VintageComics

No Read the post I misunderstood. He should have written "It could have been like the Porsche 356 I wanted". My bad.

You have a Porsche 356? Gulp.

I'm going to add an email from Mark Zaid / Esquire Comics. I included Mark on the email string because he is a lawyer by trade and provides outside legal counsel to CGC. Email response below but I'm going to remove his email address to reduce spam to his email account. If someone needs it feel free to reach out to me. ----------------------------------- As outside legal counsel to CGC, I have made sure they are aware of this situation and it is being investigated. The company takes fraud very seriously. If there is any additional evidentiary information to know, please forward to me at ******************** Thanks. Mark

I can see how not everyone would catch it off the bat, as many dealers miss even obvious restoration attempts on their own inventory but it is comforting to know that it wasn't as professional looking or as invisible as we were initially led to believe.

Good point. They probably also changed their fonts on these specific books just for the heck of it, misprinted their own label and bent the slabs to see if anyone would notice. Carry on.

Thanks, Richie! I just wasn't sure if Conan wanted it shared or not due to the police investigation but since you've shared it these are the pics of the slabs from the email.

Security is always a combination of things and not just one thing...unless you're Robocop. The Federal forces may protect the country, local police may protect the neighborhood but you still need to lock your front door as a deterrent. The CGC holder has MANY features to aid in securing the book. The hologram proves it's from CGC, the inner holder seals the book in, but as a few people like Beyonder and Mr. Zipper have already noted, keeping the outermost holder from being compromised is the 1st line of defence. And I am sure more details will come out in regards to this. I'd expect a statement from CGC once Mike wades through his list of chores. This discussion is terrific because it's educating people on what to look for.

I thought they had it covered ?! 🤷 Success is always moving goal. Not a stationary one.

Another thing to note is that according to my understanding, if any of these fraudulent books crossed state lines, wouldn't it make this a Federal crime? For those of you who know your US laws, can anyone chime in?

I sent out an email to a large group of dealers last night notifying them of the fraud. Most were unaware but one of the major dealers emailed back that they are involved and they have some additional info including some more info on the cases themselves. I've asked them whether this info can be shared or not. Waiting to hear back. They may well post here themselves.

The Superman #1 CGC 7.0 that sold for $2.8MIL just over a year ago came from a Facebook post, believe it or not. Raw.

This is where Collector's Society will need to put their thinking cap on and get ahead of this in some way.

There have been stories of CGC QC errors, grading variations and the like for 24 years but the market MOSTLY trusted CGC for over 20 years. Every single human and every company makes mistakes. I'm talking about the type of trust that tips the scales and destroys a product. They have graded MILLIONS of comics. Like what? 10 million now? More? You can have 1000's of mistakes and they can still be TRUST WORTHY. This is one of those things that can tip scales and I'm sure a company approaching a value of $1 Billion is not going to just let this slide. That was my point.

He posted these in part two. I missed the part two. Thanks! It is possible if they did NOT show ID that the names are faked.

You can bet your butt CGC / Blackstone are looking for a solution to this. The only reason CGC is in business is because they build trust into the product. If you eliminate the trust you no longer have a product. There's no way they're going to let a $500 Million + company slide into obsolescence because of some criminals.

Not everyone has the same eye for small details. For many dealers is. In fact, you SHOULD be asking to see ID before doing a deal as you want recourse if the goods are stolen, let alone fakes. Not everyone does but it's a good practice.

This is pretty terrifying on one hand. The name of the scammer in the listing sounds like someone well known in the NW. Obviously he can't reveal the full name due to the police investigation but I think most old timers know who it is. It certainly reinforces the notion that collectors should only buy comics from reputable sellers. I also wonder if they at least checked ID before making the purchase or just bought it at arm's length.

Properly. Exactly. I'm so glad you agree with me.

I suppose that depends on how the crimes are characterized or better put, "recharacterized" since things we called oranges 30 years ago are no longer oranges, if you follow my meaning. If you talk to one group, they're telling you crime is through the roof. You talk to another side and they tell you that it's on a down slope. I just know that in my little, personal circle I've seen more drugs / crime / guns / homelessness / strife / suicide / overdoses around me than I've ever had before. And that's me in my circle. Not social media feeding it to me. If you have statistics to share feel free to. It's certainly and interesting discussion on whether there is more crime or less.

You've mischaracterized the discussion. Nobody that I saw stated it's homeless people stealing all these comics. As someone who is either actual friends with some of the homeless people in my area or I just know them better than the average person, I know this not true. More correctly, the discussion was about economic pressures as well as many other issues creating an increase in crime. There are obviously MANY factors that cause increases in crime, but IMO most of them can be traced back to poor decisions that have steered society into a negative place.

Properly.

Not true at all. It's not a catch phrase. It's very specific. But this probably isn't the place to discuss it. Yes, the definition is clear. However, people overlook (either willfully or ignorantly) the definition and use it as they wish, usually with a negative connotation. Fair enough. I used it in the way it was supposed to be used in my 1st post.

You spelled Nord Stream wrong.

Not true at all. It's not a catch phrase. It's very specific. But this probably isn't the place to discuss it. I am open to discussion on the topic elsewhere if anyone is interested. I guess that depends on how those crimes are characterized and whether or not they've changed that. Certainly, homelessness is on the rise. People's pockets are strapped for cash unlike ever before. Inflation is at highs. There certainly seems to be a lot more unrest than used to be. Those things all combine to create a negative reaction to society. I'm with you on overdoses and suicides, though. I've been worried about those since 2020 and it seems to be a bad dream come true.

God bless you.