jbud73

Finally have a CCD scanner again. Took $80 on Ebay and some nail biting waiting to see if it would get here in once piece. These are recent, if recent is defined in the last 2 years since my old CCD scanner went poof, new All in One has CIS technology and is horrible for slabs.

It just takes time, patience is often the key and realizing that another one will come around or sometimes the same one will. This was the HOM 196 Oakland, could have had this one early on from Vinny, but the asks for the Oaks were a bit heavy, this was pre CGC and hey I was in my 20s, gas money was a real priority. Nabbed it at auction last year, gas money isn't quite in the same priority set, but I paid more than Vinny was asking 20 years ago

The Oakland pedigree was distinct for me in that it has a lot of HG House of Mystery books under 200, it has a lot above 200 too but we know the 174-200 run can be a tad tricky, heavy dark inks and spines are the flavor of many of those books. Here is the 187.

Comic collectors are a crazy quirky bunch, and meticulously One of my quirks is to have a double cover in every run of the titles I collect. This is my HOM DC, one of the sad parts about being in a slab (I bought it slabbed as I would never slab a double cover raw in my collection) is that the nuance of seeing both covers attached is gone. may crack this out one day, until then here it is. Seems my new scanner still refracts light in the slab a bit on some slabs. Sigh

Well I'm going to post a few slabs as I got a old CCD scanner again after unwittingly donating my old Hp. In 2005 at WonderCon SFI for some reason didn't purchase the raw Northland of this book when I had the chance and it has never surfaced again. The Savannah eluded me in 2013, 800ish was not enough. I was the under bidder at Comic Connect last year for the Mood Dog, Dr. Fate copy. Finally just cruising the boards a month or so ago the winner of the Mood Dog book lists it in the FS forum. We come to a deal and poof I finally have a HG copy. People have discussed that this book is a 9.4. I could actually see that, the corners are razors and the ink roller smudges shouldnt keep it out of 9.4, or else there wouldnt be any 9.4 Amazing Adventures 11s There are a couple spine ticks, but I've seen Hulk 181s in 9.4 slabs where you could use the spines as a measuring stick. I'm happy with it as is, nicely centered and white pages

Well done, and a nice price paid as well! Yes Dan, I'm getting closer, now if you would just list some more variants I could get this 15 year quest over with . See you in Chitown if you are going to Wizard, and ya you can buy me a beer for being the under bidder on your copy last year , I was floored that it was not enough. I literally got up, walked away from the CPU and went and ran 5 miles to un-

Ok, so its taken 7 years, looking, searching, bidding disappointment after failure. I was close last year with FD's copy on EBAY, I thought my bid was crazy at the last few seconds. Seems someone was even crazier than me. This copy is not far off that one - its prob 5.0 or 4.5. It wasn't cheap, but lets just say I am very happy I was the under bidder a few times for this book today, as it was reasonable; I mean crazy to most, but to those 30c Variant collectors, this is the Star Wars 1 (not as much demand but its tough tough to find) DISASTROUSLY UNDER REPRESENTED IN OSPG IN ALL GRADES So BOOM!!!!!! Now I can feel myself completing the run.

Sweet books! Sick copies!! Nice DD7

The word reasonable and DD1 are mutually exclusive right now. Its just going to cost a bit more than it should. I really do NOT like that cover but its probably time to get it over with and pony up the $$$.

Super smooth transaction on a Silver Age Thor.

Now that greggy has a HG copy I'm sure he will successfully lobby that. That Mag is waaaaaaaaaaay harder in HG than the Hulk book.

Yep, we're screwed! I had delusions of a 9.4 .... 9.2 .... cough, 9.0. Now I think I'd take a 8.5 White

Here's one of the last slabs my old scanner did before it retired. I like the Cover to DD 2 a looooooooooooooooot more than the cover to DD 1. Rob I think we both missed the boat on paying a reasonable price for a DD1.

Finally got around to getting a new printer/scanner, sadly Its the new technology so I have another older CCD scanner on the way for slabs Adding to the Oakland discussion, here are the 71 and 76 purchased off Metro just after the Vinny / Stephen 'merger' The Vincent Collectibles sticker calls them NM and I'm partial to agreeing with that. It also lists the original price (not what I paid) but what they were originally listed at. Barton, I have to say that probably was the best subway ride you ever took.

This post is so 'Flying Doughnut' 2006 bro. Awesome seamless insertion of a book FS into a discussion on same book in a thread. Hey if you have another bring it to ECC.

Great transaction, nice packing on the slab and shipped promptly. All around smooth and one of the reasons buying from forumites is always a pleasure.

Hmmmm, I'll take this one on too. There are two facets at play here with respect to the shilling. First the number of pieces that were "bought back" and the implications for those false sales as price indicators for the market. Let's put that number at 100 pieces of unknown total value. Second there are those pieces that were shilled where the buyer was not a "shill reserve" and where - and it should be evident that this is where there are HUGE implications for our HOBBY, people paid thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or more ..... for OA auction lots where they were not bidding against a legitimate bidder. You bring Mike's reputation into this, I ask you to absolve yourself of any relationship to him, or anyone else. You see for me its not the fact that Mike did it. ITS THE FACT THAT IT WAS DONE AT ALL To consider the implications AND THERE ARE MANY for the two scenarios listed above on numerous people in our hobby. You see I honestly think that, from a implications for our hobby moving forward, the fact that it was Mike is probably the worst case scenario, as others have illustrated. It allows his reputation to come into play as a counter argument for this type of shill bidding and therefore neuter the response. Personally the hobby and people that purchase OA in it will ultimately determine the severity and length of damage this has done. As others have said, it can be a forgiving hobby and I'm hopeful that this will ensue for Mike. WHAT I AM NOT OK WITH is the aforementioned two facets continuing to occur on the scale that they are currently occurring. I'm not OK with Heritage's response; I'm not ok with Heritage calling up under bidders on Mike's consignments, to see if they want to purchase art at their maximum because the winning bidder made a faux pas; I'm not ok with them NOT undertaking research to see patterns and ensure that this is not going on with other consignors. See I'd like to take Mike out of the equation, but even when I do, 1+1 seems to = 3 right now.

Because a posted reserve is thought to dampen buyer enthusiasm. Absolutely. One other thing to consider is that all auction houses cater first to consignors, as they are the honey that brings the ants. Attracting the best consignors with the best pieces is a higher priority than catering to bidders. My suspicion, is that the contradictory info (no shill/yes shill) is the result of one message to bidders, to give them confidence, and the other message to consigners, to assure them there is no risk in consigning their pieces. Yep, from the first post of Mike's where he referenced 'not being allowed to place a reserve by Heritage,' I believed that to mean he could not place reserves on his consignments and receive the most attractive % Heritage was offering - probably a negative, for his total consignment.

How do you adjudicate intent. I've read and tried to interpret the clauses as well, and it night be that they allow secret maximum bids by consignors, but not active in the live bidding. You would still be bidding against "the book" and this would still be a defacto soft reserve.

Just emailed to HA. Feel free to send your own. I share a lot of these concerns and the overall sentiment of your inquiry. Following your lead, I am going to preempt what I'm about to say by emphasizing this hypothetical scenario I'm about to describe should not be construed as speculating on how the terms were negotiated allowing no reserve terms to be used on the auctions where shill bidding was used to enforce a "soft" or "hidden" reserve. What I think should be discussed is some of the instruments and incentives the auction companies are using to solicit inventory to include in their event auctions. While the commissions aren't really something that I think will change with this revelation, I do feel that instruments like offering cash advances on the terms/conditions where the consignor agrees to the risk of offering their pieces at no reserve should be more carefully scrutinized. In a word, anyone who agrees to take an advance, and then shill bids on the auction because they don't want to sell the piece too low should not be allowed to have their cake and eat it too. What I'd like to see is the auction companies do a little more to protect everyone, including the buyers, and one of the ways they can do this is by either bloating the advances on "no reserve" terms, reducing the advances if the consignor insists on a "reserve" with a nominal "administrative fee" tacked on if it doesn't sell, and asking for the cash advances to be returned and use the OA as collateral on delinquent accounts or consignors not keeping on their end of the deal. I understand the auctioneer potentially loses on the comission/BP when it doesn't sell, but there's enough to ponder from this revelation to consider how blame lands squarely on both the auction company and the consignor when such loop holes are exposed. There's also something to be said about catching a glimpse of activity that demonstrates consignors unwilligness to see a piece sell for less than what they want, and to this point auction companies and consignors should be more vigilant in preventing their systems from being gamed in this manner. While these suggestions may seem to be impossible to implement, or may not necessarily incent pieces to hit the auction block, simply put, the people that make these systems viable are buyers, and the status quo does nothing to allay people's concerns, nor does it help bolster confidence. Rather, more safeguards to protect the integrity of the bidding, past sales data, and the perception of market health will return some of the lost confidence from this revelation. Joseph, as usual you make an astute point here. I asked a synergistic question towards Mike's assertion that, "Heritage did not allow him to place reserves." I'm not sure we have seem an answer to that statement. Steve F from Comic Connect has come on here to state that Mike's pieces were offered with reserves at his auction house. The nuance, and there are a lot of nuances to this scheme, is that Mike may have been 'persuaded' to not offer items at reserve in exchange for a share of the BP reverting to him on sold items and a Zero, or very low fee on his overall consignments. Anyway the Heritage contacting under bidders really is a powerful nuance as well, and whether overtly realized or not there does seem to be many COLLUSIVE elements at play in Mike's consignments to Heritage.

As an FYI - ComicLink never has Buyer Transaction Fees, so it's always FREE (meaning no upcharges) to Bid on ComicLink as a Buyer - - What you bid is what you pay (plus shipping/insurance for delivery of course) at ComicLink. That's what I absolutely LOVE about bidding and buying on ComicLink. Well I'm not sure I would spread the CL love because you realize that no BP only fuels an environment for shill reserve bidding to occur.

Did Heritage offer any reason why the "winning bid" by a bidder that is familiar to them did not follow through. I would think a familiar name would not back out of a deal. Are there any repercussions from not paying for an item you win? I know if that happened around my way...the person would no longer be allowed to participate in future auctions. He said that the bid was made in error, and that the bidder called and discussed it with them and did say he would pay since he did submit the bid, but at that point they decided to check with me and see if I wanted the lot at my max bid. I don't know enough to know if this is on the up and up...its plausible I suppose. It's just that those circumstances coupled with these threads raise some flags. Given what we now know about Mike's shilling reserve practices, does anyone else not feel Heritage is aiding and abetting this practice by calling under bidders on his consignments? They can confirm he didn't bid, but they definitely need to do some digging as to the bidders themselves, if they are 'friends of Mike shilling his stuff' of course they are likely to be KNOWN bidders.

Just had a look at the preview for the first time, Gene said best in the last 3 years earlier in this thread, might have to extend that timeline, its been just a long time since I've seen a lineup like this at auction. WOW 'O WOW

Well after 300 it was just me and another bidder, I'm going to assume he now has his copy. I think in my mind I was comfortable in the 500 range and the last bid was just a, 'ok Im not losing this for 50 bucks. The fact that the other bidder was in the same mindset caused the bidding war and Dan reaped the rewards of that. Just a perfect storm, as I did not pick up a piece of art at the last round of auctions and had some $$ to commit.

Well Dan I pushed it pretty hard and even I was surprised when I typed in $800 (more surprised when it wasnt enough ) - think I musta been pre-4th post-1st drinking . Congrats on the sale.