James J Johnson

On 8/30/2022 at 1:11 PM, FFB said:

I feel like I am listening to my 13 year old right now.  Yes, Aman doesn't like you and he has his reasons.  But why let him bait you?  Just ignore it.  

Jesus, I literally had this same conversation with my kid recently about some little punk in his class who was saying a bunch of stupid  to him and getting him all riled up.  

I doubt I'm the only one who would find this interesting, so go ahead and post up whatever information you can share about this very interesting topic.  Or take your ball and go home if that makes you feel better.  

error

On 8/30/2022 at 7:31 AM, Cat said:

Or as in Djangy Djujpcak? Don't throw a tantie, it's most unbecoming of you. You're lucky to be here. 

error

Djangology, as in Django Reinhardt or Eldar Djangirov? 

On 8/30/2022 at 12:10 AM, FFB said:

Well, I for one would be perfectly happy to hear (read) as much of the story as you feel like typing out here.  

poof

On 8/29/2022 at 11:07 PM, Aman619 said:

Such a long winded reply based on your faulty read on what I said. I never said what year I was in the store.  It definitely wasn’t within a month or whatever of the Find. I only said in the 80s —  probably the late 80s. The first time I heard of Hartsdale. 

double post

On 8/29/2022 at 7:25 PM, pemart1966 said:

I'd much prefer the Wagner card over this Mantle card...

With an estimated population of 75 existing cards, the Wagner is another card that really isn't as scarce as many others that sell for far, far less. 

On 8/29/2022 at 8:13 PM, Aman619 said:

tell yourself that!  you had them priced at 20K each.  

error

On 8/29/2022 at 7:20 PM, Ba'al said:

Hi Perry! 

On 8/29/2022 at 7:21 PM, Larryw7 said:

I'm glad you're here. You're very knowledgeable and entertaining.

I'm like Mr. October, only year-round. 

On 8/29/2022 at 7:15 PM, Larryw7 said:

Glad to know you didn't trim those cards.

On 8/29/2022 at 6:44 PM, Aman619 said:

As an aside, back in the 80s i was buying 50s star cards.  The 52 Mantle was already very expensive.  I visited a store that had three of the mantle cards from the Find. They were beautiful… but I passed.  Even on a time payments plan.

but it all worked out for the best.  That store’s name was Fantazia.  

Good chance they were all trimmed or worse!  I also passed on a Tec 27 (had a choice of 3 copies!) but that was only 10K so I probably would have done okay.

error

On 8/29/2022 at 4:32 PM, PopKulture said:

Thanks for taking the time to share these insightful summaries!  

You're very welcome. 

On 8/29/2022 at 3:28 PM, Bronty said:

They advertised it as the first 8 figure sale before the auction even began; clearly there was a guarantee in place.    Not unreasonable to assume 10m guarantee net to the seller, meaning at 10.5 plus juice this realistically may well have been one bid above reserve .   

Double posted in error

On 8/29/2022 at 2:11 PM, Ba'al said:

Hi Danny 

On 8/29/2022 at 10:54 AM, D84 said:

I agree. The whole reason the purple label became a "Scarlet Letter" was because people were finding out they'd been ripped off.

Disclosed restoration is fine, especially with rare golden age books. I'd rather have a restored copies of a book out there than none at all.

Here's some food for thought. CGC yellow label signature series slabbed books typically bring a premium above their blue label unsigned counterparts in similar grade. This is a case where foreign material is added, ink, marker, paint, gel, etc. to the book. Technically it's been color touched. The rationale behind the addition of that ink or paint differs but the adding of the ink/paint is intentional and whether a deliberate attempt to improve the apparent condition or simply to have the creator's track for a keepsake and its additional value to the whole, the result is the same. Added ink/paint to the book, as in color touch. 

The major difference in this result, after signing or color touch, is that a minimally color touched book, say a few dots of color on several spine stresses typically adds from 1/1,000th to 1/100,000th the amount of ink to the book that a creator signature does. 

Now I'm not speaking of moderately to extensively restored hack jobs with acrylic paint or marker/crayon swathed over large areas. I'm referring to minimally restored books with barely detectable (for all except CGC) precisely placed dots of color used to conceal small fractures in the color. 

A book with even a modest sized sharpie signature on the cover will have thousands of times the amount of ink added to the book than one with several dots of color touch. 

If you consider this, and the fact that a book with several dots of color that can't easily be seen can be bought for roughly 1/5th to 1/2 of the price, maybe they're not quite as bad or dastardly as most think when bought with full disclosure at a price that adequately reflects the restoration. 

On 8/29/2022 at 3:07 AM, Djangology said:

My understanding is that all of the high grade Mantles out there are supposed to be from the find referenced in the article. That Mr. Mint character identified this one as the "finest" of the bunch in a letter to the buyer after he had sold it in that 1991 transaction. PSA's grades have the same sort of uncertainty as CGC's grades, particularly when it comes to vintage.

As an aside, there are/were detailed scans of the card on Heritage's site and I think SGC overgraded it. Modern cards do not receive that much leeway. It's in amazing condition and I have no reason to doubt it's the best one, but it has a number of flaws.

double posted

On 8/28/2022 at 1:03 PM, shadroch said:

I have heard that Topps ended the year with a warehouse full of unsold product and paid a company to dump it at sea.  Imagine scuba diving off the Jersey shore and coming across the site. The 1952 Topps set was quite small by todays standards and the Mantles are generally one per box, with twenty boxes in a case.  Five hundred cases or more on a barge. 

.

On 8/23/2022 at 3:46 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I'm going to guess that 95% of everyone here would be a resounding 'No', but I was curious to hear if some people (Dealers, consignors, etc) would consider using it if/when they expand into other high-end graded collectibles.

For me (and probably most others) owning the book, displaying the book and being able to hold the book is a big part of collecting comics - I have books I have bought books thinking "this will be way up 10 years from now", but I also enjoy owning it, so keeping it locked away somewhere else and looking at a digital image of it wouldn't do it for me. But, card collectors must not have the same amount of people in the hobby that feel that way - evidenced by the use of the Ebay Vault. Thoughts?

For anyone apprehensive about the safe and secure storage of their books, who knows better than to use a public storage facility, doesn't want to use a safety deposit box, and flat out doesn't trust ebay to safeguard their items, what about Heritage acting as a "Vault"? I'm sure their facilities are just as secure as Ebay or other vault-like storage depots for hobby collectibles, and I've never heard of any consignor's items disappearing into thin air. What about some type of "pre-consignment" storage at Heritage? Books kept secure by Heritage until they are directed to either offer for sale to the public as BINs/make offer, or at auction? If you're concerned about break-ins or safeguarding your pieces at your current location or in your current situation, possibly between homes, or spend a lot of time away from home and have not opted for some type of secure storage off the premises, consignment or pre-consignment through Heritage may possibly offer the secure solution? 

On 8/17/2022 at 11:16 PM, grendelbo said:

6.0

Thanks for posting.

+1

On 8/25/2022 at 6:51 PM, comicginger1789 said:

I passed on buying it soon as I saw it. He has it priced as a 2.0 raw but I still didn’t want it because I didn’t know what was going on back there, hence why I wanted to check with some more educated minds than mine

Good call. Moisture damage + moderate to severe mold = Pass

On 8/23/2022 at 3:46 PM, Dr. Balls said:

...a resounding 'No'.

This.

On 8/27/2022 at 1:21 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Feels like this age of encapsulation might soon be over...

Never. No Buck Rogers = No bucks. The grading of books is the fuel for the market's propulsion. As true today as it was in 2000. 

On 7/15/2022 at 2:43 PM, kav said: