Bomber-Bob

I think this thread has lost it's mojo . The OP has never returned or commented. The audience is now thin with those remaining arguing tangential details. SOmeone post some porn and maybe we can get this thread shut down !

Mylar is the preferred method of storage for raw books. How could a mylar covering the slab possibly harm the book in any way ? Sorry but I think your question is obsessive compulsive !

HaHA. Good question. I think I may have brought up the point that much of the higher end stuff has been picked over before the show starts. I wasn't complaining, or trying to be controversial, just stating a fact. Since then, I too am confused about what we are 'arguing' about.

Good post Andy ! A very honest appraisal of the realities of buying at a con. None of this is new, none of this is necessarily bad. It's just a fact.

If you do not yet own the book, run for the hills. You do not want to get involved with this project.

As a Rule of Thumb, I always go for the more Vintage book. In a Silver vs Bronze situation, go for the Silver. However, I would make every effort to get the Hulk 1 while still keeping the 181.

You said that, nobody else did.

Your approach sounds good to me. At least you are trying to give the collector a shot. It's unfortunate but you seem to be taking some heat over your comments. Don't let it bother you.

That cover does not appear to match up with the content. I suspect a Married Cover (Restoration) may be at play here.

I like the signature placement, he was careful not to disrupt the artwork. I could only imagine what Stan Lee would do with this cover, probably muck it all up. I agree with Fingh, leave it alone, you will regret it someday. Assuming you will only be submitting one book the costs will be very high, not worth it to get a Green Label.

All the buying and selling of most of the 'good stuff' is done long before the show opens during setup time. This has always happened and will continue to happen. I suspect some dealers attend cons primarily to acquire inventory. You also have 'dealers' that are not even setup but pick the other dealers during setup. I have noticed it's getting even more cutthroat amongst the dealers. Some expect courtesy 'first shots' and react if they don't get it. By the time the show opens, the show is over. LOL.

I hate to point this out but here is another thread where the original poster is one and done. One post, no responses. We seem to see this a lot lately. I just don't understand the mindset to take the time to author a long post, ask a question, but then fail to return to discuss the responses. Instigator ? Troublemaker ? He seemed like a decent fellow. Oh well.

I totally agree with this statement. As a collector I also try and get the sense for which dealers are actually trying to help me build my collection as opposed to making a quick profit. Your quick hitter list of dealers is a good representation with one exception. I find Metro to be cold and strictly about business. I remember years ago I bought a half dozen GA books of a certain title from them. The books were raw but had Metro assigned grades in the 8.5 to 9.2 area. Years later, I brought the books to them at a convention, looking to sell. Vinnie, not knowing I bought the books from him, appraised the books to be all in the Fine range , and offered like 60% of Overstreet Fine. I never forgot that incident. I think Vinnie is very good at what he does but he is a salesman, not a friend, not an advisor. Anyway, good post, G.A.tor .

This really is a good post. Too often, it appears as though the 'rules' are not consistently applied. While I love your post, the actual question is embedded in the middle of a long sentence and paragraph and I am afraid it will get lost. His question is basically 'are the rules written down' or do graders sometimes forget and misapply the rules ?

I have a copy and I wasn't included in the six, so now you have at least seven = I don't think it is that rare.

But your wife goes with you to conventions, even the out of town ones. She even helps you, searching out 9.8's. You combine the wife experience with your comic collecting.

I wonder if it's possible to get a 9.9/10.0 with a Qualified Label ? I don't think I've even seen a 9.8 Green. Definitely 9.6, in fact I got a couple myself over the years.

That was only true before the internet and UHD television!

I've always thought travel was a waste of money, gone forever. While on vacation, I would think about the comics I could have bought with the money. As far as the recollection, it fades over time, especially the emotional feelings. AT some point, it's no different than the memory of a good movie.

Everyone needs to get the whole trilogy !!

You are correct, it took something to trigger it, the DIsney situation in this case. But the magnitude of the jump can be attributed to the undervalued factor. I suspect that even if they announce plans for a SIlver Surfer movie, percentage wise, we would not see as big a jump as this year.

With the color breaking crease I suspect the book will be stuck at 8.5, the pressing will not accomplish much. Depending on your definition of 'significant', if that corner dent comes out nicely, 'maybe' you can get a 9.0 . Good luck !

Sometimes, a so called 'bubble' happens because the book has been undervalued for so long. I bought my 9.2 at least 15 years or so ago for the aggressive price of 1,500 . For years, there was no way I could ever get my money back out of it until recently. Being underwater on the book for so long, I was tempted to sell early this year when the prices were in the 2,500 range. I was approached by numerous WTB requests but they all wanted to buy at last year's prices, making my decision to keep it an easy one. While this was always a desirable book, the Surfer was not on the cover and there was always the comments about multiple warehouse finds, keeping the price down. Now, I regret not picking up the whole trilogy. With that in mind, I now turn my attention to the Wolverine trilogy ! HaHa.

I agree with both comments above. Assuming you bought this in person, you need to be proactive and inspect the book before buying. You do not want to submit this book, take it back from where you bought it.

But we are getting contradicting conditions about this. Per Bradley... 'CGC still uses Green label to Qualify books, but when a book is incomplete, the book still has to be in mid-high grade to Qualify it.' 'If a book is incomplete because it is missing an entire page (or more), that would be automatic 0.5' Based on these factors, this book does not qualify for mid-high grade and it is missing an entire page., so it should be a 0.5 .