Jesse-Lee

Yeah, I need to do that - I'm like a dog with a bone on this one, I just can't give it up! My potentially worse news is, at the same time I ordered from this place, I also made an order with ComicXposure before knowing anything about them. That order included preorder books that come out on 10/27. So we'll see how that one goes too I guess... I've wised up since then as to where I buy my books.

I have not... sorry man. Contacted him twice this week and no response. I'm going to try again next week, but soon I'll just ask for the refund. It's been more than 2 months now, and I had no pre-order books in the order, so they should have gone out in the site's stated "5-7 days" for shipping.

"This kid, whose mama went to the trouble to christen him Omar Isaiah Betts... You know, he forgets his jacket, his nose starts running and some a**hole, instead of giving him a Kleenex, he calls him "Snot". So he's Snot forever. Doesn't seem fair."

Agreed - gotta believe some buyer's remorse is going to set in on that one. Again though, the cynic in me can see someone buying this and one of those re-pro covers and trying to pass it off as a real book for big money... Hope that's not the case.

Somebody paid $105 for it!

I typically hunt for deals pretty hard, and I've gotten some decent deals lately because of stuff that is sitting. Nothing super ground breaking, but still. A lot of DC is fairly cold - I've got 3 of the 4 parts of Batman Year One and I paid less than FMV - and since it's just for me and not to flip, and I don't chase 9.8s, that means I'll be able to put together a set of 9.4s for less than $150 (depending on how much the last one is). I also got a great deal on a 9.4 X-Men 141, which also seems fairly cold to me right now.

I bought a book on the boards recently, and I didn't pay attention that they had added signature confirmation - the mailman pulled in the driveway (I happened to be outside) and motioned me over and said he had to sign for it, but handed me the package (my mailman knows who I am so he didn't need me to confirm it was me). Obviously I then sent screaming DMs to the seller asking how dare he presume to ask me to confirm the book he sold me was delivered... Oh no, wait, I didn't do that - instead I sent him a DM thanking him for a great transaction and outstanding packaging, because I'm not a thief. Seriously though, it sucks that this kind of stuff goes on (people trying to rip people off), because I've bought a few things here now and have had nothing but outstanding communication and sales from people. It's a crappy way to take advantage of good people and it makes people not want to sell cool stuff.

Maybe not candy, but: I've got good news; that gum you like is going to come back in style.

I was, too.

Here's a steal for the ASM 300 collector who has it all. Staples are a little loose, according to the seller's listing, thank God they disclosed that...

Here it is, on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Amazing-Spider-Man-300/293777885690?epid=85528898&hash=item446686c9fa:g:lM8AAOSwyZNfg5bC It was a $250 OBO, and sold for $240

People collect barbed wire?

Cool idea for a thread and congrats to the winners! I might have to seek out a copy of this book now that I'm aware of it; it's pretty neat! And I'm completely serious in this: I'm a writer and also act as editor of a small university publication (not specific to or appropriate for this topic, but just stated to say I have the experience), and if someone every truly wanted to take up the mantle of organizing a second volume or companion to this piece, I'd definitely volunteer to help wherever possible. Thanks again @SOTIcollector!

Professor Gilman? I seen him in Bisbee, he catches stuff...

Knowing the history of it/meaning behind it, it's pretty neat. But if I saw it without any context at all, I have to admit it's kind of ugly...

Well, a 2.5 sold for $240 yesterday, and a 5.0 PLOD went for $350. So who knows with this book where people's value line is. If a 2.5 is selling at $240 and the GC FMV on a 7.0 is $350, that's a lot of tight price compacting in between.

Honest question - would pressing make the staple area pop-through worse on a square-bound, stapled book like this and other Giant Size books of this era? I'm no expert and relatively new, but I think with the corners as they are and some of the other issues noted this is a solid 8.5, and with the cover overhang on that bottom right front, I wouldn't want to take chances. It's a beautiful book though, congrats!

Which also calls to question the idea that highest grade is always better - I see a lot of books that see higher overall percentage returns in mid- to mid-high grades. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but I personally like to spread my money across more books in a presentable grade than all in one high-grade basket because of that.

Not to keep hammering home the IH 181 comparisons, but I did find this post from 2010 (from these forums) interesting: yep but if you buy one copy today for a thousand dollars, the odds are it will still be worth a thousand dollars 5 years from now, the profit for this book is 9.6 and up. Same thing can be said for Giant Size X-men 1 and X-men 94, you can spend your grand on them now and only expect that same grand back after holding them for the next 5 years. They are great books but the profit has sailed on these if now bought at current market prices. In 2010, $1,000 would have probably gotten you a VF or 8.0 copy of IH 181. FMV on that copy today - 10 years later - is more than 4x that at about $4,300. That's if you're able to get a copy at dead-on current GoCollect FMV (which, if their FMVs of ASM 300 is any indication, is spotty at best). My point is that this same argument is always made about key books like this that start to catch fire.

I've never been fully on board with the comparison of overall census to value, simply because I feel like the true measure (or at least a large measure) should be current copy supply available for sale. I think if there are 23,000 in the census, but only a few hundred readily available copies at any given time, then the supply of copies vs the demand of people who want them is what will determine the market, not the total of all existing copies. That's why I made the comment that we're starting to see increased supply on eBay and other auction/sales sites, which to me signals that the price will soon level out or potentially dip. But I still see this as a longer-term hold personally.

Yeah, it's remarkable, but it's just like anything else really - I'd love to own a Mercedes, but I can't really afford it. But I still have a car. People buy what they can afford (hopefully), and there are a lot of people out there who can afford a lot more than others. And you can say that at any level really; I know a lot of people who would - and do - think I'm crazy for spending $400 on a comic for example.

I would've said Star Wars 1, but that Raiders book would be pretty sweet with those three sigs on it!

I also can't believe that a purple label 5.0 is set to sell for at least $350 two hours from now. Hopefully it's not a less-than-scrupulous buyer who plans to crack it and try to re-sell it raw...

Yeah, I was hoping to see a big run-up at the end, kind of a let down.