RockMyAmadeus

Normal facet of business. No it's not. It's a normal fact of collectibles, but not business. Quiet pops, ygogolak and I are talking business. "So how many copies of biclops should I put you down for, 500, 600?" , so back to the previous post, when something is in demand you keep charging the same price? Leaving money in the table. Of course they do. Why do you think Apple sells 10 bazillion iphones? Because they keep charging the same price, and they have contracts to make sure their retailers charge the same price, as well. Best Buy cannot jack up the price on iphones, or they don't get to sell them. Only in collectibles do sellers shoot themselves in the foot by trying to squeeze every dime out of anything someone might possibly be interested in. If one person asks for Strawberry Shortcake #6, that only means that that one person wants it. By the way....I had a dealer who thinks like you. I bought some nice 3-Pack Only Whitmans for $8 each (the two I slabbed ended up 9.8 after I pressed them.) He said he had more, so I told him I'd be interested. This was at the local con. I kept asking him, and by the time he finally found the rest, it turned out he only had 2-3, they were VF copies, and they were $30-$40. Pass. Just lost a sale, and he'll likely never sell them at any price now.

Normal facet of business. No it's not. It's a normal fact of collectibles, but not business. Quiet pops, ygogolak and I are talking business. "So how many copies of biclops should I put you down for, 500, 600?" I'll take 1,000!

The numbers for Doomsday went astronomical. MOS #17 had Cap City orders of around 20,000, #18 had around 50,000, and 19 had 100,000. And that's just Cap City, around 25% of the Direct Market at the time. It was insane.

Normal facet of business. No it's not. It's a normal fact of collectibles, but not business.

You were both wrong. And come on, Gene.....you can't rush onto the forum less than 20 minutes before the auction ends, get in a quick prediction, and then brag how you were only one bid increment off. That's just insulting to EVERYONE'S intelligence in here. Before that, you had stated....what? That it would sell for more than $100k and likely wouldn't hit a million??? I miss the line about your dog pooping on a large sheet with your predictions written on them being just as accurate. It gave your post a little panache....now, it's just dull.

You keep fixating on 20 minutes before the auction ended when you should be focused on the fact that it was 20 minutes before the live bidding on the lot started. And, in any case, there's much more to this story than meets the eye. You are a stubborn, stubborn man.

$657k Peanut Gallery Legitimizers(s) 0 errr... but the legitimizer(s) are proper, learned, and correct, and the peanut gallery are just ignorant insufficiently_thoughtful_persons. I have no idea what you are trying to argue above, but I don't know who was saying that $400K was some kind of cap on this page (I know it wasn't me). In fact, I never even said that $1 million was a cap on this page - I just said it was a 50-1 shot to get there at best, and more likely 100-1, and that I like to play the odds. Wasn't directed to you at all. In fact, I found your arguments to be pretty rational (as you know speculation can be far from rational). I just took a swipe at some other post that mockingly called all other opinions counter to yours belonging to the peanut gallery. I did call it fairly close and early in the thread though, hence the self-deserved back pat (sometimes you just got to toot your own horn). It's not the arguments that are made...it's the dismissiveness of those who consider themselves "in the know" vs. the people they haughtily dismiss as "ignorant know-nothings" (aka "the peanut gallery.") If it wasn't for that, this thread wouldn't be 1/4th the length it is, and there would be no residual animosity. Listen, I know whereof I speak...I've been haughty and dismissive enough on these boards for 20 people...it's not a good thing. Dial it back a bit...quite a bit...is all that I am saying (and, I believe, Bronze Rules is saying, too.)

I was wrong. I thought that the piece could hit $717K and it only hit $657K. Well...it's a start. At least you can post the words. That's movement in the right direction, even if you did predict $717k 20 minutes before the auction ended which, as tth pointed out, isn't quite a feat of prognostication. It's pretty much the same as betting on the horse 10 feet from the finish line. "He's gonna win! See? I told you!"

Truth. Indeed.

It's true, I was wrong. It did not cross $1 million. Regardless of all my justifications and rationalizations for why not, the fact is, it didn't. The rationalizations and justifications may be totally valid, partly valid, or wholly invalid...the fact is, I was wrong about the number I predicted.

So, the answer is, "no, you cannot admit that you were wrong", then?

Here's what you said: That's a concrete prediction. On the other hand, my comment was in response to another comment, back on March 1 when the Hulk #180 page had only been know to exist for one week! I can assure you that I hadn't formed any concrete opinions on where the page would end up at that point! Can you admit you were wrong?

You made this prediction on the day of the auction, after you saw the way the wind was blowing in the auction. And, as a matter of fact, here's his FIRST prediction: Doing quck math....let's see, carry the one, add 37.... And we find that $657k is CLOSER to $1000k than it is $200k...with an over 100k difference (457k off vs 343k off, for those lacking the requisite math skills.) So, we were both wrong...except you were more wrong than I was. Way to take it out of context. 1. I said >$200K, not $200K. I was responding to a post which was pegging the value closer to $100K. You have GOT to be kidding me! Because *I* said it would CROSS $1million, not sell for "way more" than $1million, and you had a problem with that. You just made the exact same argument. You arrogantly dismissed all of my arguments as naïve, uninformed rambling from someone who you characterized...very haughtily, I might add...as someone who knew nothing about what he was speaking. "Carved up and twisted"? You are hysterical. You've impressed a lot of folks around here, no doubt with your money and collection, but when it comes to making a rational discussion, you fall far, far short...what I don't understand (it's probably not wanting to tell truth to your money) is why more people don't see it. Someone call in the backhoe...it's getting deep in here. Just admit it. I can. I was wrong. See? You were wrong, too. Can you admit it....?

Now you know how I've felt all these years. In any case, does it matter if you placed your winning bet just before post time or well in advance? As long as it wasn't after the fact, it all counts the same at the ticket window. Not that it even matters - the bottom line is that this page was always going to sell where the usual suspect BSDs bid it up to. Anyhow, let's not pick nits. At the end of the day, the page, which virtually everyone agrees is better than the ASM 328 cover, could only manage to equal the latter's price and missed the million level by a wide margin (it would have had to sell for 52.2% higher to hit that exalted level). The "transitive property" argument failed yet again. And, it was bought by one of the two guys I thought would buy it, and not by a celebrity or other wealthy crossover buyer. Yeah, Just posting this as a reminder, in case it was missed earlier: In fact, it sold for a whopping 228% more than your original prediction. Oh, and in case anyone's wondering...your "final" prediction was made 20 minutes before the auction ended. That's like picking the winner of the Preakness 10 feet before the finish line (to steal a line from a friend.) No, they won't take your bets 10 feet before the finish line. Nice try, though!

. That's what I wanted you to think. You think it was a coincidence that I predicted (against consensus I might add) earlier in the week that the auction was going to be a barnburner?

You made this prediction on the day of the auction, after you saw the way the wind was blowing in the auction. And, as a matter of fact, here's his FIRST prediction: Doing quck math....let's see, carry the one, add 37.... And we find that $657k is CLOSER to $1000k than it is $200k...with an over 100k difference (457k off vs 343k off, for those lacking the requisite math skills.) So, we were both wrong...except you were more wrong than I was.

Excellente! You know, who would have guessed the strange, twisted trail these books have taken these last 21 years....

It is a sad reality that inquiring about an item shows interest, and interest translates to $$$.

10th Anniversary of the "board who lived" You should hide a little lightning bolt in the 10th anniversary logo if that's the case....

I don't understand....what if they were born and raised in Canada?

It's not quite a rap battle, but Jon Sable #15 (August, 1984) has a dance off between African-American gang members and a gay Broadway performer. How do you know they're African-American....? (yes, this is a trick question.)

By the way...GPA now has a complete set of #2s recorded. Only the #1 yellow and blue (interesting no red), and only the (bogus) sale of my #3 from last year. It's getting there.

I know a #3 was sold...maybe it's the same one? That's great! The only ones I've never had is #1 Black...as usual...and #3 Yellow.

It is far too late. They should have done it in the beginning, but they didn't think it mattered...and, in 1999, it didn't to most. It's not as if no one was aware that the difference existed. But they did miss an absolutely golden opportunity, for only a little more work. If certain copies are worth more depending on their distribution status...and they are, on both ends of the spectrum (DM vs newsstand)...then they've cut off that market difference. And "it's DIFFERENT!" is what drives any market. It's never too late to offer a service if there's demand. They could easily offer an "edition notation" service similar to a simple re-holdering. More revenue for CGC from those who already care... and more pressure to make a distinction for those who don't care. It is, of course, not a problem to relabel. Folks will be angry at the extra cost, and resent CGC, and rightfully so....but by far, the biggest problem is now the census. This is unfixable, which is why it is "far too late." Unless they have scans of every single book they've ever graded that is part of this situation, which in itself would be a massive mind-numbing endeavor, then the census will be a problem that cannot be fixed. By the way...saw your "10th Anniversary" banner over at the site... It's not the 10th Anniversary....well, it's the 10th anniversary of OMGWTFBBQWHERESTHESITEWHERESTHESITEWHATHAPPENED?!!!?!?!?!?!?!!!!@#%$#*@(! Had dinner with Neprud the other night...he lives a couple miles from me now. Hope the Ninjak1baby (who is no longer a baby) is doing fine.

Stupid, lame CGC board. I now have to type all of this AGAIN. Anyhoo....you folks that are so concerned with grades on books that are essentially Gerber 8s, 9s, and 10s (11-20 copies known, 6-10, 5 or less) are cutting off your noses to spite your faces. Grade becomes functionally meaningless when there are 4 copies known to still exist, out of an original run of only 50, 21 years ago. Sure, it would be nice to have a 9+, but simply owning a copy is far more important, and grade really has no bearing on price. What is radically different from an "A/P" #1 in 9.0 (VF/NM) and a #3 in 7.5 (VF-)? Not much. For comparison, a black #3 sold last year for $1800. And does being an "A/P" mean anything on these anyway? Real A/Ps are supposed to be the first several copies printed to make sure...that is, to PROVE...that the finished product is what the creator intended. Dark Knight, for example, has 50 A/Ps, but then they did the REAL run of 4,000 signed copies (plus the 26 A-Z special copies.) But the blacks only had a TOTAL print run of 50, so aren't they ALL technically A/Ps? Yes! The #1 A/P was probably just the first one that Sam saw, so he marked it "A/P"....but that doesn't mean it's worth substantially more than a black #3. And black #1s are, by far, the most common of the blacks. As far as the Yellow #3s...with the "rusty attic" find, there are now 6-8 known copies of that book...more than the black #3s. But if there were only 2-3 Yellow #3s known to still exist, then YES, it absolutely would be a $2,000 book, regardless of grade. Maxx is part of comics history. There will come a day when people look back at this series and it will become popular again. The blacks, especially the #3, are the crown jewels of the set. When and if that happens, $2,000 (barring hyperinflation) will look like chump change. Is the price really "ridiculous" because you don't have one, you want one, but don't want to pay the price, so you have to talk it down....? And recalled comics stole my scan! Free advertising! Yay!