Action #1 Sighting on EBAY...it's THAT copy!

[Netmaster-migration]

I agree that it is overgraded by CGC's "so called" standards.

 

But you have to expect a gross exaggeration of the true grade when you take into the consideration the number of Action #1's left.

 

What I mean is, this is the Holy Grail of the Comic Book industry (ugly as or not). You should expect to see an over-grading for this book.

 

That being said, if I could ever possibly afford to buy this book, (short of selling my soul to the Devil . . . then again . . !) I honestly wouldn't care about the condition.

 

Let's be honest (grades aside), everyone that you showed it to would look in awe and you would own the book that most collectors only dream of getting.

 

That's just my opinion.

(ducks for cover and prepares for the stoning)

[Lockjaw]

Yeah, IF I had mad money to burn (of course I do not, I am p**s poor, and want to eventually be an editor...not exactly a mad-money making career), and only if...I would pay a MAX of 27-30 thousand for this particular Action comic...then I would CAREFULLY remove the comic from the CGC holder (not wanting to be reminded of the fact that if the comic were graded accurately, it would be more like at least a 35-40+ thousand mad-money purchase).

 

Before removing the comic from the CGC case, I would make sure to have already purchased a super-duper heavy duty long-time holder that could be hung properly on a wall from a comic supply company like Bill Cole Enterprises (I get all my archival supplies through BCE). That way the "ugly" book would be in an archival frame and I would not have to stare at an accidental (one hopes) over-grade.

 

Since the thought of having this comic on my wall (crud condition or not), would put a smile on my face everytime I looked at the comic...it would be worth the money.

 

Basically, the thrill of owning the book in any condition would over-ride the distaste of the missing cover piece...and psychologically someone like me would enjoy the book in it's present condition. However, seeing the supposed "accurate" grade for this comic stuck at the top of the holder would drive me nuts...so the simple solution out-lined above is to eliminate the label that you would cringe/wince at everytime you looked at the comic by putting it in another quality archival holder (after all, people forget that occasionally people have no problem cracking valuable comics out of ther current slab, to put it in another frameable storage device that is more aesthetically pleasing to their eye).

 

Given that this is the grand-daddy of valuable comics, and its liquidity when you are trying to sell it is helped along by CGC more than anything else (lets face it, raw or slabbed, this book is one of the few that with full disclosure and honest grading COULD sell for guide or close to guide price without needing a CGC label on it), if I were a buyer not looking to flip the book, I would truly be buying the book not the label (hence the reason I would re-frame/re-slab the book with a different comic holder).

 

Okay, I know I probably repeated my point several times in the above post, but I honestly think this exact book could be bought by a buyer who would be very excited to own the book, because they are honestly buying the book not the label.

 

Lets face it, with the exception of the moderns I like to get graded (like the The Outsiders, and Vampirella/Magdalena I sent to get graded along with a couple of old Dell Tom & Jerrys, and a Little Lulu using my CS certificate...no joke, I really sent in two "new" off the rack books along with three books from the 50/60s), and a handful of other relatively modern books (from the last 30 years or so), the CGC label should not add much to the amount most folks would be willing to pay for the comic.

 

I would say this is especially true (the not adding value bit) for valuable Golden Age comic books. As long as most people are buying an incredibly old and valuable comic that is not off on the CGC by more than one to one and a half grades if the book were strictly graded by a roomful of dealers, than the CGC label is really something a high-end collector temporarilly wants to see when buying an old comic to reassure themselves they are not buying a book with restoration.

 

Most people who have been collecting comics for several years understand the realistic resale value of a book like Action comics 1 (in whatever condition the books is in), but they would not dare to make a purchase not knowing if the book was restored or not (or has things like tons of tape holding the interior pages together, etc.). The piece of mind seeing a CGC Blue Universal label on this comic is enough to make a buyer overlook the over-grade (do I need to say it again, yeah I do , because the comic can be safely placed in another storage unit that eliminates the need to grit your teeth everytime you see the CGC label with an obvious over-grade).

 

Major apologies for the long post.

 

Christopher H.

[tb]

When this book first was listed at Heritage's July auction last

year, we had an almost identical thread. I hope CGC has learned

their lesson: such high profile books should serve as benchmarks

for their grading and they blew it big time in this case.