comicginger1789

My ASM 5 is encased....and was bought as such. It simultaneously does and does not have this error...which I guess means if I were to sell I would simultaneously ask market and slightly above market value for it

Definitely a cool set. Definitely a tough sell though all at once.

Yeah but they seem to reserve the qualified grade for high grade books missing coupons and such, as well as high grade books with signatures on them (that were unwitnessed). I suppose too I have seen qualified grades on books with completely detached or partially detached covers. A bug chew is not something I have seen but maybe it would be considered given the nice shape of the books otherwise

Yeah those books are NOT from the sixties. The one on the right is a reprinted image of Amazing Fantasy 15 which is the cover of Spider-Mans first appearance but it was reprinted in the 2000s which is when these are from I believe.

Yeah big chews don't result in the qualified grade. Definitely share the results because I am intigued!

I mean it is rare. But I feel like in my lifetime as a collector (25 years) I have sold several and personally own several (couple from Silver Age and Bronze Age). Personally, if someone has a VF copy of Hulk 181 with staples and one without (even though it is a production flaw), I would pay less for the one missing the staple. That is just me though...other collectors are welcome to weigh in. Maybe some would pay the same but I doubt any would pay more for such a flaw. The only production flaws that collectors get excited (and usually pay more for) are double/multiple covers and really wacky errors (like upside covers, covers on the wrong book, weird inking errors that drastically change the cover appearance)

4.0-4.5 seems right.

I am always curious about this....visually without the bug chew, it seems 8.0 range for sure. Does the chew knock down to a 7.0, 6.0 or worse? Personally calling it 6.5 but this is the kind of thing we need to learn about!

Agreed^ definitely this with perhaps a 8.0 chance.

Sigh...the 1.0 grade bump I always fail at applying to 90% of the GA books I try to help people with. When will I learn!? Great book!

Looks 5.0-5.5 although that larger crease by Prowley's head could knock down to 4.5. I still think 5.0 is the sweet spot grade wise

In terms of the initial question, well again part of the hobby is knowing the grades. When you know the grades you can generally know what is wrong. When I see 4.0, I expect lots of spine and edge wear, soft corners, maybe some staining or a loose centrefold but overall a book that someone took some amount of care with. When I see 7.5, I see a nice copy that was probably read but has a couple class that really detract from near perfection, such as a decent corner crease, or a stain on the back. Again its not specific but I can "see" that type of book in my mind when books have that grade because I have collected about 25 years and just feel like I'm familiar with those grades. If I want to know for sure, a front and back photo tells 99% of the story because that is usually where the flaws are. Occasionally a book has to be hit grade wise for an interior flaw but generally those are much less common. Plus such a flaw, if major (like a cut out or scribbles on a page) are usually noted

It would be nice to know what CGC grading set up looks like. The industry standard for perfection is 9.8. On anything else, there should be some notes. Many times in grades 9.0-9.6 there is not. Again, one would assume all of the "flaws" are on some sort of checklist and the grader just checks off or types it in. I feel that to give a grade on a book that is not 9.8 and not notate this is wrong, so I agree with you there. For many, the reason is not obvious. For guys 15, 20, 30 or more years in the hobby, sure they get the book back, they see the 9.4, they see the couple spine ticks and they get it. But the novice doesn't. Not right away. It is almost like part of the hobby, part of the right of passage is learning grading. And it is a never ending learning curve that for me, sometimes I am spot on, sometimes I am slightly off (which makes sense....I see 8.0, grader see 7.5 that's close enough) but occasionally I still grade a book and am off by 2-3 grades which bothers me. What did I overgrade? Or in some cases, what flaw did I grade too harshly? Until full transparency is given from CGC we will never really know. I guess that is part of the secret sauce. To be fair, none of the grading companies anywhere really divulge their grading formula.

Sharp book! The stain on the bottom left back sucks. Without it, I have this at 9.0..but that stain will knock it down...7.5 or so?

The price box in the corner would be gold if it was the gold edition. If you had that graded in a CGC 9.8 it is worth about $100 or so right now Yours is the regular version. As is, it is a $3-5 book.

With reference to Dell and Charlton stuff though, has anyone ever wanted those ever? I mean the mass comic collector...sure there are people who do but they sure don't pay a lot for 98% of it. I think the goal for this hobby to maintain itself is for the key books or revered stories or desired covers to continue to at worst maintain a constant (or slight increase over time) value. Run of the mill stuff is always gonna be $1-10 fodder depending on the grade. In 2000, I was spending $2-5 for mid grade Peter Parker Spec Spidey. I feel that those prices are not far off today because again, most of what I was grabbing was the reader/run filler. Also, and maybe I am wrong here, but the emergence of the internet seemed to really kill stamps. I would argue the opposite has happened for comics.

True as well. I think the main point is that the ones who are spending 3K on a single comic (or even monthly or yearly) are probably the older group, in that 45-60+ range because they have that level of income to do so. Obviously there is an even smaller percentage buying the extremely high priced stuff you see at the auction houses (maybe a few of them frequent here).

See this makes me feel good about the hobby still. Some very very light data from this forum (and a thread where people shared their age...I only looked at responses that were recent). Average age here and on a golden age collector group was about the same at 47 years old. Again very small sample size and I expected such an average to be higher as an online forum and Facebook are not the platforms most younger collectors would be using. When I tune in to live sales on Instagram, WhatNot and some other platforms I see the ages more in the range of 25-45

Edge tear or ding at top, spine wear is pretty standard for the age, corner crease bottom right and some foxing it appears along back spine 6.0 tops, likely 5.5

That's a good point. I would argue too that the emergence of a lot of Youtube people in the hobby (many of whom seem to be in that 30-45 age range with a few younger and a few older) suggests to me the age of the hobby is ok, unlike something like stamps. The ebbs and flows in values will always occur and their attachment to films and such may adjust to a more reasonable amount (for exmaple seeing a modest 10-15% uptick in value as opposed to a wild 50-75% or more jump in value just because of a movie trailer).

It would be great for someone somewhere to collect actual data from conventions and comic shops. What is the average age of today's collector? If it is somewhere between 30-40 I think that would bode well for the hobby as that would be the age range for people to have the right disposable income to spend well enough in this hobby.

I don' think such a book should be in the VF range I think the 7.0 range might be maximum for a very clean copy aside from such sun damage. I think Fine range is definitely acceptable for this type of defect (meaning lower grades are also) With this book, it would not stun me to see a 7.0 although I feel 6.5 would be most appropriate personally.

I can see possible comparisons between this and stamps but I just feel superheroes are much more relevant. Stamps are a tough sell on today's generation. I am a high school teacher. I have comic related stuff in my classroom. Kids enjoy it because they know the characters from the movies and shows and such and I get a chance to pass along some knowledge about comics whenever asked. I feel I have intrigued a handful of kids in this hobby and while many of them seem to gravitate towards the Copper Age (most accessible "old" time period) I do feel that like myself, they will eventually work their way backwards into older comics. Or at least that is my wish.

4.0ish with that staple rust and chunk missing.

Fair enough. I also buy comics too for the stories. I guess at the time I posted this (4 years ago wowza!) I am of the mindset that I prefer the art aspect of comics the most. With pulps, the only art aspect you get is the cover and occasionally a few interior drawings. That does not appeal to me is all. And my comment about condition was moreso the notion that it must be EXTREMELY hard to find higher grade pulps is all.