Professor K

Twenty-twenty-twenty-four hours to go, I wanna bid a million. I'm still thinking around 600k is where this ends.

I thought that too. I don't know why they closed it. Time to start another? Sure Mr. Cole seems to have more covers than Mr. Fine but ain't nothing wrong with seeing more of them. Maybe some here even have some Fine art to show off. Lots of good ones available on HA right now too.

Hey SF, funny you mention that because just yesterday I found 10 year old Lou Fine thread that's now closed. A few peoples posted raw copies Fantastic 3 that looked really nice.

The exploding ballooons don't bother me much, it's the vertical bar on the side taking up some of the art. It already says Blue Bolt nice and big above the dragon monster alien . I guess they were just trying something different for a few books. Imagine how much more awesome if it was simple like Contact 12? L.B already struck gold with that cover, no way anyone who sees it won't buy it. Everything else like you said is detracting. https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/12460928-classic-sci-fi-comic-cover

It is a real beauty. Great detail even for him (even though Blue Bolts left leg looks a little too long). The 7.5 last year for 15.6 set the bar pretty high. I hope this one doesn't go that high. And CGC should give Joe Simon credit in the label.

I guess that would apply to Fantastic Comics #3? I think past sales would be not much help on this wonderful magnificent book. Especially the 9.4. Church (next highest grade is a sole 6.0). Only sale I found was for 243,000 in 2017. If that was to be available today I don't know how one would gauge the amount they should offer. Only reference really is that a 5.5 sold for 44.5k in 2017 and a 1.8 for 40.8 in 2021.

I've never seen this book. Such a clean white cover. Looks much better than a 2.0. Fun for the Kiddies...the Grown Ups too! If they only knew how right they were.

Weird, you posted that the exact second I hid the post. Not too good. 10,250. I was hoping for at least 12 or 13. Oh well. But seeing that a .5 with a missing page therefore INCOMPLETE but way nicer looking than mine sold for 15K last week I guess that proves people care more about the presentation than being complete. Thanks for asking.

Yeah look at that......Sweet. And that's an exceptionally nice 8.0.

We're on the same page on all that. I'm selling a .5 AF 15 on CL now, as you know. Sold an asm #2 5.5 and got a good price, even higher than the 6.0 HA just sold. And I'm selling a asm #3 6.5 in the next CL auction. My plan is/was to get a 2.0 AF 15 with the proceeds but the recent 24k HA sale looks like It ain't slowing down any. I might go with an 8.0/8.5 asm 3 and 14 instead. To me those two are the best issues in the series. I'm also not a big fan of asm #1. After that it's Hulk #1 time, I'll let you know if I'm bidding on one so we don't destroy each other and I'll bow out.

That hadn't occured to me. I was watching this one as you never see a restored copy auction. Seems to be very slight resto. If I was the buyer, which I would may have been prior to it topping 4k, I'd be pretty stoked.

I was thinking same same thing. Will there be Butt Hurt? Seemed strange they would have 2 ending the same day and both White even. What's better for the seller, having your book end first or 2 hours later? The 1st one graded this past August- very small spine stress lines very small, light crease right top of back cover 2nd one graded in 2008 has no graders notes on the CGC page but Heritage says Spine Lite Mis-wrap. But the 1st one has an even slightly worse mis-wrap. Back cover's crooked too. I guess they both could pass for 9.8 but I bet one could find an equally attractive 9.6 or 9.4 no problem.

Yeah I saw that. Guess we have to wait to see what the next few lower grade copies go for. There are a few higher grade copies on auction now. I'm sure you already know all this - 9.2 in January 50,400. An 8.5 same day 25,200. The next 8.5 in September 52,800. Now that's a leap. And the same 9.2 from January is up again right now. Can't blame the owner after seeing what the 8.5 did. The single highest graded Black Cat Collection 9.6 went for 102,000 a year ago. Gonna be interesting to see where this 9.2 lands.

Yes! That is pretty much what I was wondering I suppose. Well explained. I like how you gave two possibilities as to what may be. Hey KC, I know what you mean. I remember thinking I'll never be able to own books like Silver Silver 1, Hulk 1, Iron Man 1, ect. And that was before CGC and e bay and when they were so much less $. I'm a little bit of both I think. Hulk #1 for example is by far the coolest most awesome'est cover in the series. But I really can't spend the kind of money a 4.0 or better goes for on one. (Also I don't really want anything worth more than around 15 - 20K, too many eggs in one basket for me). With Hulk 1 the right 2.0 or 3.0 is very welcome. But with Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, (and some DC's), there are so many great looking covers and important issues in their early days. I think I'd rather go with sweet under 10% of the pop high grade copies of some early "minor" keys over a beat up looking AF 15 or a so so ASM 1.

Yes you're right it is very personal. Not in a private way of course. But yeah. Funny you mention GA because I suppose that's what got me thinking about this. I watched those yootoob videos a few times, the Future Past Vintage Collectables channel. I'm not even sure the name of the man who hosts it but he makes some good shows. I watched the videos with Mr Bedrock and those high grade GA's he brought on. They just look so beautiful in those conditions. Many aren't even "keys" and most aren't 1st apps but man are they pleasant to look at. There are enough out there for most to get one in lower grades if they really want. But when you get to that high grade stuff you don't just need money but luck and serious patience. But mostly money I know you can't really compare most of those with anything Silver Age. Most GA's only have less than 100. or even much less. in the census and maybe just a handful in very high grade. But it got me thinking about some of the early 60's Marvel's. Most have at least a thousand and much more in the census but when you get to around the top 5% there aren't many. I wonder if as time goes by people will desire to own them more and more, as opposed to the 1st apps in low grade. For example a 9.4 ASM #2 as opposed to a 3.5 or 4.0 AF 15. About the same price but one has about 7 in the census and the other a few hundred. And the high grade one is just soo sweet to look at. I guess I could have titled this "The Future of Really High Grade Silver Age Stuff".

Hi Everyone, A little thing I've been pondering for a while is, well basically what I wrote in the title. Basically a "What do you like better" thread. Regarding mainly "major" Silver Age keys in low to mid grade (say 1.0 to 4.0 or 5.0 in some cases) as opposed to"minor" keys of the same main character in high grade (say 8.0 to 9.2 as higher than that they skyrocket in price). Doesn't have to be that specific but in the same price ranges. Golden Age and Bronze Age opinions/examples are fine too , but with Bronze 9.4 to 9.8 would apply for high grade depending on the book. So for example take Fantasic Four #1. A decent looking 2.0 to 3.0 can be procured for around 14,000 to 20,00 around now. But how about an 8.0 to 9.4 FF # 2,3,6,12 ect. for about the same price instead? Amazing Spider-Man: A very low grade AF 15 can be had for under 20K usually. A 3.0 to 4.0 ASM #1 can be rustled in for 10 to 15K. But how about an 8.0 or higher ASM 2, 3, 4, or any of the 1st early villain appearances instead? There are many more examples but hopefully you get what I mean. I realize every book has a different significance and in some cases the 1st app is the only real key issue. Any thoughts are welcome. Consider if these high grade minor keys which have low pop numbers in the census will "catch up" to the big keys that most of which have hundreds or more copies out there in low grade. Plus personal preferance. Would you rather have a kind of beat up copy of that 1st appearance or a sweet, nearly flawless (or flawless) copy of an early appearance which in the current market are in the about same price range? Also the hunt. Big keys in low grade are not too hard to come by as opposed to that high grade beauty you've been waiting for. Just wondering. Thanks

Sure is. I have counted 72 titles so far . Straight up horror titles including titles that shifted into horror. Not even Sci Fi titles, only horror. And I know there are a more I haven't found yet.

I'll check around for those, Thanks

I've been going back through this thread page by page trying to get together a complete list of all Horror and Sci-Fi titles that existed from around 1939 up until 1955. I just keep finding more and more titles and books that I really didn't know were out there. Kind of amazing how many there were in such a short period of time, especially in the early 50's. And interesting to see how they just kept pushing the limits up until they couldn't. Thanks to all who've posted.

Yep the .5 was missing a page too. I notice cgc doesn't put the word incomplete on the label anymore. They just say what page or pages are missing and call it a .5. That particular one by the cover looked around a 1.5 to 2.0 and it did well. I do think that if it had the word INCOMPLETE in all capital letters on the label it wouldn't have fared so well. I have the not so great looking but complete .5 on Comiclink right now, I'l be very happy if it comes close the what the incomplete HA .5 went for. You're right it's not crashing by no means but low and mid grades have had about a 20% decrease in the past few months compared to what they peaked at. At least from what I see.

Yeah but you said........ Aw nevermind. Maybe that new Spider-Man you posted above might give it a boost. A renewed interest. Lord knows Spider-Man comics could use all the help they can get these days.

Oh Jeez.

5 to 6 hundred k.......unless NoMan is bidding.

Maybe this is old news but are they not putting the word "Incomplete" on the holders now? I've seen a lot of books missing pages but it doesn't say incomplete.

Pretty good. I was thinking rarity refers to the actual number of them in existence while scarcity refers to how often they become available to procure. That would also be relative to grade I suppose. For example Batman 1 through 9 arent rare, but in 8.5 and above they are pretty scarce.