Mmehdy

I just came back from Costo...and bought the oversize hardcover books of "The Golden AGE of DC Comics" 1935-1956 .. 416 Full color pages, and the oversized hard cover "The Silver Age of DC comics" 397 Pages from Taschen the great book publisher. They are only 19.99 each...as well as the excellent Bronze age book, and if you use your costo card you will get 2% or more back from your purchase. For the money, the quality of these books are unsurpassed. Great Front and Back cover designs and very sturdy hardback construction. It blows away Amazon and Barnes and Nobles prices. I just started reading the GA Volume and its great, my highest recommendation....

Much better than Batdog V super> reason: new director JW came in took over from that hack Synder...give all the credit to the new director and his 15% of the film which made it WAY BETTER, thumbs UP, good popcorn fun, but the best movie of the year by far is the new Bladerunner, you have to see it on the big screen...amazing production design.

It appears in the comic link auction, that Theo is selling one of his paintings "terror on the river" on comic link auction, its a great painting after he acquired the original Tales of the Crypt paperback cover from CL in a recent auction. Terror on the river is a great piece as I have seen it many times in person.

I see there was an new article in the CB newsletter about the taping of the collection. Since that time, Theo added to the collection the CB painting of the "Golden Helmet" full oil that was acquired either thru one of the major art auction houses a year ago or more, I think he sold the jumping in the money drawing but still has the full oil painting which was obtained from HA at a record price.

hats off to centaur .. a very significant contributor to early comic book history....

Auction cracked 8 Million level..heading to 8.3 Mil...amazing prices especially that Diary secrets 21 6.0 for 20x guide or there about $2900

7,855,000 with a day to go...western picture stories went for 4K, a solid buy, I hope a someone on the board got it...

what this auction can do...if it generates bidding wars between whales is distort the market price/conditions....and eliminates the ability of a true collector to possibly find a bargan....look at the catalog...4 million plus who in their right mind would pay that kind of money for that material...something is not right here.

It seems that business decision really paid off....over 4 MILLLION dollars today for a little over 100 lots. This is the whale auction....very bad trend.... This was

I other book I liked was the Terry Toons 38 with the first Mighty Mouse...the possibility of some movie down the road or more likely cartoon series. Again that is on Friday and its under still under guide price, not on the big auction, but a super neat cover and 9.0 but another sleeper is Western Picture Stories #4 Mile High 9.4 white pages, 1937...just like getting in a time machine going over 80 years back and coming back to 2017..wow and its at about guide price still today.

Lets take, for example, the best "buy" in this auction. I think we all can agreed that the stunning Shadow Comics #1 MH with first doc savage and shadow etc is flat out beautiful. Nothing on the census comes close in terms of condition and this is a true rarity in the condition that it stands and it is undervalued in general.. However, it somewhat gets lost among the big boys such as the crumb sketchbook, ASM1 etc...again this is my opinion, its just does not seem fair. But in the GA section it would clearly be a standout.

I am simply making a point, and by the way its 10,000 and over to qualify for the auction, that this is a special attempt to make a SEPARATE auction a day early and it does change things up. In no way am I suggesting that items under 10K are not valuable and in some instances better, I just think it very interesting that this is the way auctions are headed and as the great Bela Lugosi once classically stated in "Glen or Glenda" ...BEWARE....

I know lot of you got the stand alone Platinum session catalog from upcoming Ha auction. " The last platinum session we held in may 2017 averaged over $50,000 per lot with records falling left and right". My opinion is this is gonna be the new "trend" in auctions and its a disaster for EVERYBODY. Having a separate day just for the big stuff ( 10K and up) and no longer lumping together with all lots combined. This leaves the "little" guys at a total disadvantage. The big fish will only be focused on that auction day. They will be gone, and not have to sit thru your lot to get to the next big fish and buy something along the way, or say he thats cool. This is totally unfair to 90% of the sellers, whom will lose some the bidding pool in the process. Further, they have a day to think about the purchase from platinum and get tight about spending and say, that's it I am out or its not worth it to sit thru another day...instead of getting caught up the the "high" of the purchase and buying more at the very auction you win something with all items combined. Anybody who has "won" a lot knows that good feeling and the desire to buy more. I know we are all on different budgets....but to separate the haves and the have nots...also limits YOUR VALUE or RETURN by saying your item is not good enough or worth enough to be in the Platinum auction which is FIRST in line for the money pool. This devalues your ceiling by implication. Now that they have received a record price number and interest, who will be next. I for one, believe in the "old auction process"..that each and every lot should be treated with respect and NOT create a second class citizenship based on subjective value of the auction house. Your thoughts would be appreciated , thank you.

I know lot of you got the stand alone Platinum session catalog from upcoming Ha auction. " The last platinum session we held in may 2017 averaged over $50,000 per lot with records falling left and right". My opinion is this is gonna be the new "trend" in auctions and its a disaster for EVERYBODY. Having a separate day just for the big stuff ( 10K and up) and no longer lumping together with all lots combined. This leaves the "little" guys at a total disadvantage. The big fish will only be focused on that auction day. They will be gone, and not have to sit thru your lot to get to the next big fish and buy something along the way, or say he thats cool. This is totally unfair to 90% of the sellers, whom will lose some the bidding pool in the process. Further, they have a day to think about the purchase from platinum and get tight about spending and say, that's it I am out or its not worth it to sit thru another day...instead of getting caught up the the "high" of the purchase and buying more at the very auction you win something with all items combined. Anybody who has "won" a lot knows that good feeling and the desire to buy more. I know we are all on different budgets....but to separate the haves and the have nots...also limits YOUR VALUE or RETURN by saying your item is not good enough or worth enough to be in the Platinum auction which is FIRST in line for the money pool. This devalues your ceiling by implication. Now that they have received a record price number and interest, who will be next. I for one, believe in the "old auction process"..that each and every lot should be treated with respect and NOT create a second class citizenship based on subjective value of the auction house. Your thoughts would be appreciated , thank you.

good luck CAL...remember truth, justice and the CAL-America way.....

14K

very valuable and great pedigree ....anything under 77K is a bargain

I am not saying this will happen this year or next but when comic book/comic art market is gonna contract as the last of the newsstand buyers go away. At that point 2 major grading services are gonna realize what is good for both of them

Beckett is growing, and this was a very smart move, early on in the "other guys" business life, say two years from now they would double the price....there is an endgame....there always is, I predict within the next 7 years there will be ONE grading company period...it could be that both CGC and Beckett will merge, but most likely a stock purchase. Just makes sense taking two operations and cutting it down to one. We are at the point of diminishing returns as far as new collectors of the physical comic book, too many other distractions in the entertainment area . The classic stuff will always be there, but the "other guys" knew they were on a time limit to hit peak value, maybe a bit early, but never be too greedy. This similar to the "dime novels" of many many years ago, they had price guide, they shows etc...who knows or cares about them today? The greatest comic book work has already been created in this field, the next field is yet to be here, I think comic books morph into graphic novels...on the computer as far as an end game goes. Forks, remember this rule..BUY what you LOVE, do not buy assuming that somebody is gonna pay more money...and in terms of investment always remember , comic books are not tangible income producing assets, no rents, no crops, no dividends ..only the hope down the line, that somebody is gonna pay a price that exceeded yours and that amount hopefully will exceed the inflation factor from the time when you bought it to the time when you sold it. Buy the book for pride of ownership , not the hope that somebody is gonna believe that "somebody else" is gonna buy the book for more $$$$ when they buy it from you.

super keep up the pics

That seems to be the issue here, the "grading war"....with a lot on the line, 1/2 grade can mean $$$ and I mean big ones especially on the "whale books" such as A1, DEt 27.....but again it is subjective...I think CGC will create some kind of response..business wise to this major move in the comic book grading market place. Any guesses?

how many was that?

I noticed that coming out of the starting gate..a bit more careful...but over time I think the collector will be the ultimate judge, I mean 9-4/9.6 is subjective anyway, and I believe early on CGC was bit on the cautious side.

I believe the "other guy" is in a much better position, today, after the merger than a couple of years ago...bigger, stronger, and more $$$$ means more competition for CGC, and possibly a "price war" down the line..hopefully

most deals done are stock deals..for example disney and Pixar...its all about the tax issues..this one is similar to what disney did. so when read Disney bought Pixar...for 7 billion, they did not just write a check..stock deal, my sources also indicate it was a stock deal..... C-link is small fry...not mergeable with HA or CC...my sources also say Ha or Ha management was at the initial meeting with bruce hamilton when CGC started. Bruce was a big time supporter early on, the biggest...and then he turned agains the CGC so to speak and privately thought they were...well, how do I put this....on the up and up so to speak and became a non-supporter. Bruce died which was major loss for fandom so he is not around today to see how CGC has grown. I believe stock was available at that time. I do not see a conflict if Jim or ha owns any stock..its an investment and ha has honored the "other guy" in their auctions and has not gone CGC exclusive. Watch the "other guy" now try that tactic. especially on a second tier auction house, by offering a major discount on grading or priority. The war has just begun and with Beckett's they are certainly in a stronger position than where they were.