namisgr

On 3/28/2024 at 3:00 PM, BrashL said:

Well, I guess ask yourself if this is the best GSX 1 you've ever seen. I pointed out some potential flaws earlier that would suggest maybe this is the opening salvo of changing the grading standards. 

It looks stunning to me, with the edges and corners really standing out, along with clean cover.  But I've only seen scans of 9.8s, and images don't always show everything there is to see, so I don't have much to compare it to.

I wonder if Metro submitted it for grading.  

The Tales of Suspense is currently at $576,000 with 11 days left of internet bidding and a live auction to come.  Next at the moment is the DD #1 currently at a little over $250,000.

There's no harm in letting CGC make the call on the tier your comic belongs in after they've graded it.  Back in the day when the Value tier existed, I'd submit everything on it, and then await a phone call should a book or three fall outside the maximum allowed value of that tier with the news that I owed more money.

All alone at the top of the census:

And 1 of 2 at the top of the census for this tough pre-hero issue and 1962 Annual:

On 3/20/2024 at 2:17 PM, grendelbo said:

I'm liking 'salamander' for the new signature authentication slabbing.  Especially given that many types of salamanders can change their colors.  

On 3/20/2024 at 8:40 AM, Zonker said:

And particularly, the high-grade census numbers tell us more about number of collectors or speculators during the period of original publication, rather than the number of actual readers picking each issue up off the spinner racks every month.  

I thought the discussion revolved around product sales.

A proper comparison of indirect relevance to product sales would be for copies of non-key ordinary run comics from titles of each publisher, include both multiple issues per title and multiple titles per publisher, and span multiple years post-1964.

Another would be to compare dealer's stock numbers of raw comics between the two publishers for that same 1965-1975 time period, as one indication of what is still in circulation.

On 3/19/2024 at 9:04 PM, Prince Namor said:

You're free to believe what you like - based on anecdotal evidence and census numbers that make up slabbed copies of comics representing... less than 10% of any print run.

If you've attended any comic convention and observed more raw post-1964 SA and BA DC for sale than Marvels of the same time period, let everybody know.  The prevalence of Marvel slabs in the census for that time period, even for books of comparable market value, is merely independent evidence supportive of the incontrovertible from comic show after comic show and dealer after dealer.  Simply put, there are many more Marvel comics than DCs in circulation this millennium from that time period.  It was true as early as the mid-1970s, when I began attending comic shows.

The rest of your blather about 'science' (which this matter is most assuredly not) and being 'irresponsible' and demanding 'proof' and the like miss the mark, which the multiple layers of evidence provide.  Your argument doesn't meet any of what you've demanded of others.

I was 11 years old in 1965, and by then all the kids I knew who read comics were no longer buying Archie and Harvey and only getting the occasional DC, with Marvel comics transcendent.  The characters were more human, the stories built a universe rather than being erased at the end of an issue as an imaginary tale, the art was more dynamic, and the vibe of the bullpen and letters pages more fun.  A lot of that was Stan's doing, and explains some of the love those of my generation who became regular Marvel buyers and readers feel for the man's work then and there.

On 3/19/2024 at 11:32 AM, Prince Namor said:

The Census doesn't really PROVE anything, other than what we know already. There are plenty of copies of New Gods, GL/GA, Conan, etc out there and available. 

The comparison between the numbers of certified books from Marvel and DC in a particular time period is informative, as they go beyond any sales figures that you believe may be corrupted by their recording practices.  And the fact is that from the 1965-1969 period when Stan and colleagues collaboratively made Marvel more appealing to older adolescents and teens there are more Marvels in the census than DCs.  It also holds true for the early to mid 1970s.  And finally, someone attending multiple conventions likely sees that among the dealers selling their vintage material, there are more boxes of back issue unslabbed Marvels than there are of DCs overall.

It strongly suggests that, in these particular time periods, Marvel sold more comics than DC.

If only there were census data that could provide evidence whether there were substantial differences between the numbers of particular titles in circulation during the times comparing sales of Kirby titles at Marvel and then a year or two later at DC, or between the two major publishers as a whole during any time period between the early 1960s through the mid 1970s....

On 3/11/2024 at 11:57 AM, dbcn said:

This is great - really nice visibility into some of the inside processes.

I'm no CGC grader, but at 10:53, and 10:57, he's supposedly showing us a perfect, gem 10.0, but unless I'm missing something, there's a fold on the right hand side of the cover:

 

It looks to me like one of the clouds of the cover art.

To a different Thor:

I began collecting undergrounds featuring my favorite creators in the 1970s, and continued sporadically for decades not for their investment potential but for the love and appreciation of the storytelling, points of view, and art, all of which are distinctly different from books from the major comics publishers.

In 2021 I sold the bulk of the collection here on the boards.  The price appreciation for these books was modest, but there's a dedicated group of collectors and the sell through from my thread was outstanding:

The grade of the book doesn't seem to match the grade on the label.  Add to that the label can't be verified in the CGC database and there are enough red flags that I would choose to stay away.

On 3/15/2024 at 10:43 AM, Nick Furious said:

Fair enough. But to ask what changes with the reporting, I would compare it to a speeding analogy.  If the speed limit is 60, typically you can keep it under 65 and feel confident that you are not who the police officer is looking to ticket.  You are still breaking the law and may still get a ticket, but under normal circumstances it is acceptable to go 61-64 mph in a 60 zone and in fact may be the only way to stay consistent with the flow of traffic.  The new reporting law is more of "we have video evidence that you were on the highway.  Either pay this fine for speeding or argue that you were not speeding, and risk being audited for further investigation".  That's what changes with the $600 reporting threshold change.  The burden of proof of innocence trickles down to folks who likely won't have the resources or courage to argue their innocence rather than pay the fine.      

The audit rate for taxpayers earning less than $500,000 in annual income is below 0.2%.  And there are plenty of common mistakes that can trigger audits, making submission of a few thousand dollars worth of collectibles sales with a rough good-faith estimate of cost basis and so net profit extremely unlikely to trigger one.

As the IRS loses billions in legally owed taxes from compliance failures, that's a lot of lost revenue the agency would like to at least partially recapture.  And, as mentioned already, they're getting increased resources to go after the major contributors to compliance failure, the top income earners and the large and highly profitable corporations that pay single digit tax on their profits, no tax at all, or in some cases no tax accompanied by a refund such as Tesla.

On 3/14/2024 at 6:29 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Don't individuals making below the poverty level not pay any taxes?

I don't know how dependents work, if a child has to put in a tax return on mowing lawns.

Weird stuff!

Gross income must be at least $13,850 for a single filer and $27,700 for married filing jointly in order for a tax return to be required for persons under age 65.

https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/income/other-income/how-much-do-you-have-to-make-to-file-taxes/

On 3/13/2024 at 10:52 AM, Robot Man said:

There are 1%ers out there making billions and paying nothing or next to nothing in taxes. And, yet they waste their time on folks like me…

Actually, the IRS just this fiscal year received an infusion of money in order to upgrade their digital systems and provide resources to enforce legally owed taxes on the wealthiest individuals.  It's estimated that the IRS loses hundreds of billion dollars a year in compliance failures on legally owed taxes by the top 1% of income earners.

Catalina and Flake.  Has a kind of Starsky and Hutch, Cagney and Lacy, Abbott and Costello kind of vibe.

Continued good luck to all those having had their comics stolen getting satisfactory and fair resolution, in the form of the books being returned or receiving compensation in full for their value.

On 3/5/2024 at 9:21 AM, royaluglydudes said:

Is it possible to have a FedEx package held at a hub or store for pickup?  I pick up my UPS packages at a local UPS store to avoid any issues.  I'm aware that may not be possible depending on peoples' location and is an added inconvenience that we shouldn't have to do because of these companies' failings, but it would provide some peace of mind on high value packages.

Yes, it is possible to have a FedEx delivery routed to your local hub for pickup.