jimbo_7071

I think it's time for me to stop buying CGC-graded books if they're giving 7.0 grades to books that have pieces reattached with tape.

Unfortunately I'll be working during both of these screenings, but hopefully I'll be able to see it at some point.

36 to 37.

With raw books on eBay, there are always some optimistic bidders who see a 4.0 where most of us see a 1.5.

Giant creepy head in a cavern to Giant red head in a maze.

I don't understand how CGC could give a 9.8 grade to a book with writing on the front cover, even if the writing identifies it as a pedigree, but it sounds like they have.

I see many, many books coming to market that are not only pressed but obviously pressed, meaning that you can tell at a glance that they've been pressed—they look, to paraphrase one of the previous posts, flat as pancakes, and there's extra newsprint showing along the right edge and sometimes the bottom edge, which means that the cover has shrunk. The books that were getting pressed circa 2008—2012 did not look that bad. Back then I usually couldn't tell whether a book had been pressed unless there were before and after pictures floating around the web. Are these über-pressed books products of the "quick-press" service that CCS is offering, with higher temperatures and higher humidity used in the process in order to reduce cycle time?

Those two were tough for me as well, but I voted for Raboy over Cole. I did vote for Eisner over Raymond, but only because I think of Eisner as more of a comic book artist and Raymond as more of a strip artist. I can't say I like Eisner's art better. - Whitman versus Fine was tough for me, too, but I voted for Whitman. - The most painful choice for me was Ingels versus Everett. I voted for Ingels, but I would have loved to see Everett go farther.

I was going to ask you if your name was Jay Maybruck, but I don't think he stopped at liquor.

Stamped front cover to stamped back cover.

4.0 to 9.0? Was that a Boy Comics 17 reference, perhaps?

Boy swinging on a rope to boy dangling from a rope.

BBM means "bolded by me" in message board shorthand.

Space Pirate to origin of Star Pirate's wonder boots.

BBM. That isn't true from what I've seen . . the degree of restoration does matter. But color touch alone is a big deal to most collectors. A book with only a sealed spline split will have many more prospective buyers than a book with a sealed spine split and color touch. Trimming would be my one true deal breaker; I wouldn't (knowingly) buy a trimmed book under any circumstances.

Row boat exterior to passenger ship interior.

I've been collecting since the days when Overstreet said that the value of a restored book was halfway between the guide value of the old grade and the guide value of the new grade. It never made sense to me that someone should be able to spend a few hundred dollars restoring a $1,000 book and all of a sudden have a $5,000 or $10,000 book. Too many people jumped on the restoration bandwagon. I'm hopeful that some day the grading companies will be able to reliably declare books unpressed and note that on the labels. The punishment that restored books receive makes sense to me. If you can predict what the grade would be with the restoration removed, though, then it makes sense to value the restored book accordingly. (I don't have a huge problem with restoration that helps prevent the book from deteriorating further—like reinforcing the spine or replacing rusty staples—so long as it's declared. I hate CT and trimming.) For some of these books where the cover is almost completely reconstructed from a few scraps, well...you might as well just buy a reprint at that point.

Wikipedia says Winsor McCay died in 1934, before the Golden Age started. I missed this round, but I probably would have voted for George Herriman (depending on who was up against him); he must have had some strips reprinted in GA comic books, right?

That one was a no-brainer for me. The toughest two calls for me were Lou Fine versus C. C. Beck and Creig Flessel versus Irv Novick.

I don't think you can blame the color of the label entirely. I've seen many blue-label books that say, "Very minor amount of color touch on cover" or "Very minor amount of glue on spine of cover". I don't know how much those books are punished in the marketplace, but I won't bid one them, and I'm sure many other collectors won't, either.

One book that looked badly overgraded to me (as I mentioned before) was the Subby 32. It sold for $4,320, which seems like an average price for a 7.0. It was a very strong price for a 5.0, which is what the book should have been graded. I also looked at some of the WDC&S; I thought that some of the 9.2s were MUCH nicer than others.

I thought prices were a little weak on many books, but the Marvel Mystery 71 shocked me. Somebody really wanted that particular copy. I don't think that result will be duplicated any time soon. https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/marvel-mystery-comics-71-timely-1946-cgc-vf-nm-90-white-pages/a/7229-92058.s?ic2=mytracked-lotspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyTrackedLots-101116

Bald guy with glasses to bald guy with glasses.

I was watching the National Comics 8 in the Sparkle City auction on eBay last night. A few months ago, I would have gone at least $1100 on it, but I decided against bidding once it got close to $900. It ended up selling for around $980. I don't have the appetite for bidding on anything that isn't a grail unless it's dirt cheap.

Cosmic puppets to wooden puppet.