shadroch

Buy the book and find out

Does a signed and graded copy of a book have more value than a raw copy in the same shape? Is that a serious question?

You could sell half of each.

I don't think it undermines the theory. it simply doesn't support it. UPC scanners were far from universal in those days.

If you notice the Diamonds on those two packs, the BIG Diamond books seem to be harder to come by than the smaller Diamond ones. The Big Diamond books were usually specially made for Whitman, while the smaller were just early Direct copies. Whitman books have the slash thru the UPC code so a cashier doesn't scan that and charge forty cents for the whole bag. As usual, there are no absolutes when it comes to the way these were distributed. I've heard of many people who bought a book off a newsstand with a Big Diamond. It's possible some retailers bought the three packs and opened them up to sell individually, making an extra six cents in the process. Some states charged sales tax on the packaged three packs but not on individual comics, others didn't charge sales tax on purchases less than a buck.

Imperial News, the only true Newsstand Distributor for comics on Long Island was out of the comic business right after 1991. The only comics they carried were Digest sized, distributed to supermarkets. I'd want to see proof if anyone claimed newsstands were anything near 25% of the market in 1990.

Update. All State told me to have my landlord hire a company to come in and take care of the carpeting and any potential mold problems. Landlord said three companies would stop by and put in a bid for the job. One guy showed up ,looked at the various storage racks filled with comics and passed on the job. The leading nationwide company came by, wanted to bring in a storage pod and quoted north of $3,000. Third guy showed up and quoted $923. He spent the afternoon moving everything out of the master bedroom, removed the padding, installed these huge fans and vacuumed the rest of the place. Very friendly guy, pleasure to have in my house. I got a real scare as the bottom row of Comic Drawers looked terrible. Much more damage than I had expected. However, moisture didn't penetrate six of the eight outer shells and even the two that had inner damage only had a few books ruined- all unbagged moderns. I dodged a bullet here. Lots of books ruined but it could have been so much worse. Lost about 100 HG Marvel BA books, but no keys or semi-keys., and another 70-80 Modern books. Also lost a full case of Legends of The Dark Knight #2. I have no ides how to price that one. Got to give a big hand to Comic Drawers as they really did their job- protecting the books within. Still haven't heard from CIA Adjustor.

There are some extremely rare newsstand variants from the mid to late 1980s. A few Indie companies managed to get newsstand distribution of their books in a few cities. First and Now distributed in the Chicago area and Comico supposedly distributed in Pennsylvania, but their newsstand copies ended up in some remote locations thanks to a few vendors packaging returns into multi-packs. It's just that there isn't much for demand for them.

A Single Mars Patrol, which survived.

If they can fake the moon landing, you don't think they can fake some comic book price?

A member, who wishes not to be known, told me that in a similar circumstance, he wrote up a list of damaged books, priced them using mycomic shop and CIA offered him about 75% of the total, letting him keep the books. So far, pretty painless. My renters insurance is sending over a pod and a crew to empty everything out, then servepro comes in extracts the water and looks for potential mold problems. Nothing out of pocket. People at CIA were friendly and I was told to expect to hear from an adjustor within 24 hours. It's the little things that suck. My deceased Sisters 7Th grade sketch book is ruined. A book of JFK quotes I received for my birthday in 1967, gone. A Cap portrait a dead friend drew for me for $25 when he didn't have twenty five cents to his name is water stained and ran a bit. Can't imagine what others are experiencing, losing everything. As they say- I felt sorry that I had no shoes, until I met a man with no feet.

Last night, I was running water for a bath when my phone rang. It was in the kitchen so I walked away from the tub to answer it. It turned out to be a classmate from a class we are sharing and she was stuck on a homework problem. I sit at my computer and try to walk her through it. Suddenly my dog starts barking and acting crazy. I think he must have to "go" so I grab his leash and we walk over to the dog walking plaza. He doesn't do anything so I try to walk back home. As we get to the front door, he starts pulling backwards, not wanting to enter. I take him back to the dog walking area but again nothing. We go back to my apartment and enter. I see a comic on my living room floor where it wasn't before. Except it isn't sitting on it, more like its floating. Walk in and get a squishly feeling. Look down the hall and there is about two inches of standing water in it. Long story short, about 15 boxes of comics that are on the floor are soaked. Good news is, my valuable stuff is elsewhere. I rate comics A thru G and all my As and most of my Bs are secured elsewhere. Better news, most of the books appear undamaged. the Mylars and mylite protected books have a very high survival rate. Preliminary results show about 80-85% of the books are fine. Lost most of a box of 60s Indys, including a nice run of Solar and a good chunk of Thunder Agents. Had a box set up vertical of stuff I was getting ready to consign , and only the bottom ten or so books got damaged. A Ragman #1 and a first run Firestorm, along with a couple 1960s JLA. I'm still sorting stuff out but most stuff seems okay. Did lose a couple of nice lithos that were leaning against the wall in the hall. One in particular hurts. Its a Blue Angels tem photo-23 X17, signed by the team and inscribed to Connie Stevens. Then on the back was a paragraph ,handwritten explaining how she got it, signed and dated by her. All told, I'm looking at about 500-700 comic books damaged, along with a box of unprotected TPBs and hardcovers, and maybe 20 boxes that will need to be replaced. Called CIA this morning and was told an Adjuster would be in touch today. I'm pretty sure the loss will be in the 5K-10K area. A nasty bite ,if not for insurance. Photos of the boxes. 98% of the comics in the Drawer boxes were A-OK https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/cGqi2Y1HiFZLgF89wRtEaEbbfBOYv1MUsqPhiWsLiZH

Just had a flood in my apartment. Most of my books are fine, as they are off the ground, but a box of 1960s Indies suffered extensively. Numerous Tower and Gold Key books destroyed, including a very nice Dr. Solar 1, and most of my Phantom under-copies.

Later newsstand runs were maybe 5% of the press run. In the ballpark of the 30 Cent Variant Marvel produced in the 1970s. When the market matures on these, they may be priced similarly

It is a potential 9.4. Not an as is 9.4. I don't pay for potential. Nor should you. As is ,I'd call it an 8.0.

Diamond Mine!!!!!!!

People like that just make me appreciate my circle of friends more.

I wouldn't press or clean it. 3.5, with a remote shot at more.

google estate sales companies. Call them and ask to be put on their mailers.

Not comic related but too good to not crow about. I'm at an Estate Sale and there are two tables full of framed lithos and a table full of unframed ones, maybe thirty framed, 100 unframed. Mort Kunstler,Roy Nieman, Peter Max, ect. One that caught my eye is by an artist unknown to me but is a picture of Sir Edmund Hilary and his guide atop Everest, and is pencil signed by the artist and Sir Edmund. I ask how much and the guy says $200. Of the 100 unframed, maybe twenty five are of this print, and its an edition of 1953. I pass as I have a few other sales to hit but have these in my mind. Pretty pedestrian day, spent less than $500 and didn't really get any great finds. Best buy was a group of 20 sets Chrome license plate holders for $5 at a small auction. I return and most of the stuff is either gone or marked sold, but much of the art is still there untouched. I pick up a print and tell a different employee that I had been here earlier and wondered if he would take $100 for this. He hesitated and asked someone via the radio if he could sell art for $100. He turns to me and says I can have them for $150, but I have to take them all and not leave anything behind. I'm confused but gather myself and say "I can have all the art on the three tables for $150?" He confirms it. I've never moved so fast. The Kunstler prints go for about $300 unframed and the Max go for double that. The Edmund Hilary piece, the one I wanted has asking prices all over the place. As high as $900 and as low as $69. I orderd some cheap art bags off Ebay to protect the stuff until I find suitable frames for them.

The advantage of being in the middle of nowhere is they most likely don't pay much for rent.

I personally wouldn't call a book with a spine split NM.

I have seen single panels for sale, but pretty sure they weren't slabbed. I can't answer the question from personal knowledge.

People love free. Don't say a $50 voucher. Say $50 in FREE comics. Twice as effective. Do three and advertise HUNDRED$$$ DOLLAR$$$$ of FREE COMICS to be won. Have a short box of various stock that is priced at $20 and up and let the winners pick their winnings out of it. Omnis, HCs, TPBs and some comics.