BATMAN 181 9.8 On Heritage 9.8? Small crease and case debris $50K 2 2

[aokartman]

I am not trying to harm someone's sale.  It is already way high, and the consignor will

be pleased.

But, I would like to

hear collectors' opinions about the 9.8 Poison Ivy book currently

at auction.  Best, David

Edited November 16, 2020 by aokartman
text

[LDarkseid1]

The case debris would honestly probably bother me more though than that 1 centimeter crease on the bottom right corner. I assume that’s what you’re referencing. I mean I definitely agree eventual owner will be pleased and it’s deserving of its grade. That small piece sort of dangling off the edge would probably bother me the most lol.

[comicdonna]

I think that debris is part of the comic.  

[bpc3qh]

Fwiw I'd much rather have the 9.2 Pennyworth book that's coming to auction in January--I think it looks better than the 9.8, and will of course go for a lot less than the 60,000 the 9.8 is already at.

[LDarkseid1]

38 minutes ago, comicdonna said:

I think that debris is part of the comic.  

If you mean what I circled yeah it definitely is. I don’t know if the OP meant other debris though.

[LDarkseid1]

38 minutes ago, bpc3qh said:

Fwiw I'd much rather have the 9.2 Pennyworth book that's coming to auction in January--I think it looks better than the 9.8, and will of course go for a lot less than the 60,000 the 9.8 is already at.

I personally think the 9.8 is for sure nicer, but that 9.2 is definitely gorgeous for the grade. I suspect the slight foxing on the top of the back, which may be affecting the interior had something to do with the grade.

[Mmehdy]

2 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

The case debris would honestly probably bother me more though than that 1 centimeter crease on the bottom right corner. I assume that’s what you’re referencing. I mean I definitely agree eventual owner will be pleased and it’s deserving of its grade. That small piece sort of dangling off the edge would probably bother me the most lol.

WOW nice catch......and the corner looks a little bent.......9.8?  

[LDarkseid1]

7 minutes ago, Mmehdy said:

WOW nice catch......and the corner looks a little bent.......9.8?  

Yeah I mean everything else looks pretty gorgeous so I really think the grade is fine/appropriate. Also is it possible the dangling flake happened later on, maybe. I’d lean towards unlikely, but maybe. 

[kimik]

Looks like the bottom right corner damage could have happened in the slab, unfortunately. It is still a gorgeous copy.

[Artboy99]

10 minutes ago, kimik said:

Looks like the bottom right corner damage could have happened in the slab, unfortunately. It is still a gorgeous copy.

I agree, after slabbing damage

[alexgross.com]

buy the grade, not the book! that seems to be the thinking with 9.8 books, and certainly with the rare 9.9 and 10s. it's insane to me when a book such as this can appear better in 9.4. 

i don't beleive that the method of encapsulating is solid enough to keep perfect books perfect. i've seen too much slab-caused damage. i would never buy a 9.8 because of this. 

[kimik]

25 minutes ago, www.alexgross.com said:

buy the grade, not the book! that seems to be the thinking with 9.8 books, and certainly with the rare 9.9 and 10s. it's insane to me when a book such as this can appear better in 9.4. 

i don't beleive that the method of encapsulating is solid enough to keep perfect books perfect. i've seen too much slab-caused damage. i would never buy a 9.8 because of this. 

Agreed. I like 9.4s personally as the market is less fickle if you need to sell.

[LDarkseid1]

Seems to be selling pretty solidly. Now up to $81K with the buyers premium. This could break $100K.

[comicdonna]

That's just crazy.  

[LDarkseid1]

3 hours ago, comicdonna said:

That's just crazy.  

I mean is it though? In a world where Batman 171 CGC 9.6 (highest graded of 4 copies) sold for $41K at auction not long ago and that’s 1st “SA” Riddler, not even his first true appearance. Is it really tough to believe the first “ever” true appearance of Poison Ivy in 181, and in a grade of only 3 available could sell for this much? On top of that and from I can tell, a 9.8 of 181 has not ever even come up for sale at auction or in general. I think people are bidding on something super rare, so it’s busting the price into another stratosphere. So personally, I’m not surprised. I’ll admit it’s a massive amount, but I can understand it.

[MR SigS]

I think it's crazy. Especially with the BP.

[bluechip]

21 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

I mean is it though? In a world where Batman 171 CGC 9.6 (highest graded of 4 copies) sold for $41K at auction not long ago and that’s 1st “SA” Riddler, not even his first true appearance. Is it really tough to believe the first “ever” true appearance of Poison Ivy in 181, and in a grade of only 3 available could sell for this much? On top of that and from I can tell, a 9.8 of 181 has not ever even come up for sale at auction or in general. I think people are bidding on something super rare, so it’s busting the price into another stratosphere. So personally, I’m not surprised. I’ll admit it’s a massive amount, but I can understand it.

Even though I never sought out information about that book over the years, I remember seeing plenty of high grade copies and saw evidence of a warehouse find of uncirculated copies in comic packs.  The ones I saw looked as perfect as this one (at least so far as I could tell looking at them through the plastic bag).   So that plus the fact this came out during the very height of the Batman TV phenomenon when copies were printed in huge runs and saved by countless fans, there's more than ample reason to believe that the book itself is very common and that there are more than enough similar condition copies in existence that the "existing supply" (as opposed to the "currently on the market supply") exceeds the long-term demand for that price.     If you want and need it today and the money doesn't matter and life is short so get it now, fine.  But if you're thinking it will forever and always be as "unique" as it seems today, you shouldn't.

[LDarkseid1]

39 minutes ago, bluechip said:

Even though I never sought out information about that book over the years, I remember seeing plenty of high grade copies and saw evidence of a warehouse find of uncirculated copies in comic packs.  The ones I saw looked as perfect as this one (at least so far as I could tell looking at them through the plastic bag).   So that plus the fact this came out during the very height of the Batman TV phenomenon when copies were printed in huge runs and saved by countless fans, there's more than ample reason to believe that the book itself is very common and that there are more than enough similar condition copies in existence that the "existing supply" (as opposed to the "currently on the market supply") exceeds the long-term demand for that price.     If you want and need it today and the money doesn't matter and life is short so get it now, fine.  But if you're thinking it will forever and always be as "unique" as it seems today, you shouldn't.

Hey, you find me a bunch of 9.8’s of Batman 181, or even a 9.8 that’s ever sold and I’ll believe ya. And I get what you’re saying that there’s been a bunch of high grade sales, but there’s still going to be a massive difference between a graded 9.4, graded 9.6, or high grade raw.

[bpc3qh]

1 hour ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Hey, you find me a bunch of 9.8’s of Batman 181, or even a 9.8 that’s ever sold and I’ll believe ya. And I get what you’re saying that there’s been a bunch of high grade sales, but there’s still going to be a massive difference between a graded 9.4, graded 9.6, or high grade raw.

There are only 3 9.8s in the census, and another 7 9.6s, and the highest grade sold before this book is a 9.8 which sold in 2014. I think it's pretty clear that there aren't a huge number of ultra high-grade copies lying around; if there were, more would've been submitted by now.

By comparison: Batman 189 has 7 9.8s and 20 9.6s in the census.

Edited November 19, 2020 by bpc3qh

[LDarkseid1]

26 minutes ago, bpc3qh said:

There are only 3 9.8s in the census, and another 7 9.6s, and the highest grade sold before this book is a 9.8 which sold in 2014. I think it's pretty clear that there aren't a huge number of ultra high-grade copies lying around; if there were, more would've been submitted by now.

By comparison: Batman 189 has 7 9.8s and 20 9.6s in the census.

Where did the 9.8 sell in 2014? I couldn’t find that.