Filter81

Jason is a really nice guy. (Chris too btw) Jason sold me an AF 15 and was very honest and easy to work with.

I definitely agree, the two collections together would be pretty sweet! These don't really fit with the rest of my collection but were too cool not to buy.

Sorry, I know the picture quality is terrible. Special thanks to Andy (Thirdgreenham) for providing the 2nd to last book I need to complete this run. Now if anyone has an unrestored Tec 27 to finish the run (for some reason I've never wanted to own a 33), please shoot me a PM

+1 This is all based strictly on value (not historical importance) MAYBE someday restored Cap 1s will come close to restored Sup 1 pricing. (Sup 1 is the first time an entire comic was devoted to one superhero. Cap 1 has the iconic cover and a major 1st appearance. Both are cool books) But even that is a bit of a stretch. When it comes to unrestored copies, it's not even close. Superman 1 is too much rarer than Cap 1 when unrestored. Superman 1 will always sell for more unrestored than Cap 1 for the same reason the price of Hulk 181 will never surpass the price on an Action 1 regardless of which character is more popular. The top 3 books in the hobby unrestored by value are 1) Action 1 2) Detective 27 3) Superman 1. Everything else is a distant 4th. I don't think Marvel 1 is 4th anymore either. Pep 22 is making a strong argument for 4th place lately. Action 7 is probably in the discussion too. I heard about an Action 7 in high grade that sold privately for well more than a Cap 1 or Marvel 1 would've sold for in the same grade. And an Action 7 CGC 1.0 just sold for $32500 which I think is more than Cap 1 or Marvel 1 would get in auction. Marvel 1 vs Cap 1 I abstain from voting. Too close to call. Cap 1 seems on pace to take over Marvel 1 pretty soon unless current trends change.

Picked these up as part of a neat collection a few weeks ago

Frank, Until now I really had a tough time gauging what kind of person you are and exactly how much you knew about what your brother does. Unfortunately your response answered that for me. Call me a liar, call me trouble, call me a meth-head, call me whatever. Every word I wrote is the truth. You can't say the same. I could argue what you said point by point and we can continue to go back and forth. But to be honest, I never wanted to get into a back and forth with you. I wanted to educate board members regarding what I saw as a potential problem. That's all. I have nothing further to add at this point. Good luck and I hope you do right by everyone who buys from you. You're welcome to have the last word. I have nothing else to say.

Frank Palma: Here's a post from Frank earlier today. Frank is correct when he says that deal was between me and his brother and I understand Frank's desire to stay out of it. The only motivation behind my original post was as a warning to fellow board members. I don't dislike Frank. At the time that Greg, Frank and I bought some books from Homer's collection, Greg told me he was the ONLY person who knew about the collection. In a PM from Frank to me last night, Frank's exact words were: "My Brother apparently did give Rico (the person arrested for the crime) that phone number but NEVER had anything to do with it at all in any way. Of course he was questioned about it duh, and they told him that he is in no way associated and appreciated his cooperation, end of story. " Which in the post above changed to: "Well at some point his # ended up in the wrong hands and the guy got robbed." I am not accusing anyone of anything relating to that crime by the way (and in hindsight I wish I had left this entire part out of my first message) I'm mentioning it now because this is what my relationship with Frank has been like since the theft. Statements that while not really outright lies also don't fully represent the full truth. When Greg first stole from me I met Frank at a restaraunt at which point he told me Greg had gotten into similar trouble before. Our conversation got cut short because I received a phone call that Greg was back outside his store selling comics and I left to head down there. Frank told me I should not go to the store by myself because he was worried about his brother's temper, and he offered to mediate the situation before it escalated. Now Frank is claiming he knows and knew nothing. When Frank says he got out of comics in 2006 and did not run the store with his brother Greg in 2008/2009 he is telling the truth. It was right next door to the store that the two of them ran together, but by 2008 Frank was no longer running it. It was just Greg. However, the one collection I bought with Greg in 2009 was done at Frank's store. Prior to 2006 they worked at a store together for many years called the Palma Brothers. And Greg still works at Frank's store as of today. None of this means Frank had any association with what Greg did to me in 2008/2009. but they work together more closely than Frank's posts would infer. Greg is the one who stole from me, not Frank. Frank was in my opinion dishonest about it, but to the best of my knowledge, Frank has never stolen from anyone. To what extent Frank is aware of his brother's dealings, only Frank knows. .

I'm going to split this into two posts. One pertaining strictly to Greg. One pertaining strictly to Frank. I'm going to post only facts that I know to be true, which unfortunately is going to leave a lot out. But it's the only way to be fair to Frank. Greg Palma He contacted me regarding a CraigsList ad I posted about some comic books I was looking to sell. He came over a number of times after that, and at the time, I thought that he and I had become friends. He ate dinner at our house. He confided in me that his comic store wasn't doing well. He couldn't find enough inventory and he was worried he was going to be able to pay his rent. Feeling bad for someone who I thought was my friend, I started giving him books to sell in his store on consignment. The first two weeks I received a few hundred dollars. After that nothing. When all was said and done, I had given Greg roughly $30,000 in books to consign, and all I received back was approximately $200 or so. When I began seeing books no longer on the wall but no money coming in, I eventually decided to pull the plug on the arrangement and asked Greg to return my books to me. The day after I asked Greg to return the books, his store was closed. I only ever found 5 of the books I gave him. 2 that he pawned at a local pawn store the day he got them, and 3 others that he had sold. The rest were somehow sold privately. Everything I gave Greg was written down, signed for by him, and dated. I would frequently get calls after the store was closed down from a friend of mine that worked across the street from the store. He would see Greg show up in front of the store at random hours on random days to sell what "looked like comic books" out of the back of his car outside the store and then after a short time would drive away. I confronted Greg about this several times after it happened. Once at his house, once at his store. When I met him at his store he took me into the back room and showed me what he said was an "unliscenced" gun and two bullet holes in the back wall. He told me on more than one occasion that he had strong ties to the mafia (and on one occasion that he was a member himself) When I tried to get the books back, on several occasions Greg made comments that were clearly threats regarding both my and my family's safety. Looking back I don't know how much of this was for show. But it was worrisome enough that I never went to a lawyer or the police and we spent a lot of money on a top of the line alarm system. I found out afterwards that I was not the first person who had accused Greg of stealing comics. I also heard about a kid who claims Greg stole from him several months afterwards. So it does not appear our incident was a one time thing. In addition to comics, Greg Palma has a criminal record the extent of which I am unaware of. I only know this because of little bits and pieces that Greg and Frank have told me and the fact that the former Greece chief of police knew Greg Palma personally (and not in a good way) and Greg mentioned several times during the months I knew him that he felt the Greece Police were harassing him, though he would not say for what. Regarding the comics and the money there was no misunderstanding. This has always been more of a local issue so I've never brought it up here on the boards and only a few of my closest friends were ever made aware of it. Greg's response whenever confronted about this by someone in Rochester who didn't know either one of us very well, is that he gave me all the money back, in cash, with no receipts, but that I am secretly a Meth addict and that every time Greg paid me back I was too high and simply forgot I had been paid back. He's had 6 years to come up with a better response but that was his version at the time. There was no misunderstanding. And Greg is not some good, upstanding citizen. Frank's version of events now (it was different at the time) is that he is completely unaware of anything that his brother has done.

Frank, based on the last PM you sent me, I was prepared to let this go because I was under the impression that's what you wanted, and I'd already said what I wanted to say. if you would prefer to continue our discussion here I am 100% open to it.

I think filter has/had a 9.6... Definitely still has X-men 1 is the one book I always wanted to own as a kid. It took me years and probably went through buying/selling a dozen "keeper" copies before i finally landed this one. I was fortunate enough in the last two years to go from a 9.0, to 9.2, to 9.4, to eventually 9.6. (9.8 is out of my budget so 9.6 is where the craziness has to stop) The flip side is I probably won't be able to afford to finish some of the other things I was hoping to collect any time soon but on the plus side I did wind up with the book at the top of my wish list.

I have a follow-up question. For clarification, this is directed at Patrick (Silvers). On August 5th I wired you a $12,500 deposit for a book which I have still yet to receive or even be allowed to see. Under our written agreement, we agreed that as soon as I paid the deposit, I would be allowed to inspect, finish paying for, and pick up the book. I immediately wired you this money in good faith, because you told me you needed it right away. You told me that you needed money to send to your wife so that she could close on a house in Thailand and get back home from there. After I paid you, you changed the terms of our deal and told me I could not inspect the book, but that the book was being sent into CGC instead. When that didn't happen either, you have spent the past 5 months telling me repeatedly that you couldn't pay me back because SparkleCity owed you a lot of money from books you consigned to them that you were never paid for. Now it is difficult for me to even get you to respond to phone calls or texts. Since it turns out what you told me is not true, and you have been paid by Sparkle City for all your consignments with no problems, and I have still not been made whole, I'm just wondering when I can expect you to resolve this matter. Thanks

I don't think the price tag on Action 1 has moved. (I'm a little worried it's going to start to stagnate in those mid grades now that it is already out of reach for 99.9% of collectors in that half million dollar range for a nice copy. I wouldn't even be surprised if prices came down a little in certain grades over time) To me, the question is, with Action 1s being unaffordable to almost everyone, how much higher does that drag prices on AC 7/10/13.

Not sure if this is the right thread, but a fellow boardie suggested I list this here. I've got a Four Color 386 CGC 9.4, Detective 51 CGC 6.0 ( Winters copy), some early Actions/Batmans, and some scarce Centaurs that start ending on eBay tomorrow (Friday) night, and running through Sunday night. All books listed at 99 cents with no reserve. Here's a link in case anyone would like to take a look. Thanks! http://www.ebay.com/sch/filter81/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

heymikesays picked up a book from us, fast payment, great communication! Pleasure doing business

$5k sounds like a lot to me. (A complete blue label copy sold for $10k not too long ago. Half that for a restored, incomplete book sounds like a lot) For a little more than that I'd much rather have the complete restored copy in the current HA auction. Then again crazier things have happened. And if a book is going to bring out the bidders and sell for crazy money, an affordable Tec 29 is as good a candidate as any to do it!

Great Buyer! Easy to work with! Paid Immediately!

Claudio has never been anything but perfect to deal with in all of our previous transactions. He is a great guy to deal with!

I'm back in the club

I posted a few books in Comics General but figured I'd post this one in the GA section too. Just got this one in..

I wish! I've been selling off a lot of other books to get these paid for, and will still be selling a lot more. Over the last few months I've been downsizing the number of books I own to try to focus on going after a few big keys instead.

I was going to wait to get all of these in hand... but.. some recent acquisitions.. And my personal favorite...

Yep they have a big "Event" auction that starts ending in about a half hour. http://www.ebay.com/sch/sparklecitycomics/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1 As for how they are able to get away offering free shipping I have no idea. Seems like it would be losing proposition on all books under a certain dollar amount, but seems to be working out well for them so far.

I don't think I see one of these anywhere so figured I'd start one for once. Anyone looking at anything in the Sparkle City auction tonight? If so post your wins/losses here! I've got my eye on one book in particular..

Bought an Action 17 from Mike a few months ago. Very smooth transaction all the way around!

Awesome copy! I had a chance to see that one in person a while back. Really nice colors on it too. I really wanted to add that one to my collection, but glad you were able to pick it up!!