Are prices still climbing or have they eased up a bit??? 43 43

[valiantman]

On 8/26/2021 at 11:02 AM, Amazing Cider-Man said:

Can't argue that. The thing is, a 9.8 isn't perfect and books like that Surfer are worthy. It's more about elevating other books to that next level. The odds of receiving a worthy 9.9 should vastly improve on an uncirculated book that came out on Wednesday.

The odds do improve, particularly if the materials used are high quality.  40% of CGC graded copies of Batman: Damned #1 (2018) are CGC 9.9 or higher.  That was 60% at CGC 9.9 or higher in the first month after the book was released.

The main problem with CGC 9.9 and CGC 10 is that the printing process isn't exact.  There's usually some flaw in printing/folding/cutting/stapling/sliding/stacking/boxing at high speeds that is evident on the book, even the moment the ink dries.  The process itself doesn't make perfect books, and they usually get worse as time passes.

Edited August 26, 2021 by valiantman

[alexgross.com]

On 8/26/2021 at 5:27 AM, Rezin1234 said:

While I agree prices have softened it seems as though books that had a meteoric rise have retreated a bit. Books that didn’t explode but saw nice gains from beginning of the year haven’t really had much of a drop if at all. 
 

also it seems as Bronze Age is where most of the pain presently is. 
 

lastly I think part of the problem with the 181s that closed were they were all? Or mostly all ow/w pages. At 9.0 or above a lot of buyers only want white pages. 

hard agree. i’m in the market for another copy around 9.0 and would never buy anything less than WP. they always cost more. 

[piper]

Prices don't seem to particularly have softed for early SA Marvel.  Maybe XM1?

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:35 PM, alexgross.com said:

hard agree. i’m in the market for another copy around 9.0 and would never buy anything less than WP. they always cost more. 

I agree but I would just say that the centering (which is often an issue on Hulk 181s) was really good on the 9.6 OW/W that just sold.  In theory there should be some collectors giving more weight to that and willing to forgive the page quality.

[WolverineX]

On 8/26/2021 at 3:23 PM, piper said:

Prices don't seem to particularly have softed for early SA Marvel.  Maybe XM1?

Yeah that book was bound to soften after the huge rise... the other books are starting to grow

[Amazing Cider-Man]

On 8/26/2021 at 11:32 AM, valiantman said:

The odds do improve, particularly if the materials used are high quality.  40% of CGC graded copies of Batman: Damned #1 (2018) are CGC 9.9 or higher.  That was 60% at CGC 9.9 or higher in the first month after the book was released.

The main problem with CGC 9.9 and CGC 10 is that the printing process isn't exact.  There's usually some flaw in printing/folding/cutting/stapling/sliding/stacking/boxing at high speeds that is evident on the book, even the moment the ink dries.  The process itself doesn't make perfect books, and they usually get worse as time passes.

After Batman Damned I seriously thought we'd start to see more 9.9's. I get your points and I think we're basically on the same page. I would add that just like a 9.8, a 9.9 still leaves us room for perfection with that elusive 10 spot. Do we really need 2 unicorns?

I can't disagree about the printing process because I don't have any personal experience but even if publishers, despite modern technology, still managed to account for a significant percentage of imperfections, we're talking about an industry that pumps out millions upon millions of books each year.The law of averages alone should give us more 9.9's. Does CGC put printing flaws in the graders notes for a 9.8? Are there actually millions of 9.8's out there with that distinction in the grader's notes? .

[valiantman]

On 8/26/2021 at 3:35 PM, Amazing Cider-Man said:

After Batman Damned I seriously thought we'd start to see more 9.9's. I get your points and I think we're basically on the same page. I would add that just like a 9.8, a 9.9 still leaves us room for perfection with that elusive 10 spot. Do we really need 2 unicorns?

I can't disagree about the printing process because I don't have any personal experience but even if publishers, despite modern technology, still managed to account for a significant percentage of imperfections, we're talking about an industry that pumps out millions upon millions of books each year. The law of averages alone should give us more 9.9's. Does CGC put printing flaws in the graders notes for a 9.8? Are there actually millions of 9.8's out there with that distinction in the grader's notes? .

I don't believe CGC includes grader notes (very often) for 9.8. 

CGC 9.9 and 10 are unicorns, most likely because the books are scrutinized so heavily that fingerprints are likely to downgrade a book. 

While the law of averages might say there should be "more 9.9s", the tiny number of people using gloves would say "nope, it's about right".  

[Amazing Cider-Man]

On 8/26/2021 at 3:58 PM, valiantman said:

I don't believe CGC includes grader notes (very often) for 9.8. 

CGC 9.9 and 10 are unicorns, most likely because the books are scrutinized so heavily that fingerprints are likely to downgrade a book. 

While the law of averages might say there should be "more 9.9s", the tiny number of people using gloves would say "nope, it's about right".  

Exactly! They basically grade without impunity!

Maybe if they actually wore gloves there would be more 9.9's out there..

 

 

[jcjames]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:33 PM, Amazing Cider-Man said:

Exactly! They basically grade without impunity!

Maybe if they actually wore gloves there would be more 9.9's out there..

 

 

He keeps his hands flat on the table like he's about to do a magic trick 

[Amazing Cider-Man]

On 8/26/2021 at 6:47 PM, jcjames said:

He keeps his hands flat on the table like he's about to do a magic trick 

Yep... he's about to make someone's hopes disappear!

[lou_fine]

On 8/26/2021 at 8:59 AM, drbanner said:

Of course, Lou never misses the chance to drop a deuce on CGC, "label chasers" (i.e. CGC's customers), money-makers, supporting industries, etc.,. 

The Silver Surfer 4 in 9.8 is an amazing collectible, wish it was mine. 

To tell you the honest truth, I absolutely love the Silver Surfer run of books and in particular, those first several early 25 cents giant size issues.  

Was looking with interest at the auction result for this one here to see how close it would get to the $90K price point that the Heritage 9.8 copy managed to get back in June.  Close relative to other prior sales results, but no cigar which was actually not surprising at all, as it came in at $67K which I feel is still a pretty strong confirming sales result for this late classic cover SA book here. 

The thing that I found rather interesting when I checked earlier today is that the GoCollect website indicates that the FMV for a CGC 9.8 copy of this book is set right at this $90K price point.  Especially since there has only been one single solitary sale at this price point with all other Universal sales in this grade down in the teens or lower, albeit from very recent prior years.  So, I guess when it comes to determining FMV from GoCollect's POV, one sale does indeed make a market.  Probably makes the CL buyer today feel like they got themselves a steal of a deal at only $67K.  

Since TMNT 1 kind of took this same path in 2019 with their astounding $90K sale in Heritage (hmmm.....wonder who the buyer was) from prior sales in only the low to mid $30K price point, let's hope the Surfer 4 follows the same path forwards.  If I remember correctly, this $90K sale was then folllowed up by some subsequent sales in the $50K price range before moving into the $60K level (right before the HA $90K copy was flipped out in a very low profile non-auction sale for $59K ), and yet now the TMNT 1 book in 9.8 is at something like $240K today.  

So yes, since Silver Surfer 4 in 9.8 or any HG condition as a matter of fact is an amazing collectible, I also hope it can follow this same path and approach this quarter million mark going forward.    

Edited August 27, 2021 by lou_fine

[Domo Arigato]

DC Comics Presents #26 seems to be doing pretty good.

I've got a CGC 9.6........and the last four sales in August went for......$1,025.....$1020.......$850.......and $915.

In May it was going for $400 - $670

And in June it was going for $480 - $650

High sale was at the end of July for $1100

 

[aardvark88]

ASM 361 direct sales copy Cgc 9.9 (1 of 3?) hammered at $52k on cLink. Wonder if Goldin bought it for the flip.

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 8/27/2021 at 9:40 PM, aardvark88 said:

ASM 361 direct sales copy Cgc 9.9 (1 of 3?) hammered at $52k on cLink. Wonder if Goldin bought it for the flip.

Thanks for the heads up (I don't follow auction houses but starting to think I should)

I wouldn't have known 

[MetalPSI]

Xmen 12 has softened a lot since the start of the year, although most copies sold recently have not been white pages

[SkyJuice]

Star wars #1 9.8 have soften abit from 6K to about 4K based on CL's auction. Good time to grab one if you are still looking for it.

[lou_fine]

On 8/27/2021 at 7:40 PM, aardvark88 said:

ASM 361 direct sales copy Cgc 9.9 (1 of 3?) hammered at $52k on cLink. Wonder if Goldin bought it for the flip.

All I can say here is that somebody must really believe that the graders are billion dollar robots and grading is an exact science, as opposed to the fact that grading is done by a human being and is really nothing more than just a subjective opinion (albeit a so-call expert one) at the time a book crosses a grader's table. 

As such, the first and pretty much only thing I see here is how fugly off-center this book is, especially since it is supposedly a CGC 9.9 graded copy that just sold for $52K:      :

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Damazing%2Bspider%2Dman%2B361%26ItemType%3DCB%26CGC%3DYES%23Item_1503402&id=1503402&itemType=0#detail

 

In fact, so off-center to the point that if I had seen this copy on the shelves of the LCS when it first came out, I sure as heck would have flipped right past it or have drove to another comic shop in order to find a copy that wasn't off-centered at all.    

Edited August 28, 2021 by lou_fine

[waaaghboss]

On 8/28/2021 at 12:52 AM, lou_fine said:

All I can say here is that somebody must really believe that the graders are billion dollar robots and grading is an exact science, as opposed to the fact that grading is done by a human being and is really nothing more than just a subjective opinion (albeit a so-call expert one) at the time a book crosses a grader's table. 

As such, the first and pretty much only thing I see here is how fugly off-center this book is, especially since it is supposedly a CGC 9.9 graded copy that just sold for $52K:      :

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Damazing%2Bspider%2Dman%2B361%26ItemType%3DCB%26CGC%3DYES%23Item_1503402&id=1503402&itemType=0#detail

 

In fact, so off-center to the point that if I had seen this copy on the shelves of the LCS when it first came out, I sure as heck would have flipped right past it or have drove to another comic shop in order to find a copy that wasn't off-centered at all.    

Weird how with cards, centering is super important, while with comics it doesn't even seem to matter.  

[Mutie Fan]

On 8/28/2021 at 3:48 AM, waaaghboss said:

Weird how with cards, centering is super important, while with comics it doesn't even seem to matter.  

Centering doesn't appear to matter much CGC, but I absolutely take centering/miswrap into consideration when purchasing a book. It's part of the overall presentation and eye appeal of the book.  

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

On 8/25/2021 at 11:16 AM, classicaaron said:

that silver surfer doesnt look anything like a 9.8 either.  pedigrees are always graded generously. i dont understand the concept.  just because its the nicest copy out there doesnt mean it gets a 9.8. so what if the highest copy of something that exists is 9.0.  it is what it is. its why ill never pay a surcharge just because its slabbed.

I was thinking the same thing.