Patriot6 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 5 minutes ago, n2wdw said: That's something I like about the cover. Betty's belt, the pearls, the edging along the collar. Also Archie's polka dot bow tie and the yellow stripes across Reggie's sweater. You've got the love triangle going on, with Veronica making eyes at Reggie, and Archie throwing shade at his rival. So much going on in this cover! The only thing missing is Jug beneath the tree ramming burgers down his throat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 (edited) Here are some other under-appreciated but great Betty and Veronica covers I've been looking for a nice copy of B&V 42 for a few years now. It's impossible to find a copy where Betty's back bow is all black; instead you always see it with the white sprinkles. I've always through B&V Annual 7 is similar to the B&V 41. Which, by the way, I like better than B&V 40 (40 certainly isn't under-appreciated, it's one of the Archie classics, but I include it here for comparison). Edited November 29, 2018 by n2wdw Mr. Lodge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot6 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 6 minutes ago, n2wdw said: Here are some other under-appreciated but great Betty and Veronica covers I've been looking for a nice copy of B&V 42 for a few years now. It's impossible to find a copy where Betty's back bow is all black; instead you always see it with the white sprinkles. I've always through B&V Annual 7 is similar to the B&V 41. Which, by the way, I like better than B&V 40 (40 certainly isn't under-appreciated, it's one of the Archie classics, but I include it here for comparison). Very nice books. I'm a sucker for the Christmas Stocking issues. Tough to find the early ones in decent shape. That B&V 40 is great. I know most people think the opposite, but personally I'm not a big 40 fan, I like the 41 better. I see what you mean about the annual, I am going to have to pull my B&V box now and see what I have in there! I'm a Ronnie fan.... One thing I've also always loved about the Archie titles which ties in with GGA art, is the girls that always appear in the background. It isn't always just B&V!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 5 minutes ago, Patriot6 said: I'm a Ronnie fan.... Do you mean Jugs? I assume you've seen the new Archie TV series? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot6 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 19 minutes ago, n2wdw said: I've been looking for a nice copy of B&V 42 for a few years now. Youl'' find that there are certain issues, odd issues you wouldn't expect, in Archie world that will elude you forever and ever. Case and point: Have been looking for a long time for one that tops this. I've seen some that have been close, but dull in colour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot6 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 1 minute ago, n2wdw said: I assume you've seen the new Archie TV series? Yes, I watch it with the wife. I get a little upset sometimes on how they twist the characters, but it's good television! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot6 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 23 minutes ago, n2wdw said: If I don't already have this, I want it now archiecomicscollector 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 30, 2018 Author Share Posted November 30, 2018 ComicLink November 2018 I really wanted this Spirit section last night. But it closed at $1827! Wow! My high bid was only $600 so I greatly undervalued this. This certainly shows you the multiplier effect of a high grade. I did have one win last night, Venus 3. I got it for $425. I was also bidding for Venus 8 CGC 7.0. It closed strong at $1100, more than double my max bid (again showing the power of a higher grade). I have no regrets over missing out on 8, though, as I like the cover of 3 better. bc, sagii, STORMSHADOW_80 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted December 1, 2018 Author Share Posted December 1, 2018 (edited) Big football weekend! And it's raining outside so I have no excuse but to sit on the sofa and watch TV. I've got something good going in the crook pot so food is just steps away. And I've got a lot of auctions closing this weekend. On top of that, VCC is going on. So it'll be a couch potato weekend of football and comics. The weekend started out right when I won this on eBay a few minutes ago: Edited December 1, 2018 by n2wdw bc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted December 1, 2018 Author Share Posted December 1, 2018 Earlier this week I smoked a big slab of prime rib for dinner. I used the leftovers in the crook pot, with some beans I soaked in water overnight. I love throwing stuff in the crock pot and seeing what happens after a few hours. That's probably why I love smoking meat so much. You go low and slow all day and then you see what happens. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 (edited) New Stuff on the Spinner Rack (Issue 1) Here are some recent pickups. I got this issue of Comedy from 1957 with some great Bill Ward art and a photo of Bettie Page on the back cover: And speaking of Bettie Page, I got this cover of Just Teasing by Dave Stevens, that Dave both signed and had some handwritten notes. Edited December 9, 2018 by n2wdw Dreamtoreal1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamtoreal1 Posted December 18, 2018 Share Posted December 18, 2018 good stuff! Are you coming to Yorba Linda next month? We are doing a meetup with golden age collectors the day before Saturday 26th in Placentia (near Yorba Linda) szucchini 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted December 22, 2018 Author Share Posted December 22, 2018 On 12/18/2018 at 6:37 PM, Dreamtoreal1 said: good stuff! Are you coming to Yorba Linda next month? We are doing a meetup with golden age collectors the day before Saturday 26th in Placentia (near Yorba Linda) Yes, I'm going to be there. I'm not sure if I can be at the meetup as I'll be with wife and daughter, but let me know and I'll try to make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted December 24, 2018 Author Share Posted December 24, 2018 (edited) Results of CGC Crossover Service To recap, you send non-CGC books to CGC for regrading and re-slabbing in CGC cases. If they stay the same grade or go up, you pay half the regular grading price. If they go down, you pay only $10. I sent in 16 books. 11 were PGX and 5 were CBCS. 2 books were modern, a few were silver, most were gold. Let me first say that the crossover service is fast. I got the pre-screening results about a week after CGC got my books. And it took less than a month to get the books back. And this included pressing and restoration removal for a few of the books. I think a big part of the speed was I picked Standard service. An advantage of this was Standard includes pre-screening. To be honest, I didn't mean to pick Standard -- usually I go with Modern or Value. I made a mistake when I filled out the form. This screw-up on my part greatly increased my cost. Here's a list of the Crossover service prices (which is half the regular price): Modern: $12 Value: $16.20 Economy: $22.80 Standard: $32.50 (Also, again, if the grade goes down the price is $10 across all tiers.) Of the 11 PGX books I sent in, 5 went down in grade, 2 up, and 4 stayed the same. I think this supports the general notion that PGX over-grades. But it's not all black and white with PGX, since 6 of the 11 books either went up or stayed the same. Of the 5 CBCS books I sent in, 2 went down, 1 went up and 3 stayed the same. All the CBCS books I sent in were gold. This also supports my view that the grading standards of CBCS are about the same as CGC. Edited January 5, 2019 by n2wdw bc, badback83 and jimjum12 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 2018 Year In Review - Matt Baker One of my collecting goals is to get a copy of every comic where Baker did the cover. There are 298 such Baker covers, according to my list (which is constantly evolving). I managed to pick up a few Baker covers in 2018, despite the rising prices for Matt. Prices are definitely higher now for Baker compared to just 1-2 years ago. As of the end of 2018, I have 166 Baker covers. I still need 132 (many of which I have never seen for sale). The average price I've paid is $169. The most I have ever paid is $2352 (for GCE 12). The least I've paid is $4 (for a reprint -- Haunted Horror 31). Here are some of the Bakers I picked up in 2018. I hope to get as many Bakers in 2019, but I doubt it given the rising prices. In fact, I'm thinking I'll never complete this collecting goal. It only gets harder, right? I feel like I've gotten all the easy ones. Many Bakers are so rare that when they do come up for sale, you have to roll out the Brinks truck to have a chance at them. I'm 56 now and probably have maybe another 9 years (at most) before I retire. Once I retire, I'll probably be back to picking through the dollar boxes (which by the way is tons of fun). Will I be able to pick up those last 132 Bakers in the next 9 years? Hmmmm, not sure. I may have to live vicariously through others. szucchini and telerites 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot6 Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 43 minutes ago, n2wdw said: Hmmmm, not sure. You can do it!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 All nice Baker grabs Mike. That TAR #12 is a pretty tough one I think. I seems to me that Bakers in low grades have leveled out a bit especially on the more common stuff. Might be the way to go if you want to get complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPark Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 I'd be curious to see that list... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 On 12/24/2018 at 2:23 PM, n2wdw said: Results of CGC Crossover Service Of the 5 CBCS books I sent in, 2 went down and 3 stayed the same. All the CBCS books I sent in were gold. This also supports my view that the grading standards of CBCS are about the same as CGC. If anything, CBCS might be a little tougher, but this is a small sample size. Why do you suppose CBCS might be a little tougher when CGC downgraded 40% of your submission of CBCS graded books? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telerites Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 On 12/24/2018 at 2:23 PM, n2wdw said: Of the 5 CBCS books I sent in, 2 went down and 3 stayed the same. All the CBCS books I sent in were gold. This also supports my view that the grading standards of CBCS are about the same as CGC. If anything, CBCS might be a little tougher, but this is a small sample size. What does the comparison of grader notes look like? I believe CBCS provides free notes and since you subbed to CGC, you have access to the notes. Just curious how the detected defects compare. And also what about PQ - stay the same? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...