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X-MEN #1 club
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Started by etanick,

3,535 posts in this topic

PKJ

PKJ

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Wreck-It Ralph said:

Does anyone have any idea where I could get a X Men 4 preferably in an 7-8.0 blue label?

Thanks for your time.

Welcome to the forums. I would bounce around all the links in the forums and get a feel for the entire community.

These threads won't do you much good for hunting down books. The Wanted to buy section and For Sale section are going to be your best bets for buying, selling and trading. 

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Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, PKJ said:

Welcome to the forums. I would bounce around all the links in the forums and get a feel for the entire community.

These threads won't do you much good for hunting down books. The Wanted to buy section and For Sale section are going to be your best bets for buying, selling and trading. 

OK Thanks I will do that.

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DC#

DC#

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted (edited)

Here is a tale for those interested in the provenance of books and the old topic of whether grading is tougher now versus a decade plus ago.     

I purchased a copy of X-Men #1 from a board member earlier this year - a 6.0 CGC copy with OW pages per the image below.    

 CADEA499-ED36-43E2-8443-93A3AFF1C2F2.thumb.jpeg.2d6e0926e898ae4e66c13aa7f917fdf7.jpeg.f91d5d5d7e1c294965523c64cfba0ec5.jpeg

 

While doing some casual investigation before I purchased, I came across a 2003 thread about the exact same book.   It did not take Sherlock Holmes deduction to know it was the same book because of small tape pull on the back and the location of the color breaking crease on the front.

 

So here is a 25 year history based on this thread and conversations with the boardie I purchased from:

- The book was purchased raw in 1996 from a Canadian dealer by the 2003 poster

- The book was slabbed for the first time in 2005 - perhaps by the 2003 poster - where it received the 6.0 OW designation.

- Sometime between 2005 and 2011, the book was purchased by an East Coast dealer (perhaps New Dimension Comics out of Pittsburg)

- My seller purchased the book at the Baltimore Comicon in 2011/12 and has held it ever since.

- This would likely make me the 3rd or 4th owner since 1996

 

When I made the purchase, I pulled the grader notes to see what upgrade potential.  Notes referenced:

- Back cover dent

- Front cover bend

- Front cover dent

- Front cover wear all edges breaks color

- Right bottom back cover small tape pull

- Right bottom back cover wear

- Right bottom front cover small tear

 

Since the slab was fairly shop worn after 16 years, I decide to take a chance and have it regraded.   I sent it off for some bespoke pressing/conservation work to see what we could do to improve the book.   Once it was removed from the slab the dents referenced in the grader notes were very obvious.   Given the location of the dents - dead center top, bottom, right and left - and the fact that the dent migrated through to interior pages - sort of leads you to believe that the book may have been on the top of a stack bound by twine.    

Here are some before and after of the work done.....not the greatest resolution apologies

image.thumb.png.d99fd22297ffaaea5b1884efa444eef0.png

 

 

image.thumb.png.098b82c3a1ad326f91ff112f95fde805.png

 

image.thumb.png.2fa9d42617eeaac060796b9ba2aad200.png

 

 

image.thumb.png.f311977d22f61e4de1b662c028fd6eb2.png

image.thumb.png.07b12c339047fac24aaf054bbed6de39.png

 

image.thumb.png.1a1862b0b8cf7b71ab4bc85f0e743fe1.png

 

So after that entire journey - the book just got its new grade and slab....

0.jpeg.ac8d61670b51d6927158cbbd465bb013.jpeg

 

So no bump in grade but did get a bump in page quality from OW to OW/W.    Which comes back the old debate as to whether grading standards are tighter today than 16 years ago.    I knew the tape pull alone was going to limit the book significantly and the edge wear on the spine was a big issue - but my book doctor thought had a solid chance at a 6.5.     Was the book over-graded in 2005?   Did I get a bad draw on the grader in 2021?    To be clear, I am not upset by the grade or the journey - the book looks even better than before and the old stab needed to be replaced.   And it was fun to be so involved in the curation of a special piece of history.   

Just thought I would share for those interested.   

 

 

Edited by DC#
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speedcake

speedcake

Posted
Posted

Pretty cool to be able to somewhat trace the history of the book back a quarter of a century.

It does present much better now after the pressing work. Looks like a good example of a book that can't be improved technically with press/clean due to the nature of the flaws and the overall wear, but can very much be improved from a presentation standpoint.

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dikran

dikran

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, kimik said:

I wonder how long it will take to translate to the rest of the early issues and other keys/1st apps in the SA run as well? 

Isn't #4 doing quite well also?

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PKJ

PKJ

Posted
Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, speedcake said:

holy christmas

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-X-men-1-First-Edition-Uncanny-XMen-Comic-MARVEL-Rare-Original-CGC-/274714943214?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l10137.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

The price is not as shocking to me  any more, but what is shocking is paying that much for a copy with those awful pictures. I can't tell if it is stained or just poor photo's. 

Edited by PKJ
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speedcake

speedcake

Posted
Posted
45 minutes ago, PKJ said:

The price is not as shocking to me  any more, but what is shocking is paying that much for a copy with those awful pictures. I can't tell if it is stained or just poor photo's. 

Yeah, just doesn't seem to matter when a book gets this red hot. Crazy.

I've knocked out a #1,  #3 (in transit to me now), #9, #12, #14 so far of the early big books.  But #4 is really going to burn me. I decided to wait it out on that one to see if the Wandavision buzz slows down, hopefully it will, but I'd imagine that issue will still continue to rise sharply along with #1. It's going to be the last issue I get for my personal complete run, I just know it. ugh

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kimik

kimik

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, speedcake said:

It already has. All of the keys have been going up, some of them quite alot. It's annoying

They have had a decent run up over the past year, but this is a 33% jump in a couple of weeks on XMen 1 in 4.0. I hope that means all of the other issues see that as well. :wishluck:

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kimik

kimik

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Batmanis#1 said:
On 3/19/2021 at 3:20 AM, Wreck-It Ralph said:

Does anyone have any idea where I could get a X Men 4 preferably in an 7-8.0 blue label?

Thanks for your time.

Try ComicLink or ComicConnect or Ebay or ask here in the want to buy section.

And expect to pay dearly for it now............

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Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kimik said:

They have had a decent run up over the past year, but this is a 33% jump in a couple of weeks on XMen 1 in 4.0. I hope that means all of the other issues see that as well. :wishluck:

I sort of get X Men being up as there are so many first appearances but I don’t understand Daredevil.

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