EastEnd1

Thanks for the input folks... sounds like its do-able, albeit with some care.

Yes, that's actually what I'm asking... not so much as to whether the page will discolor more (I assume it won't if done properly), but at what level of page discoloration is the risk of paper splitting too great to attempt pressing. So, for instance, is it ok to attempt pressing on a book with this level of tanning/browning...

Quick question for you folks in the know... is it safe to press comics with tanning at the fringes? Heavy tanning? With browning? At what level of discoloration would you eliminate a book as a pressing candidate?

Anyone pressing a book in ten minutes is leaving most of the "maximized potential" on the table... and in this case, likely harming the book.

Yep, that's it!

Oh my, that was horrific. For some reason that old commercial of the Native American Chief crying at all the pollution he saw around him popped into my head...

I had the HTD at 8.5 too... thought there was a crease at the bottom right corner. Frankly the soiling alone on the back cover should keep it from a 9.6.

I neither sell, nor would ever buy, a raw book advertised by anyone as a 9.8 online.

Nice copy... looks slightly off-color... I'd say 8.0-8.5.

Willem DeFoe over Gene Hackman?! And don't forget Superman has Brando! How do you beat Brando! Just kidding... I agree that the Superman movies definitely need to retire Lex Luthor. Just one of many steps WB needs to make to restore the character. (Now General Zod in Superman 2... that was a villain!)

Agreed... the best superhero movies to me are the ones that have "heart" at their core and both series have that in spades.

The Tobey Maguire Spider-Mans are still my favorites among the Marvel movies. Best superhero movie of all though is still the first (and maybe second) Christopher Reeve Superman to me... just epic in comparison. Reeve WAS Superman and some of the music still gives me chills...

Here's one of Marilyn's predecessor Hollywood blonde bombshells and also one of my favorites, Veronica Lake. Unlike Marilyn who was known for more comedic roles, Lake often played the classic femme fatale in noir films and popularized the "peek-a-boo" hairstyle. The Kim Basinger character in "LA Confidential" was based on Lake. One little tidbit is that despite her glamorous persona and eye-catching presence, Lake was only 4'11" and had to be carefully cast with leading men... 5'6" Alan Ladd was a favorite...

Thank you... I love the early Monroe photos... to me they are Marilyn at her most beautiful... the Hollywood machine hasn't quite gotten their claws into her yet and there's more of an innocence to them. Three years later, when she broke out in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and her nude Tom Kelley calendar came to light, her photos became more sexualized. This one's from 1953, the year of her break out...

Fun topic... I also collect vintage Hollywood photos. This is one of my favorite Marilyn Monroe shots... she's very young here, issued in 1950 for her first significant role in "All About Eve" (about three years before she really broke out)...

If this is mostly 1980s books, condition is everything. They'll need to be in nice shape to score (and warrant the work).

Does the back cover overhang by roughly the same amount? Could be that the cover shifted during binding process. If there's no back cover overhang at that same edge, then there's a good chance it's trimmed. Also looks too sharp to me as compared to the other edges.

Personally I think it's pretty hard to recall and compare CGC grading standards from 22 years ago to today... it's not an exacting science and memories fade and what's left from that long ago are today's impressions of that time. I remember the grading standards that accompanied CGC's introduction as being a real shock to the system... much stricter than what most collectors and dealers were applying before CGC. And so what we're left with today is the impression that early on, CGC's grading standards were very strict. And I guess that can lead one to believe that today's standards are looser. Maybe the only real way to tell is to take a reasonably large sample of old label books and current label books and pop them open and compare.

I believe the 1031 rules were changed and can now only be used with certain real estate exchanges.

Only nine copies on the current census... and would appear to be the second highest graded copy...

Cool thread... will do...

Here's mine... bought at a local auction about 15 years ago... in pretty nice shape as I look at it again...

Got it... makes sense. And well done on the CoC19! Obviously astute, or lucky, or anal minds think alike! Here's mine (not too dissimilar from yours)...

Agreed... spending $10k+ is a very different animal than "lucking into" a $10k book. Though even here, I think spending that kind of money is less uncommon, particularly for the old school collector that can easily sell a hyper-inflated book to acquire a more desired hyper-inflated book. I think the current market easily reflects that this is happening a lot. Spending NEW MONEY on a $10k+ book I'd agree is still isolated to a select group of collectors.

In today's market, I'm not sure that it's that unusual to own a $10k book... if you bought a reasonably high grade IH181 or GSX1 or X-Men 94 back in the day, let alone the hundreds, if not thousands, of other keys that were more accessible prior to say 2000 or 2010, and were astute or lucky enough (or in my case anal enough) to hold onto them, you'd have a $10k book. I bought a raw file copy Chamber of Chills #19 off eBay around 2005 for $300... it's a likely 9.0 graded and worth God knows how much today. This is just one small example... I'm sure there are A LOT of other collectors that can give similar stories.