non sequitur

Yes for sure - I started plugging the info into TurboTax and it applied that $500K reduction. In fact, after adding up receipts from all the work done to the house over 20 years, and listing/closing costs, and applying that $500K, the resulting capital gain is almost equal to the capital loss I'd been carrying forward since the 2007 crash (but it does eat it ALL, so now I'll have no more loss to carry forward into 2022 if I do sell the comic, which is Detective 27 btw).

This is a pretty useful thread! I bought a golden age key years ago and just saw one in the same grade sold in November for 10x my cost, so while I thought I’d never sell, now I wonder (and hence my search in this board for “Capital gains” which led me here). Since the 2007 stock crash, I’ve had a carry-forward capital loss of about $70k. If I ever had a gain, it would be offset by that loss. I didn’t have that gain until I sold my home last year, so when I do my taxes in the next 2 months, the gain from the house will eat up all of that loss, and I’ll still have a Capital gain for 2021. So if I sell the comic in 2022, then at least that gain won’t also be added to the 2021 gain, but would it matter? Does a gain push you into a higher tax bracket, and higher AGI, or is it separate? I think it’s separate. If I sell in 2022, the collectible gain applies (28%?) I’d thought about gifting it to kids to sell, but that seems to have 2 disadvantages: they can’t subtract the initial cost I paid, and it’s still taxed at 28% - the fact that they have no income and are in the lowest tax bracket may have no benefit if the collectibles tax rate is unaffected by your tax bracket what if I decide not to sell, and it goes to my kids when I’m dead? Would it then be a burden to them? (they may fight over what to do with it, and/or timing of a sale, and when they finally do sell, it would be taxed at 28% of 100% of the sale price, since they have no cost basis)? Finally: does who you use to sell have any pros/cons? Is a private sale preferable to a HA auction? If expenses aren’t deductible (can’t be subtracted from your gross to lessen the net), then wouldn’t it be better to use an auction house that charges the premium to the buyer (and not a broker who charges me as the seller)?

Saw the listing on eBay and checked in here for discussion. Interesting to see Metro turn to eBay, and I always wonder whether eBay really is the best (or at least SHOULD be the best) avenue for sale to a worldwide marketplace. My opinion is that the government is putting so much money into the economy right now that there is bound to be future price appreciation - that’s why gold is up so much, and the same should hold true for mega keys. Cash is king for now, but in a few months, cash in the bank will be losing value in “real” terms rapidly. As noted earlier in the discussion, once you have one, unless you are a “trader,” (bought with the intent to sell short-term) it’s very difficult to sell. It’s something you can give your kids, and they can give their kids, and on and on. It will always go up in value due to scarcity, and because Batman is just cool.

1-was owned by a friend that recently passed 2-would reslabbing intending to sell 3-plenty of folks will insure I use collectinsure.com 4-I would remove the bad resto and re-restore professionally , however don't believe it was worth the 165 paid. But obviously worth it to the new owner Good answers to be sure, but in #3 I wasn't asking about insurance so much as identifying a worthwhile venue to lend comics to for display/public use purposes. Like this guy in London displaying his own collection is cool, but do you know anyone who has lent items to a 3rd party to "share the wealth" and whether it was a good idea in retrospect? There's a new art museum down here in Miami, maybe I'll look into that.

1. What's the story on that Superman 1 on your facebook page? Seems too good to not have been slabbed, but nice to see one out in the open. If this is discussed elsewhere on the board, let me know. 2. Are there any circumstances where you would re-slab a book? Does the new case design provide any incentive? I have a cracked one now, but don't really want to mess with it. 3. Hoarding GA keys in a bank vault seems greedy - is there any "public use" they can be put to, where they are (excessively) insured and safe? I asked the Smithsonian about this years ago, and they had some initial interest, but then dropped it. There's a traveling exhibit, but that seems more risky than the Smithsonian. 4. If you owned the restored 4.5 tec27 sold by Heritage this year (note: not me!): (http://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/detective-comics-27-dc-1939-cbcs-restored-vg-45-extensive-amateur-off-white-pages/a/7124-91043.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515), would you: a. professionally restore it even more (and if so, how high could it grade), or b. try to remove the existing restoration (not sure if it's even possible); and c. under either (a) or (b), would there be any value bump over $165K to justify either?

A-no. You can't unrestore cleaning. Book will forever be "plod". You could remove pieces, color touch and tear seals in theory (though you might be left with a mess) but you can't unclean a chemically cleaned book B-see a (no) C-yes. Definitely reverting back to days of old where resto is not as stigmatized. The reason, I believe, that plods are frowned upon is that so many folks had, previous to cgc , bought books they were led to believe we're unrestored , only to send to cgc and unexpectantly receive restored grades. That's where the "purple label of death" came from. Restored books have always had value in the market, but this general "plod" mentality will continue to slowly shift back to more positive. Thanks for giving me hope on ©, and saving me the wasted effort of (a).

I posted this elsewhere, but since this is a gold-comic related question, and the thread is attended to by a fellow Floridian, I thought I'd put it here. I have a 7.0 Moderate (P): color touch, pieces added, tear seals, cleaned. Could all of that be un-done? Any idea what it would grade at if you went through all that effort? The story is that in 2006 or so I went to an auction and bought a Detective 27 that was restored. Having spent all my savings on that, I couldn't bid on the next lot which was an unrestored Action #1. The rest is history: the one that got away has gone up in value by multiples if not magnitudes. Mine hasn't lost value, but in the years since I bought it, there has been a continued stigmatization of PLOD's, and it's under-performed the "one that got away" so badly. The thing I don't understand about comics generally is why spending money to restore diminishes its value. One would think that it would at the very least be anchored in value to the pre-restoration value, but it seems not. This must be incredibly frustrating to those who's livelihood depends on restoration, and I echo the sentiment of one such expert who writes "I can only hope that within the next 10 years, the marketplace will change and more professionally restored books will be valued at prices worthy of their historical significance and preserved state." So what do you think: (a) is it even POSSIBLE to undo restoration? (b) if it were, would you do it? © Is there any trend: is PLOD becoming more or less stigmatized over time?

Hope this works: I just took this picture last week to send to a friend. I call it "my 3 babies". When I CGC my All Star #3, and my second son is born in 8 weeks, I'll have to take another and call it "my 5 babies" (I won't let the 2 human ones touch anything until its in a capsule).