VintageComics

Freshly Graded CGC keys BA / SA Who wins: Time stamp seals the deal as to who wins regardless of the form of communication (including PM, in the thread, text or phone conversation). A negotiation is not a deal until both sides have agreed on terms. If there is an unconditional posted (or communicated) it will trump all negotiations unless we have already both agreed to terms before the was posted. In that case, the will have been in vain. Except that it will give you street cred and look cool to passers by. No House Of Shame or Probationary members or any others of ill repute. Returns: For Raw books I am considered a very good grader among my peers ( Here is a link to my kudos thread ) but since even CGC is inconsistent I will not guarantee a CGC grade. I will guarantee to be within one grade increment in either direction - so if I am calling the book a 9.4 it could go 9.2 or 9.6. If it falls outside of those parameters (and it does happen that they go in both directions), I will offer a refund. But I don't expect anyone to complain if I undergraded it. I will accept returns if item is otherwise not as described. Consider all books pressed. Shipping: Prices include shipping within North America for CGC graded books. Payment: Paypal, bank wire, check or MO.

The show that made me start this entire thread was an old style show. Apparently it was very successful.

Some shows do that. They're pro-active about grouping like minded dealers together. Some aren't. Why, I have no idea.

Wassup!

This book sat in my personal collection. I couldn't resist this gorgeous cover. Turn out it graded highest graded.

Yep.

If you look at it that way it looks like it makes little impact, but if you analyze the segment of people only looking at buying CGC graded books online then it becomes more impactful. And if it brings stronger market prices (as it does for the big books I've watched) then it might have some value for people. Don't get me wrong, I don't use it and I'm not trying to push it on people. I just see the value. For someone like you who already chooses superior copies for the grade it will have little to no value as all of your books are GAtor approved.

I don't know whether it's defunct or not but the books I followed with CVA seemed to fetch strong numbers. Not every time but the times I noticed the stamp it did.

You're a very able grader. Many are not. Some people just find added confidence in another opinion. Especially when they can't reach the Ask GAtor thread to ask if it's a good copy for the grade. ;-)

Putting up a few books for sale later tonight. This is the list. ------------------------------------------------------ Amazing Spider-man #238 CGC 9.8 Daredevil #168 CGC 9.8 Defenders #10 CGC 9.8 Fantastic Four #67 CGC 9.4 G. I. Joe #21 CGC 9.8 Rulah #25 (Ohio Pedigree) CGC 8.5 Shocking Mystery Cases #53 CGC 8.5 Tales To Astonish #64 CGC 9.4 #65 CGC 9.4 #90 CGC 9.4 X-men #96 CGC 9.8 #120 CGC 9.8

You reap what you sow!! Whether you write this above or the "Well that is sooo......not surprising!! " that you just edited out, they both show you are just being childish again and missed the point. My point is that I wasn't warned for what I was saying. It was for how I said it. I was warned because they said I masked a bad word (something you've done repeatedly) and yet I don't know which word it was. If they're going to warn people they should tell people exactly what they're being warned about. Otherwise it doesn't make sens. Or cents. Or sence. Or sense.

That's what cgc is for. The "not strong graders". As you know, CGC does not differentiate between various defects or eye appeal in some grades. On a book where some defects can cause a significant swing in price the CVA builds in some confidence in the assigned grade. For example, a strong VF compared to a weak VF.

For people who love and want comics alone (or whatever your collectible of choice is) but not the rest of what cons have morphed into the priority is not always to sell tickets or fill spaces. It's to have access to the products. If I was running a show that's exactly how I'd run it. My return on investment would come from having clear and direct access to books. Many of today's shows are run for profitability alone, which is why you have car companies, department stores, gutter salesmen etc at shows. And there is nothing wrong with trying to run a profitable show. But there is also nothing wrong with a comic con being run like an old school comic con either. A smart promoter will hit the bullseye with their target audience.

For the record, I received a warning from the mods this morning for being 'contentious' in the AF #15 thread. If 'being contentious' means not putting up with 'ahem', unfair practices, rewriting history, pump and dump techniques and just in general sharing my feelings about the market I guess I am going to remain 'contentious'. Did anybody else receive any warnings? Edit - just heard back that it was for masking. I don't even remember which word it was.

Obviously, it appeals to a segment of the market that doesn't care about the inside of the book. But in a market where dollar values are real money now, even those little differences can mean a lot of money to someone. I can see how the service doesn't really apply to everyone but I think some people will bid based on the service, especially if they feel they are not strong graders.

Apparently it means it has exceptional eye appeal for the assigned grade, but I don't get it either. I believe the idea comes from the coin market Coins not only have a much finer grading scale (62, 62, 64, 65 etc, rather than 9.2/9.4/9.6) I believe some companies use markings to designate pieces that are exceptional for the grade. I know Voldemart does something similar as well on their comics. It's just another way for internet buyers to differentiate books when they either can't hold them in hand or don't know how to grade themselves. I don't see any harm in it. I do see it potentially achieving stronger prices (although not necessarily every time).

Ditto.

Which is odd in this movie influenced market. The Avengers are the center of the Marvel cinematic universe.

I'll be honest, I was never a huge AF #15 fan. I was always more of an FF #1 guy but I do love the cover to AF #15. It's kind of strange that outside the awesome cover of AF #15, Jack Kirby could never really capture Spider-man well like Ditko did.

OK, I was going to take your word for it but the detective in me decided to research it. Here's what I found. Posted June 6, 2016

I will go on record and say that there is no way an AF #15 CGC 6.5 for $35K sat on Comiclink without being purchased. Do you know how I know that? Because I bought a CGC 6.0 for resale for roughly that price at the same time and I thought I got a bargain. That CGC 6.5 for $35K would have been snatched up in the blink of an eye at that price by a dealer or an astute collector. It matters because we are trying to establish a timeline with sales as data points. When you bought your AF #15 CGC 6.5 for $35K from Comiclink is one of the points that jaydogrule's debate hinges on. So when did you buy your book from Clink?

When I had been with Louise for a couple of years I walked up to her and told her I was making a significant purchase. I bought a Timely for $25K for my collection. I showed it to her and she replied "As long as you can pay your half of the bills and it makes you happy." And that was it. If you're with the wrong person it's going to suck whether you're married or not. If you're with the right person you can never explain that to anyone. It's like having kids. You can't explain it. You can only hope that one day they experience it too. I'll go on record as saying it's way more satisfying raising a family than owning every Marvel key in highest grades.

OW pages.

I'm relying on mean (average) prices and trends, not just outliers. GPA is great for that on common moving books. When you get into high grade like the 9.0, 9.2 and 9.4 sales you don't have the volume to plot many data points so you have to try to decipher where in the price structure they fall. Was it an outlier, is it indicative of the market, what other factors influenced the sale (time of day, time of year, venue of choice, etc). These are all things I consdier when I come to a conclusion about what I feel is correct about a given market for a book. Jay, you often interject descriptive words like 'blockbuster' to try to solidify your argument. Again, there was nothing blockbuster about the $450K sale. Metro was offering $450K for 9.4s last year. Now if you mean 'blockbuster' to mean big, just because $450K is a big number for the average person to spend then I would agree. But it was an expected price well before the auction started. I can't comment on that sale as I don't remember it. What was the date that the book sold on? If Metro was openly offering $450K for a 9.4 and the Heritage copy sold for $450K then you would think the Heritage copy under performed slightly. And maybe the slight tanning turned off a few bidders (just a guess). Also, AF #15 was already a $100K+ book in 8.0 and a $225K book in 9.0 last year (there are documented examples including PeeWee's Heritage offer on his 8.0 and a Voldemart 9.0 that sold for $230K (give or take)). Where exactly would that put the price point for an 8.5? I had the opportunity to buy an AF #15 CGC 8.5 for $120,000 about 5 years ago and passed because I put that price at full retail and couldn't make a profit at that price. If you think about it, the 8.,5 slightly underformed as well. I can only presume that it's history affected the bidding a bit (although it shouldn't have). But the point is the $450K 9.4 sale and the 8.5 $150K were not building to a crescendo. In fact, those numbers may have been on the low side. Guys, (especially those of you that own AF #15's) I don't want you to misunderstand me. I'm not talking about whether AF #15 is not a terrific book to own. I'm not saying it shouldn't increase in price or is not a good investment. I'm not trying to talk the book down. All I am saying is that prices doubling and tripling in a year on a book that has already been steadily increasing is unsafe for the long haul. It's great for those who want to get in and out but not good for building a stable hobby.

You know what, you're right. I was looking at the small pic and looking for a white stripe and didn't see it. I didn't initially notice it was wrapped to the back.