jimbo_7071

Little green men to little green men.

Chemistry to chemistry.

Inter-species groping to inter-species voyeurism.

Avon Boy Detective to Avon Space Detective.

Mad Hatter's checkered pants to bald guy's checkered vest.

Large drill to large drill.

Comic book inset on the front cover to comic book inset on the back cover.

You're more trusting than I am, guess. I suppose I'm jaded because of all the shenanigans I've seen over the years.

I was wondering how many posts you could go without mentioning the Jon Berk auction! LOL

I don't think it actually sold for $8,500. I have seen a book from Worldwide's site "sell" on CLink only to magically end up back in Ritter's hands. I guess we'll have to wait and see whether this sale was real. Color me unsurprised if it shows up in Ritter's booth or on CLink again in a few months.

Unconscious woman being carried on a Superior comic to same.

Fall no. 3 to Fall no. 3.

OK, I'll bite. Lou Ferstadt?

It could be . . . I was thinking Frontline Combat because it looked a little cheeky, but I really have no idea. Don't keep us in suspense too long, @BOOT!

Wild Guess: Dave Berg.

Quality book that belonged to *spoon* Winters to Qualty book drawn by *spoon* Dillin.

There's probably no way to be sure. You have encapsulating equipment with working parts, some of which may be lubricated. You have people used hand sanitizer and various other substances. You could also have the guy operating the equipment eating his leftover half of a submarine sandwich slathered in salad oil while he's operating that equipment (even if that's expressly prohibited). The only thing I know for certain is that I wouldn't crack it out if I were you.

I've never seen those in a 9.4. I'm also not sure whether they're just water. I've seen books with water droplets, and even though they damage the gloss on a book, water droplets usually produce very faint spots that are difficult to see if if book is in a Mylar sleeve or a slab. Those look like they could be from some kind of oily substance.

I don't disagree about the artwork being weak, but you could say the same thing about COC 19 or any one of a number of popular horror books. Make no mistake, I think the buyer is more than a little upside down on that book. That doesn't necessarily mean it won't sell, though. There's a sucker born every minute. The $13.2K selling price was absolutely nuts, but that sale is probably still having an impact on the perceived market value of the book.

There could be some buyer's remorse. Even $12K looked like a strong price to me. I've seen quite a few copies over the years, so I don't think it's particularly rare. The demand could be greater than the supply, but I don't think it's strong enough for it to make sense for somebody to buy it for $12K in order to flip it for a profit. I think the owner knows that he's upside down on the book and is desperately trying to get out from under it and still turn a small profit, hence the reserve. I'll be surprised if the book actually sells. I won't be surprised if it appears to sell but then shows up again on CLink or elsewhere six months down the road.

I suspect that you're right. The number of collectors interested in the book might be small compared to other GA keys, but it only takes two bidders to produce a strong result.

Girl with doll to dolls.

High grade copies with nice pages don't come along every day. I won't even venture a guess where it will end up.

I really got into collecting at age 10, which for me was back in 1984, and collecting gives me a sense of nostalgia. Most of the books I buy now are much pricier than anything I could get my hands on back then, but the most fun I had in the hobby was sitting on the floor of a used book store or comic book shop digging through boxes and deciding what books to get with the $5 or $10 that I had with me. Collecting still takes me back to those days. I don't think the hobby will last forever, necessarily, but neither will I, so it's OK.