EastEnd1

I totally agree on the collector vs investor aspect. In the mid-2000s, I bought a CGC 9.6 Crypt of Terror #17 (Gaines File Copy) for about $11,000. It was a significant sum at the time because Heritage was flooding the market with Gaines File Copies and the prices on them were tanking. And they stayed comparatively low for quite a while after that, only truly recovering in the last few years. I really didn't care at the time because for me, that comic was THE DEFINITIVE EC KEY to own. Today you rarely see a Gaines book like this for sale... few collectors will part with them, and I'm sure the book would go for multiples of $11k. About a year ago, I bought a CGC 8.0 X-Men #4 for $9,500 to complete my high grade run of X-Men. I knew I was likely overpaying for it at the height of the Wandavision craze. And sure enough, the book cooled off as soon as the series ended. Again, it really didn't matter to me... the purchase completed my high grade run of X-Men. And with time, I'm certain it will appreciate again. As a collector, I never really think about selling any of my key books down the road other than to perhaps upgrade them... and at that point I'm just really trading one like book for another price wise. Ultimately, the plan is to leave the keys to my daughter. I also feel that I've gotten so many GOOD deals over the years that if I overspend on something I really want as a collector today, it's just absorbed into the overall pool of good deals.

About once a year for the last two years I've pull three short boxes of pretty much unread 1990s stuff and gone through them to sell. I've averaged about 30 9.8s worth a $100 or more. I use CGC's prescreen service and have been pretty good at picking the 9.8s... the first year I only missed on one and this year I missed on two (CGC didn't even charge me for the misses!). I put the 9.8s up on Ebay and they pretty much all sell over a few months. The rest of the books, say about 350-400 books all bagged and boarded, I sell in one lot through a local auction house and both times I've gotten about $1.50 a book. In the old days, you'd get about $.15 a piece for these, but that isn't my experience anymore... especially so long as the runs include the mainstream Marvel and DC titles... and yes you can even have some Valiants in there! All of my 1990s stuff I bought from Westfield back then at about a 30% discount. So my experience has been that I can make a decent amount of money on the graded 9.8s and I probably even make money on the drek (at worst break even). Is it enough to put my kid through college? Probably not... though maybe at a state school with a partial scholarship!! But I do remember thinking when I was buying those books back in the 1990s that I'd never make money on them because they were so common and so unlikely to appreciate. And I have to say, I've been VERY pleasantly surprised that that hasn't been the case so far.

That's what I did when I had this same situation recently and it worked out just fine.

A thief can't pass legal title so no refund. You can always sue the thief though.

Yes, prices of graded comics skyrocketed across the board soon after the introduction of CGC around 2000, reaching jaw-dropping levels for the time (not unlike what we've seen in the last year)... and a few years later began to correct substantially as census figures (and the emerging prevalence of pressing) showed that high grade books weren't as rare as originally thought. I have run books that I bought in that period that still haven't recovered. The true keys, however, did not fall back as hard (as one might expect), and have since obviously reached even more jaw-dropping heights.

Now THAT is VERY COOL!

No problem... file copies are original publisher stock.... copies that the publisher either intentionally kept or never wound up distributing. They generally are not pedigrees (though the Gaines EC file copies are). Not sure if this has changed but back then, CGC generally required some paperwork of provenance to give a special designation, though often the books from a particular origin will have certain characteristics that CGC recognizes and the paperwork might not have been necessary. My recollection with this one is that I submitted a receipt... and it had the characteristics of a Dell file copy. Hope that helps!

I also have the Northland copy of Yellow Submarine (yes, I was, and still am, a huge Beatle fan!)... tried to track that down for you guys too but my collection isn't the best organized right now and I couldn't quickly locate it. It's a gorgeous 9.6... think I got it from Heritage so you can probably find it in their archives.

Oh, and the back cover doesn't get as much attention but features a pretty neat pin-up...

That is a very nice looking 4.0 Jaylam! Here you go on the file copy... I picked this up raw at one of the New York City conventions many years ago and it was one of the first comics I submitted to CGC when it first opened up. It's neither pressed nor cleaned and for quite a while it was the highest graded copy...

There were file copies... I've got one at 9.0.

We've seen this pattern before... when CGC first opened shop around 2000 and the prices of graded books rose to jaw-dropping levels. Only difference is that with that market, EVERY graded book skyrocketed, including run books. I'd expect a similar pattern of retreat with this market as happened then: generally speaking, moderns/copper will drop significantly... silver/bronze lesser keys will drop moderately... silver/bronze mega-keys (like Amaz Spid #1) will drop somewhat (say 10-20%), then stabilize and begin a slow more sustainable upward climb again. You can already see this happening in the current market. So I'd agree that the mega-keys have most likely left the station and the pre-pandemic prices are gone for good. One other thing to keep in mind is that auction prices are notoriously lowest in the fourth quarter and tend to pick up again in the new year (around feb/march)... guess it's all those bonus checks and tax refunds coming in.

I think the Gaines file copy keys have mostly settled into permanent collections now. When Heritage flooded the market with them about fifteen years ago, they were common in the big three auctions... and as a result, relatively cheap by PCH key standards. Not so much anymore. Gaines copies of CoT#17, TFTC#20, CP#15, WS#12, etc rarely show up anymore. I've only seen one Gaines CSS#22 and 2 HOF#15 come up for auction in the last 15 years. As a big EC fan myself, its great to see them re-establish themselves at the top of the pecking order where they belong.

Thanks so much! The #52 really stands out for me... just a great bondage cover. I bought the Crippen copy when Heritage brought those to market a while back... I wasn't familiar with it and it really jumped out at me at the time. Looking over the run now, I really like the #48 and #50 as well... they're very similar... the large femme fatale figures grab me. And of course the #54... love the pose and hair and curves... such an atypical image of the post-war 1940s!

Thank you!

One interesting thing I noticed as I went through the books is that the Kamen issues picked up from the bi-monthly run of the title but switched to monthly about mid-stream... so obviously the GGA was working! Some of the WW2 era issues are really nice too... but they're for another thread. Here is a bonus cover though... #46 which led into the Kamen issues also has a bondage cover... maybe a try-out?

#57

#56

#55 (some intriguing subliminal messaging on this one...)

#54

#53

#52

#51

#50

#49