Bomber-Bob

Yep, that's who I did the trade with. He's local to me. Great guy, great dealer. It was a huge trade, all slabs that literally took up 3 full auctions for him to sell. You probably got more of my stuff in your collection from those auctions !

I acquired these books the same way Marnin Rosenberg acquired the Mass SA books, through an ad in the CBG. It was sometime in the mid-90's, soon after Marnin got his books. Luckily for me, Marnin did not want the Bronze Age stuff. He told the OO to stop after 1970 . I talked to Marnin years later and my titles picked up right where Marnin's stopped. I never met the OO. The stuff was sent in baggie 'bricks' of maybe 10 books. It's been so long I can't remember exactly. I passed on many titles. I don't remember any Romance. He did have Western and I picked up a long run of Rawhide Kid. I had a long run of Mad and Cracked magazines. There was DC, Marvel, and Charlton. In hindsight, I should have bought everything offered but I was only trying to complete runs. I already had a full run of ASM so I passed on those. I needed an upgrade on #129 so I did get that. Good times !

I can tell from the cert number that is one of my submissions. I was keeping most of the Mass books with Black or White covers. I think I moved this book in a large trade. The Mass books are really nice in hand. The ones I submitted were very tightly graded under the watchful eye of Mark Haspel. In those days, every Pedigree that was submitted went through Haspel. The TAT on my first Mass submission was very long because Haspel was waiting to talk to Marnin Rosenberg to validate my story of heritage.

Yes, we love our comics. Let's not torture them.

I once had something like 8 long boxes of Mass Bronze and Copper, straight from the OO's basement. Stuart (nochips) got most of his Mass books directly from me. I don't have much left, only a few that Stuart let me keep HaHa . Of these, I believe the following are all Picture Frames. I am not a collector of Picture Frames and would not be aware of them if not for this thread. If I listed any non-picture frames, I am sorry.

Keep in mind, this book is not the big hitter like your ASM 129. It's a hot book that is desirable but, at this grade level, there will be less interest in it raw. I think you may be able to get 100.00 raw but slabbed probably 200 or more. Since you are sending it in for pressing anyway, I would get it slabbed. Who knows, maybe it will grade higher than we thought !

Yes, they even tax the shipping and handling. I argued that fact with them to no avail. It definitely gives an advantage to those bidding from a non taxed state. It doesn't bother me on 'smaller' purchases but it prevents me from bidding aggressively on bigger books. Not their fault, they are just following the advise of their accountants.

I already said a press and dry clean would help this book but, of course, the stain would still be there. It would get rid of the wrinkles at the site of the stain. I would slab it.

Use your best judgement. If CGC deems the book deserves to be in a higher tier they will bump you and charge you accordingly.

It's a service CGC does not advertise but they offer it. It's been years since I done it. I know it's been referenced somewhere here on the Boards by CGC personnel but I can't seem to find it. You submit it in the normal, appropriate tier for the book. If they accept it, you are charged the normal tier fee. However, if they do not accept it(not upgradeable) you are charged for one tier below the tier you submitted it in. I'm sure if you brought it onsite, they could assist you with this. I'll keep looking for that site. Anybody else remember how this works, do I have it right

Very impressive, love it !!! However, I don't think you are finished. I see one book in there needing an upgrade, LOL !

I would send it in to CGC, in the slab, for an evaluation. They will only regrade if they see a possibility of upgrade. It all depends on where they currently stand on fading. I admit, 5.5 seems a little harsh. Good luck.

A press will help the appearance but it probably won't help the grade. The large color breaking crease in the upper right corner and the stains is what holds it down. I'm at 5.5, at best .

It looks to be already in a slab, is this a grading quiz ? BTW, that spine has really been smooshed = I don't think a press and resub will help the situation.

Normally, I would have said 5.5 at best but I just saw a recently graded book for sale by a Boardie that had a similar size stain. The rest of the book was in much worse shape with some tanning and tears. The book was graded 5.5 . This book is in much nicer shape overall so I was doing comparison grading. For the record, I think CGC is much too lenient in this grade range. They need to tighten up !

I once submitted a Hulk 102 for a friend that looked to be perfect. Came back a 9.0 . This was back in the day when you could call and talk to a grader. The grader said the book was a slam dunk 9.6 but had some slight color fade in the upper left corner. Note, the whole cover was not faded, just the corner. It sounds like you are implying the whole cover of your 181 is faded. If so, I suspect it will be hammered much more than a single grade tick. As the Lion stated, we need to see a picture, but just from your description, I could see it dropping to 7.0 range. Color fade is one of those irreversible flaws that no one likes.

Got these a couple years ago, all from the same OO collection.

I don't see why this specific book should be singled out for this question. I think if you don't like signatures on books, you will say NO, don't do it. If you do like sigs, then you will say go for it. It has nothing to do with the fact that you asked about TMNT #1. Excluding current Moderns, I am not a fan of signatures on high grade vintage books. Therefore, I say No .

Nice book. The stain isn't too big but it does permeate the whole book. A press and dry clean should help this book. I would grade it in the 6.0 range.

I see raws in 2.0 offered on E-Bay and Mycomicshop for more than 200.00 . At a certain point, you may get more interest in it raw as either a reader copy or to use with a married cover. At this point, YOU have to do the math. Figure out what it would cost you to slab, with shipping.

Sorry but you have to state a Return Policy and acceptable payment methods. Good stuff and I am interested but we need for this thread to be Board compliant.

The pic is cropped at the bottom where it looks like the most damage is. Yes, very low grade. From what I can see, maybe a 3.0, worse if there is more damage we cannot see. IMO, I would not bother slabbing. At this level, it is more a reader copy than a collectable.

Thank you, much appreciated !