Silverfish Assassin

So how do I figure out how much CGC would charge to grade this? Only WP comp I see is $1,673 for a 9.0 back in 2009.

I assumed one staple was due to war rationing.

On 9/8/2024 at 11:55 AM, vheflin said:

I recently saw the same copy of a desirable issue go from 8.0 to 9.6 due to a scrunched corner that was flattened.  Now in a 9.6 slab, it became single highest graded. This moved the value from $4k -> $40k, all from a press.

See, that's all I'm trying to avoid - I don't want to be the chump who gave away tens of thousands of dollars. Not again. My attempts at selling have mostly gotten nowhere though. Feels like this whole industry has gotten fat and lazy since COVID, now everyone expects to do none of the work and take (collectively) half of the profit. 

Quote

Pressing and grading has made comic collecting quite odd, indeed.

Coming from a background that's more conservation than comics, I can tell you that conservators the world over are pressing paper, but the standard practice is to rehydrate it and let it dry for a day between two heavy sheets of glass. I've never used a heated press to flatten paper. The process of adding heat and moisture to unwashed paper is how I'd describe rapid artificial aging btw.

Included 2 photos of front cover - one shows the faint date stamp (center), the other shows where a drop of solvent landed (just below date stamp).

First pic was also before I unfolded damaged corner (bottom right)

Yikes, does this forum not allow you to delete your own posts?

The census tally for these is 28, which is 5x less than issue No.1. So... why don't they seem to be worth anything?

Who'd buy a comic with that little flap sticking out... It drives me bonkers. Maybe because I'm OCD. And something tells me the demographic I'd be selling to doesn't enjoy a lower than average incidence of that particular affliction.

2 virtually identical copies (same history, same storage, same condition) which is kinda fun because you can compare colors and any differences are probably as-manufactured. Like Mickey's foot, which is brown on one and reddish on the other. One whole cover looks red-shifted actually.

On 9/8/2024 at 7:39 AM, vheflin said:

6.0 as is, 7.5 after smashing and scrubbing

I'm starting to become disillusioned with the idea of grading... I would've expected the grade to be based purely on things that can't be changed. Either that, or I would expect the grading service to do the changeable things themselves, to both set a standard and dissuade pre-grade monkeying.

Well, I got most of the curl out.

I'm not entirely sold on the idea of heated pressings... Do they steam the paper first? Because adding water is damaging to old paper unless you immediately rinse away the acid it creates (hydration of atmospheric sulphur/nitrogen dioxides creates nitric and sulphuric acid, two of the most embrittling/hydrolyzing acids).

On 9/6/2024 at 10:18 AM, marvelmaniac said:

small spine split starting at top left corner

discolored staples

dent...top edge of rear cover

 

 

As usual, I both appreciate and loathe your assessment. That's 3 new flaws you've made me cognizant of...

Front cover: mildew, bleached spine, silverfish chomps in upper left, wrinkles/creases across blue bird. Unsure about triangle in upper right (might be extra paper from a neighboring book).

Back cover: small chips/tears along upper edge.

Cover seems well attached for having only 1 staple.

I fought the urge to wipe off the mildew as I normally would (with distilled water and cotton swabs) because I'm new to comics and don't yet know the rules.

I'm glad you posted that census data, because I was having trouble locating it in the database.

And I investigated the back cover - turns out the "triangle" is a big damn hole. Luckily no paper is missing, but it's still an ugly tear. I spent about an hour unfolding the tear/flap as you see but I couldn't get that last little bit to unfold.

Probably my best comic. Pages are surprisingly white. The spine should start to flatten now that I've got it bagged with a piece of rigid cotton museum board.

After thinking about this a lot more, I've realized something - the encapsulation of comics and coins is tolerable because it doesn't visually impede the most interesting parts, which are the outer faces. This Disney Retrospective is the exact opposite though, with amazing, full color pages, and dead/boring covers, so I think it'd be a shame to encapsulate it.

On 8/27/2024 at 5:42 PM, scburdet said:

A copy sold on Heritage in 2017 for $120

I'm more interested in the one sold by Van Eaton in 2018 for $968... That was the only other copy I've seen that matched mine on condition. Usually the covers on these are destroyed because they're essentially made of wood, which is even worse than pulp paper in terms of acidity/longevity.

I have no idea if this is a gradable thing, but at least it's something new for you to look at. Apparently my artist ancestor worked on "Fantasia" according to his pencil ramblings on the last page.

Wow, an 8.5 sold last year for $7k...

On 8/26/2024 at 5:47 PM, thehumantorch said:

never seen a FC printed without a back cover.  Just the covers being used to continue the story.

I'll try to choose my words more carefully!  That reminds me - what does one do with a Mickey Mouse #8 from 1940 that might've been a grade 7 except the back cover has been cut off? 

A bit dirty with a sun-bleached spine, but holy cow is this a desirable issue.