Glassman10

In the words of George Carlin, there has to be the most worthless number 1 comic ever printed in fabulous condition, I have a nominee: RIMA , The Jungle Girl May, 1974 (DC) I have this in at least a 9.4. It does not appear to be worth the paper it's printed on which was not a lot to begin with. I'm sure my estimation will fail in mere minutes when put before this fine board. Have at it.

Take a look at point of sale stuff in grocery stores and tell me what you see. It's in the check out line and it's pretty trashy but it makes money. Initially, I said you need 250K in capital and I haven't changed on that at all watching the responses. I know how much it took in inventory to buy and tie down exclusivity back when I had a gallery. Servicing your debt is simply critical to success. You have to see how much the loans are costing vs sales. Don;t allow the kids to bring their own snacks. Sell snacks. Sell drinks. Everything cracks the nut. Do be a home for those guys. I still wouldn't do it knowing the little I know. The internet has changed everything. I sat today with Ihaveneatstuff and we reviewed buying, analyzing and grading comics. The world was at our fingertips for pennies throu the internet. It did not exist 20 years ago and that changes everything. The modern collector is not a kid. He's a well established adult who doesn't really do magic tourney's. Decide who your client is going to be. Cater to that client. It's pretty hard to do both with what that will cost. Most importantly, just do what you love. Life is really profoundly short as you will see. .

to have an attractive inventory for spontaneous sales, I would imagine you would really need closer to 250,000 invested in that inventory. I assume you would need to borrow that so look at what it costs to service that debt. I do think impulse sales are going to be the only viable way a brick and mortar makes it. That being said, the other basic costs of brick and mortar are real and those costs never sleep. They accrue daily. Given the inventory available to the average rabid comic collector, and the huge variety of grades available for purchase AND the advantages of arbitration or purchase protection, it's a lot easier to buy a book from a well established on line dealer who has much of his inventory consigned . It seems to me that many of the folks here are on line dealers.I wonder how many of them pull down 75K a ear. I would be far more inclined to take the money that you want to put into this and instead buy some top grade books as investments. I think you'll do better and sleep better. Making what you love into your work leads to a lot of heartbreak..I had a brick and mortar operation for over 40 years. It wasn't in Comics but I don't think I got more than 8-10 days off a year. It's only since I stopped that that I began to get to slow down and appreciate the surroundings. Life is short. Or, as Soupy Sales once said "sell drugs to preschoolers. They make lousy witnesses in Court" (humor).

******************** That was really nice advice, thank You. With the old books where the cellulose has really been scuffed, the spatula really helps as well. My Sweetie tells me it isn't a spatula. It's soft rubber piece usually used to clean the mixing bowl of the last batter of.. chocolate chip cookie dough! It will hold a corner down if it needs it.

The spatula is something I put over the lower right hand corner to keep the corner from turning up, or worse, actually back creasing. It slides in and out easily and you can put it to the bottom of the bag as you insert the comic so the corner has simply no where to go. So, it works, particularly well on older books. Much of what I'm bagging is 45 years old, or older. I've done about two hundred books from the collection today. That has given me ample time to really pay attention to how much the dimensions of the books, all marvel, can vary. The bags vary slightly occasionally. I've been doing Journey into Mystery from 84 on through about 222 which is when I stopped collecting. So, I've really had a chance to look long and hard at this. I agree the ultra pro are not good enough. I'll just use them for other things. The mylite 2 is just fine and I do have both half and full backer boards. The sizes really do vary some. Thank you for that input.

So, since I've tried to keep up with the great advice I've been given here, I have a new question about getting books on backer boards. Initially I bought several kinds of bags and gave up on the "ultra pro regular size bags ( size 7x10 3/8th as too small and not nearly clear enough. I'll use them for other family mementos and they remind me of the bags I used way back in 1969 when I thought that these books might become of interest. Those forty year plus bags by the way have all yellowed badly even though they've been in a closed box over 45 years or so . So, I got "mylite's 2 and "half back" boards , they are really clear and are a bit bigger than the others which brings me to the issue at hand: With a book that is going to rate above an 8.5 these are not hard to deal with. They slide well, zero friction. I use a spatula made of silicon to guide the lower right hand corner into the bag right up until the end. Older , more seasoned books are a good deal harder- the ones that came with built in tiny roundings of that corner. I continue to use the spatula but would like to know what other methods people use to get them in the bags. I just have to feel I'm not alone on this issue. Throw Naptha on them and light it?

That's funny! It could be an entire series. Guess which book this actually is!!!

when I look at the old family dwellings around here and all of those houses on the lakes that have been in families for generations and those families dragged their kids up here for vacations and desperately wanted them to be mildly entertained, and preferably not by young members of the opposite sex, I see the stuff that got into those houses that never ever came out. That would be boxes of comics. As it all goes to estate sales, I already regularly see old Lionel train and HO Train stuff from the fifties which I do hoard. I love trains. There's stamp collections with bazillions of "first Day of Issue" postmarks, military material from WWII. I simply haven't looked for comics. I'll take a shot at it.

I may need to send a pic of the dining room table and buffet, and the two chairs so you can see why this is not happening as fast as you like.This a lot of stuff. That avengers though, number 7. I just don't know why it looks so good. I remember the day I got that box, not what I'd call an inviting environment.. The same day I came away with a Pepsi Cola Can - five gallon. It said :"Pepsi, the five cent drink worth a dime"

Sure, sure..make fun of it. It was , as I recall in the famous "School bus Collection". It was in that box with an x men 6 and 7 and 40 , an Avengers 4,7,8,12,14, 15 a ASM 14 and this funny AF15. The Avengers 7 is really in remarkable condition as well. We'll get a scan of it. The other's , not so much particularly the ASM 14 with a torn cover but I'll still bet you would have been happy if you had found that box. I can't even remember what else was in there, stuff from the fifties etc. It keeps popping up here as I get this stuff on boards. I'm taking a bunch to Ihaveneatstuff later in the week to look at and help me get a sense of grade. Then we decide what goes to Sarasota. Keep in mind this entire collection was bought by a nineteen year old kid. I was blown away by that box. Now, I'm checking the coverless ones I also had and never really looked at.

I had no idea who Mitch Mehdy was. It's a neat thread but I have to confess I've only gotten about six pages into it. It is not what I would want to do. When I posted the initial request for advice, I had no idea that this group of books would really attract any attention. I still don't think its any big deal, really more like some obsessive compulsive behavior that I got over eventually. That did not take into account my hoarding capacities. I have been an artist my whole adult life with an interesting trip down the alley because I was good at managing Emergency services. That's a trade for young men. It's just so full of heartbreak. But now, putting these in mylite2's on a backer is not something I ever thought I would do. They have already slipped away from me in a sense that I am reticent to take them in and out of the bags. Slabbing will be infinitely worse. They certainly look beautiful in the bags but also unattainable. So, I have real mixed feelings. From the point of view of what an inheritance does, giving my kids a jump start has always been a goal. If this comes off, then I get to see some of that realized and don't have to be dead to see it happen. That and far better if I don't have to see the house sold to do it. . It's hard to see when you're dead. Watching grandchildren grow up is more like what it should be. I never viewed these things as a commodity. That's fast what they're becoming. People did that with my artwork too, calling up to see what the latest selling prices were to check their insurance values. No more discussion of beauty, color and form. Just people looking for tiny surface flaws in a nine micron polish. I thought Mehdy's take on Overstreet manipulating the market were really interesting. He had quite the vision. I can already see that occurring here as well.

I'm planning to ask to be tied to the mast as we sail by the method of sale, just like Ulysses did. Letting go is becoming a very hard reality. Reading the ones with no covers may not be enough. I feel like a robot in Westworld. All these memories...

If I get another Deere all the implements fit both machines. But, you're cruel and you know it.

I love it. Right now? I'm bagging 24 "Spidey goes mad" I see where I've moved up to a hobbyist. I can't wait to become a Cretin.

I try to keep a light tone when I talk about my trolling. This book was a gift to a kid essentially and the kid had the sense to not just cash it in for beer. Now, I'm on the back nine part of life and passing it along seems right. When I think of things I might want to spend loot on, there really aren't any items I desperately want and neither does my sweetie of 40 years. I am inclined to make a point though. I've been putting books in mylite 2's this afternoon with the backing boards which I have recognized takes enormous care. I started on low grade books. SInce CGC wants them "just so" in the mylar, the lower right hand corner needs extreme caution getting it bagged. BUT, once it's bagged, it just looks fabulous and that's how most of you have ever seen an AF15 I'll wager. What you saw here was an ungraded dirty book with a single chip on a surface know for chipping.. Once I have it ready, I'll send it in here again thanks to my skilled friend with the photos and lets see if it looks quite so bad. I have owned old English sports cars for much of my life ( I'm really stupid that way), from an MG TF, an MGA and two MGB's. Those cars , off the showroom floor had dents in them. The B models cost about 2K in 1965. I used to buy Porsche speedsters for 200 dollars each, rebuild them and sell them for $800 dollars. I did that with Mercedes as well all in my driveway. The porsches had dents too. At this point I think I'm drifting off to yelling that kids need to get off my lawn and that's not quite my intent. In 1968 or the years around, no one talked about grading much at all. It was just love. It wasn't really until the mile high collection hit that the realization hit that oxygen is not fun stuff. It gives life and death. What I can't quite get a handle on yet is whether there's a realization that the printing techniques today are really vastly superior to the color separation guys back then. Holding each era to the same standard of perfection doesn't work. Do t to Gutenberg and give him a 3.2. So, what do we see? Trimmed books, inked books, pressed books. Grab the dollar at the same time everyone says "Don't restore it!" This one has none of that. It's an old lady half gone to seed but she still has pride. I think she;ll grade better than many here think, It's just they've not seen one in its bathrobe looking for the gin bottle at 10:00AM. Time will tell. CGC can't ever be wrong. They all want their percentage of the sale. So do the pressers. So do the auction houses. Barnacles on the hull. Not many people can tell my story.It could not have happened yet you all dream it is possible and here it is in the flesh.and I'm fairly sure there' are still comics in a box and there's a 300SL roadster in a barn in Utah. I'm content, however this goes. More is better than less but there's no anger about it. It wouldn't change a thing.

I'll put up a pic of the 121 as soon as I have the backing boards which come today. I made a mistake in the last post and really meant the #121 in it.I know the 122 is not as fine. I did have 121 out for 45 seconds this morning and it would do well with a press. The cover has these tiny ripples in the lower right corner and are hard to perceive. They don't show in the mylar at all. On the back cover, there is a tiny gouge near the bottom center, maybe 1/4 inch long and shallow. The pages are very close to snow white. I was disappointed in the tiny gouge. Even with it, It's going to be premium. Nice book. I'm becoming my own troll.

Actually, it's not a stain but it is something and it's on the surface, not in it. I do want it cleaned. I will rely on whoever winds up in the cleaning of it. The back is just fine. I'll try to shoot another few pic of it today if the backer boards and bags come. Otherwise, I don't want it out of the bag again until Sarasota.The current photo is simply terrible and looks like those news stand shots of celebrities without their makeup. It really does lay flat though. I did happily find an origin story reprint when the third box of comics popped up so I can have that in my special Marvel series " Coverless comics from Marvel" It's an extensive group. You can get them with bitcoins only. What is really remarkable is the spidey 122 I think. The "Death of Gwen Stacy". It went under thick mylar the day it was bought. Never read and flattened quietly for all these years. It is clearly the highest grade book I have, certainly a 9.6, maybe more.I stopped buying books about a year after that with some occasional falls off the wagon. I wish David Fleiss had made a comic of "Cow and Chicken" if anyone here ever watched that amazing period on Cartoon network in the '90's. It was just pure genius. That, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, COurage the cowardly dog. I loved that stuff with the kids growing up. Chicken's cousin, Boneless Chicken indeed!. I got the cow and chicken complete on DVD about fifteen years ago. I do watch them occasionally. This is an illness.

Indeed, Tractor. We can get up to 180 inches of snow here a season. ( Do that Math!) I've seen that twice in the last ten years. I sometimes have to plow to get down to my sweetie's horses 1/4 mile just to feed. I don't need snowblowers. This baby in 4WD and chains will climb a tree. I lied about the sex appeal.

At one point, I put the power wagon in low range, first gear and actually got out of the truck and pulled a tree out of the ground by the roots while I watched. . She's long gone now. I loved/hated that thing. To punish myself I now have a 1971 MGB with a racing cam and a five speed trans. Never drive it farther than you're willing to push it. The tractor has better sex appeal in my mind.

I love the advice. It has been genuine from the beginning. I have had one of those iron wheeled critters back in the west. Thanks, Could I have a romance comic instead please? As to the big tread baby. It won't fit in the shed. I need a 40 HP Deere to go with my 33HP which has saved my life for 22 hundred hours with a minor investment in restoration ( 3 grand) I really will plaster the new one with marvel characters. I used to have a ford 600 with painted flames on the body. That was wishful thinking. I gave my share to my neighbor when I left Santa Fe. He still runs it. Mine gets up and plows at 10 below and mows in summer. It's hyperbolic passion!. We'll see what happens with these comic books. It's been a really fun week.

I think I'll just climb in bed with the conan #1, fall asleep and wake in the morning with a fairly clear mind! It will take care of itself at a certain point.

top of six sounds far better than a four point five. Keep in mind the chip is in the bag.

I'll photograph it again. I think it's a terrible shot. In some ways it reminds me of Mark Twain's comments about Wagner. who wrote Operas. He said: "its not as bad as it sounds"

I've had it about 45 years. It's never been trimmed.

keep it coming. A few more doomsayers are always welcome. I think I've got a grip on reality. If Not, I'll just read comics until the end. If Doc Strange can get out of trouble so easily. why not me?