problem suggesting that an October copy you were marketing might be a bit cooler than a November copy of MC 1 all other things being equal. Because, after all, you make your money selling comics. But, hey, I can be surprised. My experience is that Heritage had no problem hyping a variant GA book for me, even though CGC didn't note it on the label, and it did as a result garner a higher price than an equivalent non-variant. I'd expect savvy dealers to act that way - which you obviously are - and I look forward to seeing what happens when a seller asks Heritage to hype an "on sale June 2" ad version. I suspect for CGC the real problem is that they spend too much time letting themselves be limited by Overstreet. Which may be smart, because one of the few times I've seen them get out in front of OPG on a cutting edge notation they got it, I believe, wrong (e.g. as to what is Neal Adams' first comic cover). So maybe CGC is wise to draft in OPG's wake. But my guess is that OPG will split out Superman someday just because they need to come up with new substantive content to keep people buying it as no one cares about their pricing anymore.

They really want it and don't care who knows? They don't want any problems with last minute bidding to cost them the book? They want to scare others away and deter them from bidding the book up out of the heat of the moment? Might be a good strategy. We'll see.

Does CGC have a “why?” Thanks for the effort and time in getting us the answer so far!