VintageComics

It used to be a roughly $20K book regularly until a few years ago. The market kind of stalled on that book when 3 auction houses auctioned off 3 CGC 9.6 copies within a month of each other. Of all the early SA Marvel keys I always thought that DD #1 had the best artwork. I'm just a sucker for the Everett art in that book.

It looks like it should have been a Qualified Green label. The book looks like it might grade a 1.5 otherwise.

If someone can afford to live in a condo and earn more money than they need, why would they have any interest in the hassles that go with owning a home?

I can't afford it either. That's why I do it for a job and not a hobby.

Because Buffalo used to be one of the biggest cities in the country and now has less than 1/2 the population of its peak in 1950. The Empire State. Buffalo was probably glorious at it's peak. I do like Buffalo though - there are some great neighborhoods to hang out in. I think there is one called Allentown that I enjoyed more than once.

Yea, that dude is huge. Thought the same thing. He has to be a professional body builder. Average beach Joes aren't that big.

I wasn't going to out you unless you wanted to be outed! Having said that, let me know if you ever want to sell!

An ounce of Gold did peak at almost $2000 a couple of years after it bottomed out.

Good story. I felt the same way when I got onto eBay about 15 years ago. I was shocked at how things had changed since the 90's!

I sold a CGC 6.0 on this chat forum in about 2007 or 2008 for $8K IIRC. And it was a slow mover.

It was the least blurry.

Wouldn't the last 8-9 years be more accurate? Pre 2008 everything seemed much cheaper. It's in less than the last decade that we've seen exponential appreciation (at least in the collectibles that I've been aware of - cars, comics, card, art).

J, the political reference is not allowed on this forum and might earn you a wrist slap or a warning.

What are you basing this on? CGC to my knowledge and to my experience has not changed how they grade unpressed books. If your sample size is those few GA Pre Batman Tecs you keep talking about it's not going to cut it. The eye appeal on those books in particular is likely due to the use of tape and spine splits as was already explained.

They don't.

You can view the books in hand. I viewed some of the Metro books (including the AF #15 CGC 9.0) in hand when I was in NYC the week before the auction ended. Although some buyers will buy just based on scans and grading notes.

It's been discussed in detail in the other thread about AF #15. There were a few exceptional, outlier sales that the some people decided to accept as another price surge.

I thought it was something else. I thought that too as the reason and most likely the only reason why. I can't think of any other reason for AF 15 to pull back in any circumstances. The thought that comics only go up in value is dangerous. I remember the pull back (just like it happened with Hulk #1 a couple of years ago) and it's a normal market pattern. There have been times when AF #15's, Pre Robin Tecs and other 'hot' books sat unsold for long periods of time. As in nobody wanted one enough to pay the price. What is just as dangerous as believing that comics only go up is the expectation for every auction to be a new record price. That's not reality but this new digital era where everyone's patience and attention spans are shortened has caused people to be disappointed every time a new record isn't set (or their Facebook photos are not liked by their friends).

Bought an X-men #1 CGC 7.0 and a very easy customer to work with. Thanks for your business.

Hulk #1 was picking up steam well before the AF #15 sales on CC last month. I posted this last September 2016 right after Clink sold a 9.0 for $275K and CC sold a 9.2 for $330K All that's happening is people are realizing that Hulk #1 was due for an increase because everything else around it have been making the book look cheap. I'm guessing that and the Planet Hulk story line in the new Thor movie has sparked interest again. I had a $55K offer from a customer on my 7.5 this past week. I turned it down because I think it's potentially a $70K book. He may have bought the Clink copy (I'll have to ask him). That will probably all depend on where the Heritage 8.0 ends. We've had two 8.5 sales at $132 and $141K so I'm guessing the 8.0 ends up somewhere in the neighborhood of $100K.

Today I spoke to the buyer mentioned above. He bought the 4.5 and the 5.5 Qualified, not the record setting 5.0. As for his intentions, he's well aware of the crack / press / resub procedure and he commented at how much nicer the 4.5 looked than the given grade.

This 'talking down the book' all started when i asked about the gray become yellowish 7.5. It was never my intention to 'talk the book down'. I found it very helpful to get pewees input on the matter. It appears he's the only other board member that cares about the gray background. When I said 'talked up or down' I was specifically talking about values, not aesthetics. There's nothing wrong with talking about what you like or dislike about a comic. Most threads now devolve into investment threads and how to maximize on returns.

I just came back to edit my post. Sorry. When I searched your site I misspelled the word Fantasy.

To clear this up for posterity as someone who is now aware of what the askings were for the 5.5 and the 6.5 - the 5.5 in Chicago was at current market 2017 pricing (well, current for post last CC sales); the 6.5 was below market for 2017 pricing (and closer to pricing prior to last CC sales) but was not priced at 2016 pricing. 2016 pricing is a misnomer. The book gained value throughout the course of 2016. Nobody is selling an AF #15 at early 2016 pricing, But books were being offered at prices that looked reasonable compared to the record CC sales. And Bob's CGC 2.5 was reasonably priced even compared to '2016 prices', although it looks like it sold now as it's no longer on his site. It's still there, sorry folks. My point about the prices in Chicago was that the largest international dealers still hadn't reached the new price range as of last weekend in Chicago.

I want to make sure I'm not being misunderstood here because I was the one that initiated the conversation about books that upgrade. I didn't say and I don't believe that every AF #15 (or any other book) that goes for a record price is upgradeable. But I do believe that at least 2 (and likely 3) of the 3 record price books in the CC auction were upgradeable (I think it's worth noting that there were several other books that did not sell for record prices). And I have stated from the beginning that I do believe that a sudden price surge like this can cause a new rise in prices if the market chooses to accept the new prices as a new range for FMV. As far as 'dumb buyers', if buyers aren't privy to this discussion then they're not as informed as those that are privy to this discussion. That's not 'dumb' that's just a lack of knowledge.