Theo Holstein Superman #1 on ebay 0

[zhamlau]

13 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said:

Yep, preduction is Theo's web-store.  Ya gotta give the man credit for chutzpah.  Keep in mind he has 100% positive feedback and over 1300 transactions.  I don't know how many of those are sales, but he must be doing something right to keep the lights on.

He has not had a sale feedback in over a year. What you are seeing is his buying feedback.

[Mmehdy]

His take is probably it only takes "one" to buy....I would not be surprised that he thinks a restored Sup 1 or Action 1 is a better market buy right now in the current market. It appears he thinks the coverless issues are the most undervalued for 2018 so those of you who are on  the fence should go for it if that is your spending limit.. Food for thought if you can buy a  restored copy and possibly reverse the damage. I still think after being here for over 6 years on the boards,  that Cap 1 STILL is the best GA buy out there, restored and even coverless.....along with a coverless Action 1.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Mmehdy

[bluechip]

15 hours ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Restored is always better than "original"?  WTF?

This made me look at the listing, wondering if he really said that, and he didn't.   His prose is unusual, sure, but it's clear that what he means is that the inflated prices for unrestored books makes them less of buy than the restored books, at current prices in the market.  If you look at restoration as simply damage that looks good, then you've got books with a tiny bit of good-looking damage selling at small fractions of the same books with tons of ugly damage. 

 

[Chicago Boy]

Action 1 and Marvel 1 were and still are king it appears. 

[LDarkseid1]

3 minutes ago, Chicago Boy said:

Action 1 and Marvel 1 were and still are king it appears. 

Like in the sense of for DC and for Marvel, or overall and in general?

[Montezuma]

15 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said:

Yep, preduction is Theo's web-store.  Ya gotta give the man credit for chutzpah.  Keep in mind he has 100% positive feedback and over 1300 transactions.  I don't know how many of those are sales, but he must be doing something right to keep the lights on.  My negotiations with him were reasonable and went smoothly, yet others have told me that he's impossible to deal with.  Go figure.

Pricing? Well, if he can get those prices, more power to him.  Mitchell Mehdy has known him over forty years and can probably share more with folks curious about his collecting and business philosophy. 

Only 37 of them are as a seller, including 3 negatives and a neutral. The rest are as a buyer. Neg's fall off the rating after a year, ergo the 100% rating

[Cat-Man_America]

27 minutes ago, Mmehdy said:

His take is probably it only takes "one" to buy... I would not be surprised that he thinks a restored Sup 1 or Action 1 is a better market buy right now in the current market. It appears he thinks the coverless issues are the most undervalued for 2018 so those of you who are on  the fence should go for it if that is your spending limit.. Food for thought if you can buy a  restored copy and possibly reverse the damage. I still think after being here for over 6 years on the boards,  that Cap 1 STILL is the best GA buy out there, restored and even coverless.....along with a coverless Action 1.

This is my impression of Theo's strategy as well.  

It amazes me that I've heard comments from folks who've tried to negotiate with him that he's difficult, if not impossible, to deal with.  That's just the opposite of my experience.  He was entirely professional in our negotiations.  

Of course, your involvement was probably instrumental in moving those negotiations forward, but the conversations I had with Theo during and after striking deals demonstrated to me that he has a savvy awareness of how the hobby works.

While the carnival atmosphere of preduction's highly specialized Fortune Telling machine marketing is totally alien to me, it wouldn't surprise me if his clientele's expectations also fuel Theo's big ticket strategy.  Taking into account the exploitive, over-the-top nature of such a high stakes niche market, everything else about his listings and business model makes a lot more sense.

[Cat-Man_America]

15 minutes ago, Montezuma said:

Only 37 of them are as a seller, including 3 negatives and a neutral. The rest are as a buyer. Neg's fall off the rating after a year, ergo the 100% rating

I haven't kept up with all the moving pieces on eBay's chess-board, but this sounds like a deceptive practice on eBay's part to protect all sellers from negative feedback at the buyer's expense.  Again, I can't criticize Theo for his business practices as my experiences have been quite positive.

[Tri-Color Brian]

1 hour ago, bluechip said:

This made me look at the listing, wondering if he really said that, and he didn't.   His prose is unusual, sure, but it's clear that what he means is that the inflated prices for unrestored books makes them less of buy than the restored books, at current prices in the market.  If you look at restoration as simply damage that looks good, then you've got books with a tiny bit of good-looking damage selling at small fractions of the same books with tons of ugly damage. 

 

OK, so maybe I translated his meaning a little wrong...but this is a weird statement, "Not interested in paying top dollars for unrestored Superman 1 or Action 1 Because they all need to [be] conserved and restored to protect the[m] from decaying into dust."

So, in a sense he IS saying restored and conserved are better, because unrestored are going to decay into dust...

I get the part about not wanting to pay top dollar for unrestored...but to say ALL books need to be conserved or restored is not true...

Edited December 21, 2018 by Tri-ColorBrian

[Montezuma]

Nothing against Theo, I don't know him and never dealt with him. He appears to have a P.T. Barnum style similar the Mile High Chuck. Based on the e-bay feedback I personally would be very careful dealing with him, and it would take something I really wanted to even make me consider it. On the other hand, based on what I've heard over the years, he's most likely a better person than his feedback lets on.

[MrBedrock]

16 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said:

 Ya gotta give the man credit for chutzpah.

Why? Chutzpah means nothing to me if the prices are that out-of-whack. I give the guy credit for being bonkers though.

[Robot Man]

52 minutes ago, Montezuma said:

Nothing against Theo, I don't know him and never dealt with him. He appears to have a P.T. Barnum style similar the Mile High Chuck. Based on the e-bay feedback I personally would be very careful dealing with him, and it would take something I really wanted to even make me consider it. On the other hand, based on what I've heard over the years, he's most likely a better person than his feedback lets on.

I've known Theo like forever. He has a true passion for this hobby and love for it. A real nice guy to talk to as well. He is, and always has been, a bit of a showman. Had a lot of laughs with him. A shrewd guy in his dealings though. Heck he got Mitch to pay $1,800 for an Action #1 at a time when it was worth much less. I have never bought anything from him but sold him a few things. A VERY tough buyer. I hate when he walks up to my booth at a show because I know I'm in for a battle that I will most likely lose. He is very honest and trustworthy though. And man, if you are into original art (especially Barks) and coin op machines, he's got stuff that is blue chip and will make your eyes roll.

This hobby has always been full of "characters" I guess it is what makes it so much fun sometimes. 

[sfcityduck]

Theo is consistent.  He's been quoted in the press saying that Superman 1 was in his opinion the biggest book in the hobby for years.  Made me wonder if he had a high grade copy tucked away.  I still wonder, because this may not be his best copy.

[Mmehdy]

As of 2 years ago he does not have a better copy.. the last one he bought was from HA which was a 5.0 unrestored for around 72k and then sold that copy on C-link for 100k  or so to buy some barks paintings including one for over 200k of Scrooge jumping in the money from ha.com

however I can tell you from day one there were two books besides Superman 1 that are his all time favorites....one is Cap 1 and second is tales of terror annual #1 which had limited distribution. He has always liked Superman 1 better than action 1....his theory is that Superman one contains action 1 plus the separate origin... he has a point... my self I like them both but prefer action 1...

 as far as cover less copies they have been trashed for years until they began to be broken up for pages making them even more difficult to obtain... Action 1 and Tech 27 and Superman 1 cover less still are great buys despite the word getting out.

it might be interesting to see if an unrestored coverless copy could overtake as some point a heavily restored copy in the future....time will tell

 

 

 

 

[woowoo]

3 hours ago, bluechip said:

This made me look at the listing, wondering if he really said that, and he didn't.   His prose is unusual, sure, but it's clear that what he means is that the inflated prices for unrestored books makes them less of buy than the restored books, at current prices in the market.  If you look at restoration as simply damage that looks good, then you've got books with a tiny bit of good-looking damage selling at small fractions of the same books with tons of ugly damage. 

 

[pemart1966]

I've heard more than one person say that it's tougher to find a Superman 1 than it is to find an Action 1.

[Cat-Man_America]

2 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

Why? Chutzpah means nothing to me if the prices are that out-of-whack. I give the guy credit for being bonkers though.

chutz·pah

/ˈho͝otspə,ˈKHo͝otspə/

noun

INFORMAL

1. shameless audacity; impudence.

   synonyms:

   audacity, cheek, guts, nerve, boldness, temerity

    

   This definition seems to describe Theo's approach to pricing pretty well, Richard.  Others can cast stones and perhaps with good cause, but I can only gauge by my own experience in negotiating a fair deal on two grails.  

   I suppose one man's prices outta whack may be another's road to fame and fortune.  Lots of folks think auction house percentages are way outta whack with high fees and state tax collection on top of that, but since this is the new normal who's going to rock the boat over outlier bids when someone gets excited and goes bonkers with a nervous trigger finger on the bid button.

[LDarkseid1]

43 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

I've heard more than one person say that it's tougher to find a Superman 1 than it is to find an Action 1.

I’m selling my coverless Superman 1 in the next ComicLink featured auction. You all are starting to make me second guess myself  

Edited December 22, 2018 by LDarkseid1

[MrBedrock]

9 minutes ago, Cat-Man_America said:

chutz·pah

/ˈho͝otspə,ˈKHo͝otspə/

noun

INFORMAL

1. shameless audacity; impudence.

   synonyms:

   audacity, cheek, guts, nerve, boldness, temerity

    

   This definition seems to describe Theo's approach to pricing pretty well, Richard.  Others can cast stones and perhaps with good cause, but I can only gauge by my own experience in negotiating a fair deal on two grails.  

   I suppose one man's prices outta whack may be another's road to fame and fortune.  Lots of folks think auction house percentages are way outta whack with high fees and state tax collection on top of that, but since this is the new normal who's going to rock the boat over outlier bids when someone gets excited and goes bonkers with a nervous trigger finger on the bid button.

Gosh. Thanks for the definition. I had no idea.

[Mmehdy]

that is great book cover less or not.....Sup 1...

Edited December 22, 2018 by Mmehdy