Ghost Town

Great books. I bought the Avengers #41 from Vincent raw years ago and had it slabbed too. Glad it found a good home.

Just finished up another another nice, easy transaction with Paul. He's one of the board's best. Thanks again!

David buys books like a drunken sailor. He communicates like a Pulitzer Prize winning writer. And he pays as quickly as, um... a drunken sailor who stood too close to a fire and needed to get the flammable bills out of his pocket as soon as possible.

Just finished a stellar transaction with Scott. Quick payment, fast, friendly communication. He's all sorts of awesome. Thanks, Scott!

Words can't describe how great a buyer Randall is. So in his honor, I'll post some photos of his favorite baseball team.

I just shipped a box to Canada yesterday and used USPS.com for the label. I only got single page form as well. I gave it to a clerk at the post office to scan the label and she didn't kick it back to me. Hopefully it'll get there. It's a nice change if this is the standard going forward.

No we aren't . We are paying to support forward payment of benefits that NO OTHER COMPANY in the history of the world has had to pay. This ruling was made by Congress, and the two leaders of the Congressional committee who pushed this through represent Memphis and Louisville, homes of the shipping hubs of Federal Express and UPS. Such a coincidence. When Congress kills the USPS, and rates to ship things quadruple - and they will - I do hope that everyone who about the USPS remembers what they had. Yup.

I'd pay to see their books. Like a museum admission fee.

As per usual, those Suscha books are just killer. Two in a row!

Wow. Wow. Wow. And wow.

I think they were private sales. They're definitely not reported to GPA like the $1.1MM sale. I've never heard the figures but it seems like some folks around here have.

The first 9.6 was over a million, the second wasn't... and the third even less ... I've had two different offers for my 9.2 that make me think this book will get a very respectable price. And I don't know if the 9.6 sales after the first one are fair comparisons.

I'm 99.9% sure the Oakland books weren't pressed when they were brought to market. I've told the story before, but I took the longest subway ride of my life from the West Village to Far Rockaway where Vincent, Mike C., and Bob Storms were processing the books in Vincent's parent's basement. It was July 1998 and it was box after box of Comic Book Heaven. The earliest books I bought that day were Avengers #41 (6/67) and ASM #60 (5/68). I think I was probably the first guy in after Bob and I don't remember any books from before 1967.

I bought my Oakland's slabbed but I don't think they were pressed first. Barton: can you comment on the Thor's I got from you? Sorry, Michael. I missed this. I didn't have any of my Oakland Thors pressed. I had them slabbed in the early days of CGC and pressing wasn't as affordable back then. But beyond that, they were probably already 9.6s or better without any TLC.

Great book, Peter. How many different copies of it have you owned? I'm pretty sure I bought my copy from you.

Thanks for the note and the clarification. It's a great book in any event. And I hope the auction results reflect that. I suspect that'll be the case.

Maybe. But I'll get over it. I'm pretty sure your comments about me won't have any effect on the hammer price if I'm ever auctioned off to the highest bidder. For the record, I don't feel that way. In reality I don't really know you, I was just attempting to make a point. Not sure if this is an insult, but my comments were not intended to be. I apologize if they came off that way. Either way I doubt much of anything posted here will impact the hammer price on this particular book. We love to think we have far more influence on the world here than we really do. No worries and thanks for the flowers. I definitely understand the value of discussing these things here. I just like to remember that these books belong to somebody.

Maybe. But I'll get over it. I'm pretty sure your comments about me won't have any effect on the hammer price if I'm ever auctioned off to the highest bidder.

It's nice to see a positive comment about this book. I know comments on the internet skew towards the negative and people are free to share their opinions and all that. But I'm always a little aghast at some of the posts about some big books in auctions over the years. And I know I've probably been guilty of it myself at one time or another. Are the comments fair game? Sure. Reasonable? Often. Do they make a difference to the final prices realized? I don't know. Maybe sometimes. But I usually think, "Hey, this is somebody's book and he or she is trying to sell it for as much as possible." And if I'm not a fan of the book or grade, what's the point of me posting that in a public forum? I just won't bid on it. Again, I know people are free to share their opinions and the point of this board is to discuss funny books, good and bad. Though it seems to me, there's usually gleeful rush to post dismissive comments about the books. I guess I just wish for a little more restraint. I don't understand your point. The purpose of this forum is to discuss comics, specifically it was created by CGC as a means to advertise their services in the context of collectors. For sure that includes criticism and accolades as long as they are all within the stated forum rules. Many of the posts are questions about the grade itself - which is especially on topic for this site... This seems more like "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all..." Which if you are referring to how some board members treat each other from time to time (of course I fall into this), I can see the validity of the statement. However, I don't understand frustration around commentary on a public auction. I would say that such commentary is exactly what this place is supposed to be used for - as opposed to anything in the Watercooler, the constant barrage of posts for schooling grammar/debate effectiveness or any of the many other things discussed that have absolutely nothing to do with comics. Now, if these were comments directly on the HA website on the page with the book, your point would make complete sense. However, like here, negative comments on items for sale on their site are not welcome (nor are they even possible). :shrug: I made my point with what I wrote. But I’ll put it into different words for you. It’s a bummer that when a new high grade copy of one of the three most important comics of all time surfaces, that what followed here were mostly negative comments about the book. Three different times in my post I wrote that people are free to post whatever they want about a book, criticisms and all. I just find it disappointing that so many took the opportunity to disparage the grade and the book. Personally, I don’t feel good about publicly slamming somebody’s book or its grade. You and plenty of others obviously don’t feel the same. And that’s fair enough. Please carry on.

It's nice to see a positive comment about this book. I know comments on the internet skew towards the negative and people are free to share their opinions and all that. But I'm always a little aghast at some of the posts about some big books in auctions over the years. And I know I've probably been guilty of it myself at one time or another. Are the comments fair game? Sure. Reasonable? Often. Do they make a difference to the final prices realized? I don't know. Maybe sometimes. But I usually think, "Hey, this is somebody's book and he or she is trying to sell it for as much as possible." And if I'm not a fan of the book or grade, what's the point of me posting that in a public forum? I just won't bid on it. Again, I know people are free to share their opinions and the point of this board is to discuss funny books, good and bad. Though it seems to me, there's usually gleeful rush to post dismissive comments about the books. I guess I just wish for a little more restraint.

Nice book, Marty. I'm always a fan of Gil Kane covers. I had to check on who did the inks. It's a guy named Ralph Reese who definitely wasn't one of the regulars.

Amazing mags, David. Just killer stuff.

Great book, Peter. Dale has two very tough Westerns, a Kid Colt #158 and a Two-Gun Kid #107, listed in his sales thread right now. They're both very sharp copies. Any self-respecting Picture Frame fan should grab them while they last.

I think the Western Penn collection had a bunch of nice Picture Frames too. But I get the impression they were pretty well scattered around the collecting world in the pre-CGC days.

Some more Twin Cities specimens: