MAY1979

Based on the experience of myself and others the past 18 months, CGC damaging a book is a realistic possibility. I do not recommend rolling the dice and re-slabbing.

Apologies in advance for being blunt From what I see in the Pic's for the most part you will pay as much for grading as the cards will command in the open market. To maximize sale value PSA should used however their charges+shipping+very long turn around time will be a losing proposition unless the cards at at bare minimum PSA 9 Mint although turning a profit (vs expenses) on what I see even in PSA 9 will be a challenge. With PSA's harsher recent grading and forced maintenance of census medians 10's are not a possibility based on the pics provided. Other than the Star Wars and what you term "1979 Topps Chewing Gum" all cards are "Junk Wax" Era which is approx 1987-1993. During the pandemic collectible bubble 10's and some 9's depending on the card were going for rather decent coinage. Now there is pretty much zero interest if not a 10 and 10's are difficult to move in some cases. "1979 Topps Chewing Gum" those are 1979/1980 Wacky Packages re-issues. A very low demand set. From your pics the condition is optimistically middle grade (PSA 4,5,6) Even in PSA 8 they are not worth grading. The Star Wars stuff definitely has a market but the bubble burst has hit those as well PSA 9's are way, way down compared to last year. 7's and below except for some outlier cards are not worth grading. Based on your pics I see nothing that would score an 8. It is a condition sensitive set. As for the Star War stickers the pics do not show if they have the common pack seal line pattern, if they do they are PSA 6 at best and break even in terms of cash outlay but the time you get them back from grading it may represent a loss of $. If they do not have the sealing line pattern then you may have some 7's or 8's. Keep in mind centering is a huge deal in getting grades higher than 8 from PSA. The first 2 stickers are badly off-center. Card grading is much stricter than comics, magnification is employed, and centering is huge factor in getting above an 8. On PSA forums you will find many stories similar to yours and in every case what the inexperienced greenhorn thought was Mint or Perfect was at best middle grade. Which is great on pre 1974 and earlier sports cards but is the complete opposite for Junk Wax era stuff. Outlier like 1986 Fleer Jordan or during the bubble the 1989 UD Griffey Jr not withstanding Current July 2021 Junk Wax Era general rule of thumb of grading costs and resale potential.: PSA 10 = Profit usually, sometime great depending on card. Since Jan 2021 PSA has been miserly issuing 10's to the point Pro's who have submitted for 2 decades are very upset. PSA 9 = Possibility of profit exists, but break even on all but outliers and cream of crop or GOAT type stuff. PSA 8 = almost certainly a loss if not an outlier card. This is the normal grade of card taken from a newly opened pack back in the Junk Wax day PSA 7 = almost certainly a loss if not an outlier card. This is the grade non-experienced neophytes usually think is "Mint" or "Perfect" or "Great" or "Nice" PSA 6 = definite loss not sure if any card in the Junk Wax era is an outlier. Based on your pics you do not have any that qualify as that type of outlier of outliers Apologies again for my bluntness. IMHO there are many other ways to make a bit of money, keep these cards for the memories of your Dad and share them with your children one day. P.S. If you have already sold these raw and have got what you feel is fair price then congrats! Disagree with anything I wrote no issues and try https://forums.collectors.com/categories/sports-cards-memorabilia-forum or https://www.net54baseball.com/

I've seen Huge differences between weak 9.6's and strong 9.8's. But yeah a strong 9.6 compared to a weak 9.8 might be nothing more than the graders mood. The ol' chestnut of "buy the book not the slab label" applies!

Pressing is not a miracle panacea. My opinion is only a subset of books benefit in terms of grading bump from pressing. I'm sure Joey can go into details. The key is knowing what may or may not be a pressing candidate. As for CGC's lack of quality control or rather having no quality control; this is what happens when a greedy cooperation has no true competition. They will do away with anything to add a few pennies to their bottom line. Other than strong completion only losing business will wake them up and even then probably not given the amount of Stockholm syndrome-d apologists even on this board.

#299 it was a last page full page Venom splash which some like myself consider to be one of the definitive McFarlane Venom Images. IMHO is just as definitive as Cover to ASM 316. Venom has no full splashes in 300, nor no half splashes in #300 but the collecting powers that be have deemed 300 as the issue to get. =================== You point on Art prices is linear and is coming from a position of logic but appears to assume the collectors of Art and Comics are the same factions. I disagree with your assertion. I've been in the OCA hobby since 1999. From my observation Aragones art has always been in demand. Keep in mind that most OCA collectors do not collect Comic Books and most art collectors collect artist rather than titles. Yes on the CGC boards here it skews towards those who collect comics, but for every 10 art collectors i know perhaps one that also collect comics. As for me I pretty much stopped collecting (but holding onto) comics the moment I started with art. Only having returned the past few years due to late 1960's to early 1980's art prices being more than my wallet can handle thus I'm now in hold mode on Art Another factor: A decent page from a $20 1981 DC Comic by even a B list artist for example, may command $500-$4000 depending on it's imagery and other factors. Yet the comic is still $20. Art prices seldom affects comics, Secret Wars 8 recently come to mind as rare outlier, although that bump may have already faded. In reverse comics prices are likley to boost art prices and that does happen all the time. My opinion if you have a DD#1 or even Groo PC 1 to sell do not wait it might be decade before the prices even sniff levels of just a few months ago.

CGC seems to be very tough on this issue probably due to the mostly black front and back. Looks a 7.0 to me with 7.5 plausible if grader is having a good day.

Your post may be applicable to some but not for me. I do agree though that many Comic Book/Comic Art/Trading Card dealer are clueless lacking even the most basic acumen. Your post focused on selling. I do not sell comics and if I did it would never be directly to any dealer. If one day I decide to sell some it might be via CLINK auction. I have sold under 5 pieces of Comic Art using their auctions the past 12-15 years. Other than their "policy" on delaying payments and their dated 2004 style website they are somewhat easy to work with. My post you quoted has to do with the lower than used car dealer integrity of every comic dealer I've ever personally met. It's totally off-topic for this thread so won't comment further.

Be sympathetic as not everyone who has Internet Access is able to access : Google Microsoft Bing Yahoo Baidu Yandex DuckDuckGo Ask.com and all CGC Comcis Forum Members here do not have access to: https://boards.cgccomics.com/search

Not even a good buddy of mine who had a shop for 27 years although he was not as bad as most of their ilk. "G" if your reading this we both know it's true! BTW: We actually talked about it after seeing Dr Strange in May. Still I persist knowing there must be some out there. Its a Coelacanth rather than a Unicorn situation

I'm positive there are honest Comic Book/Comic Art/Trading Card Dealers and Auction Houses out there even if in my 40 years (counting childhood) I've never encountered a single one. Perhaps now society on the whole mirrors them???

Not used to seeing semi-positive news from CGC.

This post is in a single aspect of the situation; CLINK refund. If Comiclink is not happy about a thread like this and the number of views then they could have and still can rule the sale void and refund the money. Instead they are using the money as a floating loan and impact to their reputation be damned.. Delaying seller payments and buyer refunds is a long time pattern of behavior with CLINK.. I'm not questioning the legality, but I find it to be despicable moral behavior. Who do they think they are a Fortune 1000 company?

Of course as you mention current drop, and perhaps soon freefall, parallels the Comic market as a whole. But additional factors for Groo may apply? This Post as usual is in IMHO Groo for the most part since day 1 has been niche at most. The animation rights exploration announcement, which anyone in the business will tell you pretty much almost always leads to nothing, cause many speculators and flippers jump into the fray and gobble up DD1 and Groo PC 1. A few of them of course made coin, but I'm sure just as many lost given market events. Those who have been burned on certain comics in past will likley not want to get burned a second time on the same books. Sergio and Mark are both getting older (we all are), while they are not wealthy they are comfortable, based on musings in Evanier's blog going back the past decade they have no desire to take on the type of workload a series will involve. In addition it appears Sergio is adamant about controlling His Character. Without Sergio and Mark attached, any effort would simply loose its charm and character like Groo will become very old and tired very fast. Again even for Comics Book Readers and Collectors Groo is niche with most having little interest in seeing ship after ship the character is on sink. Will the general public really care to see that or care about Cheese Dip or Mulching? Dead cat bounces aside, I think best to accept Groo values have already reached their high tide and that tide is going out possibly to pre-Covid levels in the next 6-10 months . Which I think is excellent news as Groo should be about fans and collectors of the character not about mendicants buying up copies in hopes of making a quick profit per unit. Disclosure: I own 9.8w slabbed and raw copies of all books I've mentioned, and Eclipse #1 has a special place in my nostalgic memories. So "take me for the fool that I am" as I care more about enjoying and having others enjoy the Character than personal profit or the dopamine hit that most get when they see a comic go up in value.

6.0 / 6.5 Colors look nice

Yes they are down quite a bit, mirroring the Copper and Modern Market Correction on the whole. Outliers and hot books de jour of course being exceptions. Lot of folks already or about to get stung bad especially those that did and still do believe the $elf-$serving hyperbole on display at gocollect and similar venues. If they say something is "undervalued" run away very fast.... The good news is those looking to purchase Sandman may soon be able to get at "fair" prices Comics that display the height of what the medium is capable. IMHO that is a very positive win for the future.

My opinion - not so sure there is clear demarcation but rather its case by case, and collector by collector.

There are faction of collectors and dealers that will pay more for certain books with White pages. For those books a 5.0 White Pages might sell for more than a 6.0 with Off-White or lower on the scale. IIRC Bob Storm's/High Grade is a dealer that caters to that WP "fetish". At a Con a good buddy of mine turned down an Avengers 4 in 8.0 for a fair price in 2018 as it was OW/W and he wanted only W. As he still does not have the book. Given the jump in price the past 3 years if he is not kicking himself in the butt I will have to send him a reminder

DC's Star Trek #22 raw for $20 - are you sure? do you have a link? The condition of yours looks to be mid-grade or lower mid-grade making $20 a way too high estimate. Based on your pics sending any of those books for grading would be a loosing financial proposition for you. .

It may very occur this year with direct sales 9.4's and even more likley with lower grades . Although I'd expect prices on some of those grades to rebound a bit after they crater. After all ASM300 is no Destroyer Duck 1

1000 packages of 50 each totally 50,000 Mylars of each type or 20 packages of 50 totaling 1000 Mylars or each type.

OK, so then sinking like a stone very much in progress. Any spit-ball guesses on an approximate floor for 9.4, 9.6 and 9.8 Direct Sale copies? ASM300 will always have demand which will insulate it from a collapse other books may experience, but those who paid anywhere market highs for grades below 9.6 are already or soon will be learning a life lesson on purchasing extremely high CGC population comics when they are are hot. Still it can be money well spent if the lesson is applied to future hot books. I learned that lesson with a few books in my youth circa 1993 a lesson that in part led me to start with Original Art in the late 1990's. So regardless of the ROI loss on a few comics, for the education it was money well spent.

ASM 194 9.8 Direct Sales now a mere $2 away from testing a downwards breach of 4k level. Even with continued market manipulation attempting to fight the future I will not be surprised if by years end the Direct Sales version it dips its toes below 3.2k end of the pool. Those who purchased Direct Sales ASM194 9.0,9.4,9.6 at market highs may be taking ROI losses as 2023 approaches. It appears the irrational market ending for this book is firmly in progress.

The following post applies to Direct Sales ASM300 not the newsstand version. 9.6 Direct Sales now sinking, testing a downwards breach of $1300. It had been near 2K for a long time. I'd not be surprised if we see sub $1.1k on Direct Sales 9.6's and sub 4k 9.8's by end of this year. As supply continues to increase and demand continues to drop those who purchased 9.0's, 9.2's and 9.4's at market high's will be taking large ROI losses. Buying a book when red hot is seldom the most effective fiscal route. Unlike flash in the pan books ASM300 will always have some interest and will become hot again, but when accounting for inflation and lack of a future "Covid bubble" in our lifetimes the book may not approach it's inflation adjusted 2021 salad days.

Destroyer Duck 1 9.8's are now barely scraping $700 and the grip is extremely tenuous. Those who paid $1500-$1900 have every right to be worried as this book still has plenty of room to free fall to it's floor and then will stagnate. I wager 9.6's will be below $150 with no demand by year's end. Temporary Dead Cat Bounce aside, it is plausible this book may never be hot again in our lifetimes (fool me once applies to those who have been burned) and frankly never should have it high levels to begin with as a mere animation rights exploration announcement at best is a "nothing burger". As "keys" like Destroyer Duck #1, Groo Pacific #1,7, Groo Marvel 1 continue to plummet we'll learn who are the true Groo fans are - they will be the one's still participating in this thread as it again becomes about Groo the Character and not Bubble Market reports and hyperbole. P.S. I see gocollect is still trying to fool the same ol' rubes with the same ol' tired lines.. This past week they added Groo 1 to list of "undervalued comics". Appears the writer (Ohlandt ) is stuck with a cache of them purchased Dec 2021-Feb 2022 at market highs. Want to get burned financially buying comics, then simply believe any of the $elf-$erving hyperbole on GoCollect.

I put it in same category as "Further Adventure of Indiana Jones". Not positive but I think Godzilla is the only Bronze or Copper Marvel title that took place in the Marvel Universe. #23 and #24 are Stone Classic Pop Culture Cross-Overs.