High Grade find from 1965!

[Dick Pontoon]

Old Guy nailed it: popcorn, dogs and ponies!

 

[rob_react]

Do you know what a truly NM copy of ASM 28 would go for on the open market?

 

A scary number of thousands.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

See, I leave the hobby for a mere month, and I come back to this:

 

I graded according to what the books came from the press with because that is the only subjective way to grade the books. If you grade from some other point of view, then you may be trying to grade off a book that never existed.

 

Really dude, what the heck does this mean? Were you there in 1965 as these books came off the press? So, how would you know how they appeared when they were printed and what defects came from handling afterwards?

 

Trying to understand this is making my head hurt. Too bad, because the story is otherwise intriguing.

[codfish]

1. Many of the books you have pictured are NOT NM and your explanantion of what you deem to be NM does not jibe with the most accepted definitions of NM. I can't imagine that you didn't get flac for holding such grading standards when you were in business ... or was that one of the reasons your store(s) went out of business?

 

I would class you in the grading ability of Joe Krolik. A local dealer here that owns the business Comics America (formerly Styx). His grading and selling policies are so far from reality it amazing he is still in business. I only buy the odd new and newer back issues off him because those are the only books worth while purchasing.

 

2. Your shipping price to the US is terrible. You must be wrapping the books in gold leaf for that. As for your Canadian shipping price ..... it is a total an utter rip off. I just purchased a nice Golden Age book from the US and you know what the shipping was? $3. I had a book shipped via Fex Ex that was CGC graded and carefully packaged in bubble wrap in a sturdy box. That was also probably $10-15 dollars.

 

You prices make Neatstuff collectibles look like bargain shippers.

 

3. I frankly don't appreciate sellers that come on here and snarkily blow off suggestion that are intended to make your selling not only a better experience but more profitable. It really concerns me when I see sellers so blaise their buyer's concerns.

 

There was thread here where a ebay seller with a nearly 10000 positive feedback rating was outed as manipulating scans to make his books look better. While his responses were a bit ignorant he still made the decision to stop his scan cropping. You what? he will probably get more business and better prices for represting his product properly than selling people books that are not true representations of what the prson is getting.

 

4. I still scan.

 

5. If you want to consider this an attack the so be it. All I can tell you is that if I had stumbled across your ebay listings would not have bid on them anyway because you claim the books to be more than they are and your shipping is just not reasonable in the slightest.

[comicdonna]

See, I leave the hobby for a mere month, and I come back to this:

 

I graded according to what the books came from the press with because that is the only subjective way to grade the books. If you grade from some other point of view, then you may be trying to grade off a book that never existed.

 

Really dude, what the heck does this mean? Were you there in 1965 as these books came off the press? So, how would you know how they appeared when they were printed and what defects came from handling afterwards?

 

Trying to understand this is making my head hurt. Too bad, because the story is otherwise intriguing.

It made my head hurt as well.

I feel sorry for all SA collecting board members.

If I had these books, I would have made you all proud.

[Team America-migration]

I think this guy is better off sticking to leading out into the countryside to grind up the ecosystem with his gas-guzzling off road insufficiently_thoughtful_person-mobiles! Yeah! You show em' Corey! Don't quit the day job! Whoohoo!

 

Question....do you guys all carry hand pistols when you ride out to shoot squirrels?

 

 

 

The Bad Bad Badlands! Whooooohoo!

[Anfield Fox]

I just sent this ASAQ

 

Hi Corey. Congratulations on your find. Im from the CGC boards. Do you know when the auctions will be altered as to include pictures of the actual book i will get depending on which lot i bid on? To help you organise i would recommend placing the books in Mylars and putting a post-it-note with a number and have the same corresponding number in each auction description. That should help you keep up to date and not get them confused and for myself personally I will pay a premium knowing that what I bid on will be what I get. I would also recommend wearing latex gloves, especially with the ASM 28 and it’s black cover to avoid finger print marks. Best of luck and I look forward to bidding. Thanks.

 

The only other thing i would say to Corey would be that grading standards have really changed since the mid-ninties. Now with third party grading being the norm, every little detail of a book is inspected and generally speaking a "NM" book from 10 years ago is now considered a "VFN". I do have a problem with you calling the books NM or Mint but so long as you provide front and back scans of the actual issues then i would be able to live with it and make my own mind with regards to the grade.

 

Have a look at http://www.cgccomics.com/grading/ for the CGC system of grading. I'm sure that based on the scans, the majority of the books you have listed fall between 8.0-9.0. Still a great find nonetheless.

[ft88]

These auctions scream to stay far away.

 

1. Bad pictures exagerated grade.

2. The item shown is not the item received

3. "Virgin" find of rare NM/MT books to feed into peoples desire to find a gem.

4. Explanation of grading that leaves huge holes in understanding and reason.

5. The old "I used to own a comic store so I know the business but I don't know the details" routine.

6. Overall obvuscation.

 

It may be that he is on the up and up and is just "getting rid of" some books as fast as possible. He should then assume that the board memebers here know best.

 

Again a great find but my skepticism is also on high. I'll leave the chance taking to others.

[OldGuy]

I'd have opend every single box, and removed any comic that looked like

a 8.0-10.0 and have kept it.

While I sold all the others that was 8.0 and below.

Still would make a very big profit.

 

Really? How much did he pay for them?

[Silvers24]

Well. That was something he never told us.

But I am sure it'll be one of those stories where he paid hardly anything.

And is selling on ebay to gain a profit.

[nearmint]

I picked these up relatively cheap

[Rob]

I don't agree with the poor treatment OBR is getting from some forum members. Not everyone is up to speed with the strict grading standards that we CGC collectors have adhered to in the past 6 years. Here's how I would respond to this post:

 

If you have a run of books that are hit off center are they no longer mint?

That is correct. Some books were printed with printing errors, and should not be considered NM or Mint. It introduces something that is prevalent in coin collecting and not so much with comics: scarcity. If a particular issue is known to have been printed with errors on 99% of the books right out of the chute, then true NM books are worth a premium. If X-Men #1's were printed perfectly, and X-Men #2's were all printed with creases on the bottom right corner, you can't call them both NM, even if they have not been further damaged since 1963.

 

I graded according to what the books came from the press with because that is the only subjective way to grade the books. If you grade from some other point of view, then you may be trying to grade off a book that never existed.

Actually, most collectors will agree that grading according to a perfect standard is the only objective way to grade comics. Otherwise, we'd all be coming up with our own definitions. "This comic is NM, compared to its condition the day I bought it." If it was printed as a VF, then it's only a VF. You're right, it had no chance of being NM. When people buy a NM comic, they want one with no noticeable flaws at all. Not even ones that happened during printing.

 

It cant get better than how it was printed because that will be the determining factor of what the high grade book is.

The determining factor of what a high grade book is, is the perfect book. One that you can look at every square inch with a microscope, and not see a single flaw at all. Very few books are that good. That's why some books have no copies graded better than 9.0. There may only be two copies that exist in true 9.8, and they will sell at an exponential rate compared to a 9.6.

 

Comic collecting has taken a turn since 2000, to a perfection game. Tiny creases that used to be allowed in what most people called "NM" are no longer being accepted.

 

That being said, you have some great books that everyone here would be envious to have found. You will make a ton more money if you posted large pics of the front and backs of each individual comic, and let the buyer determine grade. Saying that each one is NM doesn't differentiate between the 9.2's and 9.6's, which could mean the difference of hundreds of dollars for you...per comic. And by saying "flawless" in the title, it sound like they're all 9.8's, which they are clearly not. Good luck!!

[OldGuy]

I picked these up relatively cheap

 

"Relatively" being the operative word.

[divad]

I picked these up relatively cheap

 

"Relatively" being the operative word.

 

Au contraire, I think "cheap" is the operative word . . .

[MCMiles]

Just to be clear:

 

You are guaranteed to receive the book pictured or a copy in better condition.

You have four of each for sale except the X-men 14 of which you have three.

$9.00 covers USPS boxed insured shipping with extra cardboard and a mylar.

 

Do you accept returns with a refund?

 

[comicdonna]

I agree, with the idea of starting out with a mint copy in grading, and then deduct the flaws down to the actual grade, but if you viewed the thread, and his auctions to its entirety, you know, that theirs some 6.0 to 8.0 books, that he is describing as NM to M

As for the fact about not knowing, forum members have gave him numerous tips. He should know now. It's not like we are talking about someone who knows nothing about comics.

He knows how to make it right. The question is, will he?

[Aces]

Hey all,

I got the heads up on this site from John (Sheradon) so I just thought I would drop by and take a peek. To answer the few questions I saw, the boxes were wrapped in paper and then had a string that held each box tightly shut. Oh and as to the CGC bit, I will be sending in one set of the marvel books and a few of the charlton as well to have them graded, these cgc copies will stay with me, but as to the rest I figured its only fair to get these books out into the market and see what they go for. Its not my intention to try and gouge people for price with a CGC grade, it kind of takes all the fun out of collecting if you cant afford to get anything. I ran a chain of comic stores here in Utah in the early 90s and the one thing I learned is that speculation and taking the fun out of collecting will do nothing but kill the market.

Anyway, if you have any thoughts or questions, let me know and I will do my best to answer.

Thanks!!

 

Hello and Welcome to My Thread

 

I think you are legit but please post a front and back cover scan of the individual comic being sold. Neither myself or others here like bidding on a "stock photo".

[Aces]

This thread has very high potential. I think I'll just kick back and enjoy the dogs and ponies. Carry on!

 

I haven't had a trouble making thread in awhile.

[one_bad_rover-migration]

I don't agree with the poor treatment OBR is getting from some forum members. Not everyone is up to speed with the strict grading standards that we CGC collectors have adhered to in the past 6 years. Here's how I would respond to this post:

 

If you have a run of books that are hit off center are they no longer mint?

That is correct. Some books were printed with printing errors, and should not be considered NM or Mint. It introduces something that is prevalent in coin collecting and not so much with comics: scarcity. If a particular issue is known to have been printed with errors on 99% of the books right out of the chute, then true NM books are worth a premium. If X-Men #1's were printed perfectly, and X-Men #2's were all printed with creases on the bottom right corner, you can't call them both NM, even if they have not been further damaged since 1963.

 

I graded according to what the books came from the press with because that is the only subjective way to grade the books. If you grade from some other point of view, then you may be trying to grade off a book that never existed.

Actually, most collectors will agree that grading according to a perfect standard is the only objective way to grade comics. Otherwise, we'd all be coming up with our own definitions. "This comic is NM, compared to its condition the day I bought it." If it was printed as a VF, then it's only a VF. You're right, it had no chance of being NM. When people buy a NM comic, they want one with no noticeable flaws at all. Not even ones that happened during printing.

 

It cant get better than how it was printed because that will be the determining factor of what the high grade book is.

The determining factor of what a high grade book is, is the perfect book. One that you can look at every square inch with a microscope, and not see a single flaw at all. Very few books are that good. That's why some books have no copies graded better than 9.0. There may only be two copies that exist in true 9.8, and they will sell at an exponential rate compared to a 9.6.

 

Comic collecting has taken a turn since 2000, to a perfection game. Tiny creases that used to be allowed in what most people called "NM" are no longer being accepted.

 

That being said, you have some great books that everyone here would be envious to have found. You will make a ton more money if you posted large pics of the front and backs of each individual comic, and let the buyer determine grade. Saying that each one is NM doesn't differentiate between the 9.2's and 9.6's, which could mean the difference of hundreds of dollars for you...per comic. And by saying "flawless" in the title, it sound like they're all 9.8's, which they are clearly not. Good luck!!

 

Thanks for the advice Rob.. hi res images will be linked to the auctions tonite so that everyone can see exactly what they are getting regardless of my subjective grading. Even so, thanks for being decent about your explanation.

--Corey

[Scheradon]

Hi Corey!

 

Welcome to the boards!

 

I see you've met all the friendly () people here already. Seriously, some may come off a little hostile, but it's out of great love for the hobby (I believe). They really do want to give you good tips and advice.

 

You mentioned you were keeping a sealed box for yourself, but i thought I counted five auctions for your FF #48. You may want to double check that to make sure you didn't list one too many. I'm sure that would be a book you'd want to keep a copy for yourself.

 

If you get some pics going of some of the other books included in the boxes that would be great. You mentioned Fighten Marines...and Fighten Army in there? I remember one of my good childhood friends always had a bunch of those I used to read. Good memories there.

 

Thanks for comming on here and look forward to some more pics!

 

John