Off Panel

On 5/26/2024 at 5:33 PM, Darwination said:

Without looking at the history of the book, it seems like it might have been listed during Covid when the ask was more in line with the value? 

I suspect you’re right. 
 

I don’t begrudge sellers raising their prices to meet the market, but I like it when they’re consistent and lower prices when the market goes back down.

Okay, I know I’ve been throwing a few stones here at sellers who I find particularly egregious. Let me balance that with some praise for a dealer who I see making a positive change.

Someone who is consigning a Sub-Mariner #1 just dropped their price 45% from $15,800 to $8,750.

That is way more aligned with current fmv in 2024. 
 

Better still, I know I can go directly to mycomicshop.com and pick up this exact copy for $600 less, or $8,150.

Thank you, unknown comic book consignor, for adjusting your pricing to show an awareness of the market. (I mean, $8,150 is still a poop-ton of money, but it’s reasonable for the book given the surrounding sales.)

I hope your book sells quickly.

On 5/25/2024 at 12:22 PM, Cat said:

Yeah it was released for the 20th anniversary of X-Men #1, back in 2011. IIRC not a lot of people bought into it because they were unhappy with the price, which was something like $7.99US. 

People who didn’t like this book for $7.99 are REALLY going to hate it for $588,888.88.

On 5/25/2024 at 11:33 AM, Cat said:

This is a more recent release, recoloured by Thomas Mason…I THINK copies are selling for a hundred or two.

Thank you — I’m always open to fact-checking. (And didn’t know the Thomas Mason book was a thing…)

This guy:

”Okay, I know I’m asking $7,744 for this book. (Plus $19.52 shipping ‘cause I’m not going to turn around and lose money on shipping for this deal).”

”And yeah, maybe it’s selling for around $881…”

“…and maybe there hasn’t been a recorded sale over $881… well…ever.”

“But… and hear me out…it’s THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF FRICKIN’ BI-BEAST!!!”

eBay isn’t doing this poor seller any favors.

C’mon! He’s just trying to get his $1,899.99!

On 5/19/2024 at 10:52 PM, Kevin76 said:

It's just the same books being resold over and over again which makes it seem like there's a lot. 

There's no doubt in my mind that you're right about this. Checking the slab numbers you can see that it's usually a small subset of the books that keep coming to market.

On 5/19/2024 at 2:22 PM, Kevin76 said:

So you're only go by what "seems" scarce in comparison to others around it, 30 is 30, no matter how you compare it...7 Billion people in this world, I think more than 30 want that book in 9.8. In the sports card world, 30 is considered incredible rare, even 2000 is considered rare. 

Most people aren't cracking out 9.8's to get a 9.9/10, they are cracking out 9.8's cause they don't like slabs.  

Yeah, 30 is 30. It's not my intent to make it sound like 9.8s of this book are growing on trees, BUT...

For the last five years, I've been chasing those books that only have 11 copies, or 15 copies, and that is a slog my friend. Nowadays, I'm genuinely relieved when I'm going after a book and see it has an entire 30 copies in 9.8. Usually that means that, like with this book, a couple of copies will fairly reliably come up for sale every year and you've got a shot at them.

In the case of this book, a couple of copies are coming up for sale every year and very consistently selling for between $875 and $1,800.

My main takeaway with ASM 99 is that I'm actually looking at a universe of 29 9.8s for this book, not 30. Because this particular copy isn't going anywhere -- it's essentially off the market. Ten years from now, this copy will still be sitting unsold on eBay for $5,000. (Unless something crazy happens and the fair market value actually rises to $5,000, in which case this book will be on eBay for $22,500.)

On 5/18/2024 at 12:18 PM, Kevin76 said:

I'm more surprised that you don't think 30 copies in 9.8 isn't rare in grade.  that's 30 copies in 9.8 in the world and who's to say, all of them aren't still slabbed, people do crack out books and never return the label  

I actually somewhat agree with you. 30 copies doesn't sound like a whole lot, does it?

Having said that, 30 copies seems downright plentiful when you compare it with many of the surrounding issues in 9.8

ASM 90 (10 copies in 9.8)
ASM 93 (9 copies in 9.8)
ASM 94 (19 copies in 9.8)
ASM 96 (20 copies in 9.8)
ASM 102 (18 copies in 9.8)
ASM 104 (11 copies in 9.8)
ASM 106 (15 copies in 9.8)

You get the picture.

Also,  I don't really see people cracking this book out. I would absolutely believe someone cracking out a 9.4 with hopes of CPRing to a 9.6. Or a 9.6 hoping to get a 9.8. But I don't think many people crack out 9.8s with the hope of pressing up to a 9.9 or 10.0. I feel like your chances would be greater of dropping down to at 9.6 in that scenario. 

An alternative argument that I would be more inclined to consider would be, "How do we know all those 9.8s have survived?" House fires still happen, and how many collections were lost in Hurricane Katrina?"

I don't like to think about that, but I actually think about it pretty often.

On 5/16/2024 at 1:59 PM, lostboys said:

I used to list my collections on Ebay for insane prices.

I knew they wouldnt sell but I liked being able to go on Ebay and look at them.

Thank you for sharing that. I had actually considered this as a possibility, but dismissed it. Now it's back under consideration.

Amazing Spider-man 99, CGC 9.8, for $5,325. It feels like this book has been on eBay as long as I have. Price seems a little nuts, but let's check GPA...

Okay, this is a $1,000 to $1,500 book. A couple of copies sell every year and the highest price paid on GPA over the last seven years is $1,800 (at the height of the comic boom). So, the seller is going with a price that's almost four and a half times the last sale. That's a bold choice.

Is this a rare book? Nope -- 30 9.8s on the census.

Anything special going on? First appearance? Classic cover?  Well, there's a cameo appearance by Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon, if that's your thing.

The buyer does have "Make Offer" turned on, so maybe he's just trying to anchor on a high value to discourage lowball bids? I tell myself that, but I've seen this book wasting away in this corner of eBay for years, so I don't really believe it.

I make an offer that is above the 2023 high sale. Auto-declined.

I make an offer that is above the 2022 high sale. Auto-declined.

I decide against making any other offers and leave eBay to come over here and crab on the boards.

Any sellers out there who understand and can explain the mindset here?

According to Mike's Amazing World, both Hulk 180 and Hulk 181 were on the newsstand in July of '74.

Man, what a month that was!

That’s an awesome copy, musicmeta!

9.4 with a gorgeous wrap and an old-school holder!

On 5/5/2024 at 11:12 AM, workingdog said:

Can you imagine how your parents would have reacted if you brought home a Marvel comic titled "The Son of Satan?"

I think even stupid eight-year-old me knew that one was a non-starter... 

Welcome, g-man!

I have experienced that type of danger myself!

On 2/19/2024 at 6:01 PM, Ghost Town said:

 

Sweet cracker sandwich! Congratulations, Barton!!

Only four of these demonic bad boys in 9.8 until you unearthed this one!  Superlative work, my friend.

(Now if you could just dig up a couple more...) 

Gorgeous books, @WernerVonDoom!

I also added the follow-up to ASM 106. (I mean, I had to know what happened next, right?)

When I first started working on this run, I intentionally steered clear of this issue. Back in those days, I seemed to see them everywhere and they were fairly cheap. My thought process was that I would focus on the more expensive, harder-to-find books first and then just pick up a 107 at my leisure.

While it's true that there are a lot more high grade copies of this book than the issues around it (there are 49 copies of 107 in 9.8, compared to 15 copies of 106), I've found that the market isn't exactly flooded with them. GPA recorded two sales last year, and two the year before. 2021 was the high-water mark, with four whole sales! Of course, that was the height of the comic boom, and books were coming out of the woodwork. And, because it was 2021, sale prices ranged from $725 to $5,040!

All of that is to say, that by the time I got around to buying my 107, I had to work for it a little bit.

Even so, this book brings me another step closer to a full run of the ASM Picture Frames. I now only need two more issues. Maybe I'll finish this year. If not, surely in 2025...