sckao

And what are we really talking about here anyway? Are we really complaining about an 87-year old man who was a WRITER sketching something on a comic when asked? Totally not Stan's fault but the requester who had some sort of brain meltdown. (I think that slab was signed in 2008 and Stan Lee was born in 1922.)

That's like asking an artist with no writing credentials at all to write a love sonnet on the cover of one of his comics... or a delicate haiku 

(This might be the beginning of a terrible idea here...  )

I think it should also be pointed out that artists by their nature probably sign naturally where they THINK/Feel the signature will look good in relation to the artwork. (If they don't, they may be doing it on purpose for some reason... or having a bad day.) Everything is part of the design.

A writer may not think that way.  

Well, we're also collectors. He still signed it though. 

Let's put it this way... I have my beaten up childhood comics that no one would want. They weren't even mine but handed down to me by my big brother... but I also have high grade pedigree slabbed copies of them. 

Case in point: Superboy 133. (Weird, I know.)

My favorite copy: Beaten up and weathered Superboy #133

Green River Pedigree Copy 9.2

Boston Pedigree Copies (3) 9.4, 9.4, 9.2 

Savannah Copy 9.6 

Why should the Artist or Writer care that it's a Key book or that it's in great condition? You're mixing the content with the commodity. 

If I were a creator and someone came up to me with a beater of a book that they had since childhood, I'd love to sign it. Same if it were a pristine copy. The condition has nothing to do with it.

Some creators don't like the fact that money is being made off their signatures or that some people lie to their faces when they ask for their signature or cover sketch and then turn around to sell it immediately on eBay. Those comics probably aren't read or from private collections. They're commodities and collectibles. These same creators are now being paid for their signatures in an official setting so something has been done to even the playing field for them (or remove the stigma of them asking their own fans for money for their autograph).

I used to live above Boston near the NH border. Great memories there visiting The Million Year Picnic, Superhero Universe, Newbury Comics, etc... 

If you check my profile and check my homepage, it becomes instantly apparent what sckao means. (It's not a secret.) 

I think it's similar to RedSox. 

Sorry for not knowing anything about the card market or even where to look this up… but I noticed that this card was different than normal. Is this a variant or just a manufacturing error? (Or just weird?)

It’s card 35 from the Spider-Man Archives. (I just had an opened box lying around and there were some cards still in it from years ago.)

It's kind of obvious isn't it? Having just opened up an eBay store myself, this is obviously a way to get free eyeballs from outraged or amused lookers such as yourselves. Once there, you'll probably look at their other offerings for other outrageous listings. In any case, you'll have achieved their goal... you've looked at their listing, and then looked at their other listings. A certain percentage may then convert into actual sales on the normally priced stuff. 

Turns out I put your copy up for auction on January 10, 2010 at a VCC Fundraiser. So your copy WAS MINE! (My memory is shot.) 

I guess the board got together to do a Fundraiser to put Danny Dupcak out of business... (I don't even recall this actually. We did so many VCC auctions, charity auctions, and fundraiser events back then, it's become a blur.) So I didn't make any money off of this and it was donated toward the fundraiser.

That thread even says I got the Epic Illustrated #16 and the Conan #1 8.0 signed together. (And I threw in a Marvel Comics Presents #84 CGC 9.8 and 5 raw copies of MCP #72! .)

It sold for $200. That's a pretty good deal in today's market given the freebies... 

Thanks. That previous one can’t be mine… Your numbering is sequential. Someone must have submitted two or weren’t constrained by the limit and had a stack of them.

I was trying to jog my memory and I seem to remember this was an event on the boards… Either it was an official event or it was facilitated by a board member here. You could have two items signed by BWS but you had to mail the items to them.

I hope I got that right. I may have slabbed that Epic Illustrated #16 along with the Conan #1 possibly since I literally had and still have hundreds of copies of that magazine series.

It's weird. My Conan #1 was signed at the same time as that Epic Illustrated Magazine... but I can't remember if I had them slabbed myself or if I bought them.  

I had no idea he doesn't do Signature Series any more...

The original poster was talking about buying already graded books and flipping them for profit. One Board member said he already does this and it's pretty obvious how and where this can happen steadily.

(It does not take a lot of effort really... You just have to not need the money immediately.)

You do not have to leave your house basically. No physical leg work scouring the shops involved. 

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of those series where it's currently impossible to assemble a 9.8 graded collection. (The census clearly shows this as there are some books where NONE are graded.)

So if any of your books are 9.8-level in condition and would be the first to be graded as a 9.8, I would always slab it. Having the only highly graded copy of something doesn't always translate into monetary awards, but someone will always tend to want it.

GPAnalysis just tells you about known historical sales from the larger venues. The CGC Census tells us there are about 261 copies of the Black Cover/Printing Error. That should let you know how rare it is in relation to the over 11,000 copies of the regular #1 edition of Venom: Lethal Protector that are out there. (Some of these versions may have been cracked out and resubmitted without having their CGC Serial Numbers resubmitted.) That means there are now ghost slabs that remain in the census but don't really exist. So while the Black Error version is pretty rare, it's about a 1:42 ratio of total error copies to total regular copies. 1:77 for 9.8 copies

The WHITE COVER/Printing Error is apparently the really rare one with 2 copies slabbed so far. (And we don't know necessarily if that was a 9.6 that was resubmitted to be a 9.8.)

Update:
https://recalledcomics.com/VenomLethalProtector1Error.php

In mid October 2014, there were 137 "Black Cover/Printing Error" gradings registered by CGC in their census with an exceptional number of very high grades (including a 9.9 and two in 10.0!) and a single "White Cover/Printing Error" variant graded at 9.6.

So in seven years, an additional 124 were added/resubmitted.

If that White Copy was cracked out, pressed and regraded into a 9.8. there is ONE known copy in the last 28 years, and it's probably the rarest error variant of a now quasi-valuable comic.

The $40 VueScan is the basic software. The basic software has the Advanced Features turned off as well. If you don’t need them, then that’s fine. The $99 version includes photo slide scanning, OCR, and advanced features (which I found I needed).

The Microtek i900 (vs the i800 I guess) is also a photo slide scanner with an assortment of plastic slide templates. Most people don’t have slides anymore since they’re pretty much obsolete, but some families will have slides in their old photograph storage areas which can now be scanned instead of being sent out to a shop or service. (Mine does.)

The advanced features is probably also where you can tweak a lot more of the color settings. That may also be why I upgraded once I realized the basic version was too limited. 
 

Some people may feel they do not need it.

On 8/6/2021 at 9:50 AM, Catwomancomics said:

It’s the lowest of the set in 9.8 and harder to find for those trying to put together 1-6 in 9.8

Only  203 #6 in 9.8 on the census. Next lowest is #3 at 320 in 9.8 the others are over  500 

I can probably help with as many are needed. 

The cost of the scanner is only part of the cost actually. The VueScan software is not cheap in comparison. (It's $99 I think.) I also just picked up a used Microtek i900 scanner off eBay. 

I've been playing with the settings but @Ghost Town had some great initial color settings for his scans based on his Microtek i800. (You can find it via search on these boards I think... I'd have to look for it.)

NOTE: There's also an easy way to clean UNDER the glass for the i900. You just have to be careful to press down on the hole between the cover joints with something like a pencil (eraser side) once you take the cover off. It then slides off and lifts up.

We have USPS informed delivery where they send you scans of all your mail and status of your packages. We also installed one of these for smaller items:

Packages tend to still be left on our porch though and they'll ring/knock but not stay for a signature like it was said earlier. (Since the pandemic.)  Amazon will send you a photo of the package usually as well to show you where they left it.

Originals HC (Gibbons) $10
*Planetary Book 2 & 3 HC $20
Teen Titans Earth One Vol 1 & 2 HC $20
Wolverine: Origins Vol 1 HC $10 (Way)

On 7/23/2021 at 10:56 AM, manetteska said:

Apart from being pure presumption on what CGC does, isn't "looking up" a historical average for a specific book in a specific grade assigning it a value? Even if that value is a range or a threshold, a value is still put on the item. Perhaps I am missing your distinction.

True. You sound like a lawyer...arguing semantics.  

I concede your point. 

On 7/23/2021 at 9:51 AM, manetteska said:

Assign has many definitions; I think they should just remove that sentence entirely.

Let's say you write down a $200 value for a comic. In order for CGC to say it's undervalued, do they not have to "assign" it a value > $200?

Also, CGC never said (at least I don't think so from reading this topic) they use GPA to determine FMV.

My point was that CGC does not have to assign it anything in terms of a nebulous idea of its value. The idea is that they WAIT UNTIL IT IS GRADED... then look up what is now a historical average value for FMV. If it is high enough to bump it to the next tier in terms of the initial fee, then they have the option of doing so. (In many cases in the past, they have chosen not to do so.)

On 7/22/2021 at 9:35 AM, manetteska said:

This guy (NWO) always knows everything -- except when he doesn't, which is often.

I also enjoy the first sentence of that third paragraph:

"CGC does not assign values to collectibles. If CGC determines that a collectible is undervalued and does not qualify for the tier or services selected, it may adjust the tier and charge the appropriate difference in CCS services, grading and/or services fees based on its determination of the collectible’s current Fair Market Value."

Perhaps it's semantics, but how can one not assign a value yet determine something is undervalued using a determination of the Fair Market Value?

Not sure why this is not clear. They don't assign a value... they let the market decide Fair Market Value which creates a historical record maintained by various services, including GPAnalysis as mentioned before. That answers how they determine that a collectible is undervalued in terms of the fee after it has been graded when compared to the initial form entry (which is an estimate based on the ungraded state of the book in question).

The submitter determines their own declared value which does not change. 

Now I don't think it has been mentioned if they go by 12-month average, 90-day average, the last sale at the time of assessment, or whatever... but I hope it's something like the 90-day average which seems to be a reasonable medium point.

Are we all assuming that they're recording everything instantly? Most likely, your book may be through most of the process before the status has even been recorded. If your book has already been graded, then they know what the approximate slabbed value would be historically. Then it makes logical sense to see and understand if your fee needs to be adjusted or not. (And you'll probably instantly see why once you see your grade.)