Jaydogrules

It takes more than just "rarity" or the perception of it to drive the price of a variant. (thumbs u -J.

...like Flynn! Sweet book, congrats. -J.

-J.

Seems to me if someone is (now suddenly because of a movie appearance) an early Aquaman "key" collector, the books to have are Adventure 260 and BB 28. Despite all the requisite ebay mis-information and carnival barking Showcase 30 is not an important book (from a substantive point of view) and is superfluous. -J.

I am honestly still trying to discern the significance of the book. -J. It may take awhile It is a neat book and was a bit undervalued but has shot way past a reasonable price for it. It is basically the first comic with Aquaman as the main feature/main character on cover. Cool book which I do like, but I can think of a lot of other cooler comics to spend my money on I see A LOT of sellers on ebay calling it "the first SA Aquaman", "first Full Aquaman", etc. Undoubtedly that mis-information also has something to do with it. Money would be better spent on a BB 28 which predates it by nearly a year and also has him on the cover. I think there's a whole lotta shuckin' and jivin' going on with this book. -J. ...and Adventure 260 is before either. I don't personally think a cover appearance is more important than the true first appearance. Prices might disagree with me in the future though. Time will tell. This is true. But BB 28 made him "relevant". And I did not know that it is also the first cover for MM. (thumbs u -J.

I am honestly still trying to discern the significance of the book. -J. It may take awhile It is a neat book and was a bit undervalued but has shot way past a reasonable price for it. It is basically the first comic with Aquaman as the main feature/main character on cover. Cool book which I do like, but I can think of a lot of other cooler comics to spend my money on I see A LOT of sellers on ebay calling it "the first SA Aquaman", "first Full Aquaman", etc. Undoubtedly that mis-information also has something to do with it. Money would be better spent on a BB 28 which predates it by nearly a year and also has him on the cover. I think there's a whole lotta shuckin' and jivin' going on with this book. -J.

I am honestly still trying to discern the significance of the book. -J.

10- 9.8 3- 9.9 That's actually quite a lot for a book that's just a few weeks old. -J.

That is awesome! A neat cover where one of Peter Parker's girlfriends is being possessed by Venom? I think I could get behind that.... -J.

I think the seller of the graded copy was looking for a quick cash-out. Graded 9.6's don't sell for hundreds of dollars less than raw copies. The disconnect was quite clearly with the guy selling the 9.6, which sold- for obvious reasons- in less than a half an hour after he listed it at his very aggressive price. My 2 cents. -J.

The 9.6 sold immediately for $1,250. http://item.ebay.co.uk/191542194964?item_hash4=722b04fe&LH_Complete=1&LH_BIN=1&LH_BO=1&_ipg=200&_pgn=1&rc=nt&rmvSB=true Seller of that probably left about $700 on the table. An hour and a half later the raw copy closed at $1,400: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-Amazing-Spiderman-678-MJ-Venom-Variant-9-6-NM-Joe-Quinones-/251881331301?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa54c1a65 That's why it's always a good idea to do your research whether you're buying or selling. -J.

Put me down as saying Dylan is the next Spider-man. Where there's this much smoke, there's fire. (thumbs u -J.

It's fun to see this poll and hear all the various opinions. I'd be curious to see guesstimates of how many raw high grade copies are still out there in the wild. And just for the sake of this discussion, let's say high grade is 8.0 or better, unrestored. I couldn't begin guess the total existing copies of AF #15 in any grade. But if it's narrowed down to unrestored high grade copies, I feel like my guess might be a bit more educated. As a frame of reference for those that might want to opine, looking at the CGC Census, I see that there are currently 40 Blue label copies graded 8.0 or higher. Ghost Town - How many additional raw copies do you think that there are out there that would grade out at a Blue label 8.0 or higher - or are you waiting until others have opined to share your thoughts? My guess would be fewer than 150 unrestored copies still out there in 8.0 or better. And if the minimum grade jumps to 9.0, I'd say less than 50 and think I'm probably being generous. I'll do you one better and say there are less than 100, 8.0 and up, and less than 20 that are 9.0 and up. Unrestored, of course. -J.

I would guess there are no more than 200-300 or so raw copies out there that are high grade (8.0 or higher.) 1962 was still the "let's read everything to death" era. good question... I know that 2 of the 60 copies from one collector/hoarder are 9.0 range...and maybe 2-3 that are 8.0 range (and this assuming no resto....the 2 that are in fortresses I didn't take out to examine)...the majority of the copies are vg or lower and a few are probably mid grade... again, I can't "extrapolate" any info from 2 data points, but surely 5% or less is as good of a guess as any.... I'm going with 2.7%- representative of the percentage of the 1434 copies graded on the census. Considering that the mean of the graded copies has only declined over the years, there is no reason to believe there is a greater percentage/ratio of high grade, unrestored raw copies remaining in the wild either. GAtor's friend notwithstanding of course. (thumbs u -J.

It's about damn time. -J.

I agree with that up to a certain point. Restored copies can still bring pretty good money, and the percentages to blue label have increased as blue label prices have gone into the stratosphere. Even now, 1 in 3 copies on the census is restored. So there is definitely still a financial incentive to slab a restored copy, although I believe the reason many people do not when they sell is because they likely think they can get an even greater percentage without the alleged "taint" of the purple label. This is also likely why people who know (or think) they have a copy with something done to it simply choose to leave it raw. It wouldn't surprise me if well over half of however remaining unseen OO copies are out there were messed with one way or another over the years. Cute pooches by the way! -J.

Nice copy. Is it my imagination or does this book seem to be heating up (at least in mid grade)? -J.

I doubt anyone does. -J.

He said he was wrong, & he apologised for it. Then you came in with a couple comments... I think it's you that needs to let it go. :shrug: -slym Ok. I'ts let go....GONE I don't care. You guys ask me for info all the time & dismiss / savage it immediately. I'm used to it... ( He didn't talk to anyone at Diamond, he realized he was wrong & back-peddled ) No more from dopey Larry... Still waiting on that PM, Larry..... -J.

My bet... NOBODY at Diamond spoke to you... You're simply "special" *Ahem* Larry.... not the best at accepting mea culpas, are we? Feel free to PM me for the name and extension of the person I spoke to. -J. *snicker* For the record... His "person" was an extension number. The operator. We have ALL been trolled for a week... Please now return to your regular scheduled bickering. Starting to wonder about you dude.... Gang, Larry *has not* PM'd me. I also find his posting to be particularly petty (more so than usual) given that I publicly acknowledged that some of the information he passed along was correct. I hope someone gives him a hug today. Anyone else interested in knowing who gave the goods at diamond, feel free to shoot me a PM. (thumbs u -J. And the saga "evolves".... Let it go man. Take your meds. Call it a day. ...a "W" for not_in_tune_with_social_norms crazy. -J.

My bet... NOBODY at Diamond spoke to you... You're simply "special" *Ahem* Larry.... not the best at accepting mea culpas, are we? Feel free to PM me for the name and extension of the person I spoke to. -J. *snicker* For the record... His "person" was an extension number. The operator. We have ALL been trolled for a week... Please now return to your regular scheduled bickering. Starting to wonder about you dude.... Gang, Larry *has not* PM'd me. I also find his posting to be particularly petty (more so than usual) given that I publicly acknowledged that some of the information he passed along was correct. I hope someone gives him a hug today. Anyone else interested in knowing who gave the goods at diamond, feel free to shoot me a PM. (thumbs u -J.

My bet... NOBODY at Diamond spoke to you... You're simply "special" *Ahem* Larry.... not the best at accepting mea culpas, are we? Feel free to PM me for the name and extension of the person I spoke to. -J.

After several phone calls to diamond this morning and getting bounced around to numerous different employees, finally getting through to the right person, and then waiting to be called back by that person who needed to talk to a different person, I have the answers: YES, the sales figures reported by diamond does include the variants. NO, they do not disclose the print runs of the individual variants. NO, they do not report international sales figures. SPLIT DECISION, on whether or not ballparking a variant print run from comichron is instructive. You can do it, but it is not reliable and MAY IN FACT GIVE YOU A NUMBER THAT IS TOO LOW (as Chuck said earlier.) Larry, 500club, bababooey (and particularly) Chuck, et al are correct about that. (And so is the boardie who claimed there are only 500 copies of the Hughes variant, though he is still very wrong about that ). Apologies to the gang for arguing so snarkily at times my INCORRECT position on variant disclosure. HOWEVER......based on the totality of the information and other comparable variants, I stand by my estimation of a 2500+ print run for the Hughes. -J.

Fair enough. But I don't make the site to be anything more than it is.... a free and useful resource for identifying and tracking down tough variants (particularly the ones with staying power). I have respect and appreciation for someone who is willing to devote that much time to one topic and cull the information together in one spot for easy use and reference. I also like the way he updates his information and numbers to keep the site as accurate as possible. (thumbs u And yes the 667 Dell'otto is definitely the pride and joy of the modern ASM variant run. -J.