jimbo_7071

Ugh! Gag me with a spoon.

Moon girl to full moon.

About to die to saved from certain death in the nick of time.

Terror caused by worldly threat to terror caused by supernatural threat.

The idea doesn't appeal to me too much. I'm not interested in first appearances; I mostly collect books for the cover art, and there are plenty of affordable books out there with covers that I like quite a bit. There are only a few books on my want list that would be six figures in 8.0, and I can't imagine selling my entire collection to buy one of them and having only one book to look at.

Looming hero to looming hero.

I don't have a back cover scan, but the main issue is the chip out of the top left corner. How much would CGC knock the grade down because of that chip?

I agree. It is likely that @sfcityduck has solved the mystery. Were you able to find any photoraphs of Armand Mezzopera? Louis Robert Mezzopera's obituary page has this image, which could show him and Armand (but might not). https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/mayfield-heights-oh/louis-mezzopera-9264060

One of the Promise books was a promotional book that was only distributed in the Cleveland area (by a chain of stores).

Creative, but highly unlikely.

I don't think that's a concern, for I've seen books on Heritage noted as "Cape Cod" copy or "Diamond Run" pedigree. Speaking of Diamond Run, how did this book get the notation on the label of a new-style holder? I thought that CGC was removing the notation from any books that were re-holdered.

I agree that it says John Hobby—in clear, unambiguous cursive—so I searched the 1940 census for people named John Hobby who were listed as the "son" of the head of household (in order to filter out adults, most of whom would not have been reading comic books in 1943). There were only 12 matches nationwide, and many of those were older. I only saw four who were the right age to have been likely readers of comic books in 1941, and one of them lived in Cleveland. I agree that this book was likely purchased second hand, but the original owner and "Junie" probably lived in the same general area. It would take a lot at this point to convince me that the collection originated anywhere other than the greater Cleveland area.

It seems unlikely that they could find enough people who actually meet all of those requirements, but at least they're seeking those qualifications.

What qualifications does someone have to have to work as a grader for CGC? When they were still small, they hired collectors like Phil Kaltenbach. They've grown too big for that to be possible now, I should think. Now having a pulse and living within 50 miles of Sarasota are probably ample qualifications. New hires probably get to watch a fifteen-minute training video and then start grading.

Pin to pin.

I guess I'd want to know whether those back covers were attached with tape and whether it looked like 70-year-old tape or 20-year-old tape. To me, secrecy in this hobby often means that someone has something to hide. I would hate to think that some dealer bought this collection for a song from an unsuspecting family, but in this hobby, we all know that it could happen. Many people choose not to flaunt their wealth, but I think that most people—assuming the story is true—would choose to honor Junie by sharing his identity.

Those outsiders create ephemeral price bubbles. The hobby will eventually correct for those—once the outsiders realize that there's more downside than upside and move on. Admittedly, it could take years for the hobby to self-correct.

There could be some overlap, but most collectors of sports cards have no interest whatsoever in comics, just like most comic collectors have no interest whatsoever in sports cards. Using the blanket label "paper collectibles" is very disingenuous. Goldin might attract some buyers, but I don't think that many of their sports card buyers will be bidding on comics. They're more likely to pull market share away from the other comic book auction venues.

You just described the last 23 years in this hobby going back to the first Greg Manning Auctions comic book auction.

Bars to Bars.

The Owl to The Owl.

Is Storms the guy who owns High Grade Comics, or am I confusing him with someone else?

Fortunately these weren't too expensive. The Fantastic Worlds was a little under $200, and the CMA and AITU were around $400 each. The Fight was $450 back in 2013, and that was a very strong price to pay for a 7.0 back then, but it still wasn't a ton of money. The main defect is a subscription crease that doesn't break color. It isn't noticeable through the Mylar sleeve, so I didn't spot it soon enough to do anything about it. I didn't slab that comic until several years after I had bought it.

Another issue is, how liquid are those shares? If I want to sell a high-grade GA comic book, I can sell it. If I got into a bidding war and paid a lot, then I might take a loss, but I can find a buyer at some price. I wouldn't know how to go about trying to find a buyer for X shares of some book.

Well, it was 9.4 rather than 9.2, but it was probably still aggressive. It is one of my favorite Jumbo covers, though.