• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Heritage's Next Event Auction has started posting books !
31 31

Started by Gotham Kid,

8,079 posts in this topic

jimbo_7071

jimbo_7071

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/3/2022 at 1:12 AM, tth2 said:

lol Bitter much?

Not at all, actually. My interest in narcissists initially had nothing to do with collecting; I learned about them for other reasons. But now that I know what makes them tick, it's easy to understand why the highest-graded game is the perfect lure for them.

Maybe someone who's been around longer than I have could tell me whether there was any sense of competition among collectors prior to numerical grading; I'd be curious to know. If there was, then there must have been some narcissistic collectors in the hobby even back then. A narcissist probably wouldn't be interested in any hobby that lacked a competitive element. (I've listened to the Comic Zone Radio interview with Jay Maybruck; he was obviously a narcissist, but he was a dealer.)

I've been collecting since 1984, but I really never interacted with other collectors until I joined the boards in 2012. I had never seen anyone else's collection or shown my collection to anyone outside my family. I never approached collecting as something competitive in nature; it had never occurred to me that other collectors might.

Edited by jimbo_7071
Link to comment
Share on other sites
lou_fine

lou_fine

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/2/2022 at 3:47 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

but the guys who must have the highest graded copy—even if it means paying ten times what the second-highest graded copy costs, even if the highest graded copy is very softly graded, even if the highest-graded copy doesn't have the best eye appeal or the nicest pages—are grandiose narcissists.

Would you by any chance be referring to buyers of books such as the CGC 9.6 graded Promise Collection copy of Phantom Lady 17 which sold for something like $456K, while the CGC 9.4 graded copy of PL 17 from the Phantom Lady Collection sold for a piddly $121K when many boardies here thought the Phantom Lady copy actually presented nicer than the Promise Collection copy?  hm  (:

I thought it was a case of these buyers having an inferiority complex and being totally insecure in their own opinions and eyesight and needing the soothing warmth of somebody else's judgement and approval before they feel it's safe to go ahead and place their bid.  lol

Seriously though, I am sure it's really a case of to each their own.  Personally, from my own POV which I am sure most others here would not agree with, I would much rather bid on a book with a lower technical grade that presents nicely, as opposed to a book with a higher technical grade that does not present quite as nicely in comparison.  (thumbsu

Everybody collects in their own way and to me, it's all good as long as you are happy doing what you are doing and enjoying your purchases.  :)

Edited by lou_fine
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jimbo_7071

jimbo_7071

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/3/2022 at 3:06 AM, lou_fine said:

Would you by any chance be referring to buyers of books such as the CGC 9.6 graded Promise Collection copy of Phantom Lady 17 which sold for something like $456K, while the CGC 9.4 graded copy of PL 17 from the Phantom Lady Collection sold for a piddly $121K when many boardies here thought the Phantom Lady copy actually presented nicer than the Promise Collection copy?  hm  (:

I thought it was a case of these buyers having an inferiority complex and being totally insecure in their own opinions and eyesight and needing the soothing warmth of somebody else's judgement and approval before they feel it's safe to go ahead and place their bid.  I am sure it's a case of to each their own, but personally from my own POV which I am sure most others here would not agree with, I would much rather bid on a book with a lower technical grade that presents nicely, as opposed to a book with a higher technical grade that does not present quite as nice in comparison.  (thumbsu

To me, it's all good as long as you are happy doing what you are doing and enjoying your purchases.  :)

I wasn't thinking of any particular book, but that's a good example. A narcissist would prefer the book with the highest grade even if most collectors would rather own the other copy. The narcissist would have no self awareness, though; he would immediately dismiss any claims that the other book was a nicer copy as "sour grapes" because that's the way narcissists think (and nothing you or I could say to them would ever change that; a narcissist would immediately devalue our opinions).

Sometimes the highest-graded copy is also the nicest known copy, of course, but sometimes it isn't because CGC has chosen to de-emphasize certain flaws, such bindery defects, below-average color strikes, and page quality. Grading isn't perfectly consistent from one grader to the next or one day to the next, either; it certainly isn't consistent enough to justify the huge price differences between highest-graded copies and second-highest-graded copies—until you understand how narcissism intersects with collecting, and then those huge prices differences make perfect sense.

I'm with you in terms of which copies I like best; I look at the page quality first and the eye appeal second. The technical grade is a distant third for me, but I do use it to determine how much I'm willing to pay because I know that the grade is primarily what determines the price in the market.

Edited by jimbo_7071
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Professor K

Professor K

Posted
Posted (edited)

I find it odd that CGC doesn't seem to consider writing on a book's cover into the grade. I'm not sure that they don't, or to what degree they do, but it just seems to me it has little to no bearing on the given grade. That Mary Marvel is a perfect example, unless without the writing it would have gotten a 9.9 or 10.0......

Also lets say they don't consider the actual ink on the book. But some people press down hard on paper when writing. I wonder if they consider indentation from the writing instrument if there is any, and I would think in most cases there must be at least some.

Edited by Professor K
spelling correction
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jimbo_7071

jimbo_7071

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

OK, this one's perplexing. The name Jean is written in the speech bubble, AND someone (probably Jean) drew diagonal lines through the 10¢ price with pen, and the book still got a 9.8. Does anyone else find that odd?

On 4/3/2022 at 4:08 PM, Professor K said:

I find it odd that CGC doesn't seem to consider writing on a book's cover into the grade. I'm not sure that they don't, or to what degree they do, but it just seems to me it has little to no bearing on the given grade. That Mary Marvel is a perfect example, unless without the writing it would have gotten a 9.9 or 10.0......

Also lets say they don't consider the actual ink on the book. But some people press down hard on paper when writing. I wonder if they consider indentation from the writing instrument if there is any, and I would think in most cases there must be at least some.

I wouldn't even call the drawing of lines through the "10¢" writing; I'd call it doodling. I don't think I've ever seen a book with doodling on the cover get a 9.8 or even a 9.6.

MaryMarvel14.PNG

Edited by jimbo_7071
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Popular Post
october

october

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted
On 4/3/2022 at 11:48 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

OK, this one's perplexing. The name Jean is written in the speech bubble, AND someone (probably Jean) drew diagonal lines through the 10¢ price with pen, and the book still got a 9.8. Does anyone else find that odd?

 

MaryMarvel14.PNG

Makes zero sense, but that's fine. Relying on CGC's opinion for everything is not a great move. Best to develop one's own opinions on grade and appeal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
On 4/4/2022 at 6:11 AM, october said:

Makes zero sense, but that's fine. Relying on CGC's opinion for everything is not a great move. Best to develop one's own opinions on grade and appeal.

And then complain endlessly about CGC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lou_fine

lou_fine

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/3/2022 at 7:44 PM, Gotham Kid said:

Wow ! FF 1 9.2 hit 1 Mil also ... :whatthe:

Well, look like prices are continuing to go ballistics on the GA and SA keys, while some sense of sanity is starting to return to the newer books, as evident by this sale here:  :devil:

On 4/1/2022 at 11:37 PM, Microchip said:

 

image.thumb.png.0ba67b2cfb98c668ed423c3ae22ad2f3.png

 

Sold only for a piddly $32K and a big drop down from the $44K for the Transformers 1 and the $40,005 for DC Comics Presents 26.  :tonofbricks:  lol

Edited by lou_fine
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Professor K

Professor K

Posted
Posted
On 4/4/2022 at 3:06 AM, comicnoir said:

Not in a 9.2. Now 9.6 is another question.

The current Cap 1 is a 9.4. I don't think there are any 9.6's. So not in a 9.4. Now 9.8 is another question. 

I think the sole 9.8 would have a good shot of hitting 3.6 million.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
On 4/4/2022 at 3:06 PM, comicnoir said:
On 4/4/2022 at 2:31 PM, tth2 said:

No.

Not in a 9.2. Now 9.6 is another question.

There are so many different books being discussed, I think everyone's lost track of which book we're talking about! lol

I thought the question I was answering was whether the 9.4 Captain America 1 currently on Heritage will break $3.6m, in which case my emphatic answer is no.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lou_fine

lou_fine

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/3/2022 at 11:14 PM, Gotham Kid said:

I tried twice to bid on the book but my 50c bid kept being rejected (shrug) 

Oh, the end must be near because wasn't you offering a whole $5 for the DC Comics Presents 26 only a few short weeks ago, but now only 50c for the Thor 337?  :tonofbricks:   lol

Edited by lou_fine
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
31 31
Go to topic listing