namisgr

Grading is done expeditiously, and the logging of graders notes is thought to be a very short process that's neither comprehensive nor done with perfection.  As far as this particular comic goes, the assigned grade looks appropriate based on the generally very sharp appearance but the slight corner wear visible on the scans provided.

Maybe like this:

On 2/25/2024 at 5:03 PM, FoomMember said:

Here's another pretty nice artifact from those olde days that I thought I'd share.

1975 NYC Comic Art Convention program signed by some heavyweights!  The program itself seems unopened except for first, last and autograph pages. 

I've never fully opened any of the other pages inside just to keep it preserved.  The cover has a little wear - couple creases and a couple scratches on the back cover.  

Aside from that, very clean and the page quality & feel of the program are like it was when issued.  Gotta love the FF Surfer homage!!  

Like the 1972 San Diego program, no certification, but the Kirby, Sinnott and Wrightson sigs look legit based on others I've collected and comparisons with others online.

Signed by:

Jack Kirby

Joe Sinnott w/ cool Cap sketch! 

Bernie Wrightson

Michael Kaluta

Gray Morrow

 

 

That brings back a lot of memories, as the Phil Seuling NYC show in '75 was my first big comic con.  While I still have that program, it doesn't have the cool collection of autographs yours does - instead, I had creators sign comics of theirs that I brought with for the occasion or purchased at the show.  I remember that none of them charged to autograph a book, and they universally seemed happy to do so, soaking in the joy expressed for their work by those who talked to them.  Being a show in New York, where the publishers were based, there was a head-spinning number of creators at the show, all willing to sign pieces the fans brought: Kirby, Steranko, Stan, Neal Adams, Barry Smith, Wrightson, George Perez, Claremont, Sinnott, Giacoia, and on and on.  I also had Bill Gaines sign my copy of Mad #100.

Several of my books autographed at that show have been posted here before.  Here's two of them that spent over 40 years as special pieces in my collection, now sold off along with the rest of my SA and magazine collections:

On 2/27/2024 at 10:39 PM, Gotham Kid said:

wow, how the mighty have fallen

I don't think it's that much of a fall.  Looking in the Heritage archives, they auctioned an 8.0 last June.  It sported a 'CVA exceptional' sticker.  Sold for $312,000. 

On 2/18/2024 at 7:34 AM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Standard commission is 10%.  Most auction houses will negotiate something less for a huge book like this.  But I don't see how they would accept less than 5%.

Heritage will collect 20% (or whatever their going rate is now) from the buyer.  I'd expect the seller to lose that juice, but not anything more.  And with a book this valuable, the seller might also negotiate for a percentage of the buyer's fee.  So I'm with you that something on the order of between 5 and 10% of the hammer price is likely.

Being the only 9.8 in the CGC census, there's no telling what the book might fetch on Heritage, even though it sold last September on another auction site.

Music to musical Monkees

Monsters to Munsters

On 2/16/2024 at 1:52 PM, Straw-Man said:

love my new upgrade!  tks, boardie.

This ish is frequently miswrapped with the front cover going onto the back.  Yours has really sweet cover alignment.

On 2/20/2024 at 11:43 AM, revat said:

I’m sure some of it if not most is insurance and liability, but there are probably other aspects that can only be explained by decision makers within the company.

I don't think it's a stretch to consider that the more value slabbing and grading adds to the selling price of a comic, the more CGC can charge for the slabbing and grading service.  The marketplace has established that the value of their service is much, much greater for the submitter of an Amazing Fantasy #15 (tens of thousands of dollars)  than it is for the submitter of an Amazing Spiderman #126 (tens of dollars).

LowGradeBronze and NickFurious have made this point already, and I agree with it.  In comparison, I suspect that their higher insurance burden for more valuable books is just a relatively small contributor to deriving their tiered fees.

On 2/21/2024 at 1:59 PM, shadroch said:

IF CGC's President has no responsibility for this mess, why should the CEO?

I know you're being facetious, Bill, but Mr. Eichenbaum wrote:

We will not tolerate acts of fraud against our community, and we will not rest until justice is served.

But it hinders rather than promotes the serving of justice to keep the collector and dealer community underinformed about the submission histories of the outsider swapping fraudster and the insider couple printing their own labels and also swapping and stealing.

On 2/21/2024 at 11:54 AM, LDarkseid1 said:

I remember seeing a big list. Anyway, I think they've done a solid job.

It may look big, but it's not a full list of the submissions by the swap-out scammer.

Has there been release of anything conclusive that the in-house fraud was committed on no more than a maximum of 23 encapsulated books?  Has there been release of the total number of comics the fraudster couple had encapsulated since they began employment?

In other words, are we certain of the scope of the fraud, or is the potential for more slabs being involved being swept under the rug, so to speak?

Missing from the CEO letter regarding the two recent scams involving CGC is the commitment to help the comic collecting/dealing community identify additional possible instances of fraudulent grading.  Specifically, the letter made no mention and the company has made no public effort to provide to the community a complete listing of the certification numbers of every encapsulated book submitted by the swap-out external fraudster or submitted by the in-house fraudster using their access to the facility to make their own bogus labels.

CGC can do better for us.

The damage control is in full swing.

Love those issues, especially the ones with Frank Brunner art.

On 2/15/2024 at 6:52 PM, AwesomeSauce said:

Having a longstanding disagreement with a comic collecting comrade of mine. Figured if I got on here I could settle the score once and for all. Can anyone tell me if books from the Oregon Coast Collection are considered pedigrees?

The Oregon Coast collection does not have a pedigree designation from CGC.  But being a sweet, sought after original owner collection of high grade white paged bronze age comics, I believe the provenance does have significance.