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"Grayson" looks to be a hit so a bump for Tec 38?
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Started by Chicago Boy,

260 posts in this topic

Filter81

Filter81

Posted
Posted

 

A 15%+ hit just for the "PQ" on the label on a grail? That's a stretch. That price is below the 3.0 that just last sold as well.

 

That's just a soft result for the book, plain and simple. Either demand is softening with so many copies coming to market at once or someone got bamboozled when they paid $26k+ for that other 3.5 a couple months ago.

I also noticed the item description called it a 3.0 even though the picture of the slab is of a 3.5.

 

Given that many auction results have looked soft of late I'm inclined to go with the former. But there might be a touch of the latter in there as well. Either way it's all just speculation.

 

-J.

 

I could be wrong because I don't follow this book too closely, but it looks to me like the combination of eBay as a venue, NYS sales tax, Light tan pages, writing on the cover, and what looks like a slightly brittle corner put together equals about a 10%-15% drop in price. All things considered the result might have been a little soft but I think it fell pretty close to in line with where it should have. A different 3.5 might have done a little better.

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lou_fine

lou_fine

Posted
Posted

 

A 15%+ hit just for the "PQ" on the label on a grail? That's a stretch. That price is below the 3.0 that just last sold as well.

 

That's just a soft result for the book, plain and simple. Either demand is softening with so many copies coming to market at once or someone got bamboozled when they paid $26k+ for that other 3.5 a couple months ago.

I also noticed the item description called it a 3.0 even though the picture of the slab is of a 3.5.

 

Given that many auction results have looked soft of late I'm inclined to go with the former. But there might be a touch of the latter in there as well. Either way it's all just speculation.

 

-J.

 

I could be wrong because I don't follow this book too closely, but it looks to me like the combination of eBay as a venue, NYS sales tax, Light tan pages, writing on the cover, and what looks like a slightly brittle corner put together equals about a 10%-15% drop in price. All things considered the result might have been a little soft but I think it fell pretty close to in line with where it should have. A different 3.5 might have done a little better.

 

Yes, it definitely looks like the marketplace has taken their foot off the brake on this book and place it on the gas pedal instead.

 

I still remember when the Allentown 9.4 copy kept coming to market and it seem to go for a lower amount each time. This book definitely did not have the same respect as the pre-Robin 'Tec books did in the marketplace. Probably because this book may have been seen as the one where Bats turned from a cool character into a not so cool character.

 

I guess this might explain why there are so many copies suddenly available in the marketplace right now. Long-term collectors who have been anchored down by this apparent "dog of a book" are probably seeing this as a good opportunity to finally get out from under this book. hm

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G.A.tor

G.A.tor

Posted
Posted
One small correction: The 2 1.5s were already listed on eBay. At their asking prices, the books will stay there for the longest.

 

Also, it closed at what I expected it would. ~6k/point book.

 

And finally, the Tan to OW likely will become C/OW if regraded given it was graded yesteryear. I wouldn't be surprised at a resub.

Cgc only designates tan if book is close/borderline to slightly brittle. No way that book comes back cr/ow

 

That's the reason I didn't bid more. Pq scared me.

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Jaydogrules

Jaydogrules

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Posted
One small correction: The 2 1.5s were already listed on eBay. At their asking prices, the books will stay there for the longest.

 

Also, it closed at what I expected it would. ~6k/point book.

 

And finally, the Tan to OW likely will become C/OW if regraded given it was graded yesteryear. I wouldn't be surprised at a resub.

Cgc only designates tan if book is close/borderline to slightly brittle. No way that book comes back cr/ow

 

That's the reason I didn't bid more. Pq scared me.

 

Rick, I know you put a lot of stock into the unverifiable and mercurial "PQ" labeling of CGC, but with all due respect this is simply not true. There are at least 15 different possible "PQ" designations and sub-designations between "light tan to off white " and "slightly brittle", including "tan", "dark tan", and "brown".

 

"Light tan to off white" isn't even close to "brittle" and Peter is right, as there are numerous accounts by boardies (including me) of the "PQ" on a label flipping from "Light Tan" all the way up to "off white" in some instances on resubs.

 

Frankly the book is just looking soft right now as we have seen other GA keys set or approach GPA highs recently with "brittle pages" on the label even.

 

-J.

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Sqeggs

Sqeggs

Posted
Posted
I still remember when the Allentown 9.4 copy kept coming to market and it seem to go for a lower amount each time. This book definitely did not have the same respect as the pre-Robin 'Tec books did in the marketplace. Probably because this book may have been seen as the one where Bats turned from a cool character into a not so cool character.

 

Some truth to this. The DC goofy cover books always sold at a discount. While this isn't as bad as Dancing Alfred (Batman 22) or some of the other classic dopey covers, I think the cover was held against it.

 

And then, as sometimes happens, a gong sounded and everybody seemed to realize at the same time: Early Tecs are hot .... first Robin ... kinda scarce ... I NEED ONE!!

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G.A.tor

G.A.tor

Posted
Posted
One small correction: The 2 1.5s were already listed on eBay. At their asking prices, the books will stay there for the longest.

 

Also, it closed at what I expected it would. ~6k/point book.

 

And finally, the Tan to OW likely will become C/OW if regraded given it was graded yesteryear. I wouldn't be surprised at a resub.

Cgc only designates tan if book is close/borderline to slightly brittle. No way that book comes back cr/ow

 

That's the reason I didn't bid more. Pq scared me.

 

Rick, I know you put a lot of stock into the unverifiable and mercurial "PQ" labeling of CGC, but with all due respect this is simply not true. There are at least 15 different possible "PQ" designations and sub-designations between "light tan to off white " and "slightly brittle", including "tan", "dark tan", and "brown".

 

"Light tan to off white" isn't even close to "brittle" and Peter is right, as there are numerous accounts by boardies (including me) of the "PQ" on a label flipping from "Light Tan" all the way up to "off white" in some instances on resubs.

 

Frankly the book is just looking soft right now as we have seen other GA keys set or approach GPA highs recently with "brittle pages" on the label even.

 

-J.

i simply stated why I didn't bid more on this copy and one reason why the realized price was lower than it would have been had this book of had ow/w pages.
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StingerMcK

StingerMcK

Posted
Posted

And then, as sometimes happens, a gong sounded and everybody seemed to realize at the same time: Early Tecs are hot .... first Robin ... kinda scarce ... I NEED ONE!!

 

All the insanity started last May when this happened for some reason:

 

Tonight a .5 restored (trimmed, with wrong back cover) sold on the Bay for $5,300

 

Then every mess copy came out of the woodwork getting equally high prices. And then came the nicer low grade copies.

 

 

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Filter81

Filter81

Posted
Posted

 

And then, as sometimes happens, a gong sounded and everybody seemed to realize at the same time: Early Tecs are hot .... first Robin ... kinda scarce ... I NEED ONE!!

 

I agree 100%. I think this is the case for a lot of GA keys right now. It was only a few years ago when unrestored copies of Action 7, All Star 8, Captain America 1, Detective 38 etc would sit unsold sometimes for a long time, even when priced pretty fairly. Definitely not the case at the moment though.

 

My theory is Action1/Tec27/Sup1 got out of reach for most collectors. So then collectors started looking at "common" GA keys like Cap1/Bat1/Flash1/AllStar8 or "cover" books like Tec 31/Action7 which all also got out of reach in nice shape for most collectors. So collectors have started looking at the next tier down (1st Aquaman, 1st Robin, 1st Lex Luthor, 1st Justice Society etc) which I think will be the next group to really jump in price. (Except 1st Aquaman which I think jumped too much too fast already and i'd be a little afraid to own right now)

 

Lately it seems like people really don't want to part with any of these books and they are getting harder and harder to replace. Low grade / beat up / restored copies still seem to come to market. But nice presenting, unrestored copies are hitting the market less and less often. As someone who is trying to put together a collection of nice presenting unrestored GA keys, I'm taking a lot closer look at books like Action 23, Tec 38, All Star 3 etc than I would've in the past because getting any unrestored golden age key in nice shape is getting more and more difficult and often there are no Sup 1 / Bat 1 / Cap 1 / Action 7s to buy. So a nice Tec 35 or Tec 38 looks more interesting than it might've in the past.

 

As far as this copy, I view $22,500 as pretty close to the $26k for the other copy. I don't think this sale says much positive or negative about the direction of Tec 38 in general. (If anything, maybe neutral) I would have bid this one to around $22,500 myself but had to bow out earlier due to sales tax. That number would've been $25k if the PQ were better. I don't normally care about PQ much which I think can be pretty subjective when it comes to CR/OW vs OW vs OW/W etc. The exceptions for me are White pages on the one side and light tan or worse on the other. In this case when it says light tan and one corner looks like it could have some brittleness in the scan that's enough that it will start to affect my bid. (If the bottom corner looked a little nicer I might've been more willing to overlook the PQ)

 

 

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lou_fine

lou_fine

Posted
Posted

+1 (thumbs u

 

Very interesting and informative analysis of what is taking place in the hyperactive end of the GA market. Especially when it comes to the early DC super-hero books.

 

Do you believe this is eventually going to cycle through to some of the 2nd tier GA publishers such as the Fawcett and early Fox books, which seems to be the historical pattern in the past? Or are the 2nd and 3rd tier already priced too high to go up any further, except for a few select issues? hm

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StingerMcK

StingerMcK

Posted
Posted (edited)

Whoa. The Heritage copy just sold: $7,000

 

CBCS 7.0 Moderate (A) Off-white pages.

 

"Amateur Restoration Includes: color touch on cover, pieces added to cover, cover & centerfold reinforced, spine split sealed, tear seals, cover cleaned. Bottom of cover & right edge trimmed."

 

Did this book just die on the table, or too much resto/trim and not CGC?

 

Just thinking about the .5 restored that sold for $5K last year.

 

 

Edited by StingerMcK
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G.A.tor

G.A.tor

Posted
Posted
Peter you got that book i know you did your post are way to happy.

 

No I didn't. I will NOT buy CBCS. :banana: cause I'm shopping for a Tec 38.

that copy won't affect the asking out there in the market for cgc copies, restored or ow...
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