gadzukes Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Whomever won it has my respect! This is wonderful for Archie collectors! And remember..... there was an underbidder on this one going toe to toe the whole time. I wonder if it was just one other collector bidding at the end or a couple? I was one of the underbidders, but I'm certain there were a few. Lauren, could you believe the dog fight that went on at the end? Every time I thought the auction was going to end there was another bid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPRGuy Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Ok, so now I'm a bit confused when it comes to the values of restored books. On the universal side, we have 3 very current auctions to use as a reference point. We have a 1.0 that went for 13.2k, a 2.5 with brittle pages currently at 13.1k with 4 days to go, and a 6.5 that sold for 62k. I'm going to just venture a guess that the 2.5 will sell for about 15-16 (I welcome your thoughts). My question is what it always has been … how do you price a restored book? Many people in this forum have said restoration means less when it comes to GA, keys in particular, right? We all own at the very least one restored book. Lauren you have that crazy cool Pep 22 with the transplanted logo … it's an amazing book restored or not. I have a 7/7.5 Archie 1 that Matt restored ages ago, and to me it's a prize possession. Regardless, based on last night's 1.0 auction and the restored 8.0 sitting on ebay untouched for months, I am certain that my 3.0/3.5 Archie 1 Universal would bring more than my restored copy. Has this recent surge in price on low grade copies of Archie 1, even those with brittle pages, changed the valuation at all regarding restored copies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadzukes Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 (edited) Ok, so now I'm a bit confused when it comes to the values of restored books. On the universal side, we have 3 very current auctions to use as a reference point. We have a 1.0 that went for 13.2k, a 2.5 with brittle pages currently at 13.1k with 4 days to go, and a 6.5 that sold for 62k. I'm going to just venture a guess that the 2.5 will sell for about 15-16 (I welcome your thoughts). If this one had anything but "Brittle pages" it would go much higher. I think you're right... 15-16k seems good, but the one thing it really has going for it is the outstanding cover. That cover looks like about a 5.0. My question is what it always has been … how do you price a restored book? Many people in this forum have said restoration means less when it comes to GA, keys in particular, right? We all own at the very least one restored book. Lauren you have that crazy cool Pep 22 with the transplanted logo … it's an amazing book restored or not. I have a 7/7.5 Archie 1 that Matt restored ages ago, and to me it's a prize possession. Regardless, based on last night's 1.0 auction and the restored 8.0 sitting on ebay untouched for months, I am certain that my 3.0/3.5 Archie 1 Universal would bring more than my restored copy. Has this recent surge in price on low grade copies of Archie 1, even those with brittle pages, changed the valuation at all regarding restored copies? I've always thought a good way to judge value on restored copies is to find the value of the grade before they were restored, add in the cost of the resto, and then add (or subtract) in a variable for intangibles (degree of resto, visual appeal, rarity, page quality, etc). The 8.0 extensive restored copy that "sold" in May 2013 (I actually don't think it sold because it was immediately put up on ebay) started out as a 1.0 and probably had at least $1000 of resto done to it, so the $10,755 it sold for was probably pretty accurate at the time. I have a 7.0 with moderate resto. It started out as a 1.5 and my resto cost was around $1000. Hopefully I could sell it for $15k-20k judging by the 1.0 that sold last night. It's nice to have some Archie 1s come up to auction right now so we can actually measure the growth of the value. Edited December 11, 2013 by gadzukes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaltimoreLauren Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Whomever won it has my respect! This is wonderful for Archie collectors! And remember..... there was an underbidder on this one going toe to toe the whole time. I wonder if it was just one other collector bidding at the end or a couple? I was one of the underbidders, but I'm certain there were a few. Lauren, could you believe the dog fight that went on at the end? Every time I thought the auction was going to end there was another bid. Yes I can! My final bid was pretty high but eventually I gave up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPRGuy Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Damn, 3.5 days to go and already at the high end of my prediction for the sale price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadzukes Posted December 13, 2013 Author Share Posted December 13, 2013 I just logged onto ebay and an image for Archie 1 popped up. I clicked on it and it led to something called "Ebay Stories" talking about the Archie 1 CGC 2.5 that's at auction right now. Talk about good advertising for Sparkle City! Here's the link: http://ebay-stories.com/a-rare-copy-of-archie-comics-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPRGuy Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 (edited) Awesome! I can't tell you how excited I am by all of this movement on Archie 1's… But I know you feel the same way. Notice the book is rapidly approaching $17,000 with 3 days still left in the auction. You better believe I'll be sitting there watching it end, popcorn in hand, with you, Steve and Lauren, and the rest of this club! Oh and Lauren's father Edited December 13, 2013 by GoldenPRGuy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadzukes Posted December 13, 2013 Author Share Posted December 13, 2013 Think of how many new "watchers" that "Ebay Stories" article for the Archie 1 auction just generated. That's huge for that comic and for Sparkle City. I wonder if Sparkle City contacted then about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPRGuy Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Ha, it's probably a thank you from them for the commission on the last Archie 1 they sold! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPRGuy Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 2 more bids just sent it to 18k! Revised estimates? I could see 20 at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadzukes Posted December 15, 2013 Author Share Posted December 15, 2013 2 more bids just sent it to 18k! Revised estimates? I could see 20 at this point. I agree. Judging by the way the 1.0 almost doubled in price in the last 5 minutes, this one should at least hit $20k. Here's a question I'd like answered. What's the record price for a comic with Brittle pages? Could it be Archie 1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPRGuy Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Well that was anti-climactic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
143ksk Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Still a very strong price for a 2.5 brittle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPRGuy Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Agreed! Just hoping for a last minute jump. Welcome to the club whoever you are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadzukes Posted December 16, 2013 Author Share Posted December 16, 2013 Well that was anti-climactic My thoughts too. But those Brittle pages must have killed any other crazy bids. Give that comic some nicer interior pages and I think we would have had an entertaining end to that auction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Knight Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 I could probably see in the $25k-$30K if pages were better and supple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadzukes Posted December 16, 2013 Author Share Posted December 16, 2013 I could probably see in the $25k-$30K if pages were better and supple +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenPRGuy Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Which of course begs the question, once again … if it had better pages would it still just be a 2.5. How much does page quality affect grade -- people seem to have general ideas but no one seems to have the exact point calculation. Had they been off white to white with that amazing cover I'd say (on looks alone) it would have been a 4.0 (the highest detached cover grade) or a qualified higher grade with detached cover. Now, how long till the next one hits the auction block? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadzukes Posted December 16, 2013 Author Share Posted December 16, 2013 Which of course begs the question, once again … if it had better pages would it still just be a 2.5. How much does page quality affect grade -- people seem to have general ideas but no one seems to have the exact point calculation. Had they been off white to white with that amazing cover I'd say (on looks alone) it would have been a 4.0 (the highest detached cover grade) or a qualified higher grade with detached cover. +1 That cover was amazing! It had to have been down graded substantially for the pages. Looking at the large High Def pics I didn't see any flecks that had come loose within the case yet, but if this comic has a tough (shaken) shipment, the new owner might find a few small flecks when they open the package. I once bought a Cap 1 that the seller assured me didn't have brittle pages (even though it looked like it in the photos). When I opened the package dust started to pour out. That was before Buyer protection so I got screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primetime Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 PQ affects CGCs opinion. I had a raw Tec 31 that structurally was a 2.5/3.0 but a brittle corner deemed it down to a 1.8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
