Nick Furious

The first thing CGC should do is check to see if the "unrecognized Mark Jeweler" reholder request has been done more than once on 9.8 books.

Just curious if someone knows the answer to this question: The book is referred to as a Mark Jeweler Newsstand...are there also Mark Jeweler copies that are not Newsstand?

To assume they are the same book, one has to explain away the previous photo, the current condition and the idea that both CGC and the original submitter missed the fact that it was a Mark Jeweler. I find it much more reasonable to conclude that they are not the same book.

I don't think the implication is that it was reholdered in 10 days but rather that both may have been bought by the same person in order to move the 9.2 MJ into the 9.8 slab for reholdering.

Ah, I missed the part about it being a CGC sales thread. Was thinking they were Ebay listings. My advice is probably not so relevant for a CGC sales thread.

One of the first unfortunate lessons comic collectors learn is that buying is far easier than selling. On the other hand, if books sell in the first 48 hours of listing, they may be priced too low. First thought is to check to make sure that your offerings are priced competitively compared to other current offerings on Ebay, MCS or other platforms. Once you get a decent number of "watchers" for an item, you can offer a discount of 5%-10% and see if that entices anyone to purchase. You can also explore the "make offer" option. Of course there is the auction option, but if you haven't done that before, be aware that timing matters. You typically want auctions to end on a Saturday or Sunday, and in my experience 8pm to 10pm Eastern time is a good time to have them end.

The assertion that CGC (and the submitter) missed something as significant as a Mark Jeweler insert should trigger a full re-grading as part of the re-holdering, in my opinion. Even the page count is different.

Yes, bought a 9.8 Newsstand, replaced it with a MJ Newsstand and claimed that CGC missed the MJ ad inside. Probably even got a free reholder because of it, except for the custom label.

Coincidentally (or maybe not), most people probably have been conditioned to have a slightly negative reaction to the word "nuance".

I think you are absolutely correct that it delayed the discussion for years. I think for a long time a PLOD was a PLOD in the average collectors minds, regardless of the details. It was that way for me until I saw a discussion where someone mentioned that there is a big difference between a couple spots of ink on a cover and using a reproduction photocopy to replace an unknown quantity of the original cover. After that I started to look at restoration in more nuanced terms.

I completely agree with this and have my own experience as anecdote. I was just so disappointed with my first restored label submission that I didn't want to keep it and sold it cheap. I also agree with this. I think the different color label and the "PLOD Purple Label OF Death" term that came from it had a long-term impact on market sentiment towards restored books, just as it affected my sentiment initially.

The slabbed supply of those books will increase by some small number each year, but that doesn't mean that the supply available for sale will increase each year. If 10 new copies enter the market next year and 15 copies are purchased by long-term collectors, the supply available for sale has gone down by 5. Sometimes an event (like a movie announcement) will bring in a larger-than-usual number of new submissions for slabbing. But that is only because the event has also increased demand. You always have to look at the balance of market demand vs. market supply. Think of it like Gold, Silver, or Houses. Bringing in new supply each year does not reduce prices as long as demand stays strong enough to absorb that supply.

Which Oregon city are Mike and the comic books thought to be in? Kind of long shot, but maybe an email to the local newspaper giving a link to this thread would result in a story that gets attention? That way when he goes to the local farmers market or chickenfeed store the guy behind the counter will be like "aren't you that comic book thief?" Six figures worth of missing comic books might make a good local public interest story.

@mycomicshop Conan, two of my books from a recent submission were sent to CGC for reholdering. I didn't request this, but I understand it is something MCS does if the cases are in bad enough shape. One of the books had a charge of $20 but the other had a grading charge of over $125. Is this a mistake on the part of CGC, or is this something that happens from time to time for specific reasons? It has the same grade now as it did before reholdering.

Not just inherited but grew it! That's what they do! Have you not heard that the 1% are making everyone else poorer? That collection has the blood of a thousand peasants on it.

The people selling their bubble purchases under duress are, by definition, the same people who ran the market up in the first place. My capacity for empathy falls short of wanting to cushion the blow for them.

I initially thought of the stock market model as well, but there is nothing that captures the entirety of it. I would look at how Inflation data is calculated (a representative basket that changes with the times) and build something based off of that model. Inflation data is reported as a whole and then broken down into sectors.

Forgive me for playing Devil's Advocate but let me challenge that with an extreme example: I buy a book from you and 2 years later it has dropped 50% in value. I can just trim the edges, have the trimming verified by MCS and send it back to you for the original purchase price?

Take a breath. You've moved pretty quickly from one end of the spectrum to the opposite end. You should be able to sell it quickly on consignment for more than MCS would give your for it. I would mostly agree with this, except the price it high part. Maybe $500 OBO to start. If PCH books have crashed in value, I'm not aware of that. Personally, trimming doesn't bother me as much as it bothers the market as a whole, so when it comes to trimmed books I am more likely a buyer than a seller.

The zero feedback could mean that this is what he does, arrange local meetups to buy directly. If so, I suspect that getting you to meet him would just be step one in a negotiation strategy. Once you put that skin in the game of showing up with the book, he may try to negotiate price pretty hard from there.

I don't sell on Ebay anymore, but I probably would have sent a message asking if they would be able to pay immediately if I accept their offer. And then block them before they could respond.

Yeah, I heard that they give them away on Free Comic Book Day if they aren't CPV.

Next year we will realize that it had no business selling for $9,669.

I would be inclined to try it with something like angel hair pasta and olive oil. Along with the white pepper. I have a "truffle and black garlic" seasoning that I use for this.

That's what I was thinking as well. Or something that would allow him to justify in his mind keeping all the books. "You sent a thug to my house to strongarm me? You'll never see these books again. They're mine now".