DanCooper

Could be the book that was included in an 80th anniversary set: https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/captain-america.html

Yes, it was at a Buy It Now for $800K I believe on the Metropolis side/site of the business

Mark is still listed as a consultant at CGC (see bottom of the following link) https://www.cgccomics.com/grading/cgc-graders/

I can see expansion of CGC, both domestically and globally, being part of Blackstone's game plan to handle demand and increase revenues. Setting up CGC facilities, outside of the main Sarasota one, in other locations in the USA and abroad. Some, have mentioned in other threads, that collectors will catch on to a CGC location that may be more lenient on grading and send books there, but something like that would probably go unnoticed to 99% of the people out there. The 1% (i.e. "The Boards" here) would probably be the only ones noticing and aware of these trends. Blackstone's mission:

No better cover to sum up all the lunacy surrounding this Promise Collection at Heritage!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvQDeBNFtac

One of my all-time favorite captions on the cover of Challengers of the Unknown #1: "Our young captor from OUT OF SPACE left the top off of our cage......." Did the young captor live in a small studio apartment? Was he a hoarder and space was becoming sparse?

That Scoop article/link I had posted earlier in the thread indicated: "Dubbed the “Southern Mass. Collection,” it was the best and deepest Amazing Spider-Man run that Pedigree has offered with an ending total of $840,466."

That is Howie Long

Looks like the 9.8 #89 went for $6,000 There was another Scoop article with some results: https://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1012?articleID=251815

Don't know if these are the exact same copies that ran in that CBG ad that Tom posted, since there were multiple copies of most books in the Western Penn collection. But, if these are the same copies, that were eventually graded by CGC years (decades) later, I guess we can call whomever graded the books in the CBG ad a STRICT GRADER, or at least ACCURATE! Comparisons with CGC books posted in this thread earlier versus CBG ad: FLASH 123 - CGC 9.4/ CBG - VF/NM (interesting both CGC and CBG ad note "WHITE PAGES") FLASH 129 - CGC 9.4/ CBG - NM MY GREATEST ADVENTURE 80, 81 & 85 - CGC 9.6/ CBG - NM/M SGT. FURY 4 - CGC 9.4/ CBG - NM/M SHOWCASE 34 - CGC 9.4/ CBG - VF/NM SHOWCASE 35 - CGC 9.6/ CBG - VF+ SHOWCASE 36 - CGC 9.6/ CBG - VF/NM

INCREDIBLE Tom! Thanks so much for posting this! Now I know how those people must feel like, when they (think) see Big Foot or Loch Ness after hearing the legend for so long! Thanks again

Tom, you wouldn't believe what us junkies would find interesting when it comes to pedigree collections. People would do podcasts interviewing wood panels from Edgar Church's walls, if they thought there was a possibility that it could speak! Please post whatever you have and let the audience decide for themselves. Most likely, we will eat it up!

Hi Tom You are THE Western Penn expert/source! I'm just a lowly outsider looking in! Most of my knowledge of the collection was what I heard through the comics grapevine, pre-internet, in the 1980s/1990s. Before the internet, and ebay, I always thought the Friedlander brothers were the ones who amassed the collection from the start. Like I mentioned earlier in this thread, some stuff seemed to be the thing of Urban Legends - multiple copies of very high grade Showcase 4s, a muscle car collection that included several Plymouth SuperBirds, etc.. It seems you have confirmed that most of that was true or heard the same. BTW, if you ever stumble across that picture of the SuperBirds that Mike F. sent you, please post it! One of my first exposures to seeing high grade examples of the Western Penn, live and in the flesh, was at an early 1990s NYC Fred Greenberg/Penta Hotel show that Keith Contarino was at. Keith had high grade runs, from #1 issues up, of Atom, Aquaman and Hawkman. He also had the high grade WP run of Our Army At War from #81 up (NO #83 though! ) Keith was looking to sell these as runs only. He stated, over the years, that he thought the Hawkman run could have been the most perfect batch of books (structurally) that he ever laid eyes on on. And that is saying a lot, especially with your experience of Keith returning the WP Showcase/Brave & Bold books mentioned earlier also!

Such sad news and giant loss for the local comics retailing community. Greg was definitely part of one of the biggest controversial threads and news stories in the history of the CGC boards - the sale of a Detective 27 to another dealer in the Pittsburgh area 14 years ago. The original CGC thread ran for pages and the story was one that a Netflix documentary could be made of - a Detective 27, coming into a local shop, supposedly being sold by one of the most notorious characters in comics dealer history, etc. Here is the short version of the original thread, with videos clips of the original story/controversy back in 2007: https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/147528-whatever-happened-with-eides-and-the-detective-27-scandal/#comments

It is Teddie (or at least it was at the time of the Comic Link auction last August) https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?id=1422024

No wait, let me say that again! Congratulations, Tom!

MGA 80 Western Penn past auction results (all same copy) 2004 - $4,945 (Heritage) 2005 - $4,312 (Heritage) 2020 - $26,105 (Comic Link)

The MGA 80 was sold on Comic Link last August 2020 for $26,105. Heritage also shows the copy being sold twice, in back to back years 2004 and 2005:

Trying to get this thread back on track with a more positive spin. Tom, was this Metal Men #1, that you posted earlier, one of those "freebies"?

Hey Tom, GREAT stuff and thanks for pictures! I think I may have found your WP Showcase 43 floating around in the ComicConnect archives (sold this past December 2020 for $1,650)

Great to hear that the Showcase 4s and the Plymouth SuperBirds were not Urban Legend! Oh man, having Mike Friedlander participating in this thread would be pure gold...no wait, this is the SILVER forum...no, I was right the first time, it would be PURE GOLD!! Thanks Tom!