comicginger1789

I still have the least amount of faith in my Golden Age grading....4.5-5.0 though is where I feel.

I know I tend to be harsh on foxing/discoluring like the back has. 6.5-7.0 from me. (which means it probably comes back 7.5 lol)

I think it sits at a 5.0. And I think cleaning up that back and giving it some love could potentially get it to 5.5-6.0. Sadly the degree of spine and edge wear holds it from getting any higher IMO.

I believe a detached cover can receive up to a 2.5 CGC grade blue label for Silver Age books. There have been examples of Golden age books that graded 3.0-3.5 with a detached cover. These books would have been 7.0+ if not for the detached covers in most cases.

Those printing marks should not affect much. I have seen a 9.6 with the same printing "holes" at the bottom and even into the cover. The miswrap on top of that (for me anyway) should mean no 9.8 and might negate a 9.6 (I know printing stuff technically shouldn't affect grades but with CGC I feel like sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't). I do see some pressable indents. As is, I think it is 9.2-9.4, with a press maybe ensuring a 9.4.

I mean, if I am a Scooby fan, I want his first appearance in a comic where he is the star. Thus, Scooby Doo 1 is the book to have. As I grow my collection, is it neat to obtain earlier appearances of him in ad images or toy images in comics or whatever? Sure. But I sure as heck ain't paying a premium for those. That is my philosophy anyway.

They should have anticipated that a worldwide pandemic would happen and that EVERYONE would start sending books in? I'm not giving them an out by any mean but a lot of bigger companies got hit with shortages and delays...perhaps they could have started their expansion process a few months sooner but I really don't think a lot of people were predicting the comic book that this past year and a half had. At this point, I just want CGC to grade properly. With all the new hires, it seems there have been a lot of issues. Hoping that sorts itself out so that 2022 can be a year where they get back to normal wait times AND generally accurate and effective grading practices.

Alright, so for those who need a recap...I started with a CGC 9.6 Spawn #1 Newsstand, a CGC 9.6 Hulk #340 and $500 cash. The goal? Use the cash and books to trade/buy and sell my way to better things. The rules? Only books acquired along the way can be included in the journey. If I acquire a book I have doubles of, I can enter the duplicate (even if it is a book I acquired long ago) as part of the challenge. Otherwise, I cannot just add books from my "to sell" pile at home to this challenge. To date, I have acquired: TMNT #4 first print (7.5-8.5 range) Hulk #340 Newsstand (7.0-7.5 range) Batman #251 CGC 6.0 (upgrade on my VG raw) Nova #1 FN/VF range Tomb Of Dracula #13 VG range Marvel Spotlight #12 VF upgrade (upgrade on my FN/VF raw) Elvira’s House of Mystery #1 in FN+ range ASM #23 CGC 7.0 I also still had $74 in cash PLUS the following books to trade/sell: - Wolverine #8 in 9.0-9.2 range, raw - PPTSS #101 in 9.0-9.2 range raw - Hulk #449 in 9.0 range raw - around a dozen other random issues including some Wolverine books, DC Secret Origins #1 and X-Force 11 So what happened since my last update?!?! Here we go! Sold- I sold the Hulk 449 and the Wolverine 8 for $200. My cash pile is now at $274 Bought- I bought a raw ASM #361 for $200. It was advertised as a 9.0-9.2 BUT had a stain. The seller refunded me $50. So I have ASM #361 and $124 in cash. I already own a CGC 9.4 copy of this book (albeit direct) so this was purchased with the intent of trading/selling for more value down the road. A Loss- So the PPTSS #101 and X-Force 11 I bought never arrived. I bought this on Facebook marketplace and appear to have been scammed! Argghhhh. Thankfully only a small loss but it hurts my challenge money. A lesson learned. This means though my cash pile drops $47 to a total of $77 Bought- A low grade Thor #166 for $20. About a 3.5. Cash pile now at $57 Bought- A low grade copy of Dell's The Creature #1 for $18. Cash pile now at $39 Trade- I traded the ASM #361 raw copy for issues 1-70 of Hellblazer, a series I have always wanted to have and read. I already own issues 1 & 2 so I kept the nicer of each copy and the others are now part of the challenge. The rest of the issues are going in the PC. Oh and $50 cash on top of the deal. So after factoring in the money to ship ($22), my cash pile is now at $67 Sold- I sold the Thor #166 for $40. Cash pile is now at $107 Bought- Marvel Super Mag Special on eBay for $50 all in. This was a sneaky find. A seller had a bunch of magazines listed and was one of those listings where you scroll through a drop down to see what issues were available. Well this was and was listed in "very good condition" however the picture looked amazing. I took a chance and well it arrived and is easily a VF-VF+ copy...maybe better. Very happy to have and right now, I am holding onto it but it MIGHT make its way into a trade or sale down the road. Either way, cash pile is now at $57. Sold- Sold Marvel Comics Presents #1 for $15. Cash pile is at $72. Sold- Hellblazer 1 & 2 for $40. Cash pile is now at $112. Bought- A local shop contacted me and said they had some comics. Kind of an odd place that just opened locally, selling all sorts of weird occult type stuff but also random collectibles? Anyway they had a bin of comics and I grabbed 11, including a Spawn #1 and a Ghost Rider #28 (both books I had) for $45. From these 11, I kept Marvel Age 90 (just a nice McFarlane Spidey cover I don't have), Iron Man 281 (cameo of War Machine plus was a newsstand and sharp looking copy) and Death: The High Cost of Living #1 (fits with my desire to own more Sandman related stuff). This all brings my cash pile down to $67. Sold- I sold the 8 comics from the above purchase for $70. Cash pile now at $137. Bought- A CGC 9.8 copy of the Madame Xanadu #1 one shot with the Brian Bolland cover for $60. I figure it is easily worth that and will attempt to trade or sell. I have a goal in mind right now and we shall see if I can get there! Cash pile down to $77. So where does this leave me? Well to the PC I have added: Hellblazer 1-70 raw Marvel Super Mag Special 16 (first Boba) VF raw Marvel Age 90 in VF/NM raw Iron Man 281 in NM- raw Death: High Cost Of Living 1 in NM raw And still remaining in the trade/sell pile, I have: -low grade copy of Dell's The Creature -CGC 9.8 Madame Xanadu 1 - $77 cash As I mentioned, I have a goal in mind here or something I am chasing. We shall see what the next update brings!

Yup. Didn’t catch the stain (should have as pics showed it) so just trying to move along from it now otherwise she would have stayed in the pc

Sold!

Buyer will also get a mixed lot of older westerns from the 50s and 60s. Lower grade books I will toss in for fun and I’ll try to throw a pic up later today!

I just feel like you need to get inspired by different things. I used to be a Spidey only guy. Then I got into more Marvel. Then Batman. Then artists like Neal Adams and Lb Cole. Then golden age books. Then books with inserts. Then price variant covers. Every month I feel like I acquire something I’m genuinely excited for and while it may be a slow pace compared to those who can drop $1000 a month on books (or more), I like the challenge of spending as little as possible and selling some stuff to fund the hobby. Perhaps that is a challenge you could entertain yourself with? But hey if you have what you have and are not interested in other stuff (and are losing the love for what you have)well maybe it is time to move on and start finding good homes for those books, be it within your own family or selling off to fund some new joy.

If you want the thrill of the hunt for stuff that’s affordable (some of it anyway) chase down foreign covers of some of your favourite books in your collection

Dirt from time and contact generally can be cleaned. If it’s tanning or browning to the actual cover, that cannot be removed

Hi all, One for sale here. Mystic 25, great pre code zombie cover! Book is in nice shape but does have a stain on inside cover that you can kind of see has rippled the front bottom edge. There is also a crease near the zombies shoulder and a slight scuff on the skull by his hip. Other than that, very nice copy with great colours. I would put it in the 4.5-5.0 range. Asking $315USD shipped First claim takes it. Payment via PayPal. If you are unhappy with your book, I will make it right. Please message me with any questions and thanks for looking! Eric

As it lays, I would say 6.5...is that staining or just tanning/sun shadow on back? If that back is cleanable, I would say you could get to 7.5, maybbeeee even a smidge higher

I will also venture 9.0-9.2

I appreciate the fact these comics were found and shared. Lovely books and best of luck in finding them new homes (if that’s the goal….personally I’d keep forever haha)

I don't know if it was the first but it is one of the earliest sales I remember. I collected PPTSS and was starting into Amazing Spider-Man. I had accumulated a handful of duplicates from buying lots online (I was too young for ebay but my dad had an account and let me buy stuff from time to time). This was also when the US economy took a hit and the Canadian dollar was at par. Anyways, I had a box of about 75-100 duplicates and just other mid grade books I was looking to sell. In town, there was a superhero themed ice cream shop. Cool place, and the guy sold some comics. He was looking for Spidey because his stuff was mostly 80s DC and independent. So I went in thinking "hey, I can get some money here and help him out" Well, I went in hoping for maybe $1.50-2 per comic...annnnddd the offer I got was $40 plus a free ice cream. I took it. I know there weren't any keys in the boxn (for the time anyway haha but maybe by today's standard, I sold a couple $15-25 books) but they were decent shape and all from late 70s, early 80s. Probably some stuff that at the time I did not collect but now would have kept. But hey, the comics hopefully ended up in the hands of more kids (he charged $1-3 each for them and he also had an ice cream and comic combo you could order for kids....and adults I suppose lol) The place closed a few years later, which was sad because it was cool....called Scooperman because of course it was. The tables were inlayed with comic strip art underneath the glass and he had framed pictures and characters hung around the shop. Was a great little place.

Kav is fiesty. I wonder if I will ever rile him up and how I’ll respond? Probably with a grin:) On topic, Do comics increase in price for no reason? Well there always some reason. Nostalgia kicks in after x number of years, movie/tv show rumours/appearances, great artist on cover, inflation….there is always a reason.

Someone just scored this sweet double cover on eBay ( that was not mentioned in the listing)! Congrats if it’s someone here

This is what I feel. It seems ink got onto spine and maybe stuck to another book, hence why it appears like it was pulled off at some point and there is some "damage".... While seeing a bit of ink on the cover or edge does not generally hurt the grade a lot, when it causes a notable flaw that affects the structural contents of the book, I feel it is factored in more. So for me 8.0-8.5 on the grade.

Hi all! The following four books are for sale. First, the lowdown… First claim takes them. PayPal for payment. Shipping included in the price. If unhappy when the books arrive, tell me and I will make it right. For sale is the lot below ASM Annual 16 CGC 9.4 White Pages (slight Newton ring marks on front) ASM 252 Newsstand in 7.5 range (spine wear, light bends to back cover) PPTSS 90 CPV in 7.5-8.0 range (small edge chip) All three for $400USD shipped. Open to offers. Thanks for looking!

Man people were harsh on this one. The front cover spine has no ticks, the corners are great. The back has a TON of pressable defects which, based on the end result, pressed out nicely. A few spots I am sure remained with signs of wear (that back bottom left edge likely) but before scrolling I was at a 9.0 with a press.

1) What are the pros and cons of using something like this board versus Ebay? The board does not charge fees. However, you reach a much smaller audience. And generally, if a book is selling on ebay for $20, here you probably want to list for $15 or so (again because you don't have fees). This applies to books like you have. For highly desired books or rarer books, charging closer to ebay prices will likely still result in a sale. 2) Would no reserve auction actually maybe increase value? Potentially. You could have a bid war and two or three people that need the book bidding it up. If you put a reserve on a book, especially a common or filler book, I would stay away personally as a bidder. But that is just me. Even on higher value books, if there is a resevre, I always assume it is too high and don't bother bidding. Maybe I am missing out but that is just my practice as a buyer. 3) What's the best way to determine pricing? Look at ebay sales for books in similar condition. For graded books, use some sites like cvrprice and Go Collect. For rarer Golden age books, it can be tough and might require more research. 4) Is there a trick to cheap packaging and shipping? What do others use? Thick cardboard and in secure packaging. I have used mailing envelopes for 2-3 comics, and sturdy boxes for 10+ comics. I secure the books so when you shake such packages, the books dont shake around. A quick Youtube search will yield plenty of tutorials. As for cheap tricks, reuse! Save cardboard and such from your purchases and use them to ship your own stuff. I rarely need cardboard for comics and the only money I spend on shipping materials is the envelopes which are cheap and boxes for larger packages (of which I also often have as I reuse materials). I'm sure there are numerous questions I'm missing simply because I am unaware, and I am certain this discussion has come up before so I beg the tolerance of regulars.