Statistically, according to CGC census, the scarcest and most common JIMs are...

[trmoore54]

Finally a thread I can sink my teeth into.

 

 

Great work guys!

 

I don't know how many of these books are rare and how many are actually simply not traded much creating scarcity.

 

I do know that #90 is plague with printing problems such as chipping and noticeably poor page quality compared to surrounding issues.

 

#91 is tough due to the amount of black on the cover.

 

#89 is hoarded.

 

#84 is an unpopular Brown cover that also shows wear. 2nd app. Marvels seem to all be very tough books in general but I think the brown covers also got less love.

 

#95 has always been tough as has #87...I've also been looking for an 8.0 for about 2 years now...I've missed or been outbid on a couple. I have a line on one for some time now but the seller is not in a hurry.

 

Funny enough, in my experience issues #85, 86, #88 and #92 and up don't come across as being tough to me.

 

Brown covers are Korvac's favorites...

[VintageComics]

 

Brown covers are Korvac's favorites...

 

Mine too.

 

[Scrooge]

Funny enough, in my experience issues #85, 86, #88 and #92 and up don't come across as being tough to me.

 

The table / numbers bear that observation out. Quite astute of you Roy (thumbs u

[VintageComics]

Funny enough, in my experience issues #85, 86, #88 and #92 and up don't come across as being tough to me.

 

The table / numbers bear that observation out. Quite astute of you Roy (thumbs u

 

 

The other thing your chart shows is that #89 is not a rare book, but it rarely turns up in grade for sale likely because it is coveted much like other classic cover books such as MMC #9. It's a perceived scarcity simply because nobody is selling.

 

 

[Scrooge]

Again, I know nothing of TTA so you guys can pick the results apart and let us know if it does or does not reflect your observations on the ground -

[Aces]

46 is a bugger.

Took me forever to find a nice raw FVF.

 

[Aman619]

I think 57 and 59 should be labelled as key, to explain their "easiness" since so many more copies have been graded.

[Scrooge]

I think 57 and 59 should be labelled as key, to explain their "easiness" since so many more copies have been graded.

 

To be clear, I did not use the Key variables in the work. The model is distorted by those variables I think.

[tth2]

I`ve always thought 87 and 88 were relatively easy to find in high grade, definitely 88.

 

#87 is tough to find in VF or better and when it does show, prices multiply every time. I missed bidding on a copy on eBay about 2 years ago. It ended at about $500. Last copy I saw for sale topped $1500 a few months ago.

 

#88 is slightly easier to find but as stated by Mike, not CGC graded and not in high grade.

 

Does anyone have an speculation as to why JIM books seem to be the toughest SA Marvel title to complete in high grade?

I don't think #87 is that tough, I can think of at least 3 public sales of 9.4 copies in the last 7 years, and it seems to have held steady at around $4-5K since the first public sale back in 2002 or so (sold by Mark Wilson, if I recall).

 

#88 is by far the most common JIM in the 80s in 9.4, there must have been at least 10 for sale during the past 7 years. It's one of those anomaly books that just coincidentally seems to have been saved in high grade in lots of collections. I believe Harry's copy was a 9.4, the only one of his early JIMs to get that grade.

[tth2]

Check Tales to Astonish

 

 

I'll probably get to that, I did do a "Universal" ranking on many of the main Timely titles. If anyone is interested in that, let me know and I'll post it in a new thread. Some of the results were quite interesting.

 

If I re-run the analysis with TTA, what issue range should I look at? And is there a warehouse issue in that batch?

I don't know if it's a warehouse copy in the strict sense of the term, but TTA #39 exists in high grade in vastly disproportionate numbers.

[Forbush-Man]

This is one of the best threads I've read in Comics General in a long time. I hope it continues and evolves to include all the early Marvel titles. I'm currently trying to focus on pre-1964 Marvels, so this thread is very valuable to me at this time. Great work guys! (thumbs u

[ChasingKingKirby]

Strange Tales was the other one that I did. Here are the results. I did issues 101 thru 135, and merely calculated how many copies above 7.0 were available for each book.

 

The Scarcest copy is issue 127 with only 25 copies 7.0 and above. This isn't a key, but the surrounding issues are much more available. Not sure the reason for this.

 

The second scarcest copy is issue 102 with only 26 issues available above 7.0. This is an early torch issue, but wouldn't be considered key.

 

The third scarcest copy is issue 136 with only 27 issues available above 7.0. Second Nick Fury issue.

 

All of the above issues have copies in 9.6 but should be considered quite scarce.

 

The most common issue is (no surprise) 135 This is the first Nick Fury issue and is quite available, but demand is pretty high. There are a 147 copies 7.0 and above. What is interesting is that it has only 2 copies at 9.6 and above. Which is a disproportionate amount when compared to the much scarcer issues.

 

The second most common issue is issue 138 with 121 copies. Much more available in high grade with 10 copies at 9.6 and above. Not a key.

 

The third most common issue is 110 Again, no surprise, this is the first Doctor Strange and is easily the most coveted issue of the series. There are 114 copies at 7.0 and above.

 

The other keys in the series, 101, 114 and 115 are ranked 22nd, 25th and 24th respectively. Again, no real surprises here as they are all coveted by collectors.

 

A more detailed list to come later.

[VintageComics]

I don't think #87 is that tough, I can think of at least 3 public sales of 9.4 copies in the last 7 years, and it seems to have held steady at around $4-5K since the first public sale back in 2002 or so (sold by Mark Wilson, if I recall).

 

 

I do know of two 9.4 sales. Beyond that I don't think I remember seeing a copy in the 8.5-9.2 range sell at all in the past 5 years. GPA does list an 8.5 sale in 01/07 but I don't remember it.

[ChasingKingKirby]

Wow! I did the same exercise for all the Cap Timely titles, USA, All-Select, All-Winners and Captain America Comics. Either collector's just don't slab these books, or they are incredibly rare across the board. Anyone care to take a guess what the scarcest war cover Captain America is? Overall? I will say that I couldn't use the 7.0 and greater correlation with these books, because there are just not enough books slabbed to do that. So I just took straight totals in all grades for universal labels.

[VintageComics]

With the exception of Captain America Comics because it was a more main stream title, the first three titles you mentioned are extremely desireable for their cover art and rare compared to other books from the same era.

 

 

 

 

[ChasingKingKirby]

Yup. I'm aware, I'm putting together both the All Select and The All Winners run. Remarkably, many of the CAC books are scarcer.

[VintageComics]

Yup. I'm aware, I'm putting together both the All Select and The All Winners run. Remarkably, many of the CAC books are scarcer.

 

I do know some of the War covers, Hitler covers and Cap Motorcycle covers are very desireable. I have no idea about their scarcity as I've never looked into the run.

 

Thanks for doing this. It's great fun!

 

(thumbs u

[tth2]

I don't think #87 is that tough, I can think of at least 3 public sales of 9.4 copies in the last 7 years, and it seems to have held steady at around $4-5K since the first public sale back in 2002 or so (sold by Mark Wilson, if I recall).

 

 

I do know of two 9.4 sales. Beyond that I don't think I remember seeing a copy in the 8.5-9.2 range sell at all in the past 5 years. GPA does list an 8.5 sale in 01/07 but I don't remember it.

I remember selling my 9.2 W copy (slabbed from a raw copy) back in 2002.

[VintageComics]

I don't think #87 is that tough, I can think of at least 3 public sales of 9.4 copies in the last 7 years, and it seems to have held steady at around $4-5K since the first public sale back in 2002 or so (sold by Mark Wilson, if I recall).

 

 

I do know of two 9.4 sales. Beyond that I don't think I remember seeing a copy in the 8.5-9.2 range sell at all in the past 5 years. GPA does list an 8.5 sale in 01/07 but I don't remember it.

I remember selling my 9.2 W copy (slabbed from a raw copy) back in 2002.

 

[burntboy]

I`ve always thought 87 and 88 were relatively easy to find in high grade, definitely 88.

 

#87 is tough to find in VF or better and when it does show, prices multiply every time. I missed bidding on a copy on eBay about 2 years ago. It ended at about $500. Last copy I saw for sale topped $1500 a few months ago.

 

#88 is slightly easier to find but as stated by Mike, not CGC graded and not in high grade.

 

Does anyone have an speculation as to why JIM books seem to be the toughest SA Marvel title to complete in high grade?

I don't think #87 is that tough, I can think of at least 3 public sales of 9.4 copies in the last 7 years, and it seems to have held steady at around $4-5K since the first public sale back in 2002 or so (sold by Mark Wilson, if I recall).

 

#88 is by far the most common JIM in the 80s in 9.4, there must have been at least 10 for sale during the past 7 years. It's one of those anomaly books that just coincidentally seems to have been saved in high grade in lots of collections. I believe Harry's copy was a 9.4, the only one of his early JIMs to get that grade.

 

Tim; My JIM 88 was an unaltered 9.2 sold to Tommy B back in early '06...