Bomber-Bob

I honestly don't know the answers to any of your questions. I do have another idea. You mentioned you only wanted it slabbed for presentation purposes. Perhaps you can send it in, with the cover, and ask for a NoGrade, NG .

I agree the book probably makes 7.0, at best. This is a bad flaw, it can get worse over time, even if it's slabbed. Most collectors I know stay away from rusty staples, especially this bad. IMO, it is not worth submitting. I would sell it, disclosing the rust, and move on.

I would get it professionally married, attach the staples. While you are at it, consider getting the staples replaced with original staples. That bottom staple looks very rusty. There is another thread discussing a married cover situation. The book received a Qualified Green Label. If you go your route, a detached cover in a Blue label will grade very low.

Yes, you did very well. You are correct, it will always be pretty scarce but no longer rare. If more high grade copies hit the census, it makes it less scarce. Outside of future GOTG movies, I don't think Groot will be a major player in the future . I can't see a movie focused on him . I think he is as popular now, as he will ever get. Having said all that, I would keep it for now. If you do sell it, to maximize return, put it in auction.

Maybe he didn't like the first attempt and started all over ?

I've got a book that was professionally restored, cleaned, pressed, etc. It had a book length subscription crease and though the book was pressed flat as a pancake, when looking at an angle, you can still see the crease. I suspect you would be in the same situation and trust me, CGC would not miss it. BTW, my book received a 5.5 .

Good point. My unused cover theory does not make sense because it should not have the extra holes.

Valid point but the Qualified applied to the Married cover, not the holes. While it is debatable that the four holes should be covered under the umbrella of the Qualified Married Cover, obviously it wasn't.

I thought I read somewhere here that, years ago, there was a 'find' of unused SA covers. Whereupon someone took these covers, applied them to used interiors, and sold them as Mint copies. This could be one of those copies. Not sure if Atlas remembers where he got this book but I bet it was sold to him as Mint unused.

I suspect the original holes go through the wraps as well, all the way to the centerfold. Also, there are probably two holes at each staple with the second hole covered up (hidden) by the staple itself. So, you may now have 4 distinct holes, permeating the whole book . With that in mind, I don't know, does 7.5 seem reasonable ?

Do you really think a press would have eliminated that crease ? I don't.

Hey, you did well ! Good job. A book length crease usually will hold the book below 6.0. Add in some other problems and 5.0 sounds about right, maybe even on the high side. I would have graded it 4.5 .

I don't think you have your facts right. There was a recent sale on E-Bay, which you may be referring to, for 51K that turned out to be a 'fake' sale. I think the last real sale of a 9.8 was for 66K. The single highest sale(90K) was 1) The Curator Pedigree which always commands a premium. 2) Was not in auction but taken in a BIN. 3) I heard it was not an all cash deal but a trade brokered by Clink. So, roughly one can say there was a 24K 'drop' in price but not exactly an apples to apples situation. There are still only 5 copies in 9.8, so there are no recent sales. I think this book is fine and should NOT be included in a discussion of a SA key that is declining. In fact, in other grades, the book is very strong.

I'm pretty sure the presence of the original staple holes caused the 7.5 .

Thanks for the pics. It's a nice clean book with OW pages. BTW, as I thought, the CGC census was updated this weekend to include your book. There are now 3 8.0's, two Universals and one restored. I think your book will do fine in the right auction, in the ball park of the last 8.0 sale of 10.5K. I could see it going as high as 12K. Good luck !

Okay, usually comic collectors have OCD about the book in the case, some have OCD about the case itself, but I have never heard of anyone being concerned about the label. Your book is fine with a wavy label.

BTW, if your book was just graded this past week, it is probably not in the current CGC census yet. They usually update the census, once a week, on Monday. If so, this means there are 3 8.0's .

Sounds like a plan. Also, realize that as the CGC census is populated on the high end, the 'rarity' factor declines. It wasn't that long ago that the highest graded was a 9.2, now there is a 9.4 . The 9.2 that realized an 80K price was due to the fact that it was the highest graded, not because it was 9.2. A new 9.2 to market today would not sniff 80K . A couple years ago an 8.0 probably only had two copies above it, now there are seven. This factors into the price. To accurately realize the FMV of your book, you will have to put it in auction and let the market decide. Trying to ascertain a price and listing it as such is not a wise move. You have a great book, still in demand, still tough in high grade. However, it's no longer movie 'hot' , nor rare in high grade. Looking forward to seeing your book.

This thread is supposed to be about tragic stories. Your story is about selling your AF15 for record prices. I fail to see the tragedy ?

Sorry to hear this Tim. My condolences.

It's not my book, your call, but in order to find out you would have to ship to a presser and maybe go through the whole process again with no guarantee of anything. I would not spend any more money on it.

No problem. My comment about asking for financial advice was simply an FYI for future reference. The Boards love to help with grading, slabbing advice, etc. There is no rule against asking for financial info, just frowned upon. Okay, I see why you thought the 10,500 sale of an 8.0 was a restored book and I can explain what happened. First off, the 10,500 sale was for a Universal, not a resto. This same book, the book that sold for 10,500 was resubbed. Though we don't know the new grade, it was different than an 8.0. You can tell this fact by looking up the cert of 10,500 book, it was removed from the system. If someone resubs a book in the old slab, CGC removes the old grade from the census. At this point, there is still two 8.0's, yours and a restored. Without knowing how your book looks, page quality, centering, writing, stamps, etc. I would have to say it would probably not even match the 10,500 . Obviously the 8.0 selling for 10,500 was helped by the upgrade potential. If your book does not have any upgrade potential, it will probably sell for less. CR/OW pages, it will probably sell for less. Writing on cover, it will probably sell for less. I am not dissing your book, I haven't even seen it. I'm just saying, unless your book is outrageously strong for the grade, it will sell for less. It may come close to 10K but not exceed. Of course, this is all my opinion but remember, you asked for opinions. Show us a pic !

Sorry to see this happen to you but I doubt if anything can or will be done. It could very well have happened during shipping. Since you got it pressed in Oregon, it was packed up, shipped, and unpacked twice. Even if the packing is bullet proof, if the book is free to move a little in the mylar, this exact situation can happen. I suspect it was from shipping. The impact looks relatively light, not dramatic if it was dropped or something. It also, while prepping for the press, could have bumped up against another book. It looks like a backing board touched it ? Anyway, all speculation.

Roy, I think your scans are probably doing this book an injustice. The BC scan looks fine but the FC is very blurry. Maybe you should take a camera pic of the FC, if anything to show the colors. Great book, no slamming here, just saying.

First off, financial questions such as yours is usually frowned upon here. The thought is you should do your own homework. Others pay for services that provide sales data = you should not be asking for it free here. The 8.0 sale in May 2017 for 10,500 was for a universal book, not for a restored book. Not sure where you saw it ? There is currently an 8.0 restored on CLink, asking for 2,750 with no takers. With a book like this, that had a huge bump for the movie hype, you have to look at more recent sales as the hype dies down.The May 2017 is the most recent. In summary, I don't think you will get anywhere close to 20 - 30 K. Sorry.