eschnit

There’s an issue though. The value of a corporation is supposed to be based off of what it can generate in dividends and/or cash flow as a potential buyout from another corporation. Currency, crypto, or otherwise, is a crested holder of value, it’s worth whatever the market says it is relative to other currencies. But your Action 1 example is different. I’m sure you can Devil’s Advocate away how it’s not, but that doesn’t make it so. Action 1 is a book, comparable to a rare rookie card of say Mantle, or a Monet, or of some other collectible in high demand that is rare, but not singular. Those collectibles are not worth what the community at large is willing to pay for them if they could just buy 1% or 1% of 1%. They’re worth what 1 buyer is willing to pay for it relative to all other buyers, for the whole thing. It’s not a business that generates cash flow. And it’s not a currency. It’s a book.

The market cap of Marvel in 1999 was about $500 million. They sold out to Disney in 2012 or so for $40 billion.

Is it helpful on a big book, as opposed to bidding online? As a buyer I mean. Meaning, I can see the action, and bid accordingly online live. I’ve done it before, haven’t noticed an issue, but maybe I’m missing something.

I think that I agree with both sides here, if that’s possible. It will inevitably happen. I see signs of it pop-up on Instagram or other places from time to time. Certainly it’s more tangible than a NFT, which is frankly owning nothing to me. At least if you own a portion of a tangible asset, you’re a part owner of that thing you can hold. Somebody paid an ungodly amount, I can’t remember the exact number, maybe near $100 million, for a NFT. Granted, it was this digital art that a talented artist worked on for years and years. But it’s still a f**king digital thing. Which to me equals nothing. But obviously not everyone feels the same way I do. I think it’s being sold off by the owner in parts now. Similarly, I don’t have an interest in being a part owner in something so I can say I’m a part owner. Or as a bet on the future of the book. But plenty of the rest of the world will feel differently. The upcoming generations will likely embrace it more. For me, I saw I believe it was one of like 5 existing copies of the Declaration of Independence being sold in parts in this way. Somehow that intrigued me, hypocritical as that may be. Perhaps if it became so universal that everyone was doing it, I may embrace, but wouldn’t be an early adopter. And I would think the Mona Lisa or a Frazetta oil would happen before comics. I don’t know, maybe slippery slope.

Do any of you bid by phone, as opposed to online? I was surprised to see that on a lot I’m tracking, there are like 10 bidders, but another 20 registered by phone. The amount of phone bidders is what surprised me.

How many can we add to this number in the last year?

Not the same animal, but it happens with stocks all the time

There’s no end point, that’s part of the fun. But that’s not why I’m responding. So, Fantastic Four 1-5 are pricey no doubt. But nothing in comparison to Batman/Tec Golden Age. I mean, I don’t know what grade/condition you’re building with, if you’re talking 100s of books, then FF 1-5 would be attainable. I’m not suggesting scrounging up the $25-50k it would take, depending on low grade or mid grade is doable for most, but it might be over time for anyone that has been able to build the rest of the collection. It may not be something you’re interested in doing at this point though. But by comparison, if you can’t envision accruing Fantastic Four 1-5, you’ll be stuck in place trying to get very far with Batman/Tec. There’s a 1.0 Tec 31 in the Heritage auction in a couple weeks that will probably go for more than a mid grade run of FF 1-5.

May be the last one. I mean, 5000+ Is large. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another one out there. We’re getting close to that generation dying off, and the value of comics is so readily available now, one would think none would fall through the cracks. But we didn’t expect this one. If an original collector was say 9 years old in 1940, they’d be 90 if alive today. How many true Golden Age pedigrees remaining? I’d guess there’s 1 more waiting to be discovered. The amount of expertise lingering on the boards is impressive. And there are plenty of folks that have a good idea what’s out there. But of all of their knowledge and wisdom, that is something that no one knows for sure. Or at least it’s like God or Aliens. Can’t prove a negative. I’m certain that no one knows with certainty that there are none remaining. I guess we’ll just wait and see.

Whoa, never seen that one before. Guess they hadn’t come across Sheena or Firehair. Looks like it’s still pre-code. Wonder if Avon knew it was coming, and were looking to push buttons.

Most recent pickup, 1st appearance of Black Canary and a T-Rex with a bunch of fingers...

I figured it out. Here’s what I gather. I might be wrong, but pretty sure I got it. They have weeklies teed up. For upcoming preview lots where it’s a weekly auction, those lots are still there. If it was for the November signature auction, it appears those lots are gone. Of course, if you told me that the November auction preview is still open, then I’m off base.

Whoa 😯🤯

Cool, I’d love to see it.

Yeah, the Heritage auction is loaded to bear. Is there a skull cover you think is it’s equal or better? Given it’s a niche you collect.

Thank God St. John decided to make the switch on Cinderella Love

Agreed, I love that cover. And it rarely looks that good. I think there’s a 8.0 with a cover that looks equal or better. I’d say too bad the rest of the book is such a wreck. But truthfully, some folks had to go to a lot of trouble to make something of it, and it’s brought me joy. to restore a book to that level, if we can even call that restoration, required some serious tlc, imagination, and care. I could swing a different copy, but I’d never pull off an unrestored copy with that pretty of a cover. Not only are they not available, but they’re ultra rare. I think there’s one collector with most of the hoard. ...I know there’s a 4.0 in the Heritage auction, but that’s like a 8.0 cover attached to whatever the rest of the hot mess is (referring to the purple label here). I could swing the 4.0, but if a 8.0 ever came along, no way on God’s green Earth I’d end up with it. It’s funny, to choose to do that with a book, it could almost only be a handful of covers. Most highly desired books that are way incomplete, you might find the cover alone waiting to be attached to the book. In this case, nobody’s about to find a complete coverless Punch 12, or at least it’s highly unlikely.

Now that is a mess of a label. Would be an interesting niche to collect. Train wreck labels of awesome books. If there’s a wtf is that Frankenstein book, but it’s like totally awesome Hall of Fame, it makes the cut along with the Punch below. There’s also the conspicuous UK or Canadian label. Like the 7.0 AF 15 for 9 pence in the HA auction coming up, albeit I suppose that makes it a different book altogether.

How do you like this for a label?

Good lord!

It’s All-Top 16 8.0 Promise teed up for the next signature auction, and then poof, it was gone.

It’s a Promise book, so I’d be curious why they’d pull it? 😯 It’s also a strong enough book to where it belongs in the next Signature auction. Wouldn’t make sense to delay it or put it in a different auction.

Does Heritage pull lots after teeing them up in Auction previews? I had saved tracking a few books for the feature auction in October, and now they say invalid lots. I’m not sure what the explanation could be.

My memory was likely wrong. I read the story, but I think it was a brother going off to fight in the Korean War. Really lacking comment on my part. Sorry about that.