buttock

1) dealers don't have to report anything. I sold well into 6 figures through heritage and they reported nothing to the IRS and clearly told me they didn't have to. 2) pull any receipts you have. Dig through credit card statements, emails, whatever you can find. Any expense associated with the acquisition of the books (USPS receipts, hotels, flights, dinners) can be deducted. 3) You only pay on what you make as profit, so it's worth the time to figure out what you paid.

I agree with this. If you can be disciplined enough to focus on a small and quality collection, it is unlikely to be a burden. I still get tremendous happiness out of collecting, but I have fewer than 1000 books -- enough to look at regularly and enjoy. If I had rooms full of longboxes that I couldn't get through and was buying impulsively/compulsively, then I wouldn't enjoy that. I only buy things that I really want, and so long as I do that I'm going to win every time. My kids have a passing interest in some of my books, but they know that they're valuable and I have explicit instructions about how to deal with the collection when I'm gone. But I'm also not leaving them piles of junk. I can't imagine a life where my hobby is a burden, so I've chosen not to make it so.

Well to be fair, a $60K BMW will outperform a MkII on everything but top end. So again, just lease it!

I would gladly let someone give me a GT-40, but I would neither buy nor lease it.

Lease the car, buy the comics.

I'm going to cut and paste the first 6 pages of this into the next "OMG!" thread about a HG key, because it's pretty much the same conversation every time and that will save everyone the effort.

Dear God...

I agree completely that impatience is an issue. That's why I made the comment about the internet time frame. If you want to get likes on instagram, you've got to have the goods. But you also have to consider that there was an underbidder, and that means there's more than one person willing to pay this level of price. That's where the fact that this is a 9.8 Batman key comes into play. It's one of the 2 most popular characters. So although there are 3 on the census, there are more than 3 people wanting the book. And again, when it comes to the price, although $90K seems like a LOT to most of us for a book of arguable significance, to the buyer that may be the absolute grail or a book that fills a hole they've been after for 10-20 years. And if it's discretionary money, more power to them. I say congratulations and I hope they are really happy with the purchase. And let's keep in mind that we're at 20 years of CGC certification now. In the first few years the crazy prices for top census books were clearly hard to justify. But the GL 76 9.6 sale was what, 10 years ago? Maybe longer? That's a generational leap in collecting time. I give a bit more merit to top census copies now. And again, this wasn't a CPR 9.8, this was an original owner book. So despite the money out there for other copies, they aren't turning up.

True, but as always, supply and demand. For Batman and ASM, there's always multiple buyers for a 9.8, and they have money. There isn't nearly the demand for the Church Fantastic #3 that there is for a Batman 181. Ask any weekend dealer and you'll hear that it's one of the single most asked for books. This sale capitalized on demand (all time high) and supply (despite everyone thinking that more are available, there aren't, and one hasn't sold in 6 years; an eternity in the internet era). 9.8 Charltons are probably rarer, but I don't think you'd see the same prices, although you also may only get one shot at those. People keep saying that there are more 9.8s of this book out there, but knowing that even prior to this sale, you were looking at mid 5 figures... where are they?

As with several pedigrees, the state of storage affected a lot of the books. Opposite to the Big Apples, the Crowleys tend to be poorly preserved from the early parts of the run (corresponding to the stamped copies), and increasingly nice as they get later in the runs. Many of the 1950s books are remarkably nice, both in terms of structural grade and state of preservation.

That was a very impressive price. About 3X comps for similar era pages, but it was a really great example.

1) it was an OO copy 2) there are many people who want something and aren't concerned about making a profit on it. I know it's hard to conceptualize at $90K, but there isn't a single comic book that has intrinsic value. This is a hobby and value is predicated on what someone will pay. In this case, at public auction with other people bidding below the max. For a collector who wants a 9.8 copy of this book, it's a great buy because there isn't another one available. As a collector myself, I rarely regret overpaying for something because I'm using discretionary funds. I'd rather have the books than money in the bank. But I'm not giving up my lunch money for comics either. All that to say, I hope the buyer is really happy with their purchase.

There's Battle Report 6, GI in Battle 9, and War Report 5 from Farrell, it's probably one of those. But there are a few others with the slur that you may be thinking of, but they aren't quite as violent.

I saw that book in person at a dealer's table and couldn't believe it.

It's really maddening that this is now not only acceptable, but it's ignored in the grading process. It's clear that the graders have deliberately chosen to ignore the chunks dug out of books like this. If you want to get rid of the restoration, then that's on you I guess. But for CGC to encourage defacing by giving gift grades is just unethical. And the craftsmanship is garbage. On the same level as...

Terrible news Cat. Peace to you through this.

I tend to agree with you, but time and time again we see a book bring staggering numbers at auction where it had been previously passed on at a fixed price elsewhere. I think some buyers just stick with one venue and don't bother to bargain shop.

Chachi > partridge family

Did you ever get any votes?

Yup. Slab box/mag box inside another box with lots of padding. Cardboard in between each if you can.

Quite possibly the single most underrated artist of the golden age. I think it would come down to him or Jack Cole. I think he's just brilliant.

If overhangs were the case then the two most egregiously misgraded -- IMO -- books can't be justified in this manner since they're Weird Tales without any overhang. It looks like the Conan book was regraded from a VF- to a FN, which is closer to what it actually looks like, so that's progress (although the paper catalog still has it as a VF-). But the batgirl issue, with a bug chew or abrasion at the corner, a 1/4 inch tear with creasing at the free edge, and a 1.5 inch color breaking crease isn't a VF. No overhang. Also, it looks like a LOT of books in the Pulp auction are trimmed, and that is only mentioned in the body of the description, not in the grade. That's not cool. That should either be factored into the grade, or the grade should be listed as an 'apparent' grade.

Limited sample size, maybe 40-50 certified books that I've bought over the past year, all GA-SA. That being said, I haven't seen any grades that I really disagree with. IMO CGC is currently accurate, which is something I haven't been able to say in years. The worst time was the early 2010s when there was a big turnover and no experience with vintage books, I don't know if all of those wouldn't drop 2 grades as a whole if recertified. But what I've gotten lately, I would say I feel like most are accurate, a few are a little loose and a few are a little tight, but overall within acceptable variation of standards. Great time to be a collector buying.

Hardly any notable sales, but what has been out there of the high-demand books are doing well.

It’s the bane of a comic collector’s existence to try and keep things sorted. Too many possibilities and crossovers. Must be nice to be one of those people who just collects one title.