n2wdw's Tales of the Comic Book Room 15 15

[skypinkblu]

1 minute ago, BriD. said:

I asked about this after I got the email with the grade predictions. I was told the graders don't have any of the old slab info, similar to the way they get pressed books from ccs but aren't made aware that they were pressed. I guess they compare the grades after they're done. 

[n2wdw]

21 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

It's hard to tell what grade a book is until you take it out of the slab.

I agree.  I guess in a way CGC is trusting the other company's grade to a certain extent.  Because they obviously cannot grade the insides at all while in the slab.

Edited November 10, 2018 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

Food Update

I haven't posted any food pictures in a while, so here we go.

Last weekend we went to Atlanta to visit my daughter who goes to Georgia Tech.  When we visit my daughter always wants to go to the same restaurant, La Grotta.  It's a nice Italian restaurant but what makes it special is black truffles.  You can have them shaved onto any dish.  We stumbled upon this place her freshman year and she fell in love with the taste and texture.  Here are the black truffles all ready to be shaved onto delicious food.

 

I don't know if you're like me, but I always carefully study the menu when I'm at a restaurant (as that's one of the fun parts of going out), but then usually I order the same thing.  At this restaurant, every single time we've gone (I think 4 times now), I've gotten the veal chop with shaved black truffles.  It is amazing!

 

This week, I had to go to SF for work.  One night for dinner, I went to Osso steakhouse.  This restaurant is also known for its seafood, especially their version of San Francisco's ubiquitous hot dungeness crab in garlic sauce.  This dish is really good; one of those dishes so good it should be its own food group.  But I always end up getting the bone-in rib eye steak.  As it turns out, Osso -- the name of the restaurant -- means bone-in, as in bone-in rib eye.  The steak was huge and delicious.  In this picture I should have put my fork, to show scale.  It's really big, I could only eat half.

 

I started the meal with a dry martini.  Lately I've been into the James Bond martini -- 3 measures gin, 1 vodka, half part vermouth.  Actually it's Lillet blanc apéritif which, if you're a fan of the Daniel Craig Bond movies like me, you know isn't really vermouth.  Usually when I order this I just order a Vesper, which has become the name of this James Bond martini.  But many bartenders don't know this, so then I just order a dry gin martini with a splash of vodka.  I'm embarrassed to order it reciting the parts (3 measures gin, 1 vodka, etc.) as then I feel too much like a James Bond geek.  And I've never found any bar stocked with Lillet.

[CKinTO]

21 hours ago, BriD. said:

I asked about this after I got the email with the grade predictions. I was told the graders don't have any of the old slab info, similar to the way they get pressed books from ccs but aren't made aware that they were pressed. I guess they compare the grades after they're done. 

Thanks for the info. I would hope that's the case to maintain the integrity of the grading process, to not have any pre-conceptions / goalposts to start from. That's good to know.

[Robot Man]

22 hours ago, n2wdw said:

Food Update

I haven't posted any food pictures in a while, so here we go.

Last weekend we went to Atlanta to visit my daughter who goes to Georgia Tech.  When we visit my daughter always wants to go to the same restaurant, La Grotta.  It's a nice Italian restaurant but what makes it special is black truffles.  You can have them shaved onto any dish.  We stumbled upon this place her freshman year and she fell in love with the taste and texture.  Here are the black truffles all ready to be shaved onto delicious food.

 

I don't know if you're like me, but I always carefully study the menu when I'm at a restaurant (as that's one of the fun parts of going out), but then usually I order the same thing.  At this restaurant, every single time we've gone (I think 4 times now), I've gotten the veal chop with shaved black truffles.  It is amazing!

 

This week, I had to go to SF for work.  One night for dinner, I went to Osso steakhouse.  This restaurant is also known for its seafood, especially their version of San Francisco's ubiquitous hot dungeness crab in garlic sauce.  This dish is really good; one of those dishes so good it should be its own food group.  But I always end up getting the bone-in rib eye steak.  As it turns out, Osso -- the name of the restaurant -- means bone-in, as in bone-in rib eye.  The steak was huge and delicious.  In this picture I should have put my fork, to show scale.  It's really big, I could only eat half.

 

I started the meal with a dry martini.  Lately I've been into the James Bond martini -- 3 measures gin, 1 vodka, half part vermouth.  Actually it's Lillet blanc apéritif which, if you're a fan of the Daniel Craig Bond movies like me, you know isn't really vermouth.  Usually when I order this I just order a Vesper, which has become the name of this James Bond martini.  But many bartenders don't know this, so then I just order a dry gin martini with a splash of vodka.  I'm embarrassed to order it reciting the parts (3 measures gin, 1 vodka, etc.) as then I feel too much like a James Bond geek.  And I've never found any bar stocked with Lillet.

Man, that rib eye is a masterpiece! You sure know how to eat Mike!

[n2wdw]

Bill Ward Jest Magazine

Recently I bought a copy of Jest from 1960 and it had a wealth of Bill Ward art.  I have a few Ward collections, but there are a few here that I've never seen. 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

Dastardly GGA

Won this pulp on eBay last night.  Let's see, pretty girl tied to the treads of a tank of Nazi-types, about to be crushed.   Definitely dastardly good girl art!

[n2wdw]

I couldn't believe how high this sold for (about a week ago on eBay).  My max bid was $110 and I thought I had a pretty good chance at getting it, depending on who else was looking at the time.  But it closed at $787!    Holy cow.

[1950's war comics]

18 minutes ago, n2wdw said:

But it closed at $787! 

INSANE 

[Patriot6]

n2wdw,

Here's a few questions for you:

How often do you upgrade books in your collection that you value?

If/When you do, how do you manage your under copies? Do you hoard them? Move them along? If so how?

I find I keep building a bigger, better collection, but not bigger in a good way since I end up with triplicates a lot of the time. 

[n2wdw]

35 minutes ago, Patriot6 said:

n2wdw,

Here's a few questions for you:

How often do you upgrade books in your collection that you value?

If/When you do, how do you manage your under copies? Do you hoard them? Move them along? If so how?

I find I keep building a bigger, better collection, but not bigger in a good way since I end up with triplicates a lot of the time. 

I don't often upgrade. Since I have a big want list, I prefer to get more comics than better comics.  Having said that, I have a few under copies.  Someday I'll try to sell them.  I think you have to have the time to do that, what with having to ship stuff and deal with potentially unhappy customers.  Maybe when I retire I'll get into it, and probably then it'll be fun to flip comics.

[Patriot6]

1 hour ago, n2wdw said:

I don't often upgrade. Since I have a big want list, I prefer to get more comics than better comics.  Having said that, I have a few under copies.  Someday I'll try to sell them.  I think you have to have the time to do that, what with having to ship stuff and deal with potentially unhappy customers.  Maybe when I retire I'll get into it, and probably then it'll be fun to flip comics.

Haha, sounds familiar.

[fett]

18 hours ago, n2wdw said:

I couldn't believe how high this sold for (about a week ago on eBay).  My max bid was $110 and I thought I had a pretty good chance at getting it, depending on who else was looking at the time.  But it closed at $787!    Holy cow.

I was watching this one. One of the last ones I need to complete the series, but a little higher grade than I want in auction for scanning.  From the bidding it looks like two people just bid really high to take care of any mid-grade snipers. It is in great shape though too. First one I have seen for sale. 

[fett]

there was another book from the same seller with a Buscema cover that went even higherl Love Diary 31, but it was in way worse shape than the TLS #3

[EdMann2]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 9:32 AM, n2wdw said:

I couldn't believe how high this sold for (about a week ago on eBay).  My max bid was $110 and I thought I had a pretty good chance at getting it, depending on who else was looking at the time.  But it closed at $787!    Holy cow.

I felt the same way - my high bid was around the same place as yours.  These early Charlton romances seem to be a little tough to find, especially in such nice shape, but that final amount blew my mind.  Hopefully I'll stumble across a nice, lowly 2.0 copy for a fraction of the price somewhere along the way....

[n2wdw]

Some recent additions to the comic room ...

[n2wdw]

I wrote about how I lost out on True Life Secrets 3.  My max bid was $110 and it closed at a stunning $787.

The same seller had a couple of other high grade GA comics that closed today.  The first was Broadway Romances 1.  I upped my max bid to $220.  Again I lost as it closed at $260.

 

The final book was Untamed Love 1. The 3 best issues of this title are 1-3.  I already had 2 and 3 and I've been looking for a #1.  So I really wanted this book.  I decided to up my max bid to $400.   In my opinion, Untamed Love 1 is more valuable than True Life Secrets 3, but there's only so much I'm willing to spend, so it if went for $787 (like the True Life Secrets), then so be it.  But as it turns out, I got Untamed for $330. 

In retrospect, I'm happy with what I paid to get Untamed Love.  I wish I was a bit more aggressive with Broadway Romances.  And I'll just have to keep my eyes open for another more reasonable copy of True Life Secrets 3.

Thanks for reading.

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by n2wdw

[jimjum12]

4 minutes ago, n2wdw said:

I wrote about how I lost out on True Life Secrets 3.  My max bid was $110 and it closed at a stunning $787.

The same seller had a couple of other high grade GA comics that closed today.  The first was Broadway Romances 1.  I upped my max bid to $220.  Again I lost as it closed at $260.

 

The final book was Untamed Love 1. The 3 best issues of this title are 1-3.  I already had 2 and 3 and I've been looking for a #1.  So I really wanted this book.  I decided to up my max bid to $400.   In my opinion, Untamed Love 1 is more valuable than True Life Secrets 3, but there's only so much I'm willing to spend, so it if went for $787 (like the True Life Secrets), then so be it.  But as it turns out, I got Untamed for $330. 

In retrospect, I'm happy with what I paid to get Untamed Love.  I wish I was a bit more aggressive with Broadway Romances.  And I'll just have to keep my eyes open for another more reasonable copy of True Life Secrets 3.

Thanks for reading.

 

There's just nothing quite like Bill Ward romance...… IMHO one of the best bargains going right now. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Sqeggs]

On 10/21/2018 at 1:42 PM, n2wdw said:

On 10/13/2018 at 12:27 PM, Robot Man said:

Nice one Mike and so tough. Here is another Baker digest western.

I didn't know about this comic (didn't have it on my Baker list).  Is this an accepted Baker cover?

It didn't make The Art of Glamour checklist, but that guy sure looks like Baker to me.  Either Baker drew the cover, or somebody did a good job of aping his style, or somebody ripped off a panel from one of his St John westerns.  I'm pretty sure I picked up a copy at some point, although I don't seem to have entered into my Baker spreadsheet. 

[Sqeggs]

On 11/9/2018 at 7:39 AM, n2wdw said:

On 11/8/2018 at 8:02 PM, walclark said:

With everything dropping in grade, you’re going to save a ton of money in grading fees.  Good call on the Sheena.

That's exactly my thinking.  With the current crossover promotion, if the grade drops, the re-grading and putting in the CGC slab is only $10.

I've sent off three batches.  The first I dropped off at NYCC.  I think that was within a day or two of when they started offering the service.  For that batch I didn't get the e-mail giving estimates of what the grades might be--they just went ahead and graded them, which is what I expected they would do.  The grades were either at the original grade or a half-point to a point lower and all of the pq was the same as the original pq or worse.

The worst outcome come was a 9.8 White copy of If the Devil Would Talk (1958 edition,) which came back as a 9.4 White, thereby wiping out about two-thirds of its value. 

For the second batch, I did the get e-mails with suggestions about pressing.