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shane1956

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  1. I’m still holding out . I’ve made recent bids on a couple of 9.4s on Heritage. Both sold for around 15k . I just missed one by $500. Meanwhile Metropolis comics ignores recent sales and wants thousands more for both their 9.2 and 9,4 .
  2. Well, it is a comic book. It was intended to be “juvenile” and the original intended audience was not an adult collector in 2022. Honestly, most of the major keys are the same. It’s not really surprising.
  3. Hello everyone, long story short I sold off my collection about 5 years ago and will be getting back in. I'm considering this copy of Hulk 181 in 9.2. I'm wondering what your honest comments are as it relates to the "tight" wrap on this book. You can see that the "2" in the "25" is pulled to the back cover. What do you think?
  4. As a comic book collector I can understand why at first glance the rapidly high prices and spike in interest might seem puzzling . Why would someone pay thousands for a PSA 10 1990 (mass produced) comic card when you could simply buy more graded books ? Graded books after all are the “ real thing “ . The “original source “ . However I’d point out a few things : 1) There is a misguided tendency to view these sales and the recent spike in interest through the wrong lens. . Many of us are traditional comic book collectors . We liked the cards, even collected them but maybe we aren’t exactly card collectors. The reality is believe it or not there is actually a healthy percentage of collectors out there who like PSA 10 cards of Marvel characters. There is a healthy percentage of card hobbyists who could care less if they ever own a graded comic book. They are card collectors. Cards matter to them and so do superheroes but not comic books. 2) A PSA 10 is well a PSA 10. These are not easy to obtain even on mass produced sets . Anyone who has been following along knows that 1990 Marvel Universe Cards have about a 75 to 80 percent chance of being off center to some degree . Many right out of the pack are off to the junk pile with zero hope of ever getting a 10 gem mint grade . There is an element of “ rarity” built into collecting these cards . Like it or not the reality is people pay major dollars for PSA 10 cards . They do it in everything from Michael Jordan , Hulk Hogan , Pokémon , Garbage Pail kids. Why not Spiderman ? Spiderman is after all probably the most recognized of them all . I’ll add that Marvel Masterpieces was not produced at 80 million . The box is marked 350,000. Yes, still very high but if you do the research many will be off center and as a result 10s won’t be easy . A piece of information when looking at the power of card collectors, 1987 fleer which has the Jordan rookie has a print run of 2 million . We all know that didn’t hold back a Jordan PSA 10 from being worth $750,000 when it was 30 K 18 months ago . People collect cards . Some of these people collect superheroes in the card format . I’m not saying cosmic Spiderman from 1990 Marvel Universe Cards is the equivalent of a Michael Jordan rookie but you can certainly understand why a PSA 10 can sell all day in the multiple of thousands. I agree these cards have shot up in value very fast . However , there is a legitimacy to the sales . Personally I wouldn’t trade my 1990 Cosmic Spiderman PSA 10 for a NM #98 9.8. Some collectors might but some like me wouldn’t. I’d rather have certain PSA 10 comic cards. Don’t be quick to dismiss what is happening here and let’s educate ourselves by looking at it from a non comic book collectors viewpoint .
  5. I figure there must be others out there who are as passionate about the 1996 Marvel Masterpiece set as I am . It truly is the king of all Marvel card sets . Released at height of the mid 90s comic crash; the artwork of Boris & Bell harkens back to the timeless style of the legendary Frank Frazetta . It’s a personal favourite and building a complete set in near mint / mint grade can be a bit of a challenge . There are so many interesting facts about this set which make it worthy of its own thread . Let’s go CGC . Time to get the grading and conversation started !
  6. Hello CGC friends, it's been a while. I'll start by saying I took a two year leave of absence into the vintage toy market. I've started to do some online research and wondering your various opinions. What is the reasonable price of admission for a Blue Lable AF 15 5.0. Trying to get a sense through discussion. It's been a while. Thanks
  7. No problem Roy. We Canadians are much too polite to pick on each other. Obviously I have zero way of knowing what the future holds. Who knows the bottom may drop out of this entire thing. I guess I just get a little excited when the books I bought for personal enjoyment seem to end up in such high demand. Especially the ones I wanted so bad and felt I over paid for about 8 months ago. On a side note, I never did get a copy of Dare Devil #7 in 9.2 .I remember sending you e-mails in the middle of a Jury trial I was doing a few years back hoping you had one on hand. It drives me crazy that it's the lone 9.0 in my collection of 9.2's .
  8. For the record. I was just offered $7300 U.S for my FF #48 9.2 and declined. The value and price is real people. I could care less about what Disney does with SS or the Fantastic Four. I'm not a dealer , flipper, or speculator either. The price is real folks . It's certainly not going down.
  9. The glass is UV protected and the book is in a man cave with no windows. I see it as a piece of artwork worth putting on display.
  10. After watching various You Tube clips and interviews based around Vincent Zurzolo and Stephen Fisher of Metropolis comics I started pondering a few things . I'll start by saying both are without a doubt experts in this field and clearly very successful in what they do . In one video from about 3 years ago , Zurzolo makes a comment to the effect that we have only entered the "adolescent phase" of comic book values . He's very convincing and his opinion is well presented in interview after interview. That said , I started to ponder the question below. Put aside for a moment the fact that there are new finds. Here the big vintage comic dealers buy up these raw collections at a steep discount , have them graded , and sell at a nice profit margin. My query is on the following area .A large part of the business of major vintage dealers seems to be that they acquire an already graded CGC book from a motivated seller , flip it to the next motivated buyer at a profit , re-acquire it or a similar example , mark it up , and sell it. The mark up is on the expectation that the next buyer will pay more for the same product . Rinse and repeat. Take Amazing Fantasy 15 as an obvious example. Many if not the majority of books we have seen sold for years now are dealer "rinse and repeats". This entire model seems to be held up on the fundamental expectation the these key books will keep going higher and higher or by extending on Mr. Zurzolo's comment until they reach adulthood so to speak. Clearly , those who deal in vintage comics as a primary source of income or as a way to supplement their income must recognize the obvious "rinse and repeat" aspect of what has been going on for years now. With so much time and finances invested into owning such a major business like Metropolis do these dealers ever get concerned that there is a ceiling to the same AF #15 5.0 being sold over and over again ? Higher and higher with each turn giving a bit more out of a perpetual return. I guess my questions are :1) How much juice can you squeeze out of the same lemon? 2) With so much invested in this business do you see a great deal of juice left in the lemon over the long term? 3) When do you see this adolescent phase reaching adulthood ? I don't have the answer ; i'm not sure anyone does. However, what do people think?
  11. My copy after framing. (Not the greatest photo with the glare ) . I also agree that FF 48 is easily a top 20 Silver Age key.
  12. On fire! It is a key book and has an epic cover. I'm happy I got mine before the recent run up.
  13. Final price $7,200 for the 9.2. That's probably a new high mark.
  14. "And when Wolverine finally goes away, the value of IH 181 will level off" . When Wolverine goes away it's safe to say that basically the entire Marvel Universe will be going as well. The character has been a main pillar of the comic book industry at least 30 plus years . Over that time the character has easily been one of the most iconic and well recognized of all the superhero genres . Outside that comment I see and agree with the point you were trying to make.
  15. Another update. This book has been on fire! A 9.2 is up to $6000 U.S on EBAY with 10 hours remaining! I thought I was a bit crazy when I paid $4700 back in late March. At this rate this will be a 10k book in 9.2 at some point in the next 2 years. Prices keep going higher and higher. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fantastic-Four-48-cgc-9-2-1st-Silver-Surfer-Galactus-Stan-Lee-2-4-5-49-45-52/283070464971?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649