Dergrosse13

What’s SCS?

There were a lot of high grade slabbed BA Star Wars in tonight’s Heritage Auction, and some wild prices realized. A CGC 9.6 WP issue 1 sold for $1740 with the buyer’s premium. The previous high per GPA was $1600 in 2021, and the highest this year was $1567. To put it in perspective, the average price for a 9.6 in 2020 was $416. This is the really strange one. SW 30 CGC 9.8 sold for $660 with the BP. The previous high sale was back in 2009 for $450. But in recent years (2016 - 2022) the highest sale was $206. I actually bought a CGC 9.8 in a HA auction a couple weeks ago for $180. I have no clue what’s behind the tripling in price. The CGC label says its the first appearance of Governor Corwyth, Arn Horrada and Tammi (whoever they are). I bought it just because I like BA SW and the cover looks cool. A SW 84 CGC 9.8 also sold for $660. That’s actually not far off high prices realized in the last two years. The label doesn’t note any first appearances. Anyone know why that book is so pricey in high grade?

Take

Where does Star Wars (2015 Marvel) 20A fit into the whole Black Krrsantan thing? The cover has BK fighting a youngish Obi-Wan. But I’ve never read that series. Is it some kind of flash back (I understand Obi Wan is the one who put the big scar on BK’s big forehead). SW 20A seems to be inching up in value marginally as judged by some raw auctions underway on eBay.

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate the feedback MCS provides in this forum to topics like this. It’s helpful, valuable, and consistent with the excellent service I’ve experienced as an MCS buyer over the last couple years. Thanks!

I had a couple wins on December 19 and 20, and they shipped yesterday.

They are tight, and that’s why when I buy raws, I almost always buy from MCS. I value the tight grading. And I am willing to pay more if I’m buying from MCS. My rule of thumb is that the MCS grade is usually a full point below a CGC grade. I don’t have a lot of evidence for this, and I’m not an experienced grader. But in early 2020 I bought an X-Men 94 from MCS that they graded 6.0. I sent it into CGC, didn’t have it pressed, and it came back a 7.0. Kind of wish I had pressed it.

It seemed like prices were on a mild downward trajectory after the first of the year, so I had my eye on a number of SA books in the MCS prime auction. In my experience, MCS auctions are usually a good place to pick up very fairly graded SA and BA books for decent prices, especially raws. But many of the MCS prime auction prices that closed on Tuesday looked like they were bordering on irrational exuberance. There were a lot of books selling for significantly more than the same books did in the HA Sunday-Monday auction the same week. Maybe because this is a big “Prime Auction” for MCS as opposed to their typical weekly auctions? The ASM stuff was selling for particularly premium prices.

Yep - I was watching a couple copies of slabbed Pizzazz 1 on eBay with the intention to buy one, but never got around to it. Now they are all gone. There was also a 9.6 on ComicLink yesterday, I bought it for the asking price, then eventually got a message that it was no longer available. Someone’s trying to corner the market. I wonder how many quality unslabbed copies are out there.

I’ll take Action Comics 366 and 387 and Batman 210. Thanks!

As a buyer, I’ve always appreciated MCS’s excess of candor in this regard, and their conservative grading policy on raw books. It’s one of the things that keeps me coming back to MCS more than any other seller.

Well, I fortunately don’t have this problem because I’ve only been collecting for about two years. I’ve only sold 1 book - a CGC 9.6 Star Wars 43 for about $500 that I paid about $75 for in 2019. At the same time, I also got into collecting PSA graded Star Wars cards. If you think comics have exploded, you ain’t seen nothing. I sold a few graded cards for about 10x what I paid for them, and used the proceeds to buy a low-grade CGC Avengers 1. My regret will likely be not selling the CGC 9.6 Star Wars 1 that I paid about $230 for. Those are now selling north of 1k. But that book has a lot of sentimental value and I just can’t part with it. I think the SW1 prices on offer today will inevitably drop because there are no shortage of them out there. But oh well. My other problem is that all the Silver and Bronze Age keys are now so damn expensive. I kind of feel like it’s irresponsible to pay for them now when it’s not clear those kind of prices are sustainable when people can start spending money again on all the things Covid has curtailed.

Take it

Stupid question (I don’t collect FF): is Fantastic Four 45 considered a key, and if it is, how key is it vs. issues like 48-50?

You’ll make a small fortune if they do!

These aren’t the only Star Wars cars that have blown up in the last 3 months. Most 1977 cards—including the original Topps blue star field series and and 77 Wonder Bread cards are now selling for 10x what they did a few months ago. And PSA is being inundated with raw cards to grade. I have to think it is only a matter of time before CGC adds SW cards to their burgeoning card grading business.

I’ve seen the same thing with Star Wars cards. I started collecting PSA graded ones about a year ago - mostly 1977 Wonder Bread cards and the series 1 blue cards and stickers. I mostly bought higher grades - 8s and 9s. I never paid more than about $40 for any card. Last week I sold 3 of the Wonder Bread cards because the prices on offer were just insane. Last night’s 4 Sharp Corners auction tells me I can sell one of my blue 77s for about 10x what I paid for it. I like these cards, and maybe they’ll go up more, but I’m going to sell some more now. I just can’t imagine prices will continue to climb inexorably, and even if they do, I can live with this kind of profit margin. Someone pointed out to me that the stickers might eventually be the most valuable since so many of them were peeled and stuck on 40+ years ago, limiting the population. Maybe I’ll hold on to those.

I had the same experience. Immediately tried to by both for 60. It was in my cart but when I paid it said sold out. I did get a trade dress version - barely. Crazy!

Agreed - especially re the graded card market. About a year ago I started collecting PSA graded 1977 Star Wars Wonder Bread cards. They were a nostalgia purchase—I collected them as a kid and they brought back great memories. But I recently sold a handful of them for an astronomical profit because the prices on them just exploded almost overnight. I didn’t really want to sell them, but the prices on offer were just ridiculous. And I probably still sold them too cheaply based on what I’m seeing in realized prices!

Thanks — this was really helpful and interesting.

So for the uninitiated, how does the UPC code suggest this is a ninth printing? Can that info always be found via reference to the UPC code?

I’ll take it!

Mine arrived in Sarasota and, according to tracking, was “Delivered” on Jan. 25. It still has not been received by CGC. This is my first submission. This limbo phase—where the postal service says its job is done and CGC takes weeks to acknowledge receipt—is annoying and disconcerting. I get that it takes time to grade given the crush of submissions. But promptly letting submitters know that, yes, we’ve received your valuables, seems like it should be a priority.

Been after one of these for awhile. Low grade but looks nice.

I have to agree. I have a CGC 9.6 that I paid $229 for in Nov. 2019. Collecting the original Marvel Star Wars run is what got me back into comics, and Star Wars #1 is my most prized comic for sheer wonderful nostalgia. But even I’m tempted to sell it at the astronomical prices on offer right now. But I just won’t be able to bring myself to do it 😜