I would think that the fact that Centaurs get no respect, would be a blessing for collectors, since it would keep the prices low. When I started collecting mlj's again, back in 1997, one of the appeals was the lower prices and of course, the fact that I loved Archie as a kid. That, along with some good, although hit and miss stories and cool covers, made it a perfect fit for me. The whole focus on comics as investments and all that go along with that ( market manipulation,slabbing,Snake -oil salesmen, pressing and resubmission,non-disclosure of restoration, overhyping of substandard books,dealer/collectors as cult figures) is one of the things that takes the joy out of collecting and keeps people like me from buying more books. Like in the goldrush, the people who actually blazed the trails and worked their butts off finding the gold, stood below all the secondary industries that sprung up around them....sucking up the money and the glory, but doing very little of the work.
Having stood up on my soapbox, I must say that threads like this one, that appear to have a real passion for the comics, along with the expertise of people like JB and the contagious enthusiasm of collectors like Sacentaur, are a ton of fun to read. Some of my favorite covers are in this thread...some amazing images, one has to wonder how the stories were and how some of these books were recieved when they first appeared on the news stands. I would also have to assume that a lot of these books, with now iconic cover images, probably weren't collected much until the Gerbers came out and weren't saved as much as the DC and Timely books. It's hard to imagine a finer cover than that Amazing Man 22...what an incredible image. Anyone ever see the original art for that, or is it lost?