MasterChief

Don't question it Andy. It's in much better shape. You were told.

Roger. Sale will be removed with next update. Out...

This is the only screenshot I have reflecting the initial sale. Guess N.P. Gresham reneged on the deal.

Just noticed the ‘Tec #39 has a “Sale Pending” on Worldwide for $5350. And the book is currently listed in a live Comic Link auction with a bid of $5700. The auction description does not mention the book as having a detached cover. I guess that’s where we’re at now in the hobby. Detective #39 (wwcomics.com) Detective #39 (Comic Link :: The Online Vintage Comic Book and Comic Art Auction and Exchange)

"The greatest ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same occupation." -- P.T. Barnum Art of Money Getting:Golden Rules for Getting Money

Ran across this manipulated promise some time ago. Looks like the Apprentice pressed the cover right off the book. However, you’d never know it by looking at the label...

Update! Current Promise Collection ROI snapshot. Chart includes data from January closed auctions, plus a new table with sales data broken out in a month-over-month trend. (Source: Heritage Auctions, Comic Connect (CC), ComicLink (CL), eBay. Data sorted oldest to newest Sale Date)

I don't know about the GA selection as a whole, but I can tell you that all of the books I was eyeing went for record breaking prices. Time to go for Common Low Grade books! Not sure about CLG, but this low-grade book is down 30% from its last sale with yesterday’s close.

Update! Current Promise Collection ROI snapshot. Chart includes data from recently closed auctions, a "New Grade" column, and additional sales from other venues as noted by Resold @. (Source: Heritage Auctions, Comic Connect (CC), ComicLink (CL), eBay. Data sorted oldest to newest Sale Date)

Group of Timely’s up for auction later this month at Heritage...

Oh, the irony! This guy “Detective Dave” was the subject of intense outrage on the boards several years ago when he was involved in mangling numerous Golden and Silver Age books and selling them to unsuspecting collectors. The doctored books are known as “Facejobs.” The Wilsonization of those books turned them into different specimens altogether. CGC was caught in the middle. They engaged Mark Zaid to investigate and, ultimately, a new CGC term was coined – Reverse Spine Roll. No sense in posting the manipulation receipts. It’s thoroughly documented and folks can read about the episode in two different threads...

I made it 3 minutes in. Does he ever eventually make a point? Is this some kind of joke? The perpetrator of "Facejobs" using the reverse spine roll technique is now a comic book detective uncovering and exposing alleged corruption within the hobby? My word, I’ve seen it all.

Well, that's probably because Ritter figures that some pedigree books might just be worth a lot more in raw condition, as opposed to when they are already in certified graded condition. I haven’t been on that site in seven years. Not since I got caught up in his crack, manipulate, resell raw at higher grade program; or his other model of crack and resell raw at higher grade without manipulation. He’s currently got the largest inventory of Promise books that I’ve seen outside of a Heritage auction. I took a look at the raw books and many were formerly certified. Before and after image comparison reveal those that were obviously manipulated bear appreciable damage such as indented staples, and yet they are assigned higher grades. Here’s just one example. No sense in showing others, you get the picture. Those that are interested can conducted additional research and draw their own conclusions. Captain Marvel Jr. #17 CGC 8.0 Heritage Sale: $720.00 Worldwide Grade: VF+ (CGC 8.5) Price: $1,150.00 Post Manipulation Assessment: Cover wrap twisted upward and to the left revealing interior wraps bottom right, top right. Indented/impacted staple.

An interesting question. I have yet to see a manipulated Promise book post initial sale. While there have been many, many cases of books going through the process multiple times down through the years, the paper mechanics seem to be shying away from these so far. Personally, I don’t believe every certified book got the treatment; and those that were originally overpriced, regardless of the possibility of initial enhancement, are getting a second opportunistic look.

Yes, compared to some of the other Promise Collection resales, this Punch Comics 17 got off rather softly with less than a 10% hit. I missed the PC#17 resale. Thanks for info!

Ditto. I've picked up several. One of which I got caught up in the hype and bid foolishly. Like the book, but not the price. It's a loooong term hold. Here's one I'm extremely happy with. An "Armand" copy. Waited quite a while for just the right copy to go after. Couldn't be happier.

Thx for the comment. Yes, I made the chart. The data is from Heritage. While I've done cursory checks of other sites, I haven't catalogued any reselling from them as of yet.

Update! Current Promise Collection ROI snapshot. Chart includes recent reselling of Sub-Mariner Comics #32 and Terry-Toons Comics #38. (Source: Heritage Auctions. Data sorted by oldest to newest Sale Date)

Love seeing this book -- especially at this time of year! Picked this up during the original sale of the Rosa collection on eBay. Not white pages but IIRC, it was the only 9.8 copy graded at the time...

Truly amazing to see and appreciate picture frame specimens that have survived the ravages of time in a pristine state of preservation unmolested by post-production mechanical means of artificial maximization. Thank you for posting.

Yes, it is surprising. I found no upgrades. Books appear to be in the same state of original sale. Historically, books that get relisted in a Heritage Auction in a relatively short period of time, typically 6-12 months, have gone through the post-auction manipulation process and are listed with new certification numbers and higher grades. That’s been the MO since Heritage Signature Auction #803 (July 4, 2002), which was the genesis of institutionalized manipulation. There wasn’t an auction like it beforehand, and Heritage auctions afterward that included recycled books followed a clearly observable pattern of acquisition, manipulation, recertification, and liquidation. There are mounds of data from countless auctions to validate the conclusion. Another discovery that became apparent during the ROI research is the archived sales for Promise books that now state “Not Sold” for their original auction. There are currently 9 books in the archive that are categorized as not sold. One in particular, which was discussed here on the boards when first auctioned, is Saddle Justice #6. After the initial auction of SJ#6, Heritage relisted the book a few days later with a Post-Auction Buy price tag of $21,000 (the winner apparently backed out of the deal). With the ending of the post-auction buy time, and no takers at $21K, the book was relisted and sold in a subsequent auction two months later for $6,600. That’s a paper loss of $14,400 or -69%. (BTW, unless you have screen shots of books that initially sold at auction, and were later re-labeled as Not Sold, you’d never know what the original closing was.)

Sure. Here ya go...

Is that any suprise? Any reasonably long time collector or dealer should have figured that out very quickly. Now if you bought to keep or hold for the long time, you might make a little. But it will take quite a while. Some of the lessor, later, none key books or titles will probably not be worth anything close to original purchase price. The current ROI snapshot does not look promising for the collection. While time will provide more data, and investment realization may change, the spreadsheet below paints an overall picture of the irrational exuberance that drove Promise prices higher than they fundamentally justified. (Source: Heritage Auctions. Data sorted by oldest to newest purchase date)