Alzabar

It looks like the exhibitor list is available. I see CGC Grading listed as an exhibitor. It would be great if they were taking submissions. Anyone know for sure? Al

I think we can all agree that it is a great book. I will definitely do whatever it takes to win it. I didn't know how I would pay for it, but then I realized that the answer was right there on the book itself ... American Seeds! When I win the book, I'll just put it on my credit card. Once I have the book in hand I will crack it out, cut the coupons (one goes to my buddy who will give me a 10% cut of whatever he sells) and before the end of April I should have enough to pay off the credit card bill. You have to admit that this is prime seed selling season. The only thing that I'm not sure about, and I would like your input on is whether I should get: a) All Flower Seeds b) All Vegetable Seeds c) Mixed Vegetable and Flower Seeds Thanks for your help. Al.

OK, how about this. Are any boardies planning to attend? Any dealers on the boards attending? I think the last time I went was in 2006. It used to be a good show for comics. How has it been more recently?

Hi, Does anyone have information on the dealers/exhibitors who will be attending this year? Thank you. Al

Got an email today from Heritage that said that the April 7-10 auction will be "Our final Signature auction of the Promise Collection." When I search Promise on Heritage I find that they have sold 2601 books from the collection and have a further 630 at auction now or coming up soon. That's a little over 3200 books. I thought the collection numbered about 5000 books. Can none of the last 1800 books warrant being in a Signature Auction? Thoughts?

Is there a list of exhibitors available? Thank you.

This thread has made me think about the several times I have attended SDCC and also the times I did deals with John Verzyl (R.I.P.) I first went to SDCC in 1994. On the top of my want list along with an X-Men #2 was a comic from the 1930's. I just wanted a book that old. I ended up with a copy of Detective Comics #19. It was a choice between that and a Tec 15. I remember that the dealer even pointed out the Action Comics ad. Looking back I can't believe I chose the 19, but if I remember correctly the 19 presented better and the 15 was more expensive. I was back at SDCC a year later and my interests had changed and this time one of the books on my list was a Batman 11. I found a really nice restored copy at Four Color Comics and traded the Detective 19 and some cash for it. My next SDCC was in 1998. This was just before CGC, the growth of the auction houses and the many many movies. I think it was probably the best year I can remember for actually finding the comics that were on my want list. At that time I was really into later issues of Flash Comics (86-104) and I was less keen on having restored books in my collection. Enter John Verzyl. He really was a great guy. A great raconteur, honest, fair, and smart. I think I had shopped the Batman 11 around a bit and there wasn't much interest. I found a nice copy of Flash Comics #100 at John's booth. When we started talking about a deal I brought out the Batman 11. I expected him to pass, but he was interested and we worked out a deal and I had my Flash #100. I attended SDCC in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and most recently in 2010. I always had a good time but over the year I found that I was able to find fewer and fewer books that I wanted and as everyone knows the costs went up and up and it became more and more difficult to get tickets. I have never had to go through the current system to get tickets, but it doesn't sound pleasant. When I did go, I would always stop at John's booth to see what he had. He always remembered me. Among the the many things he talked about, the one thing that sticks in my mind was him telling me about the value of Mile High books. He made the argument that given their great state of preservation when the collection was discovered if they were stored well they would hold up over time better than a non Mile Highs even in a similar grade. He also explained how he priced his Mile High based on multiples of NM guide. I can't remember the multiples but it increased depending on whether the book was 9.2, 9.4, 9.4 or 9.8. I think the last book from John at SDCC wasn't a Mile High, but it is one of my favorites. I think I got this in 2010 and by then as now, my main interest is Wonder Woman. Here it is:

I think that if the Church Timely books do come to auction through Heritage they would probably do something like what has been done with prominent coin collection like the Gardner collection that Heritage auctioned or the D. Brent Pogue collection that Stacks/Sotheby's did. The books would be spread out over a series of auctions as opposed to being all in one auction. There might be reserves on some of the major books just as there were on some of the Pogue coins. I'm sure it would be marketed as the John Verzyl collection of Mile High Timely Comics.

How about this: 1) List the book on the boards. Set whatever price you want (?$12,995.) See if you get any interest or offers. If it sells, then you avoid any fees. 2) If the book doesn't sell here, then check out the auction houses as Moondog suggests (great advice on how to deal with the auction houses.)

According to the census there are 163 other copies in 4.0. It seems likely to me that you could find another one for less than $35K. That said it is not a book that I follow closely, so maybe that is where the market is now.

It was a nice 4.0, but is $35K a bit high for an AF 15?

My impression is that Heritage is working to further set itself apart from the comic auction competition with things like the first Platinum Night and auctioneers who are celebrities in the antiques world. I don't think that this will make any difference for the core comic collecting community, but it might be an attempt to lure collectors from other categories into the game. I do agree that with the really important books (e.g All-Star 8) something should be said about how wonderful the book is.

Nicholas Dawes of Antiques Roadshow fame. I'm noticing a theme here.

The auctioneer is Elyse Luray. She's been on History Detectives on PBS. Do you think she is getting lower final prices than someone like Barry who might talk more (and maybe know more) about the books?

I have often wondered what other people think the key issues are in the Sensation Comics run. The ones that come to mind immediately are: #1 - for obvious reasons #2 - First Etta Candy #6 - first lasso #13 - Bowling pins cover #68 - first Huntress (although not in the Wonder Woman story) # 94 - First "all girl" issue Any others? A related question is what are the "classic" covers. Two of my favorites are: #26 and #35