serling1978

The only double cover I think I own is a raw copy of What If #24. What If Spiderman had rescued Gwen Stacy. I would much rather have it be my X-men #1. 

Not sure what you're getting off Amazon for $150, but I did my own pressing for a handful of years and I used a dry laminating press. I haven't done it in a couple years due to laziness, but it was fun to do. 

As others have said, I wouldn't use any humidity or moisture related tricks. I think there are a number of ways to actually press, I think everyone does it a little different.

I'll share what I did, but I'm not giving out advice or suggesting anyone follow what I did. My method was to heat up the press for about 10 minutes, slide in the book, turn off the heat, and close the lid and leave for around 8 hours to be safe. With this method there is no risk of damaging the book because before even closing the lid you've already turned the heat off.  And then the book will be heated for a bit of time and then slowly cooled down as the heat dissipates and then sit in the press for the night. 

I also used backboards on top and underneath and parchment paper between the comic and any other surface. I got good results. I was able to press out dents, waves, spine rolls, etc. My favorite thing was to find a really crumpled comic and to press it back into an actual comic. 

One thing I realized and am now weary off is its very easy to manipulate before and after photos. Just a slight change of the angle of a book and the way the light is hitting it can easily hide a flaw in the "after" picture. I always look to see if the glare from the light source is hitting the same spot on the cover in both pictures. 

Anyway, as others have said, practice is key. Press a ton of worthless drek (check a This Week's top 10 list first maybe just to make sure) from different era's and get a feel for it before considering pressing a book you care about in any way. 

Can GPA be used right now? I've been seriously looking for a JIM 83 2.0 and I'm happy to pay GPA, but I can't find anything even $2k over GPA. that would be a miracle. 

For non grails I would definitely say to wait for things to cool down. Like if you must have the 1st appearance of Agatha Harkness then wait, but if you must have X-men 1...ehhhhhh. Waiting could easily mean it just gets further out of range. Sure it will eventually stop somewhere, but will it fall back to what's its at today for example? I have no clue, but if 2 months ago you had decided to wait for it to die down you'd be pretty disappointed at how much it's gone up I think. I'm not following every sale but I've got a 3.0 of that book so I peek now and then... 

For me personally I've been looking for a JIM 83 and I started my search about 6 weeks ago maybe and it was very doable at the time but with it being a grail I still had to try to find the right grade and price. But with recent ebay sales and lack of any other offers I think I may have missed my chance. 

Sticking to grails, I would say if you want to buy a TOS 39 this is probably a good time. Compared to JIM 83 it doesn't seem (someone else can probably confirm) to be going up nearly as fast but if anything is hinted about iron man coming back I'm sure it will start to go crazy as well. 

1 hour ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

So I guess you'll have to get both?

 

That's what I did 

I've briefly dabbled in DC in the past with some GA/SA Worlds Finest and Detective/Batman, but I've always been a Marvel guy. I would never go over to DC. They seem like a real buckshot approach to me compared to Marvel. Both naturally have many examples of forgettable characters, but DC specialized in it. 

I know DC guys will rightfully stick up for their own and disagree, but even some of their flagship heroes just seem and have seemed for a while as being for lack of a better term, lame. Green Lantern? Lame. Even Superman, one of the forefathers of DC, considering all of his powers is ultimately pretty lame.  

I get that my opinions don't represent anyone else or the illustrious history of comics, but I've been collecting for about 30 years now (not nearly as long as some of the pioneers here) and that's just how my collecting experience and interpretation has been since I started. 

4 hours ago, KirbyJack said:

I did sell off a big chunk of my collection, but don’t really regret anything. The sell-off started in part because owning an Amazing Fantasy 15 was getting too stressful! I expect that’s why I’ll eventually sell off the rest. 
The exit strategy is to keep the perpetually worthless Marvel’s Greatest Comics until I croak. They will always be easy to own and enjoy.

Curious what was stressful about owning AF15?? 

I need that kind of stress in my life. 

On 4/25/2021 at 2:32 PM, KCOComics said:

There are other auction sites and big dealers with a  prescence on the boards. They don't generally solicit business and are active members of the community.  

Answer questions, give advice and when questions about their platforms are asked, they answer them. 

Basically, you gotta build some credibility. Be an active member who is here for the love of comics and you'll create trust. 

Asking for business out of the gate will make folks weary of working with you. 

Well said. 

7 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

Yup. I mourn the passing of being part of an underground, cult-like movement, set apart from mainstream society, and the cheap pamphlets associated with that.

Agreed. And I wish collectors were still the only ones battling for books they wanted. Where your competition is limited to someone who, brace yourselves, wants to OWN that same book. The worst thing the whole "hey these are worth money" phenomena did was create droves of flippers. No way to put that genie back in the bottle. 

On 4/23/2021 at 8:16 AM, MatterEaterLad said:

 

But I think my good moves have overshadowed my bad ones. Got a great deal on a Hulk 1 years ago, recently bought a 1,000+ book SA collection fairly cheap, etc.

Same here. About 5 years ago I made what I thought was a risky move and bought a solid lower grade raw that was missing the last ad page. A year later I sold it and paid for most of the cost of a CGC 2.5. Was also able to finish the original 6 issue run.

But another regret I have is currently ongoing. That's is not buying a JIM 83 in 2020. Could have sold my TTA keys to cover about 60% of the cost or more. NOW JIM growth is outpacing ant-man at a pretty staggering pace. Need to figure out a scheme to give ant man some heat...

8 hours ago, Muno42 said:

Is that a threat???!?!?  

 

Haha yes it is. I've used copies of Speedball 1 to rob banks before. They just hand over the cash and don't ask any questions. 

My regrets are all flip related on books/lots I bought purely for a fast flip that I could have held onto. One was a JIM lot from #83-#150 or so for around $1800 about 5 years ago. I foolishly return the entire lot because a handful of books had non disclosed problems like detached staples.  Still hurts. 

Agree with everyone else here. Buyers will prefer an original low grade copy VS a repo cover.

Also, If I had to choose between no cover at all and repo, I would go with no cover. 

NEW TOPIC!! 

Who has the most comics from his list in their collection? Winner gets a Speedball #1.

On 4/16/2021 at 3:48 AM, VikramK said:

I think it’s all about hunting for deals - I got a major Silver Age key for about 1/2 what it should go for off a major auction site recently.  That’s an anomaly but I also saw an AF15 2.5 on that site go for “pre crazy” prices the prior week.

I’d say deals are out there but much harder to find.  I might look into buying collections from people who just want to get rid of stuff.

What auction site? I'm in the market for a grail myself, and these are difficult times. 😭

This is a key thread in this forum. 

Easily looks like a 1.0 to me. I've had books in worse condition that were a 1.0 or a 1.5. Of course as all ebay sellers say "I am not a professional grader."

They also say "@WOW!!! LOOK!! Never read!!! Unpressed!!!! MOVIE COMING SOON!!!".  But I don't think most of that applies... other than the movie part. 

It's the high end raffles that really baffle me. I've seen raffles in IG for books like AF15 where each spot is $1000 and some guys buy like 5 or more spots. Sure it's an amazing deal if you win, but I can't imagine losing $5k with nothing to show for it. That money could have easily been spent on a SA grail. Well, not these days I guess. In today's market $5k will get you a mid grade 1st appearance of Agatha Harkness.... 

On 4/19/2021 at 9:08 AM, KirbyJack said:

Considering that Thor is my second favorite, easy call.

I'll take it! 

Great info and opinions guys. You all basically backed up what I was already leaning towards. 

Now the one tiny remaining detail... Finding a JIM 83 to buy at a fair price .. 

8 hours ago, IronMan_Cave said:

nope, nothing, GPA meaningless now, all keys I saw sold 50%-100%, or even more, over listed price

Amen. I posted in the WTB forum and I'm about to again, but the only offer I got was about $2500 over GPA. I get that the market is unusual right now but no way I can justify paying that much over GPA. 

28 minutes ago, innocuous said:

I recently sold TTA44 (and other comics) to pay for a JIM83. So, easy to answer. If you use the term "Key" then think of Tier 1 vs Tier 2. Go for Tier 1.

Congrats! Curious about the grades you sold and the grade you bought and if you were able to cover most or all of the cost. 

I've been hunting for a JIM 83 for a couple months now, but people who are willing to sell at GPA have yet to be found. That may be the biggest roadblock. 

Just looking for some opinions, I'm thinking about the possibility of buying a JIM 83 and selling my TTA keys. 

Would you rather own a 1.5 - 2.0 JIM 83 or a TTA 27 4.0, TTA 35 4.5, TTA raw 44 and 45 around 3.0?

I've always wanted a JIM 83, but to finance it I'd have to sell my TTA's and probably then some considering in today's market finding a JIM 83 at GPA is a challenge. As a disclaimer I'll say up front I'll ultimately decide what means the most to me (so nobody has to give that response ) but I would still like to see what others think. 

Did the Kangaroo have anything other than a not even "superpower" ability to jump? 

Cool for dunking maybe, but in fighting actual heroes with legitimate powers? Uhhhh no. 

These days it seems like any forgotten side character has the potential to suddenly show up in the MCU and send fringe fan boys into a buying frenzy. 

Everyone likes to speculate in who will be the next hot thing,  but how about the opposite. Which character introduced in one of Marvel's flagship series (ASM, Incredible Hulk, FF, X-men, etc) is LEAST likely to "get hot"? 

The more obscure the better. Have fun...