Gambold Vintage

The response to the question depends on numbers and grade of the suddenly found issues. To use the most extreme example, if 20,000 copies of IH181 in 9.8 condition were suddenly found in some giant freezer, yes, the market for that book would crash, unless you can find 20,000 people willing to spend 70K each for one. Pretty doubtful. What is a harder to determine is what if 100 copies were found, ranging from 9.0 to 9.6? That's only an additional 3% to the current 3000 that exist in those conditions, so it's probable there would little to no effect on pricing. If anything, prices might creep up a bit because of the flurry of bids to get one of those new-found copies.

I'd like to head this one off, but of course you are free to contact Shortboxed for answers. In this situation, it was fairly clear from the get-go that the seller was bogus. By that I mean they weren't responding to the sale nor were they going to ship the book. You get a good sense of these things after buying and selling for years. It wouldn't be proper of me to screenshot their emails, but Shortboxed evidently agreed after trying on their own to contact the seller and verify the sale. They may have had other reasons they didn't share with me for the suspension decision. Frankly I was surprised about that - I wasn't gunning for the seller, I just needed a fast turnaround on the refund. So like I said - they may have had other reasons. I think they are fair and if this was a legitimate sale, they would have counseled me to wait. I want to vouch for Shortboxed's response on this, which is why I changed the title and content of the original post, and removed all my ill-advised squabbling with fellow forum members. It was a learning experience for me too, and while many of the comments here were mean-spirited or just kinda stupid, I do appreciate the few that took a genuine, mature interest...which is why I have posted more details here at the end. Happy Collecting, Gambold Vintage

As stated in the first post (update), the seller was evidently bogus, their account suspended by Shortboxed, and the order was cancelled by them. Thanks to everyone for their interest.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

For those of you playing at home, it was obvious to me after three days that the seller was never going to ship that book, which is why I tried to contact Shortboxed. Unfortunately, their customer service hours are limited to Mon-Fri, 9-5 PST. For New Yorkers, this means once Saturday starts, there's no support until after noon on Monday. As this was a time-sensitive situation, these limited hours and the method of contact (personal emails) was difficult to accommodate and explain to other involved parties. Fortunately Shortboxed was able to effect the refund quickly...after noon on Monday when they finally "opened" on the East Coast. A further concern is the anonymity of sellers - how would a buyer know to avoid the bad ones? The seller in this situation was suspended, although there may have been additional reasons for that. Shortboxed will soon be badging sellers as Power Sellers and/or Trusted Graders, a move to professionalizing their service for which I heartily commend them. Hopefully as their business grows, they will be able to provide more active and sophisticated customer support as well. Gambold Vintage

Thanks for the information. This explains why I couldn't find them anywhere online for sale in the usual supply vendor sites. I'm not a dealer...i just needed a 100 or so. I can imagine the dealers aren't happy about the delays and limitations.

You appear to be right! Those bags (Gerber 775R) are discontinued, and the only place to find them now is on E-Bay for high prices. SO - anyone got a recommendation for a currently-made substitute? I'm looking for something to slide my bagged comics into, so I don't want flaps. I'm sure the dealers will be looking too, since Gerber's Archives line is gone. Thanks again, Gambold

All the dealers use them at the conventions. It's an open-top sleeve with rounded edges - and usually the comic inside is bagged and boarded. I think this is Mylar 4mil (?), but I can't find this product anywhere - everything for sale online has a flap, and not those rounded edges. Thanks! --Gambold

I looked into CIS and got a quote but there were a few things in the application process that caused me to pass on them. First, their site kept crashing on application submission and I finally had to email them to confirm that my app submitted. Next, there was no way to pay them online, they wanted me to call them with my credit card. That indicates a weak online setup and probably no client account portals. Finally, I had to ask several times to see the policy - they finally sent me a generic one as a PDF. In summary, while I don't doubt they are reputable, they are a too behind the times in 2021 for me. I prefer online service, an account portal, and I don't like to have to email companies several times during the application process - it speaks to problems on down the line if I have to file a claim.

Thanks for the link. That's not what I mean. By a digital guide, I meant something that can allows the use of digital search, filter and reporting tools. I did download the sample and checked it out. It pretty much functions as a large PDF file with bookmarks on key titles. They OCR-scanned the book...they aren't providing the data in a database or spreadsheet format. See attached.

I'm happy to stand corrected, but could you send a link for this "Apple store" version? Searches on my iPhone and my Macbook in the App store for "Overstreet Guide' or "Overstreet Comics" bring up nothing. Screenshots attached. A spreadsheet is more useful because it allows you to sort or filter the entries in any way you choose. A database would be even better, although I understand that not everyone is going to have the requisite software to use one.

>t's not a title that had a lasting run, like Batman, Superman, Action or Detective Well I have to push back on that. World's Finest ran for 45 years, from 1941-1986. It's a seminal book in the DC universe, and has featured a host of artists, characters and stories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Finest_Comics

Thanks for that information. Yeah we can give them the benefit of the doubt ton this, but I do think the time of blaming Covid for product delays, poor customer service, shipping issues, weak product lines and whatever has come to a close. Nothing changes the fact that the current Guide, which is what 99% of of the potential buyers are going to buy, is marketed as a "special anniversary edition" and there is absolutely nothing special or anniversary-related inside its covers, or in the choices of cover art, or ANYTHING. BTW - someone mentioned a digital version. If they are referring to the PDF dump as a digital version, that is basically worthless, being a PDF. A true digital version would be in a database format, or at least a spreadsheet. It's 2020 - could someone at Gemstone PLEASE modernize the Guide?

A digital format - we've been asking for this for years. Won't happen under Overstreet. If he hasn't done it by now, he ain't doing it. There's also the consideration of a subscriber format. I know some people will state that you can get up-to-date pricing information on e-bay and Heritage etc but searching those sites can be a drag and it's nice to have everything in one place. Someone else mentioned the idea of different volumes for different ages. This is not a bad idea but there's not enough interest to sustain an annual print run of just GA or SA guides. I wish there was, and it was tried once with the GA. The prices were completely off the mark. Another hurdle is slabs. The Overstreet pricing is all for unslabbed books. We can argue all day if the huge percentage increases for slabs are correct or idiotic but they exist and they haven't "settled down." My own opinion is that the Guide started to lose its way when it brought in big little books, platinum comics, and other areas of limited interest that fattened the book and shrunk the type. I wish they spent more ink on the actual business of collecting, and left the articles about artists to other venues. The market reports may sometimes be self-serving but at least they are about the market. The article writing is the weakest part of the Guide - better writers are all over the Internet and in the TwoMorrows magazines. I like having a physical annual Guide, I think it adds a kind of touchstone to the hobby. I wish it was better than it is. It seems to be locked in a rut.

>It's just comic books.< OMG you typed that out loud. The lancing cruelty of that word "just."