THE AMAZING FANTASY #15 CLUB 39 39

[maraxusofkeld]

On 3/30/2023 at 3:57 PM, WNY said:

I'm definitely not an expert and nowhere close to the league of the people commenting in terms of having a keen eye... But doesn't seem like an awful 7.5 to me... have definitely seen worse. 

I think people should stop being in denial about this book being soft and coming down in value and not quite finding its bottom.

Btw, I too own an AF15 so am feeling the pain, I just don't think being in denial is a good strategy! 

I would agree, while some of the pieces near the top of the cover are unsightly, the right side of the book does not have major chipping, and the spine and corners are very sharp. 

[FormerReader]

I’m not seeing what some of you are seeing. Other than the obvious issues, this is a very nicely presenting book. I don’t follow the AF15 market, but considering some of the grades I’ve seen with Marvel chipping, this is not an ugly book.

[FormerReader]

On 3/30/2023 at 4:35 PM, Batmanis#1 said:

Like I said bottom of the ladder 7.5. I perfect looking 7.5 would have sold for much more than 117k.

Well no such thing as a perfect looking 7.5 as by the grade it has some defects. It is a matter of preference what defects a buyer is willing to accept in a certain grade. This book has great colors. I think it presents well. I don’t follow the market though so I haven’t sorted through dozens of copies to make a comparison.

[WNY]

On 3/30/2023 at 4:18 PM, Batmanis#1 said:

Put it this way would any of you here purchased this 7.5 or would you have waited for a much nicer 7.5 to come up for sale? This is a bottom feeder 7.5.

I have seen much nicer 6.0's, 6.5's and 7.0's over the years. A lot of them to be exact better than this 7.5.

I wouldn't have purchased it more because I'm not willing to spend that kind of money on a book. Not to judge those that are willing to do so btw - people should feel free to spend their money how they want.

But the fact of the matter is, a third-party grading company (that we have all collectively agreed is the standard) put a 7.5 on it. There is of course margin for error as there always is in something that requires judgment. This price is 41% from the last sale so you could argue that it would have been down less or potentially not down at all if it were a much nicer book, but I think to completely disregard it as an irrelevant datapoint would be actively putting your head in the sand in terms of there being softer prices for the market overall and this book in particular. 

[WNY]

On 3/30/2023 at 4:49 PM, Batmanis#1 said:

Buy the book not the holder said a wise man!!! Or was that a fortune cookie.

I take this sale with a grain of salt and now know what a ''bottom'' 7.5 (I am sure there is a few worse 7.5 out there) brings at auction in 2023.

I think this would be a fair way to think about this datapoint. 

I generally agree with the "buy the book not the holder" mantra. However, it would also be foolish to totally ignore it if you want / need to sell it at some point. 

[byosti]

the 6.0 with Stan Lee SS with some bad tanning and little writing went for 75k with the bp. little odd he said it's one of the nicest 6.0s he's seen. idk where that's from

[byosti]

the auctioneer. during the live vid

[Dark Knight]

Anything to make a buck!!

[drbanner]

That's the ugliest 7.5 AF 15 I've ever seen...here's the last 7.5 Heritage sold, which looks like an actual collectible comic book:

[FormerReader]

On 3/30/2023 at 5:31 PM, drbanner said:

That's the ugliest 7.5 AF 15 I've ever seen...here's the last 7.5 Heritage sold, which looks like an actual collectible comic book:

That is definitely a nicer looking copy, but the other copy has much better colors.

[NoMan]

You guys need to stop bad mouthing AF15. You're gonna scare off collectors of this book. Steve Ditko makes no mistakes (except that Ann Rand stuff) and every AF15 should have a home. Just like ugly girls. Sometimes ugly girls are the best time. You ever dated an ugly chick? I have (but then I ended up with her better looking sister, so it was cool). Ugly needs love, too. Sometimes a beat up copy of AF15 was shown love and you need to show it love back.

This hate just needs to stop.

Edited March 30, 2023 by NoMan

[Dark Knight]

On 3/30/2023 at 4:54 PM, NoMan said:

You guys need to stop bad mouthing AF15. You're gonna scare off collectors of this book. Steve Ditko makes no mistakes (except that Ann Rand stuff) and every AF15 should have a home. Just like ugly girls. Sometimes ugly girls are the best time. You ever dated an ugly chick? I have (but then I ended up with her better looking sister, so it was cool). Ugly needs love, too. Sometimes a beat up copy of AF15 was shown love and you need to show it love back.

This hate just needs to stop.

Good, I want this to keep going so I can pay $100k for a CGC 9.0 copy or higher!!

[DC#]

Beauty and the beholder and all of that......chipping, tanning, dust shadows, miswraps, stains.....

Another way to look at this is with each AF15 being a market of one.  Easy to know the relative value of a 6.5 vs 7.0 vs 7.5 - but the precise value of a particular book is based on the unique characteristics of that copy (and timing and method by which it was sold).    Not sure you can say that about New Mutants #98 or Ultimate Fallout #4 as there is just not enough variability in visual appeal of books.   

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by DC#

[maraxusofkeld]

I think the real concern of the last few pages was the low price that the 7.5 sold for in comparison to others in that grade. Books in the 5.0 to 7.5 are going to have price variations as they are too expensive for low grade collectors and not high enough of a grade for for high grade collectors, so you are going to have that type of variation. The economy isn’t that great so that’s certainly a factor as well. 

[Pantodude]

Ponder this.  What if that blue 7.5 book on Heritage today were originally an apparent purple 9.6, with what we can see must have been slight color touch (in light of the few scraped areas). You would hope the book otherwise exceeds a typical 7.5 in other respects?  I'm referring to insignificant/minimal wear at all edges, great colors, above-average brightness, no stains, no significant creases, etc.  Bonus if back cover is clean and bright, too.  Well, this 7.5 seems to meet all of those criteria.  Except for the small scraped areas, the book is quite uncommonly sound all around.  Seriously, take a look at those hi-res Heritage scans, front and back. 

Seen in that light, this 7.5 arguably should have fetched at least whatever a typical blue 7.5 would.  Maybe it did fetch that (and the buyer did fine) but we won't know until another sale of a blue 7.5.  Maybe it went for less than what a typical 7.5 might get today, in which case the buyer arguably did better than fine if the book went too cheap -- again, assuming it has great all-around condition (something a potential buyer might not really appreciate without having the book in hand).  So perhaps today's buyer of this 7.5 will be all smiles once he has the book in hand.     That would be a happy story and quite at odds with the negative sentiment in the above posts?  Maybe we'll never know, but I wouldn't be surprised. 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Pantodude

[lou_fine]

On 3/30/2023 at 1:32 PM, FormerReader said:

I’m not seeing what some of you are seeing. Other than the obvious issues, this is a very nicely presenting book. I don’t follow the AF15 market, but considering some of the grades I’ve seen with Marvel chipping, this is not an ugly book.

From a strict visual POV and without having the actual book in hand, I would tend to agree with you here.  

It definitely presents a whole lot nicer than so many copies of AF 15's that we've seen with real fugly Marvel chipping running right down the entire right edge of the book.  

Edited March 31, 2023 by lou_fine

[Gotham Kid]

On 3/30/2023 at 6:54 PM, Gotham Kid said:

very ugly, really ?

I said it before, I say it again. Ugly ? Not at all. The best looking 7.5 copy, not by a long shot. But taking the post with multiple high grade AF15s with varying issues, this copy by no means is crapola. The low, low hammer price is what is making it "ugly"

Edited March 31, 2023 by Gotham Kid

[KCOComics]

On 3/31/2023 at 3:35 AM, Gotham Kid said:

I said it before, I say it again. Ugly ? Not at all. The best looking 7.5 copy, not by a long shot. But taking the post with multiple high grade AF15s with varying issues, this copy by no means is crapola. The low, low hammer price is what is making it "ugly"

I agree. Even with CT removal, this book looks like a legit 7.5. No chipping, good centering, great colors.  It's a pretty book. 

 

I think allot of people have a bias against CT removal. And if I'm being honest, I do to. Don't get me wrong, I would love to own this copy, but if I'm going to spend 6 figures on an AF15, it wouldn't have CT removal. 

Not sure if that factored into the price or if it's just a soft market. 

[WNY]

On 3/31/2023 at 6:13 AM, KCOComics said:

I agree. Even with CT removal, this book looks like a legit 7.5. No chipping, good centering, great colors.  It's a pretty book. 

 

I think allot of people have a bias against CT removal. And if I'm being honest, I do to. Don't get me wrong, I would love to own this copy, but if I'm going to spend 6 figures on an AF15, it wouldn't have CT removal. 

Not sure if that factored into the price or if it's just a soft market. 

I would guess both factored in. And there’s room for both given that it is 41% down! 

[drbanner]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:37 PM, DC# said:

Beauty and the beholder and all of that......chipping, tanning, dust shadows, miswraps, stains.....

Another way to look at this is with each AF15 being a market of one.  Easy to know the relative value of a 6.5 vs 7.0 vs 7.5 - but the precise value of a particular book is based on the unique characteristics of that copy (and timing and method by which it was sold).    Not sure you can say that about New Mutants #98 or Ultimate Fallout #4 as there is just not enough variability in visual appeal of books.   

These 2 are a good comparison of why the "Un-restored" copy (which is different from "unrestored") is unappealing. If you take all that damage/scraping from the top left/top edge and move it to the bottom left, bottom, or right edge you have a sweet looking copy. The damage/scraping is just the 1st thing you see on the 7.5, it's aesthetically distracting

Edited March 31, 2023 by drbanner