"Tales of Suspense" #39

[EC ed]

Don't wreck the sweet mojo of this book with a noob'ish question like that...

 

Seriously, though... the best view comes from a combination of sources...different people like different ones. Look at eBay completed sales, look at what mycomicshop is asking for the book (if they have one), look at OSPG (yes, buy one...it's not that bad), pay attention to what books are selling for in the marketplace here...and, especially if you're floating books like this around, subscribe to GPA to see what graded copies are selling for, and apply a discount to that for a raw copy. Stir all of that together and you'll start to get a sense of the FMV

[mackenzie999]

Gorgeous copy, nicely centered. 8.0 IMHO.

[divad]

Thanks all! Okay, here is another newb question, where in the name of the king of comics do I get fair market values on comics without buying a copy of comic buyers guide? Is there such a place online?

 

Seriuosly. Just get on a plane. Fly to Sarasota. Take a cab to CGC, and "walk it through". Then keep it for the rest of your life (or contact Heritage Auctions).

[The-Collector]

The standard answer is to inform yourself with all of the following sources:

 

Heritage auction house (HA.com – free to make an account)

My comic shop

Ebay completed sales

OSPG (you can get proxy free access via a heritage account)

Comics price guide (free online http://www.comicspriceguide.com/)

GPA ($10.95 a month http://comics.gpanalysis.com)

 

 

Some notes on each

 

Heritage – an indispensable source, HA has a huge range of past auctions for nearly every book imaginable. It also provides access to high-resolution scans so you can get a rough idea of how eye appeal affects sale price. Also it is free so really there is no reason not to use it.

 

My comic shop – good place to find lots of issues and their current asking price, though it may not be so useful for such a high caliber book.

 

Ebay completed sales – same as my comic shop. Ignore asking prices on this site. In my eyes it is only realized sales that count, as many have very high asking prices on the bay.

 

Overstreet Price Guide (OSPG) –free access through a heritage account. The Overstreet Price Guide is slow to react to trends and many people will quote the OSPG on hot books in order to purchase at a discount to fair market value. This definitely applies to your book as Iron Man has really increased in popularity since the new Marvel Movies. OSPG 2014 on an 8.0 ToS 39 is $9000 while in reality, you would be very hard pressed to buy one for under $10000. OSPG has some other bias problems too.

 

Comics price guide – In my opinion this site’s price data is so inaccurate as to be totally useless. It is however a good way to browse runs of titles and note important issues, variants and such, as runs are tabulated nicely with brief comments.

 

GPA – not the be all an end all, but for me it is the basis upon which I evaluate all my books. It has a far reaching archive of CGC graded book sales and is reasonably accurate (though has had some problems).

 

With the calibre of book you are looking to sell I would spend the $10.95 have a browse and see how you find it.

 

At the least GPA gives you a reasonably unbiased ball park and shows data in an easy to read fashion with links to cert numbers so you can find out page quality and the like. Once you have familiarized yourself with all the sales listed there you can then evaluate your own copy in comparison and adjust the average GPA figure up or down depending on how your book presents for the grade it is assigned.

 

 

Some other thoughts:

 

go here for pressing and slabbing https://www.cfpcomics.com/Contact-Us Joe is a stand up guy with infinite patience who does excellent work at a great price.

 

If you sell on the boards don't expect full GPA/OSPG/Ebay prices as there are no selling fees on the boards and I believe your asking price should reflect that. (though of course this is debatable).

 

Hope that helps and please forgive the sloppy typing.

[Vision75]

The Collector just hooked you up with great advice. For a guy with a VF-ish TOS39, it's worth investing in the tools of the trade. The Overstreet Price Guide and GPA are indispensable.

 

Another Boardie, Harvey Swick, compiled this excellent resource for newcomers:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7324793&fpart=1

 

Welcome to the boards!

[divad]

Well done, TC, well done. (thumbs u

[Dark Knight]

I'm thinking an 8.0

[Conan_Aficionado]

It's a beautiful copy without a doubt, but is no one concerned about the tear on the spine. I'd like to see a photo of the spine, see if there's additional wear.

[The-Collector]

It's a beautiful copy without a doubt, but is no one concerned about the tear on the spine. I'd like to see a photo of the spine, see if there's additional wear.

 

The stuff about mid way? I thought that was just light wear.

[timfinz]

It's a beautiful copy without a doubt, but is no one concerned about the tear on the spine. I'd like to see a photo of the spine, see if there's additional wear.

 

The stuff about mid way? I thought that was just light wear.

+1 I viewed it as minor wear as well, more like a "colour flake" than a tear!

[timfinz]

It's a beautiful copy without a doubt, but is no one concerned about the tear on the spine. I'd like to see a photo of the spine, see if there's additional wear.

Or were you referring to the minor tear on the spine of the back cover? I didn't feel it was significant enough to warrant any grade deduction given the appearance of the rest of the book IMHO!