InfantTerrible

26 minutes ago, William-James88 said:

Same happened with me. And I feared that even if I did raise it higher, I would have still been beaten out. There are some cases where if someone out there has the money, they don't care how much they are overpaying. They just want the book now.

Up until this morning, the book I wanted was at 3.8K,  my budget was 5K..... So I said, yes I think I have a chance......

then an hour before the auction ended, the price jumped to 4.8K, I was like oh **** !!!......so I said maybe I need to stretch my budget to 5.8K.......

then a few minutes before it ended, price jumped again to 5.8K ....m****f***er*!!! let's do this!!......so a few seconds before it ended I bid 6.2K...

.....aannnnddd I still lost! .....final price was 6.5K

GODDAMNIT!!!

I feel so defeated, waiting 2-3 weeks for end of auction only to see the books that I want go way over my budget, and my budget is way over GPA, but apparently not high enough

it's so frustrating 

19 hours ago, jmt999 said:

I bought some but I wasn’t ready for how hard it is to get the board or book in or out of the bag.
 

I tried 2 silver age books and actually stopped because I thought I might damage them. I tried 2 modern books and it worked but it still wasn’t smooth like with mylites2’s.

I assumed they were the best, but I just ordered some mylites2’s which work better. Lesson learned I guess.

yes, they are stiff, but can be loosened up

so if you really want to use 4-mil, the trick is to take 3-5 backing boards, and force them into the mylar. Once the edges a bit loose, then put your comic + board in there

folding the top is also tricky, once I fold the top, I put heavy books on top of them and leave them overnight or even longer to create folding crease

they offer good protection, I use them for my important SA books

4 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Well, the books from this latest GA pedigree (i.e. The Promise Collection pedigree) also looks pretty pristine from their dripping wet colors and I can't wait to hear how this collection of some 5,000 GA beauties were stored, as it looks like the majority of them are going to be graded into the high 9's:    

 

 

It should be pointed out that the Church books, the Chinatown books, and I bet that the books from this newly designated Promise Collection were all stored raw in large piles with comic book against comic book with no air coming in between them.  Unlike now with the slabbed books, where they are stored NOT through stacking on top of other comic books, but by themselves individually within these fabricated manufactured slabs.    

but isn't there still sealed, archive-certified mylar protecting the book inside the slab?......the materials used here are the same materials used by special/manuscript libraries...... if they are good enough for hundreds, if not thousands years old, archival papers/manuscripts/old drawings, they are good for these measly 30-70 years old comics

are they all GA books? any Marvel SA?

What's the minimum entry price for one of those pedigree books?? can I score one with 5K  

7 minutes ago, JazzMan said:

Edgar Church had them stacked from floor to ceiling without anything covering them except for other comics.  It goes to show you that it's the storage conditions that affect the comics to a greater degree than the packaging around them.

Exactly....

check out the latest pedigree story here, Chinatown pedigree, the books were not even wrapped at all, they were found in the kitchen cupboards in the basement

https://www.cgccomics.com/news/article/8508/

and here are some samples of the GA books, they are near pristine

Many of the pedigree books survived 4-5 decades in NM condition just being wrapped with papers and stored properly

55 minutes ago, Darkowl said:

And here is some sales data for 7.5 taken from GPA Analysis. Zero signs of it slowing down!

 

 

Don't bother checking the mid to low grades, just like in real-estate, you want to observe the high-ends to see if there's any turn. they are the ones that driving the prices. High-ends have to come down first, then lower-ends will follow

3 minutes ago, Darkowl said:

I doubt things are slowing down. Looks like completed eBay listings for a 9.0 is averaging 12K to 14K.

no, they were not. 

this one is best offer accepted, it means it sold below the listed price

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284246002103?hash=item422e61c9b7:g:XZYAAOSw7IRgakBr

this one is also best offer accepted

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164829689481?hash=item26609d7689:g:xKoAAOSwkctgg1y~

in contrast to late-march/early-april

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184750880861?hash=item2b0402b85d:g:f18AAOSwuktgbQLd

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254907414253?hash=item3b59aa76ed:g:4cMAAOSwnVJgWAtH

I've been following IH181, which I think probably the bubbliest book of them all, I noticed that its price has ease up a bit. Peak was late-March, early April, grade 8.5-9 were bought at 12-14K, but lately buyers could bargain for these for 9-11K

I haven't been following other books, so would like to know others observations

12 hours ago, Venomous72 said:

Not sure where else to ask this as it doesn't need it's own thread, but I am trying to decide between two books that have already gotten hot, I suppose.

Budget is between $1500-2000 (basically whatever I can get plus a bit of cash for selling my X-Men 94 5.5) and the books are:

Fantastic Four 49, CGC Graded at 4-4.5

or

X-Men 4, Graded at a 3

 

I do want both, but can only pick one.  I have a pretty decent X-Men collection already, but X-Men 4 is a minor Grail for me as I would never be able to buy X-Men 1.  FF49 is one of my favorite covers and I love Galactus and Surfer and only have one other FF book (Annual 6)

So, which do you guys prefer out of the two options?  I am struggling to pic.

i say FF49, FF48-FF49 probably the most important back to back titles in Marvel Universe, introducing the 2 most iconic characters

wait? Europeans collect American comic books too?? I thought this is just North American thing

greedy, greedy, greedy

On 4/20/2021 at 10:47 AM, pickycollector said:

I've been following your posts, your raw books are amazing...... you're living up to your reputation, picky collector, but I'm surprised you tolerate those staples

On 4/2/2021 at 10:27 AM, PatrickinVancouver said:

A few more Superman.

On 4/11/2021 at 9:54 AM, PatrickinVancouver said:

Standard fun 

I'm literally drooling looking at all these pictures ...

8 hours ago, F For Fake said:

It's funny, I had no idea centering was even a THING until I started reading these boards, 15 years or whatever it was ago. Always thought of it as a baseball card term, had no idea people cared when it came to comics. And I still don't care. If the book is craaaaaaazy off kilter, I might notice, but otherwise, it doesn't really register with my brain. Page quality either. As long as they're not brown/brittle, I don't care. The difference in white and off-white isn't any difference at all, to me, especially if it's sealed in a slab. I'm never going to open it, so as long as it's not falling apart, I don't care.

Like Oak, the defect I hate is spine dings. If the spine is pretty nice, I don't really care about much else, other than the obvious (book is complete, doesn't have bugs crawling out of it, isn't currently on fire, etc.)

But if I have to pick between those too, I guess page quality, just because page quality seems to impact sales somewhat. Have we noticed a real bump for perfectly centered copies? Surely there are some of you who care enough to pay more for perfectly centered books, but is it as many as the folks who are sticklers for white pages?

it makes a big difference when you try to re-sale the books. Nicely centered ones go fast and at higher prices than off-centered ones

13 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

I prefer centered  with NO PQ

That cover is one of a kind piece of art

someone should do that to their AF15

8 minutes ago, piper said:

Is anything selling at gpa right now? (Asking for a friend)

nope, nothing, GPA meaningless now, all keys I saw sold 50%-100%, or even more, over listed price

13 minutes ago, innocuous said:

With this scenario, centering is an easy choice for me. The presentation and eye appeal are key. Plus, most of my books are SA, so OW/W is a bonus, but centered is preferred.

exactly, presentation is very important, off-centered cover will absolutely trigger my OCD

16 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

I collect bronze, so usually one will come along....

major SA keys are extremely rare and expensive, waiting can be painfully long

25 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

I choose not to choose.  I want the book that has both....

it's extremely rare for a major key book, especially SA keys with white pages and perfectly centered cover

5 minutes ago, mrc said:

Depending on the grade, other flaws would need to be considered to determine overall eye appeal.

Everything else is absolutely EQUAL

I'd pick JIM83 for sure, if I can find a nice 2.0 book, maybe a 3.0-4.0 book if you add more money

JIM83 has that prestige like ToS39