Doug Schmell cashing in his vaulted massive collecion. Poll: Is this the top?

[Mmehdy]

In a no reserve auction, anything goes.....you take the chance and with 686 books you take a big chance, the smarter thing to do was to sell one title at a time over the next two to three years. I do not know what he paid for the books, but I think he is gonna make a profit. I find the board lacking compassion on the DS issue. First he stated that he chose ha.com to avoid a "conflict of interest" sounds like his thinking is sound, I just do not think that is the only reason, and Ha.com is #1 in the world now.

[Davenport]

I hope you can believe that a human being can change for the better at any time, this sale thru Ha.com was a step in the right direction for doug, rather than go for the big bang bucks...he is selling back his collection to the community as a whole.

[mrwoogieman]

In a no reserve auction, anything goes.....you take the chance and with 686 books you take a big chance, the smarter thing to do was to sell one title at a time over the next two to three years. I do not know what he paid for the books, but I think he is gonna make a profit. I find the board lacking compassion on the DS issue. First he stated that he chose ha.com to avoid a "conflict of interest" sounds like his thinking is sound, I just do not think that is the only reason, and Ha.com is #1 in the world now.

 

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, yes my client killed his parents but have some compassion for this poor orphan boy!

 

 

[Mmehdy]

I hope you can believe that a human being can change for the better at any time, this sale thru Ha.com was a step in the right direction for doug, rather than go for the big bang bucks...he is selling back his collection to the community as a whole.

 

 

Super....

[Chippie-migration]

[dr_manhattan]

I hope you can believe that a human being can change for the better at any time, this sale thru Ha.com was a step in the right direction for doug, rather than go for the big bang bucks...he is selling back his collection to the community as a whole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[originalisbest]

Awesome!

[500Club]

In a no reserve auction, anything goes.....you take the chance and with 686 books you take a big chance, the smarter thing to do was to sell one title at a time over the next two to three years.

 

Maybe, but as has been conceded by all, these are great books, and the Keller and Wright auctions suggest the market will absorb the books.

 

I do not know what he paid for the books, but I think he is gonna make a profit.

 

Agree.

 

I find the board lacking compassion on the DS issue.

 

Doug has earned it over years, from the JIM resub, to the shilling advice, the Pedigree auction shenanigans, and the Bob Storms booth sale.

 

First he stated that he chose ha.com to avoid a "conflict of interest" sounds like his thinking is sound, I just do not think that is the only reason, and Ha.com is #1 in the world now.

 

Multifaceted decision. I agree with the 'conflict of interest' rationale. I also agree with the rationale of using the sales and marketing juggernaut that is HA. However, I also agree with the line of thinking that says Doug is fully aware of what his and Pedigrees reputation have degenerated to in the hobby.

[burntboy]

Anyhow, this discussion is obviously just turning into another typical, emotionally charged pressing thread with nothing good coming out of it so I'm going to bow out.

 

Have fun all.

 

 

My new favorite hobby is counting the number of posts in a thread made by Roy after he says he's leaving a thread.

 

+ whatever!!!

[Duffman_Comics]

I hope you can believe that a human being can change for the better at any time, this sale thru Ha.com was a step in the right direction for doug, rather than go for the big bang bucks...he is selling back his collection to the community as a whole.

 

 

 

 

Great stuff!!

 

[500Club]

I think it's highly probable that they were all paid back. Why don't you call his dad and ask him; he was still a practicing lawyer in NYC last I checked and if I'm not mistaken Junior was pulling his tricks with the escrow funds as pop's right hand man right there in the same downtown office.

 

Always best to go to the source.

 

If anyone calls Schmell Sr, I want to be conferenced in. I'm sure Sr. was thrilled with the whole affair.

 

Anybody want to set an over-under on how many times Schmell Sr. used the phrase 'those damn comic books' when discussing it with Doug?

 

 

[lou_fine]

I cannot see how discussing purple labels has anything to do with a collection of the best blue labels ever in one auction. I am aware of the attitude that the purple label books are the "leopards" of the comic book collecting world.I do not share that opinion, however if ever there was not a place to mention "restored books" it would be this thread.....the highest rated cgc BLUE collection.

 

Mitch;

 

It's really quite simple..............what you see as the greatest collection of blue labels ever in one auction, others might see as one of the greatest "CGC sanctioned restored" collections of all time.

 

I am also not sure why you say this is definitely the wrong place to be talking about restored books, when in actual fact, probably every single one of Doug's book has been worked and reworked over and over again before being resubmitted to CGC for the nth time.

 

I am not much of a baseball fan, but this is pretty much tantamount to saying that since Barry Bonds is the greatest all-time home run hitter in all of baseball, we shouldn't be talking about drugs in baseball when it comes to Bonds.

[dr_manhattan]

 

It's really quite simple..............what you see as the greatest collection of blue labels ever in one auction, others might see as one of the greatest "CGC sanctioned restored" collections of all time.

 

(thumbs u

 

 

 

[tth2]

Yeah, thought I'd try a different tact this time.

 

It's tack.

 

T-A-C-K

 

Damn you Brits and your nautical terms! I only go out on bass boats...

 

And the nearest I've got to them is Captain Morgan, but hey-ho.

Didn't say Churchill say that the fate of all Liverpudlians is "Rum, sodomy and the lash"?

[lou_fine]

This is the single most educational thread I've read since becoming a regular poster. I can't usually stay with a thread past 15 or 20 pages, but here we are at page 79 and I genuinely feel like I've learned something along the way.

 

 

Trev;

 

This thread is nothing compared to some of the ones which we have had in the past!

 

It's quite obvious you was not around when we first found out about pressing, or the time that eagle-eyes Jason Ewert was outed, or the wondeful before and after photo montage of the Manufactured Gold thread, or the one where a Church book was able to go from CGC 4.0 up to CGC 7.5 before finishing up at CGC 9.0 all the while sitting in a blue label, and then simply explained away by Borock with his classic first time pronouncement that "disassembly and reassembly of a book in and of itself is not considered to be restoration."

 

Fun times for sure. (thumbs u

[lou_fine]

It is simple if a book is 9.8 which seems was Doug's goal who cares how the book got there. The true reality is the book is 9.8 whether thru pressing , Mico trim , or magic.

 

 

To all you former Ewert lovebirds;

 

The second chance of a lifetime.........you can now all turn in your CGC 9.8 blue label micro-trimmed books that you got from Jason and Mitch is willing to pay you record setting GPA prices for this once in a lifetime opportunity of purchasing them from you.

[MagnusX]

 

[font:Book Antiqua]This thread its like watching a Soap Opera...,

 

A lot of drama, a bad story,

some twist, but help you to pass time...[/font]

 

[dr_manhattan]

This is the single most educational thread I've read since becoming a regular poster. I can't usually stay with a thread past 15 or 20 pages, but here we are at page 79 and I genuinely feel like I've learned something along the way.

 

 

Trev;

 

This thread is nothing compared to some of the ones which we have had in the past!

 

It's quite obvious you was not around when we first found out about pressing, or the time that eagle-eyes Jason Ewert was outed, or the wondeful before and after photo montage of the Manufactured Gold thread, or the one where a Church book was able to go from CGC 4.0 up to CGC 7.5 before finishing up at CGC 9.0 all the while sitting in a blue label, and then simply explained away by Borock with his classic first time pronouncement that "disassembly and reassembly of a book in and of itself is not considered to be restoration."

 

Fun times for sure. (thumbs u

 

 

I'm feel the same as Trev - this thread has been fantastic and educational. I only joined the boards last year and I've learned tons on this thread alone. I'm definitely going to look up the Church thread about a book going from 4.0 to 9.0 Thanks for the tip! (thumbs u

[jbud73]

The Billy Wright collection, the Pedigree Comics collection, numerous Million Dollar+ sales, the great SparkleCity ebay auctions this year, an interminable stream of weekly Comiclink, Heritage, and Comic Connect auctions with an apparently endless supply of killer books that get flipped incessantly, this cycle can't go on indefinitely

It really is mind-boggling that it has gotten this far.

 

Yeah, it really is. Donut used to have a good punch list of the types of books that were likely to depreciate during the great crash debates of 2002/2003/2004, broadly characterized as non-keys, non-HG post-1965, moderns, etc.,. There was a lot of fools gold in the early years of CGC.

 

I think that list could be expanded significantly now to include almost any Silver or Bronze Age non-key, in almost every grade, and many of the late Silver and most BA keys in anything but HG. As much as I love GA (and that's what I've purchased a lot of this year), in the last 1-2 years the high demand mainstream GA DC's and Timely's have priced themselves above what the average middle class comic book collector can afford.

 

I guess the esoteric and PCH Golden/Atom age genres have been more stable price-wise, but without continuing media exposure (Marvel/DC movies), or contemporary titles, one has to wonder how long the prices on the non-mainstream "classic cover" books (Suspense 3) will hold up.

 

I do feel a little more comfortable with the market for "scarce books", which are different from "scarce in grade" books, but when there's no demand for a book in low/mid-grade (or huge spread spreads between a VG or Fine copy and a NM copy), the outlook for the top grades is not really that rosy.

 

Wow, I just realized my 10-year anniversary on the boards was earlier this week, I'm getting old!

 

My 9 year Mike, yes we are getting older. Stopped reading this thread now to post, Im sure the rest will go flame up ... flame down ... flame up ...

 

Quick points. I personally have never and will never buy a book off Schmell knowingly. That said CGC is a business and unless there is some evidence that Doug is not the owner, this is what they are in business to do.

 

Find it curious that he is not auctioning off his own books through his site I just personally find that amusing. I would have killed to be a fly on the wall during the Jaster (Who I'm assuming had weight in the final say) and Schmell negotiations on what % the fees needed to be reduced by for Heritage to get the collection.

 

I think it will take a few factors to put a dent in the market - Gene chime in here, but most market crashes, or severe corrections have more than one catalyst. Quantity of HG books on the Market might not be enough. A few more Twin Cities / Schmell like collections in a short time span might still be needed. I really think another catalyst will have to present itself to synergize the momentum downwards (this would more than likely need to be outside comics and a general economic thing) Still the endless parade of HG slabs, espcially the Marvel's does make one wonder if the trolley will stop or plateau more than it has now soon.

 

On to read the rest .... am I the only one that thought, damn too bad they are mostly 9.8s not worth the cash for my collection.

[jbud73]

As I have predicted from DAY One 2012 will be a record year........... HERE IS MY TAKE ON THE SALE:

 

Doug Schmell worked hard to get, in my opinion, one of the 3 best marvel collections quality wise in the world.If you read his web site he sold the collection thru HA.COM to not create a conflict of interest with his web site. I find that statement hard to believe when you to the vault section and see the number of books that he has sold in the past. He does give ha.com's market ability also as a reason, and I tend to believe that is real reason behind his choice not to sell them himself.

 

Doug Schmell knows the market, knows about quality books and was the "man" when he spent the bucks to get the best possible material. I have been saying this on the boards for a long long time. Buy CGC, Buy top grade. He had the right plan and now he wants that plan to pay off and it will.

 

But there is a LOT of upside to go on the mega-keys and when this is gonna shake out the TOP 20 most expensive books in the hobby...probably 8 or more will be marvel. Expect world record prices in this auction with a lot of action from FOREIGN buyers as well as new investment groups and wealthy individuals. This sale is GREAT for comic book fandom, Great for collectors, and great for Ha and Doug. It's a Win Win for everybody.

 

It is a good time to buy and a good time to sell. I would upgrade like he did if you are a marvel collector and sell you lessor condition copies probably on Ha.com.

 

Doug knows that 2012 is a unique year in comic book history.....his sale shows that he agrees with my opinion.

 

After reading this post I expected it to be followed by a disclaimer like. "This is a paid advertisement for Doug Schmell and Heritage. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the CGC boards and no inferences to buy or sell comics should be derived from this posting"

 

 

"The choice to select Heritage Auction Galleries for the sale of my collection was actually a no-brainer. I have watched Heritage become, by far, the world’s largest comics auction house and knew that they were the perfect venue for me to sell my private collection and realize the highest prices with no conflict of interest for the consignors on my site."

 

Doug concerned about conflict of interest ... I could not have written this press release with a straight face if my AF 15 depended on it. Well maybe if Doug's AF 15 depended on it..

 

This was originally posted by Batman fan and I will have a printed copy by my side and read it aloud everytime I think about bidding on one of the JIMs - thank you Batmanfan (thumbs u

 

"For myself, I would avoid Dougie books period regardless of who is selling them. The reason is he just has too shady of a background and has shown a complete disregard for anyone in his pursuit of his collection. Because of this, I would have no confidence in what may have been done to the books he owns in trying to achieve the highest grade possible. Just not worth the risk. Blue holder has no meaning. Dougie got a trimmed Ewert book through CGC on a resub when he was trying to launder the book. Just to say it one more time. Dougie got a book that was trimmed by Ewert re-certified and placed into a blue holder. This occurred AFTER CGC knew about the Ewert train wreck and claimed to know how to detect the trimming. Obviously their detection capability is not perfect."

 

All of that said congrats to Steve B (WHO CONSIGNED THE COLLECTION and HA as amid all the talk, a lot of it is sadly true, some of the nicest Pedigree Marvels will no longer be owned by D. Schmell and you know what, that to me is a victory for the hobby. Yes he will get a many pieces of green paper and may he invest in a tech stock that crashes or have some wallstreet broker take him to the cleaners so the little old ladies can finally rest in piece.