Hudson

Bob, I cannot agree with you MORE that a person's reputation (buyer or seller) is of utmost importance. I can always make more money; it is a relatively cheap commodity. My reputation, however, means the world to me. (Please note here that I am a buyer only). Unfortunately I don't think everyone views it this way (especially a few of the dealers out there). It never ceases to amaze me how when you talk about certain dealers (Gator, Bedrock, Reese, and some others), that most everyone seems to agree they are stand up guys. Then there are a few dealers (who I don't know how they stay in business) that when their names get brought up, everyone winces. How many bad experiences does it take to turn a buyer off to a certain dealer? Probably not many (if more than one). I know that when I walked into this year's Baltimore Convention, the first dealer I saw was someone that I had had a bad experience with earlier this year (at the Wonder Con in Florida). He usually has a nice selection of books (and I have purchased from him in the past), but after my experience in FL, I walked right by (now uninterested in doing ANY further business with this dealer), and a short distance later I was at Gator's booth. There I saw Rick who is always nice, professional, friendly, and a pleasure to talk with or do business with. Later I met up with a few other board members and we were discussing dealers in the room. When I mentioned that I had bypassed that certain dealer, I wasn't completely surprised to find out that I was NOT the only one who had had problems with this same guy. The experience one other board member had was a LOT worse than mine. I am not sure how this guy stays in business, but I am guessing that as time moves forward he is losing the business of more and more buyers. For me, one bad experience is all it takes. So, Bob, you are correct when you say, "This hobby is very small and frankly you really don't want a bad reputation."

Stephen, Thanks for posting a response to help out that new Board Member with his question. I believe you are correct about it being a reprint. Perhaps @Rodcomics could measure his copy and provide dimensions. Thanks also for posting a photo of yours (which is a LOT nicer than mine). It is exciting just to see such a beautiful copy. Congrats. I think at least 3 of the 4 known copies belong to board members. Guess that makes it a pretty small club.

I think anyone who truly loves GA comics could not help but drool over the display you put up. If a GA collector passed your booth and something did not catch his/her eye, then I would be forced to conclude that collector was blind.

I am pretty certain 99% of anyone who has been on the boards for more than a week knows you and knows you are as good as they come. As always, a great selection of books from a great boardie.

I would like to invite ANYONE who goes to the convention to share their thoughts and/or photos here.

I saw very little early Superhero, outside of Gator's booth. I was looking for early Action or Sensation. There appeared to me to be much less GGA than in previous years. There was some, but I didn't see any of the "must have" books. At least not on my "must have" list. I should add that Bedrock did have a nice selection of books overall (as did Gator), just not what I was currently looking for.

God Luck with the hunt, Sir.

It was good meeting you as well. Sorry we did not get to chat more. I was hoping to meet nickle, however, he was walking away as I walked up. Hope you get to pick up some stuff on Sunday.

Thought I would add a few more photos ,just in case someone is interested.....

I don't know if anyone is interested, however, I thought I would share my thoughts on this year's Baltimore Convention. As a collector primarily of GA, I did not find the selection of books I would have liked. This is NOT to say that there were not GA books there, as there were several big dealers, including New Force (Gator), Bedrock (Rich), High Grade (Bob), Reese (Greg), and several others. There was a decent amount of GA, just nothing I was REALLY looking for. I found a few books that I was marginally interested in, however, the grade was either REALLY low or the price REALLY high. I took a number of photos, with my phone. I am NOT a great photo taker, so I don't know if anyone wants to see these or not. The highlight of the show, for me, was seeing and talking with a few fellow board members. I was happy to see my friend @zolnerowich for the second year in a row. I met @comicjack who is perhaps one of the most knowledgeable people on comics, that I have ever met. He took time to tell me about many different comics spanning numerous genres. I really appreciate the time he took to do this. Let me post at least one photo of the IMO most awesome collection of GA in the room. New Force (Gator), had a Superman 1, Captain America 1, Sensation 1, Two Wonder Woman 1(s), Three Batman 1(s), at least Six AF15(s). As well as a host of other impressive books. Please forgive the poor photography....

@thunsicker Just wanted to say that I like your sig line.

I don't know what FMV on this is, however, Rick (Gator) was selling them for $50 at the Baltimore Convention today.

CL has one up tonight

Thanks, Harold. Word on on the street is that you still go to cons with $60 and expect to walk out with a stack of GA.

I can see how people can lose interest in collecting comics these days. This is likely a result of many factors, however, $$$$ may be the biggest contributor to the decline in interest of many collectors. I too plan to attend the Baltimore Con tomorrow and the NY con next weekend and I am not sure why. I remember the days when I went to conventions with $60 and came home with several books. Now, I plan to go to the convention tomorrow with at least $2K in cash (and a credit card) and I am betting I will come home with most of that unspent and maybe no books at all The cost of books have become crazy the past few years. It used to be that if you spent 4 figures on a book, you were getting something special. 5 figures and you were “the man”. Now, it seems like books that I wouldn’t even want in my collection are often well into the mid 4 figure range. It makes it kind of difficult to stay enthusiastic, when you really want a book, put in a solid bid (well over what you expect it to go for) at auction, and lose. It is even more discouraging to go to conventions where everything is marked crazy high so that the dealer has room to negotiate. I don’t want to negotiate; I want to buy a book at a fair price (a price at which the seller can make a reasonable profit and make a decent living without gougimg every penny from the buyer). I don’t know. I still collect and still love when I can find and buy a book I am actively looking for (or just one that catches my eye), however, today’s market is making it a bit more difficult to have those positive buying days.

Why does this event keep getting later and later every year? Soon it May land on Christmas Eve.

I agree. That is my point. You don’t want any moisture in your airtight container or else the moisture has no where to go amd will cause you problems.

I do not personally prefer signed comics, however, if I did, I would like “proof” that the person actually signed it. For example, I once purchased a movie -script at a charity auction and then asked one of the actresses (who was at the auction) to sign it. While she was sighting it, I took a photograph of her signing it. I know people could take a photo of Stan Lee signing one copy of a book and then using that photo to authenticate 100 other forges copies, however, at least this adds one small extra layer of protection. Then again, maybe I am off base , as I do not collect signed comics and if signed on the cover, it devalues the book (for me)

First - Welcome to the Boards. As for your situation and question, I have not submitted enough books and on enough occasions to give an intelligent opinion on this. I have had negative and positive experiences with CGC. I think, when it comes to our “books”, as colletors, we like to get them back in our hands ASAP. I know whenever (a rare occasion) I do send a book in for grading, as soon as I hand the box to the USPS person, I immediately receive a sick feeling in my stomach. Where is my book going, how will it be handled, and when will it be safely back in my hands? All this makes submitting books a stressful time for me and I can understand not wanting to wait additional unnecessary time to receive your books back. Again - Welcome to the Boards

Good question. With great regret I say that I don’t think I will be alive 50 years from now, and so the “value” of my books at that time will not be as important to me; as my body decays at a much faster rate than those precious pieces of paper I spent way too much time and money collecting and preserving.

I am not sure the paper needs to breath, however, I would say that the vacuum you want to seal your book in would need to have proper humidity. I know there was a thread a few years ago about people putting books in an airtight safe and ended up with rusty staples. Thoughts??

Kav, Why would you put several people on "ignore". Just sent them some of your artwork; then maybe they will like you.

I haven't ordered from Bob in a while now, however, I can attest that every time I have ordered from him, I have been happy with the entire experience.

Great read. Of course the MOST AMAZING thing about this entire read is the fact that @RockMyAmadeus, @Buzzetta, and @kav all seem to agree on something. That may be a board first.

Harold’s 1985 OSPG will not allow him to go any higher.