Golden Age Dealer Review #11 - Golden Age Comics (Joe Nacca)

[Shield]

http://www.goldenagecomics.com/

[clarkkentdds]

Has anyone bought books from this guy? How's his grading???

[comicparadox]

I got a half-dozen or so books from him last summer, all listed as VF/NM or better. I had to send 3 back - 2 overgraded (one was only a F+) and one color-touched. The 3 others were absolutely as listed or better (including the 2 he listed as NM which came back as NM 9.4) as confirmed by CGC' s infallable graders. Joe refunded my money, less shipping costs, without question. I'd do business with him again, as he seems very honest.

 

the Comic Paradox website

 

comicparadox@aol.com

[Shield]

I have inquired about 4 individual books, ranging from $200 to $600 A PIECE. He has them priced all well above guide, and all I was looking for was scans for each book.

 

Here's the dialogue between us:

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Shawn

To: joe@goldenagecomics.com

Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2003 1:40 AM

Subject: I was wondering if you still had these books available:

 

 

1 Pep 28 VG-F $265.00

 

1 Pep 33 VG+ $210.00

 

I have 2 beat up copies of these books, so I’m looking for upgrades.

First of all, how is the page quality? I shy away from brittleness. Secondly, any chance you could scan both the front and back covers? Any restoration done to the books? Anything not obvious (tape, glue, etc)..

Lastly, would there be any type of a discount for buying both?

Also, as I’ve never bought from you, what is your return policy in the rare chance I wouldn’t like them?

I see it’s 3% higher paying via credit card. I would be sending a money order.

Thanks,

 

To which he replied:

 

"hi shawn

both are still available. i am in the middle of repricing but those two books will probably not change much if at all. i'm into the letter D so far. i dont scan books but i 'm sending along a couple of pictures you can manipulate somewhat. no brittleness. no obvious restoration on the 28 but the 33 seems to have a small color touchup in the upper left,front cover near the spine. i'm not an expert on restoration. comic looks great to me. no discounts unless someone is buying a whole bunch of books i want to get rid of. not rare stuff. too hard to find again. i've had these two for about 15 years. returns within 10 days of my sending the books out in same condition ,full refund immediately less postage. personal checks are ok, no need to get a money order unless its easier for you. hopefully i covered your questions. i'm primarily a collector & have the online catalog to help me fund my habit. your money will go to a part payt on a timely or some other obscure piece of gold.

thanks for the inquiry

joe"

 

and sent the following pics:

 

 

 

So I replied back, asking for actual scans as these pictures are lousy.

 

He replied back with:

 

hi shawn

when you open the picture i sent ,you should be able to manipulate it using any media software. my computer at home has dell's image maker. my office has a mircosoft product. your scanner software may also help. i cant scan.sorry. i get 2-5 inquiries a day asking for scans. i have 150,000 books in storage. it takes about 15-20 minutes to get to any older books. books over 200 are in a huge safe. 5 minutes to take a picture & respond to an email. 50% of the inquiries never order. this is a hobby, i have to keep down the time. thats why i have a no questions asked return policy. i dont care if the reason you dont like a particular book is because it doent match the color of your room. i dont mind getting the book back. they are getting super hard to replace. the number 28 has a slight dust shadow. they are both very nice books i know you will be happy with. i do have they blue ribbon comics in stock. my catalog is updated as i sell so unless you are asking for a book at the same time someone else is , or i just forgot to record a sale(unusual),its here. that happens usually with marvels & dc's -not very often with golden age stuff.

thanks again,dont worry ,i dislike dealing with speculators but i love true collectors.

best wishes

joe

 

 

 

Now, don't you guys think someone selling books this valuable should be willing to take the time and scan them? Isn't this rather poor business?

 

Shawn

 

 

[fantastic_four]

I believe he answered your question about not sending scans being poor business--he's a collector and he's trying not to make it a business. I don't doubt that a bunch of people don't order from him based upon the scans; I bought from him a few years ago and he can be VERY off on his grading and restoration detection. Bought a "NM" Daredevil #1 when I was still a grading newbie that I now know is only a VF and trimmed to boot. He sent me a few dozen scans of books he called NM back in 2000 which had as many as a dozen color-breaking spine stresses.

 

He appears to have just enough knowledge to be dangerous when he talks about using photo editing software to manipulate the scans; that won't help you very much to use them to discover defects. They'd just have to be scanned at 100dpi or more.

 

However, the guy does have some nice books to offer...I just wish he'd learn to grade tightly since it's a definite gamble to buy from him. He won't sell 9.0 or better books anymore because he's sick of the speculators like he mentioned to you...he'll only accept trades for those.

[Polyphemus]

I recently tried to buy some Wonder Woman from him but he won't sell until he's repriced. I will say this though, he takes returns no questions asked.