Mmehdy

Not if Metro wins the suit and again there could be some kind of option that CC had to purchase all or part of the company..they could move and be ordered back by the court.

13 at least MH's in next weeks auction and a couple of Rockfords...interesting mix

very nice find, I bet you got there early.....

I cannot see why they would pull out of a show, unless possibly they cannot take on a great number of submissions...

that is the danger when your book is not graded by CGC...or dealing with Ha,CC, and CL they will always be available should there be a problem...

COOL, thanks for the headsup....

I count 9 MH's in this weeks sunday auction similar to what was just auctioned off ( Military, Tilly etc) and a couple of non-mg which look Johnish. At 10 per week that would be 520 in a year, we just had 260 in the last Ha Sign Auction...look for a ramp up...good time to get a MH if you don't have one some are gonna get lost.

It must be worse than we know about....If Metro wins, it is gonna be a real mess, I would not surprised if Metro buys the "Other Guy" outright as part of settlement.

At Wonder Con two years ago they had a lot of submissions, so I cannot see how a company who had plenty of work actually was bankrupt....again, I suspect that Metro had some type of option to purchase a % of the "other guy" at a a fixed or reduced price, hence the sale to Becket at a greater price...Metro has been around a lot longer than them, and to force them to file a suit shows me the true character of the "the other guy"..I will never use them to support an injustice to Metro or any other creditor. In my opinion, and that what it is, I see auction results that favor CGC over the "other Guy" , and just because they changed owners..you are still dealing with the same characters who made this possibly, and according Metro questionable business move.

Probably this case will settle before trial as most civil cases do, in this instance it will be interesting to see how this effects the other auction houses.. In the last Ha Signature Auction this month there was notable absence of the the "other" guys books, very few in the entire auction.

just the beginning, 2019 is gonna be a very strong year for MH's

My concern here is the pages quality went up..to white which would seem to me to be at the most at risk with rusty staples, the non disclosure is very troubling to me...especially a book of this statute and the prices that are about to being paid...seems unfair at the very least. By cleaning them, and it changes the label...it implies the condition of the staple is material, and should be disclosed.

HA who also does cards metro does not, and could offer "no charge" in house grading in return for consigning the items to their company giving a leg up to their competitions. It is a natural extension of their business in addition look for HA to add a restoration company or expand the "other" guy and offer those services. Combined with the best website hands down, best catalog hands down, that would make a might trio for their competition to over come. They could restore, grade, slab and sell the book in house.....tough to beat

it is my understanding you can clean the staples without losing the color of the holder ? buy they have to be the original staples, 15 years allowed the change?

One further point, the move to Texas would make the "other: company easier for HA to acquire down the road.

A new "whale" client has the ability to impact the market greater than 20 regular new collectors, especially in an auction setting. 2019 will be a record year for the auction houses also, if they were publicly traded might be a great investment as they profit on both an up and down market. As far as investors go, it seems more of them are just that, not in it for the long run, and not a true collector...more of a speculator on ultra key GA/SA key books. There are a lot of old collections out there, however many could be bought outright and then brought to market to recycle. Not an exact science, but my gut tells me 2019 will be an record year for acquiring great material for your collection.

1- It was pretty well know that George, who co-owned Supersnipe comic book store, had completed his major issue comic book collection right after the Empire Strikes Back was released, and believe me its a great, however that is not every comic book ever made, and over the years Good Girl Art comics etc came into fancy...I know he does not need Action 1 but some of the minor issues/titles are not there. He has always collected original art including buying Carl Barks paintings when they original came out, along with Steven. The old word has it that he owns the OA to the cover of ASM1 and he has always been a player in the original art market, including illustration and pin up for quite some time. He will be a player in the future , both comic book and OA. 2-The economic boom cannot continue forever, I see a dip due to inflation/ bond prices and its about that time in 2019 in a economy has historically gone they cycles every 10 years or so and add a possible political change at the top and BINGO. The smart guys are always ahead of the curve and they are are gonna see coming from a mile away. The issue is not the older collector, who paid pennys on the dollar for there collection and can hang on forever, but the new INVESTORS..those who bought mainly to make a profit like any other kind of widget, they will dump and run. I repeat 2019 will be so far the best year of available quality GA/SA ever since the late 70's. In 2019, Demand will also increase among new "whale" clients as comic book movies continue take over hollywood, with the both #1 and #2 for 2018 movies being comic book over 1 billion dollars gross each. Remember, in any auction it only takes two...who want buy. Movie theaters are coming to the middle east, and these Marvel films are gonna have a cultural effect on people who have unlimited funds. The Avengers just broke box office record in China for 200M for a weekend, it is gonna be interesting to see if that has an impact on the market when Asian collectors turn their attention to comic books. I know here in California asian buyers from China are active and tend to pay cash for property purchases. 2019 is gonna be a great time to buy AND a good time to sell. I would be very picky however, on the buy side. I would upgrade existing copies to the highest grade you can afford, grade everything you have left in your grading pile to maximize your potential return and get you want lists ready.

I have read the the complaint/lawsuit and done a little research and this is my opinion: 1-There could have been a private agreement as to the possible purchase or option to purchase by Meto or for a % of the "other" company. 2-Vol instead could have done a end-around of this agreement and sold out to Beckett for supposedly for funding expansion with more employee's and bigger facilities as professional grading has increased in demand. 3-The other guy was buried by too many other submissions to grade and needed a big brother to help grow, Metro would of been more of a sideline investor, and they were finding it difficult to perform on the Meto agreement while other higher paying submissions were in line. 4- Interesting decision to try to keep them in Florida and prevent them from being able to expand to Texas, if the deal is declared illegal the next move would be a merger with CGC or buyout from a major auction house to create a in house grading company to reduce the auction house costs. 5- The "other" guy cannot go it alone in the current business environment.

Consolidation is what occurs in any business when the $$$ are there. A 12M comic book auction which occurred this weekend will raise a few heads on that number, the good part is that a lot of GREAT stuff comes on the market in one central place. I agree with you Robo there is nothing like finding comics in different places such as garage sales, antique stores, etc but E-bay eliminated a big chuck of that, and if I had to guess, the biggest sellers of comic books in the world is E-Bay in terms of quantity. Don't be surprised if one or more dealers such as CC begin buying some midsize dealers. Chuck/Mile High went around after the last bust and paid 5cents on the dollar for the smaller dealers and still is buying low-tier dealers out like Rich H, etc. These auction houses can buy the dealer out and put the entire inventory and auction it themselves, I am surprised not more of this has happened but as more whales buyers come in, and when George Lucus museum starts aggressively buying to complete their collection, the $$ are gonna get ramped up. On the flip side when you buy a book from Ha/CC/CL you know you are going to receive it properly packaged and that has to be a factor, as well buying from an established dealer. I agree, Using E-bay I am use caution and avoid whenever I can, one way to get around it is buy from Amazon if the dealer lists there too, they are good about refunds etc. Robo, I understand that we grew up buying comics from the local drugstore or supermarket and that is something that I carry with me today, going to the rack on tuesday...not knowing what was going be there, amazing time, I have mixed feelings about how the investment market has taken over our hobbys headlines, its not about the book, its about the greater price it got this time at auction or sale. Investment if fine, but let's not forget why we are here, if you just only want to make money..play stocks, bonds, Calif real estate, and stay out unless you are a true comic book collector for the long haul. What is left?..we have ourselves, we have some the greatest adventures, artwork, stories, memories ....we have a heck of lot left to go. I predict 2019 will be the biggest year yet, and some of the most important collections will become available mostly thru auction, but also some thru private sale.

As I recall, Bud in the early days did not work the stores, he was in the background, I only saw him once in San Jose store early 1972 ish. I can remember why they initially broke up, as some great GA went missing and everybody blamed everybody else. Later, an employee admitted to the theft, and everybody kissed and made up in the 90's. I would say Bob was clearly the most knowledgeable when it came to GA/SA back issues, no contest. He also knew how to buy back them when I attempted to trade him EC's for the SF books, a real amazing time. I consider looking back that my all time favorite convention was the 1972 or 3 Berkley Con, the first one...I remember buying action #3 and #6 from Terry Stroud for around $200.. and missing Superman 1-50 for $1200 , those were the days. Bud made a lot right decisions, being in fandom for 50 years shows intelligence and honesty, buying Charles Abar out was one of them. It was a very small community back then, with no cell phones, snail mail and no internet for communication. Amazon is a 800LB gorilla that has wiped out all major book chains except one...while I was loyal to Bud and bought at SDCC KNOWING I could get a better deal elsewhereI remained loyal during the SDCC. Today like 99% of you I use Amazon to get most of my books, although I will support the upcoming SDCC and buy from them. I was surprised Bud out lasted a look of big bookstores, so he had legs and loyal customers. I knew things were slowing down a bit when he tried to sell the business with no takers. Whether he had one table, or 10 I will miss him.

I talked to John about the availability of his Cap 1 a few years back at SDCC, he told me he turned down 1 million for it, and that was several years ago, I think he told he paid $285K for it or something like that...John's collection at one point is going to market, the issue is how, on the very big books its tough to beat HA with there catalogs and the best website out there, look for a test roll out, of some books, if they auction successfully then more will follow, ten times would be 2.85 Million, don't think it will get to that level, I would guess 1/1.5M plus BP

Barrett was a real nice guy of comics and he past away some time ago, and never did me wrong. Bud and Bob has a disagreement with the origins of the "direct market" and who deserves the credit, I am on Bob's side on that one, I was there and I don't think Phil was sole and direct creator of that market, especially on the west coast. All three of them are Icon's of the past, with John, time has passed and few if any persons remember him and that is a crying shame. All three deserve equal credit and both Bud and Bob are over 50 years in the business.

There are going to make a strong case about auctioned John's collection should the family decide to sell all or part of it, plus they have the "local" advantage going for them....look for great stuff in 2019

I lost 3 over the auction...I have some regrets...

Cracked 12M...50 lots to go