On 3/26/2024 at 5:04 PM, 1950's war comics said:

i just checked my pocket change and found this very old nickel... is it worth much or worth getting graded ?

Absolutely sub it to NGC! That is the very rare Agnostic Folded Page - Punched Date nickel! Note the Rip over God suggesting a Dog Ear and the dual punches on the 1 an 6 in 1964. Even better, see if you can find a walkthrough at a nearby coin show!

Picked this up at the Berkely Comic show yesterday just because it was nicely priced (thanks HouseOfComics Marc!) and I wanted a copy to replace the 9.4 I sold a couple of years ago. Nice to have a pretty raw!

On 4/6/2024 at 10:20 AM, Lee Enterprises said:

I decided to go for the Strange Tales Annual #1 CGC 9.4. 

One of my all time favorite pre-hero Marvels! Have had a few over the years and want to pick up another (mid grade though!). That one is stunning!

Had an excellent time! Not sure why but this was the most enjoyable con I've been to in many years. Time flew by. Picked up two Marvel 15cent (both #1s) romance comics, Gary Carter's own copy (we had a great extended chat) of Strange Tales #77, a nice lower grade Fiction House Jungle with some of the best colors I have seen and a pretty Doc Strange #1 (1974) just because. Had a surprise visit from Scott (FFB) at Marc's table and we were able to catch up after some years! 

The pizza truck in the lot was making hand pulled wood fired pizzas (got the Margarita) that was very reminiscent of the ones I got in Sicily. Hope they return for the next one!

On 4/3/2024 at 3:53 PM, The Brain said:

 

WILL YOU BE THERE???

Just read a couple of posts up, my man.

On 3/17/2024 at 11:18 AM, The Brain said:

 

 

See you there Mark.

Well I am FINALLY recovered enough from my 2023 surgeries that I can leaf through a long box again! Hand is MUCH better. I'll be there!!! Not sure what I want but will certainly be looking for my usual like Jungle, Jumbo, Sheena, Fight, Wings etc Good girl art! And some interesting ACGs etc. We shall see. May even add to my vg-ish Marvel post hero silver. It all depends!

Damn I must update my current list of what I have. No more dupe buying for me!!! Thank God it is on a Sunday! More time for that!

Just an interesting tidbit. You are not talking about a page but a "leaf. A leaf consists of two pages, front and back of what we tend to think as a single page. You cannot isolate a single page from a leaf. It would be akin to that Outer Limits episode BEHOLD ECK!. 

On 2/17/2024 at 9:54 AM, zzutak said:

Exceptions for a "small amount of dried glue" date back to the founding of CGC.  Initially, books from pedigreed Golden Age collections and other well-preserved GA specimens were the most likely candidates to receive this exception.  Then came the occasional Silver Age mega-key and other unusual SA specimens.  I've even seen a Bronze Age mega-key with this blue label notation.  Smart money knows to buy the book, not the label. 

On 2/18/2024 at 10:50 AM, Door County Greek said:

I got mine back from CGC as a 9.8 White pages... with an 1/8 inch thick black line going down along the edge of the back cover... I figure I could ask for more if deemed rare.. 

I'll off ya three fiddy thousand! 

On 2/2/2024 at 10:03 AM, Transplant said:

Lexx?!?

On 2/5/2024 at 7:24 AM, Mokiguy said:

Your explanation about what happened to many old comics is a good one, and something I didn't consider when comparing coins to comics. But that still does not explain why one issue commands such a higher price than another.

As I alluded to, comics are a cultural phenomenon. I had a rather lengthy post that I have edited down to this:

For myself and many collectors, the comic book culture is visceral. And being visceral, an intellectual discussion is usually futile. I can just glance at a certain cover or see a certain book with a ho-hum cover (Strange Tales #110 come to mind) and have an immediate reaction that takes me on a trip with memories that can span decades and can fill me with emotion and excitement. Whereas other covers/books do little for me. The ones that DO create those visceral feelings are the ones that have an impact on the comic book world and its culture. And the ones most sought (demand) and command a higher price.

These are visceral reactions. Feelings. They cannot be quantified or intellectually explained. 

On 2/5/2024 at 9:37 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

comic collectors can be, well, a bit bonkers! 

On 2/4/2024 at 6:32 PM, Nick Furious said:

She's on the cover.

Dang I got my books swapped so I must edit.

On 1/31/2024 at 4:02 PM, BLEKA-TESA said:

Marvel Team-Up #95 CGC 9.8 1st appearance of Mockingbird

 

incorrect...read top

Try a little research.

Mockingbird first appeared in MTU #95. However, the label for Astonishing Tales #6 states "1st appearance of Barbara Moore (Later becomes Mockingbird)"...and why? Because you can read Astonishing Tales 6 a thousand times and you will not see Mockingbird in the book.***

This is identical to The Cat #1 (aka Claws of the Cat) with the CGC label "Origin and 1st appearance of The Cat. Greer Grant later becomes Tygra".  So you can read The Cat #1 until the cows come home and you will not see Tygra there.

***Thanks to Nick Furious for catching my mistake.

On 2/14/2023 at 8:16 PM, minutekev@50 said:

 

I don't know who all's active on here from back in the day....hope some old (board) buddies are still around!

Anyway, it's great to be back! Kev

On 2/3/2024 at 1:06 PM, Mokiguy said:

Did you ever see the movie Cool hand Luke? The prison boss says to Luke ....... "What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach".

Communication is a two way street but you seem to be stuck on Supply Lane. In comics, the key to Supply and Demand is Demand. Demand is the most important factor, where you keep stressing supply. Where supply CAN come in is when we consider grades.

Coins are far more durable than comic books. Finding a 1930s coin in any MS+ grades, for example, is a hell of a lot more frequent than finding a 1930s comic book in 9+ grades. Further on the supply side people tend/tended not to throw out coins. "Hey, I found this bag of old coins in the attic. Should we keep them?" "Nah, just toss 'em". That scenario happened a lot with comic books. Also comics often just got read to death, folded up and stuffed in a back pocket while riding a bicycle (hard to fold a coin), etc. So these are a few differences between the two.For the record I also collect coins and enjoy the obsolete coins such as two cent pieces, three cent pieces, half dimes, 20 cent pieces etc etc,

Bottom line in the comic book world is that demand is always going to create a higher price than scarcity, until grades are taken into consideration. Then high grades, which are generally scarcer and does impact the supply side, will drive the prices even higher in the higher demand books. 

Of course there is speculation in the comic book world. But there is also in the coin world. Check out Mike Mezack, the Don West (RIP) of the coin world, on HSN pushing the speculation and greed to the limit. If that wasn't working they would have pulled his show a long time ago.

For a collector like me I go for nostalgia and a love of the culture. As a child in the 1950s I grew up on the TV reruns of the old Universal Monster movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man etc. as well as shows like Creature Features and Creature Double Features. My favorite book back then as a pre-teen was Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, an amazing 1080 page tome collecting great 19th and early 20th century tales. This all gave me a love of horror, sci-fi and the supernatural that informs my collecting to this day. It also led me to genres like pre-code crime and romance, as well as more supernatural/sci-fi/horror silver/bronze books (including super-hero books with similar content). The prospect of making bucks is far from what informs my collecting, even though I do shake my head at my selling my PCH collection (about three long boxes of unique titles) back in 2006. I know a lot of collectors and we generally share a similar mind set. 

On 2/2/2024 at 12:27 PM, namisgr said:

Why are you screaming at us?

Because sitting in the BLEAK SEAT is said to be squishily uncomfortable?

On 1/27/2024 at 8:49 AM, Dr. Love said:

Sometimes I smudge the room with sage.  It's a little out there, but who knows what really works and what doesn't?  I wish there was an expert to ask, though.  That would be helpful.

Agreed. We need an experienced, well known and highly respected conservator of comic books to step in and possibly offer a critique! 

On 2/4/2024 at 10:00 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

That’s the list of impacted books from swapgate.  Totally separate from the 27 books stolen by CGC employees.

Thanks! My bad. I can't keep up with the shenanigans, especially as I have just awaken, am still lying in bed, and have had no coffee as yet.

I think I'll make einkorn pancakes to go with my coffee.

On 2/4/2024 at 8:06 AM, Samlarn72 said:

Is there a list of the stolen comics?