underthebigw

Those are all beautiful copies. That's great.

Of course.

Thanks. I'm not really chasing down uber HG exclusively, just the nicest copies I can rescue from the bargain bins. It's really amazing how little I've paid for most of them, and there's a lot of mistakes I've picked up over the years, but there's also been a lot of sweet books mixed in.

I spent some time while the turkey was in the oven going through more stacks. Just to prove I have no idea what I've picked up, I came across this after a day proclaiming I didn't have any of the kid titles. Mid-grade at best, but still fun to have. One of the pf 'sI found in my variant hunting days during the late 90s. Bought from a gem of a store owner who thought he was the beanie babie magnate of the world. He couldn't bother to re-price the inventory he bought (was last priced in the early 1990s) and soon thereafter banned me from the store because a dealer told him I was buying too many books and making money off the store. More fun:

Have these at CGC right now. 001 Li'l Kids 10 2/73 Marvel Comics n/a n/a n/a 002 Li'l Kids 2 10/70 Marvel Comics n/a n/a n/a 003 Li'l Kids 7 8/72 Marvel Comics n/a n/a n/a 004 Harvey 4 8/72 Marvel Comics n/a n/a n/a That's a herd of unicorns. Super tough books, Joey. Look very nice. Here's a couple more that may have come from the same show as the batch above. Plus a Thor I may have posted before: And a Fury

I wanna say these were new or uninformed cops. That cannot be the law. I wish it was not the law, but that is how it was explained to us. The detective at the police department told my dad that the pawn shop had to be reimbursed so they were not out any money and my dad would have to get the money back from the thief. I cannot remember if it was the Michigan State police or the county guys who handled our case. The pawn shop was in the next county over. It was not a large amount of money, around a hundred dollars or so. I told my dad it was probably worth it to be rid of the thief as he fled to Florida, the thief's sister told me, and never came back. This is how it works in California too. Pawn Shops (lobbyist) have made it so that Victims have to pay second-hand dealers the purchase price to recover their stolen items. Some stores make it their policy to return stolen items to their rightful owners for free to avoid bad publicity. If (and that's a big if) a Suspect is arrested, the Victim can seek (and will usually get) restitution. Correct - here in California, the lobbyists got a law on the books (Business & Professions Code) to "protect" the second-hand dealers who make their living handling such goods. Purchases are documented via pawn slips, so the law is also intended to encourage pawn shops to work with the authorities in order to identify the perpetrators. Seems like Michigan has a similar law. Whether we agree with the law or not, there it is - those disparaging the police here via pure speculation simply don't know what they're talking about (par for the course these days, I know). Many states have laws like this, which is absolute bs. Someone I know in the Midwest had a similar experience regarding several pinball machines stolen from a residence. He had photographic proof of serial numbers, a police report, and knew the pawn shop that had purchased them from the thief. The pawn shop would not release them to him unless they were reimbursed and the police acknowledged state law entitled them to this. It took months for him to get them back along with legal representation

Who do you think I am? Greggy? I don't think I have a single kid title. I know I have some Millies and more romance, but not sure what, and certainly not uber HG.

Yep, definitely Dale's. I think I picked it up in San Diego 4 or 5 years ago. I hate being crass, but I've never had time to rebag or remove stickers. Here's the rest of the pf's from this show:

Just found another small stack of pfs, The highlight is far and away this copy of Ringo Kid. Bought from one of our favorite dealers, who rather conservatively graded it a 9.2. I think it has a chance at a 9.4. Regardless, a stunner.

Found another in a pile. The white scuffs are on the mylar. Might be a 9.0.

Tonight's offering from the living room floor.

I know you can't tell everything from a scan, But your newest Fear #6 looks like the keeper to me. The centering is pretty decent and everything about it looks better to me. Or when in doubt, keep both copies. I'm also leaning toward the newer copy.

Man, that is sweet. Better than either of my copies.

The 14 is the one I was psyched about. Not sure why it was priced so low. That's my third copy of Fear 6--my first is a beater. Not sure which one to keep of the other two. This one is techinicaly higher grade, but the alignment is not as good as my other decent copy.

Yep, 3 of the 5. But the price was right, and there's at least one upgrade, if not two in the batch.

Ok, I think I have a problem. The haul from this week's show in NJ. Almost all bargain books, nothing uber HG, but I was still pleased. [/img] [/img]

Nice. I don't even think I have a crappy copy. That one is gorgeous

Not even sure where this one came from.

A true classic. It warmed my heart just seeing the title again.

Two more, both from a Wizard Chicago show. I have a vague recollection of either Joey or Nik freaking out that I found the Fear for $4 [/img]

So, I'm following through on my promise to my wife to pick up the last 10 years of books I've purchased at cons that have all pretty much sat where I put them after walking in door. I can no longer argue with Greggy--apparently I do not know what I have in my collection any more. Here's the first treat--judging from the label and books in the same pile, I'm guessing I picked this up at a Wizard Philly show a looong time ago.

Now that is quite cool.

I'm both amazed and po'd at the same time. Was looking at tellshiar's Marvelmania website and saw this item. I was all set to pull the trigger, regardless of price, but then saw it was sold. Very cool, but at the same time, you gotta wonder why a company thought this was worthy of putting on a t-shirt

Uh, no. Seriously, speaking as the person who found the first known copies of Iron Man 89 and Iron Fist 14 (both of which look like regular copies), I can guarantee you that I have always looked at the actual price, and back in the late 90's probably made a few thousand dollars doing so. I have found about 70-80 35 cent variants in the wild. I have probably found about 800 30 cent variants. A very different statistical technique appeared to be used to determine return rates for the two different sets of variants and there is absolutely a difference in the rate at which the two appear. If you have found that many 35 cent variants in the wild, then two things are happening. First, you've been very lucky. Second, you've clearly tapped into a test market, either known or unknown. Good for you. I guarantee that is not the typical experience.

That's mean-spirited--just cuz I'll be 60 in 8 years and need glasses to look at books now......