W16227

I think the main point you are missing here is the fact that you guys have put way too much time and effort into something that almost nobody on planet Earf (sic) is going to buy into.

 

If this is a serious proposition in buying CGC graded books, really the $10 monthly GPA subscription fee is an obstacle?

 

This is just so flawed in every aspect.

 

Jim

 

OK, I am clearly not communicating properly.

 

-- We can and do subscribe to GPA. The point is transparency. For those that own the coin and do not want or have even the faintest interest in subscribing to any comics price guide, they can still check the prices online to see that we are using actual numbers. I am unsure why everyone is so concerned with this aspect of the coin. I have not gotten one question at all about this anywhere else. As I stated many times, we will switch it over if the disparity is as great as everyone here seems to feel. Again, anyone can use any method they choose to evaluate the value of the collections.

 

-- Many people will buy the coin. I know that many, if not most of you don't believe that, but it is true. In fact, some people are quite enthused about it. Still, if it is only purchased by me, my mother and one guy in Estonia, it will be quite easy to run the coin from that point as well. We will either keep expanding or just sell the collection, issue a dividend to the three coin holders and wrap things up. The structure can almost be compared to a closed-end fund in that way. Probably more accurately, to a foundation that tends to artwork. Either way, the structure is simple enough and flexible enough to work no matter the initial demand.

 

I hope that I have responded to your concerns. I understand some of your reactions, but time will tell as they say. 99% of crypto are nothing but empty blockchains. This will have assets, so right there it has a step up.

but if you do not show actual asset value - then ?

GPA= based on actual sales. CPG = based on something that they do not disclose and are very cryptic about describing - and from a CGC standpoint - are totally invalidated by the actual sales.

Hint - if you get a bunch of people to buy in based on the stated asset value listed on your website - which you have admitted here has an incorrect value after people pointed out one of your cost justifications was based on a SIGNATURE SERIES books.......

just hope you looked into the legal issues - I would actyally REALLY question any comics book store trying to say book a is worth XXX based on CPG.,,,, not even as part of a call for people to invest......

 

 

 

um,,,,,,,,

 

may want to revisit that whole CPG pricing scheme -

 

there was a 9.6 that sold for around 400 recently - was a SIGNATURE SERIES

 

 

last CERTIFIED 9.8 sold for 281 (CPG = 460)

 

last CERTIFIED 9.6 sold for 150 (CPG = 360)

 

(note - CGC certs only)

 

 

If you are going for the "average" person that has no math skills and no clue how to search ebay..... well then it might work -

 

 

 

 

You are right -- my apologies. With the coin only a couple of days away from its debut, I have been very busy on many forums, Twitter, emails etc.I didn't take enough time when checking. No excuse though, I was wrong.

 

As you know, I am not a regular here and I really just came in to defend Tonic's Comics. They are carrying the comics and he mentioned it. I am not sure if he knew it was going to generate 5 pages of...interesting comments. (I haven't spoken to him about it yet).

 

Yeah, it could be it is a bit overpriced on the guide, but it happens. Two data points aren't enough. I know that I was looking at another Bronze age the other day (I think it may have been Batman #251, but I am not sure) where the guide said one price and all of the actual sales prices were way, way above that number. So, no it is not perfect.

 

As I said, we are open to using other metrics if the prices are too far out of whack. We'll take a look as the collection grows. For now, its just one medium priced comic book, but we'll take a look.

 

Thanks.

 

 

um - so 2 of the data sets were blown out of the water - and by your own admission you found error with a third..............

 

You might want to NOT use a site that is notoriously incorrect with respect to CGC graded slabs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who's buying the comics??? You list on your website that ComicsPriceGuide values an Avengers #7 at $480. Hopefully you didn't pay that, or else you might have got took. Last real world sale was $281 and the average for the last year was $350. How do we know you (coiners) are spending our (coinees) money wisely??? If you are using ComicsPriceGuide prices as some sort of basis point we are not off to a good start already.

 

Jim

 

Jim

 

Actually the last real world sale was $410 for one grade below the one we own just a couple of weeks ago on EBay. We have confidence in Comics Price Guide, but they do lag sometimes in particular hot and cold books. But, that is not the reason we chose them.

 

We want the average person to be able to follow along. Comics Price Guide is open to all and is free. Yes, they do underprice and overprice some issues, but overall, they are excellent.

 

Now, I completely understand that you guys want GPA or Overstreet or any other edge to make your judgments. But, those cost money. The coin is meant to appeal to everyone, not just hard-core collectors. I think that serious collectors will find this fun too, particularly if they follow the crypto world as well.

 

But, we want the casual collector or even people who just like the movies but are interested in comics to have fun too. As stated on the website, if we feel that the Comics Price Guide is just way off the mark on a particular comic book, we will change the value to reflect that.

 

As a 9.6 Avengers Annual #7 just traded recently for $410, we just don't think that Comics Price Guide's value for a 9.8 is that far off. And, of course, auctions and other sales can fluctuate wildly as you guys know. But, we will be on the lookout for any big disparities. Plus, I am sure people will tell us loud and clear!

 

um,,,,,,,,

 

may want to revisit that whole CPG pricing scheme -

 

there was a 9.6 that sold for around 400 recently - was a SIGNATURE SERIES

 

 

last CERTIFIED 9.8 sold for 281 (CPG = 460)

 

last CERTIFIED 9.6 sold for 150 (CPG = 360)

 

(note - CGC certs only)

 

 

If you are going for the "average" person that has no math skills and no clue how to search ebay..... well then it might work -

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it would be tough to follow all of those comments!

 

Besides, I like the coin -- but then I would as I am helping to bring it out.

 

I didn't expect it to be something everyone's idea of would make fun of! But thanks for checking it out!

fixed that for ya.....

Did you guys in the Chicago area see this?

 

http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fchicago.craigslist.org%2Fwcl%2Fcbd%2F4835805982.html&h=nAQGpUr5U&enc=AZNrVbOn8ew59gh7hn1pkV6UPNJIrpQsDsz4NjfXthMdADitHBW6cop-uwYm_W_HXIJOL7ZUcU1Q_YwTCBKsxg86qGRAT-neBGrRsIVU63MQgWzQuj2aLaS-Fl5rdX-fCCb1K8PTTlkhN2edeqXuC6Z5-0pXOHH9d7gpWSD2q90XQQ&s=1

 

Looks like it was just posted on craigslist tonight. Who has the money to go grab these?

 

I'm guessing you can buy for less than 1000

 

Show them the cash, they've got to take it

 

With the 450 TPBs (assuming the are actually 120+ page Marvel/DC/Image/Vertigo books) you should be able to make a lot of the money back very quickly.

I would say the issue would be the long term commitment to the buy.

Earlier in the thread - I posted about picking up ~ 30 short boxes from a closing store for a song. Some decent - some dreck - but if I sold at an average of 50c apiece, a good profit margin. Really should do better - as a lot

But the buy was small enough to fit in the truck - and my office, so I did not have to worry about any additional transportation and storage. Then - I look over the books and duplicates - and the concern becomes how in the world do I get rid of 3000 books quickly..... - the CL deal is way more volume.

(stay tuned for the VCC blowout sale, )

yea - somewhere in the 3k range - probably to discourage dumping a lot of junk at salvation army (or whatever) - and taking a real high deduction.

Anyone interested in donating comics would be well advised to speak to their accountant; barring that, at least read IRS Publication 526, which has the rules for charitable donations.

 

The short explanation: You value it at "fair market value", which means writing off your quarter books at cover price isn't going to cut it if you get audited.

 

If you donate more than $500 to one organization in a year, you need to document where you got the goods, what you paid for them, and how you arrived at your donation value.

 

If you donate $5000 or more, the donation needs to be professionally appraised.

 

Also, generally, donation recipients are loathe to put a value on what you donated. They prefer to simply acknowledge your donation and let you value it. This way they don't get involved in a contest over numbers.

-- the key there is fair market value -

Just because you paid a quarter for the books in bulk - does not mean that they are individually valued at that number. If the books are in decent shape - one could easily use the OPG for value as it is a published standard (which for 90s drek is around cover price).

Unless you go over that 5K number and would need appraisals - the IRS is not going to nit pick. I have been writing off some level of donations for 15 years. Never an issue with estimated values and the typical salvation army/goodwill receipts.

I've been doing Goodwill's tax write offs for three years now. So far so good.

 

You must be in the US then...I think CRA is much stricter because it seems the charities here only offer receipts for brand new items. You guys are lucky!

Yea. - a U.S. thing - we can write off just about any donation for a "reasonable" amount- but over a certain limit u need more documentation. Our family donates a lot of stuff each year - the tax write off is a nice benefit.

sweeet!!!

now since you are new - you need to know the rules - anytime you post a find - you need to send the first response 25% of the loot!!!

Goodwill give you $4 a book towards tax write off.

 

Can that be real? That's $1 book in tax savings at 25%!!

- they might be talking about the other kind of book..... I have heard that they actually make books with only words in them. Nonsense, I know......

--- do they actually give you a receipt with that value? --- in my area we have a salvation army that takes pretty much everything and you fill in your own receipt. If you have an "inventory" - youy might be able to git away with using OPG value for a book- but I would use the cover price myself. Since the insurance companies value books at this without "appraisals" - it would seem a safe value bet for a donation. The more recent the drek - the higher the donation value per book.

Hi Gang, Robot Man here. I am new to the boards although I have lurked for a while. I started a thread in Gold called "My 50 Year Junk Obsesson" check it out if you like old collectibles. I collect comics, toys, pulps, advertising, sports and all kinds of "Americana". Being a huge fan of the title of this thread, it is one of my favorite ones when I go to General. I am pretty much a vintage guy but I appreciate all forms of the collecting media. I really enjoy seeing what people turn up "out in the field". My question is this: Do the posts in this thread have to be current or recent finds? If I were to post some stuff in here should I keep my mouth shut what I paid? I don't want anyone jumping down my throat or accusing me of "ripping off old ladies" ect. (I don't always get it cheap and sometimes have to pay through the nose) But sometimes the planets align and I am rewarded for my hard work and dilligence. To me I love hearing about other collectors scores, the stories are what give us all hope.It's all about the thrill of the hunt. Any body can write a big check to Jim Halperin at Heritage but it's the guys that get up early on Sunday morning in bad weather and scrounge for cool un-discovered stuff. What do you think? Now be nice or I will go back over to the friendly confines of Gold and not bother you...

you can pretty much post anything you like!!!

I would not post what you paid (few of us do ) - as you sometimes run into those who think you took advantage of a granny if you paid $100 for a group and ended up with a 10K value book.

I think its several thousand dollars before a appraisal is necessary. Lets assume you can donate 10 long boxes or 3000 books a year. If you have ten buddies who want to donate 10 boxes each you could get rid of 100 long boxes of the biggest drek books at a good profit.

yea - somewhere in the 3k range - probably to discourage dumping a lot of junk at salvation army (or whatever) - and taking a real high deduction.

If this is more recent drek - think like $2 cover price average - you could probably donate 5 longboxes for $500 each.

Someone should e-mail and ask how many Turok #1s there are. Or Shaman's Tears. Or Tribe.

SAVAGE DRAGON !

Crazy question but couldn't you buy the books and then donate the books over the next few years to get the tax savings. If you are in the 25% tax bracket I'd think you could save some cash if you can get the books for $0.04 apiece.

and honestly - this is not a bad idea -

I snagged a ton of books from a closing LCS - some of the books will likely be donated.

With something of this size - it would be a LONG process -

You can effectively write them off at face value (if in good condition) - but then you can only do this up to a certain value point. I cannot remember the specific number - but there is a ceiling of how much in "goods" you can write off before you need an appraisal.

Yes, I know one of the waitresses there her daughter and mine are in the same classes.

 

Hey, where's your One Man Comic Business journal, Joey? The comic masses want to know how you do it.

 

I don't sleep.

Joey, I think you misunderstand....

we want to know EXACTLY how you do what you do........

I was wondering the same thing when I saw that. Every data source I have ever seen states that the NDS was the only insert used at that time and pre-dates MJ inserts by a year and a half.

 

I think the most likely explanation is that CGC has mis-labeled NDS inserts as MJ inserts on that IM 55 and the ASM 100 that the other boardie posted.

 

-J.

I would bet it is a mis-label as well. The IM was shipped after they had used the Marks Inserts (only for a 2 month spell) - so somewhat feasible (some have posted double covers with covers from a different book - so an error around those lines).

The ASM - was before the MJ inserts were ever produced. Might even be one of the first books ever made with any of the armed forces inserts. The 15c cover price books had the most limited run with the inserts.

Is it easy for the unscrupulous to simply remove a MJ insert and put it into a more sought after title?

 

If the book were to be graded, CGC would be able to catch that quite easily. (thumbs u

 

-J.

-- especially since it would really only be worth it for a high value key - and I would imagine that they are put under the restoration microscope more than a fast track modern...

Is it easy for the unscrupulous to simply remove a MJ insert and put it into a more sought after title?

 

That probably wouldn't be that difficult to do although they would have to ensure the new book was one of those originally released with a Mark Jewelers insert.

probably just as "difficult" as marrying a cover or other wrap -

But they also only had specific inserts in specific books as well.

http://www.awe4one.com/index1.html

has lists of what was used at what time -

Now - most people may not even notice it - but the ones that specifically collect these variants (which would be the ones who would pay a premium) would probably question something about clubbers book - supposedly the marks inserts were not being used during the production run of the IM55s.

They were in place 11-12 1972 briefly - but not in full production until July 73.

Now - does not mean his copy is hokey. Cold be a couple different things going on - could be an error in the CGC label (could be a ND insert, just mis marked) - could also be one of the nov/dec 72 inserts being used for whatever reason - maybe the found a sheet or 2 at the production facility to use up. But for me it would raise that question before shelling out the significant $$$ for the book.

If an early insert - would be easy to identify - as they had codes identifying them printed on the inserts themselves. Obviously - would have to crack the slab to see this - but once you are in the IM 55 hi grade double cover/insert variant mode - the price would be high enough for me to want to open up and verify then resubmit (if I really wanted the book slabbed long term).

Great IM#55 but where’s the star stamp located?

Mine does not have a star stamp!! -

Jay - can you post a pic of your IM 55? - his has the star.

Cool, I will probably put it up a little higher priced with a best offer option, I really wish it was in better condition....Thank you everyone for your help!

 

I have a 9.2, IM 55 with the insert and the star stamp.

 

-J.

J and I have discussed the IM 55s earlier - but I never posted my copy -

Was the top book in a collection I purchased with around 200+ insert books.

I found today that my Iron Man #128 has a MJ insert, I don't see any on Ebay and was curious what everyone thought it might be worth. Book is probably around a 6.0?

One of the more "inserts" knowledgeable boardies explained it to me like this -

for key issues - might get a 25% bump in price. The insert books can be rare (especially the early ones) , but it is an internal variant so not a huge bump for uniqueness.

For non keys - would get closer to guide and probably sell quicker. So a benefit - but not a large scale windfall.

I bought a small lot of books recently and I hammered the seller cause there were star stamps on many of the books, only to find out when I got them home that they had the MJ insert in them. I read somewhere the stars are okay to have. I didn't know at that time

 

(thumbs u

ya - stars are actually more desirable than just the inserts - the inserts were distributed to any armed forces base (which would include US bases) - while the stars indicated overseas shipments.

The assumption is that the "stars" are even more rare to find.

Bittersweet buy today -

 

Local shop closing up - one of the owners passed away earlier this year - other is retiring.

 

Shame - the store was too far from me to be a regular - but they had a killer wall book section so I was there from time to time.

 

Snagged their remaining "sets" lot for a song. They were trying to maximize sales over the weekend - so these were not discounted as much as the other stock. Some dreck - but even selling that at .50 a book is money in the bank.

 

Bought out some of their better back stock too. Total of 29 of the longer "short" boxes.

 

 

Back seat of the truck

 

[

 

The bed - full up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congrats on the find !!! out of curiousity what does one pay or offer someone for 29 boxes of comics?

As little as possible! - I got the "sets" for around 15 cents each. I should be able to get at least a dollar a book for 50% or more of the books.

Pretty cool nonetheless

Some decent sets - some dogs - but the cost was low enough to make it a decent deal.

Bittersweet buy today -

 

Local shop closing up - one of the owners passed away earlier this year - other is retiring.

 

Shame - the store was too far from me to be a regular - but they had a killer wall book section so I was there from time to time.

 

Snagged their remaining "sets" lot for a song. They were trying to maximize sales over the weekend - so these were not discounted as much as the other stock. Some dreck - but even selling that at .50 a book is money in the bank.

 

Bought out some of their better back stock too. Total of 29 of the longer "short" boxes.

 

 

Back seat of the truck

 

 

 

The bed - full up

 

 

 

 

 

 

Al N Anns in Mchenry Il?

 

Yep -

 

Loved that place, they really did themselves a disservice by marking all their books down to $1 without going through their stock and checking prices.

Eh - they did not do that to all of the stock - plus they were trying to blow out everything they had. I was able to snag up a lot of the decent back stock at the 40$ a shorbox sale - snagged most of the x-titles and wolverine along with some ok new 52 stuff.

Bittersweet buy today -

 

Local shop closing up - one of the owners passed away earlier this year - other is retiring.

 

Shame - the store was too far from me to be a regular - but they had a killer wall book section so I was there from time to time.

 

Snagged their remaining "sets" lot for a song. They were trying to maximize sales over the weekend - so these were not discounted as much as the other stock. Some dreck - but even selling that at .50 a book is money in the bank.

 

Bought out some of their better back stock too. Total of 29 of the longer "short" boxes.

 

 

Back seat of the truck

 

 

 

The bed - full up

 

 

 

 

 

 

Al N Anns in Mchenry Il?

Yep -