GM8

My view on it was the opposite, Heritage seemed to get a premium on the real top-tier books. My opinion changed when I sold my 9.6 there and it sold for $22K less than a book that hammered 2 weeks later at Comic Connect! In looking back at 9.8's only, the price fluctuates at both sites. I can't see a clear advantage.

The last sale I have was 3/20/24 at Comic Connect for $120,000 which would mean this most recent 4/4/24 sale of the 9.8 for $126K was a 5% increase. For the 9.4, the last sale I have was on 11/19/23 at Heritage also for $22.2K (OW/W pages), which translates to a 8% bump from the most recent sale of $24K above. Although you could argue W pages is probably worth the difference. For the 9.6, my most recent sale was also 11/19/23 (also Heritage) for $38.4K, which would translate to a decline in our most recent sale of $37.2 of 3.1%. Prices seem to be stabilizing with these small movements percentage-wise.

A couple more high-grade TMNT #1 sales ended yesterday at CC. Most notable was this $120K sale of a 9.8 SS with Kevin Eastman's signature from 2022 No buyer's premium was noted, so this is a 12K or 9% drop from the previous blue label sale on 1/11/24. There are very few yellow label 9.8's so I compare to the last blue label. This copy is new to my database so it was likely sitting in someone's collection for a while looking nice and new. I have to be honest, I wouldn't have gotten his signature on such a pristine book! It was either daring by the owner or could have been a 5-digit loss had KE accidentally done anything to the book! https://www.comicconnect.com/item/1036280#description This 9.0 sold for $20,367 (including 15% buyer's premium), which is a $2K or 11% increase from the previous sale last year of another blue label on 4/1/23 for $18K. https://www.comicconnect.com/item/946585

Three new books for sale on Heritage. 9.8 - this one last sold for $250K at Comic Connect on 10/13/21 by my records. https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/alternative-underground/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-1-mirage-studios-1984-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/7369-91027.s?type=wantlistid-1008803!creatorid-cewl!linkclicked-lotlink!emailid-03142024-023004.186AM-3119817-1008803!itemid-7369_117004!wlem 9.6 (maybe you can buy this one on the cheap, press and re-submit to CGC? Maybe it's already been done?) https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/alternative-underground/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-1-mirage-studios-1984-cgc-nm-96-white-pages/a/7369-91180.s?type=wantlistid-1008803!creatorid-cewl!linkclicked-lotlink!emailid-03142024-023004.186AM-3119817-1008803!itemid-7369_101013!wlem 9.4 https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/alternative-underground/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-1-mirage-studios-1984-cgc-nm-94-white-pages/a/7369-91181.s?type=wantlistid-1008803!creatorid-cewl!linkclicked-lotlink!emailid-03142024-023004.186AM-3119817-1008803!itemid-7369_101013!wlem

A new listing on Comic Link for a 9.8, this one SN 0950071001 listed for sale for $159,900. This copy has a LOT of sales history. It last sold by my records back in 2018 for $38K on Heritage. Previous to that it sold on 4/1/16 for $27K on Comic Connect (with a possible quick re-sale on ebay for $24k although that one is sketchy because of the seller's "nick_bridger" history with bogus sales). There were more previous sales, but just know that this copy has been the hot-potato of 9.8's! https://www.comiclink.com/itemdetail.asp?back=%2Fsearch_adv.asp%3Fall%3Dy%26TITLE%3Dteenage%2Bmutant%2Bninja%2Bturtles%26TITLEOPT%3DALL%26ISSUE%3D1%26Condition%3D%26ConditionTo%3D%26CensusRank%3D%26SearchPageQuality%3D%26Pedigree%3D%26PRICEF%3D%26PRICET%3D%26DESCRIPTION%3D%26DESCRIPTIONOPT%3DALL%26SearchRemarks%3D%26SearchCGC%3D%26EXCLUDE%3D%26CATEGORIES%3D-1%26WCATEGORIES%3D-1%26SORT%3DNEW%26_where_forsale%3Dy%26_where_auctions%3Dy%26x%3D47%26y%3D18%26where_forsale%3Dy&id=1708517

Let's revisit this next year or even 2025.

Heritage auction closed at $120K (w buyers premium). I happened to log in to the live auction feed as it was happening. The last price was at $90K, then it jumped to $100K and then at $110 with no further bids. The total price with buyers premium was listed as this happened at $132K, however in checking the listing afterwards it settled at $120K. Not sure the change. Could have meant the final bidder didn't commit/failed to commit and they took the second-to-last-bid (more likely), or they lowered the buyer's premium (less likely). https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/alternative-underground/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-1-mirage-studios-1984-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/7341-91040.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515 Either way, a large step back in value for this book. Seeing as I have one myself I am not happy with the current market of course. A 50%+ pullback in price from the top of $250K on 10/13/2021 is significant.

Interestingly, the CC copy was allowing offers previous to the auction and the highest was ~$150K with a "buy it now" price of $200K. All the drama and $5,250 extra.

this was my book: https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/alternative-underground/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-1-mirage-studios-1984-cgc-nm-96-white-pages/a/7242-91047.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515 To be transparent, there is/was the possibility of listing another high-end book that went along with this. Which likely provided more flexibility to me, fee-wise. I was miffed however, because another 9.6 sold on Comic Connect almost right after for somewhere in the 70-80K range (I'm traveling and don't have access to my DB).

No, the buyer's premium (total price) was 66K, not higher. Similar to this one, the total price was $192K. The seller received whatever their arrangement with Heritage was minus the fee. In my case it was the 17%. https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/alternative-underground/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-1-signed-copy-mirage-studios-1984-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/7274-91029.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

A few years ago. Now that I think of it, I did negotiate the fee to be waived due to the price of the book. A nice problem to have.

That sounds high. I sold a 9.6 through Heritage and it hammered at 66K. My cut was 55K, so 11K in fees or 17% of the full hammer price.

I wasn't sure of your comment so I checked my database of TMNT #1 1st prints for sales of 9.8's only. You may be correct, there appears to be a discount to selling on Clink versus Heritage and Comic Connect, at least for the 9.8 grade. Here are a few examples: Heritage: 11/21/19 $52.8K Clink: 12/5/19 $50K CConnect: 4/30/20 $59K Clink: 7/7/20 $58K Clink: 12/9/21 $198K CConnect: 12/14/21 $231K

Exactly. Someone had something either heavy or abrasive on the case. Not smart. It's a simple but stressful fix. Reholder to CGC but with loads of insurance and painful wait until its back safe.

The ComicLink 9.8 last sold on Heritage for $192K just over a year ago on 6/16/2022. The ComicConnect is a first time on the public market that I can see from my database. I think the ratio of 9.8 to 9.6 is not a negative for values. The overall # has grown but the numbers are still very small relatively.