MAY1979

That is now 1/3 or more than 194 and 238 command in 9.8. I do feel especially sorry for the suckers who purchased either at 4K, 5k or even higher while some here during the bubble continually mention "unlimited upwards trajectory" or similar self-serving sales bile, while those with actual Comic, Economic and Financial acumen were scoffed at. Item Title: Amazing Spider-man # 194 cgc 9.8 1 st Black Cat Stan Lee Direct 300 Sale Price: 2,226.00 USD Auction → Number of Bids: 31 Sale Date: Oct 3 2023 Item Title: Amazing Spider-man # 194 cgc 9.8 1 st Black Cat Stan Lee Direct 300 Sale Price: 2,400.00 USD Auction → Number of Bids: 44 Sale Date: Sep 19 2023 Item Title: Amazing Spider-man # 238 cgc 9.8 1st App of Hobgoblin Stan Lee Newsstand Romita Sale Price: 2,583.88 USD Auction → Number of Bids: 49 Sale Date: Oct 17 2023 Item Title: Amazing Spider-Man #238 CGC 9.8 White Absolutely Stunning! 1st App of Hobgoblin Sale Price: 1,608.00 USD Auction → Number of Bids: 44 Sale Date: Oct 3 2023 At one point each in 9.4 was going for over $1000. Those who paid those amounts for 9.4's are no longer "good" as was mentioned early in the main #194 thread.

A bit less than 3 years ago the TP would have had higher value for a time than micro-chamber.

MY non-standard con report, I have family in the region so I try to visit every year. 2020 of course is only year I missed in last 10 but so did everyone... Thursday this year was as busy as past Friday's from my vantage point. You can not pay me to attend the madhouse that is Saturday! I take that day for culinary adventures in Manhattan. This year I went to Washington Heights for some amazing Dominican Cuisine - had never had that type of food before but saw the places featured on the PBS Food Show "Road Trip" and figured why not. Last year I did Stone Street area way downtown including the Francois Tavern, 2018 Chinatown, 2017 Little Korea/Koreatown, Next year going to do Italian Style Deli's in and around Little Italy I've been to many medium and big cities and I have found Manhattan to be far less intimidating and a bit more welcoming than Little Rock and even Dallas. I'd rank NY in top quarter of Major US cities although with recent homeless increases I may need to re-consider that ranking next year, and for wondrous variety of Foods top 2 and perhaps #1

A NYCC pick-up. This Aparo Two-Face cover had been on my list for awhile. (attempt 2 posting pic)

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Not sure if making the assumption that CGC still actually has QC people is correct. Based on reports if they still do then they are simply not competant in their skills or severely lack proper staffing. If the later then CGC who brags about their record breaking profits need to hire people!

and unless the artist or the images on the artwork are in demand the artist will not sell much if overpriced.

The OCA Cabal is real! Like any Syndicate some members hold greater power than others.

I never alluded to the bold-ed part. Merely trying to determine risk vs rewards of cracking out. Agreed on Low and Mid Grade.

^ what is your SWAG guess of the percentage of cracked out books that sustain some damage in the process? 1-5%, 6-8% higher? No matter how careful or how many the person potential for risk is plausible. Even .5% of 1000 is 5 books damaged.

Its great to picked slabbed book at auction one want for less than the price of the slabbing and other costs. However there are usually reasons for that! Occam's razor dictates it's simply because no one else was willing to even pay the amount you did. ah yes, the ol' lock up a 16 dollar item in a Safe

Given lack of deodorant usage plus the preponderance of excremental level halitosis from a decent amount of Comic Buying attendees, and some artists, at cons, I only wish I had started to wear a True N95 or N99 mask decades ago. It's now and forever my modus operandi for all cons.

^ it's called a joke folks

Best removing all extra staples prior to submitting to CGC

U sure they are both wp?

Registered is very slow but highly unlikely to be messed with due to the internsl auditing. Personally i have more if chance of winning the current powerball than having a Fedex Package actually being delivered to my address. Yep its that bad. UPS and USPS no real issues in decades

Same can easily occur with Fedex and UPS. Were the USPS sent Priority or Registered?

YEP, That was planned regardless of strike outcome the only difference is those who are still working at that role in the biz will be paid more. My guess though is overall the Studio payouts for writers as whole will pretty much be the same. Finance industry may be crooked but the entertainment industry, not just in US but worldwide, is far far worse.

9.2/9.4 perhaps 9.4/9.6 with a quality 3rd party press

I'd like to add, I've personally never met a Comic Book dealer who isn't totally making s*** up (aka Lying) when they mention "private sale" or "have a buyer who will pay amount being asked". If that's the case then why are you at this show/con trying to peddle it?

Private Sales make Felony Tax Avoidance so much easier for dealers/sellers

The CGC slab will get more eyeballs if it's pictured in an auction ,but due to trimmed likley not more in $ value of bids. The added expenses you incur may not be worth it. Makes for an interesting "case study"

Would You Buy This Slab? Nope. I agree w/MattTheDuck .

I mostly agree on pre 1990, but glut era books with high 9.8 populations, 9.6's at least to me are meaningless and worthless.

IMHO any comic that requires a 9.8 to be worth more than slabbing costs is not worth slabbing to begin with. Of course about 1/4 of the books I personally submitted fall into that category , yep those books are meaningless as the hobby goes but not to me. Then factor in my DC Digest collection....