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Silver Surfer 4 CGC 9.8 white

Started by Aces,

109 posts in this topic

whomerjay

whomerjay

Posted
Posted

How much does fear of SCS keep the bidding on such a book constrained? If it was in my hands and I could see absence of SCS and no slab tampering, I would come up with the $7K. Prob no 9.9's will emerge so I don't see one losing money on this.

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tth2

tth2

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Prob no 9.9's will emerge so I don't see one losing money on this.

But a bunch more 9.8s could emerge, which would make the uniqueness of a 9.8 less unique, and therefore potentially impacting its value. But I like 9.8s for their aesthetic perfection too, so if you can, you should go for it.

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sfilosa

sfilosa

Posted
Posted

Quote:

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Prob no 9.9's will emerge so I don't see one losing money on this.

 

 

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But a bunch more 9.8s could emerge, which would make the uniqueness of a 9.8 less unique, and therefore potentially impacting its value. But I like 9.8s for their aesthetic perfection too, so if you can, you should go for it.

 

Always a tough call.

 

The first thing is to check the census and see how many 9.6's there are.With 5 9.8's and 13 9.6's, it seems that most likely one or two of the 9.6's might be upgradable (through a plain resubmit or pressing) to become 9.8's.

 

To me, 5 already seems like a high number for 9.8's that are SA.

 

Just my opinion.

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Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer

Posted
Posted
How much does fear of SCS keep the bidding on such a book constrained? If it was in my hands and I could see absence of SCS and no slab tampering, I would come up with the $7K. Prob no 9.9's will emerge so I don't see one losing money on this.

 

Hard to lose when you arguably have one of the most famous covers of all-time. cloud9.gif

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whomerjay

whomerjay

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Remember years ago when Van Gogh's "Irises" fetched a record price much greater than before, and people argued whether it was worth it? Many said absolutely, because the winner had established the new price, and this painting could now be considered the #1 painting in the world.

 

There's a limit of course, and many would just like a nice copy and not be obsessed with owning the "best", but just like many argue you can't go by the book with HG GA, same argument applies here. Different set of factors determining value on this book. It's a tough a sell at 7K, so the owner is clearly into finding out the limit.

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whomerjay

whomerjay

Posted
Posted
Prob no 9.9's will emerge so I don't see one losing money on this.

But a bunch more 9.8s could emerge, which would make the uniqueness of a 9.8 less unique, and therefore potentially impacting its value. But I like 9.8s for their aesthetic perfection too, so if you can, you should go for it.

With White pages, it would take a 9.9 to top it. If another 9.8 WP exists, then you might argue which book has better QP, presents better.

 

Not sure what shrunken's issue is, whether he disagrees that a 9.9 is unlikely, either because there may be plenty more out there or he doesn't trust the grading system (with pressing or favoritism). Certainly if a 9.9 emerged (and I owned this 9.8) I'd jump on the conspiracy bandwagon here, because at least with moderns I think any difference between 9.8 and 9.9 reflects the graders' mood and nothing objective.

 

My feeling is that this book is not easy to find without at least some kind of spine crease due to the square format, and the loss of color somewhere occurs easily with this book.

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shrunkenhead

shrunkenhead

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My ton of bricks was meant to comment on the assumption that "you can't lose money" spending $7000 on a 9.8 that is a common book in nice shape (though admittedly not 9.8 shape). Seems to me the likelihood of losing money is very high indeed, far more likely than if you bought a shortbox full of copies of this book in F/VF at half guide or something. But hey, it's just my opinion. If someone's got that kinda spare change, then go to. Let's just say I wouldn't break my piggy bank on something like this.

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sfilosa

sfilosa

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Quote:

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I think any difference between 9.8 and 9.9 reflects the graders' mood and nothing objective.

 

 

 

 

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This is generally my opinion of the difference between a 9.6 and a 9.8 as well.

 

 

 

There is (or better yet, should be) a difference between every grade.

 

But as I pointed out many times, even if grading was purely scientific, there would only be miniscule difference between a top 9.6 and low 9.8.

 

It might be that a 1/64" stress line makes the book 9.8, but if that line becomes 1/32" it drops down to a 9.6.

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october

october

Posted
Posted
Quote:

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I think any difference between 9.8 and 9.9 reflects the graders' mood and nothing objective.

 

 

 

 

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This is generally my opinion of the difference between a 9.6 and a 9.8 as well.

 

 

 

There is (or better yet, should be) a difference between every grade.

 

But as I pointed out many times, even if grading was purely scientific, there would only be miniscule difference between a top 9.6 and low 9.8.

 

It might be that a 1/64" stress line makes the book 9.8, but if that line becomes 1/32" it drops down to a 9.6.

 

When people start debating a difference of 1/32 of an inch, and its effect on grade, it's time to take a step back and realize that difference IS NO DIFFERENCE. screwy.gif Seriously, paying thousands more for a "9.8" is just stupid. Yes, I said it, stupid. Time for a wakeup call. 9.6s and 9.8s are in the same shape. There is no difference, there never has been a difference, and there never will be a difference. Why pay more for the illusion of higher quality? It's label chasing at it's most obscene. If you cracked out that 9.8 and a few 9.6s and put them in a row, I doubt anyone would be able to pick out the "best" book. Not only that, if they were re-subbed, I would bet my bank account they wouldn't get the same grades as before. The high grade label chase is so monumentally stupid I would laugh if it wasn't so sad.

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shrunkenhead

shrunkenhead

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I've come to the same conclusion, which is why I'm selling off my 9.8s. At this point I only have two left, and one is about to go (the witching hour #13 on ebay). Luckily, I've at least broken even on every 9.8 I've sold, though the WH13 might force me to take a little loss. But I'm ok with that.

 

A couple years back, and before my lurking on these boards, there was a time when I---like so many out there---believed that a 9.8 truly was "better" than a 9.6. I had been out of comics for awhile, and the grading system had changed so much that I figured it was me who needed to play catchup and accept the new rules. I was getting this nagging feeling about it all, but still continued to buy 9.8s when I could afford them. I bought my last one a little under a year ago, and finally had an awakening of sorts.

 

Now, of course, I think a bit differently, and basically consider a 9.8 distinction (or 9.9 or 10.0 for that matter) to be little more than a way to grant common books the illusion of scarcity. It's a fantastic business tool, essentially. I'm even a little skeptical about the 9.6 distinction...I tend to believe that 9.4 should be the cutoff (but hey, I acknowledge that I don't make the rules), though I'm not yet freaking out about it to the point where I'm selling my 9.6s. But who knows, that day may come, too.

 

So that's why I think buying a book like this SS#4 is a terrible decision, because I don't consider myself a genius and eventually more people will come to the conclusion I have come to, solely through experience with books of this type.

 

That may not be the world's greatest advertisment for anyone planning to snipe my WH#13, but that's honestly how I feel. confused-smiley-013.gif

 

And not that I expect to change anyone's minds, either. People are going to believe what they want to believe.

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skybolt

skybolt

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The only 9.8 book I've spent more than $200 on is X-Men #137. For the most part I will not pay multiples of guide for HG books unless I think the raw FMV will reach this amount in 5 to 10 years. I don't want to solely rely on CGC's success to stay in business for many more years, to value my collection.

 

For instance, I own 4 copies of ASM #300 in 9.6 condition that I purchased for around $200 each. I figure that if in 10 years the book's NM value doubles to $160, then I can probably still sell the books raw for over guide since they look really nice. I can't say the same for a 9.8 graded copy of that book, which currently sells for $550. It'll take another 50 years for the SS #4 to reach $7K in raw NM condition.

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