Roger66

TALES OF SUSPENSE #57 4.0 OW - per PM - thank you

I would say it is around a 2.5 or Good Plus-plus. It should get a CGC blue label as this is doodling not restoration (from what I can discern in your photos). It is a fairly common Silver Age key, with a lot of copies both raw & graded just sitting on eBay now. If it were my copy - I would not spend the time & money grading it but keep it raw and look to trade it. My best guess without looking up current prices now is it could be worth around $500 to the right person, who doesn't mind the cover markings, as this remains a very popular key for good reason. If you are looking to sell it online - then grading it might be the way to go and the front cover here has very nice gloss and deep colors too - which is preferable.

X Men 12 VG Take per PM

Honestly you should also post the interior sides of both covers. Interior cover tanning even slight is a knock on the grade, which is why you can never judge a comic grade-wise by its' covers alone. My 2 cents. Roger

Fantastic Four 48 & 52 VG - I will take both per PM too

I agree a great book to own and it presents well no matter the assigned CGC grade. You can argue it lands as a 2.0 but I don't see a press helping this one iota and would be curious to see the final grade if the owner submits it. I still think 1.5 if not 1.8 but we are splitting hairs at this point with CGC being the final arbiter here (so to speak).

In my humble opinion this would never get a 3.0 as indicated above (unless you submit to PGX) - let alone is this a 2.5. A safe bet with all that cumulative wear & tear mainly showing on the FC - is a nice presenting CGC 1.5.

Awesome stuff and as always thanks for the heads up!

Take ASM 129

Which is what makes the final sales price on this ugly copy still impressive because to many a keen-nuanced collector that book is worth a chunk less.

Faded covers are simply a big knock if not a $ drag on a final auction price and GPA does not and cannot have an asterisk next to the sales' data noting "ugly copy." When you only focus on GPA recent sales of big keys like X1 without having a fuller picture by doing your due diligence in finding the actual sale - you are often doing yourself an injustice whether as a buyer or a seller because value is very often about eye-appeal with comics not just the technical grade assigned. I, for example, loathe faded covers on fairly common keys and would never bid on one for my PC. My 2-cents.

Iron Man #55, VG/VG+ - per PM - thanks

Per our PMs - took TEC359

Regret worked out well for me in some respects. When I parted with a few of my treasured childhood SA & Bronze age keys some years back via a CL auction - it just fueled my subsequent desire with a vengeance to acquire those keys back & more but in multiples. So 'regret' worked out well in the end but I remind myself unless you are King Tut everything we value and possess in life has to be let go at some point before we turn to dust .

I am unaware of CGC giving out blue labels with staple replacement . I imagine the only way to get a blue label on this book (assuming no restoration and conservation) is to remove the staples and get a blue detached cover grade. If I am wrong - I'd like to know.

Those notes IMO are fair for a 7.5. It could also be a candidate for a press too in which case you might hit an 8.0+. There is IMO a world of difference between looking at a comic through a case vs holding it raw in hand in order to carefully determine what issues and deficits it has. It is also possible if you cracked this out and resubmitted it 'as is' it could come back an 8.0 or maybe even a 7.0 - as grading despite the uber-professionals involved has a subjectiveness to it. What you also might be 'missing' is experience born of time and trials.

My #1 Rule of Thumb for the past decade is I don't buy "expensive" comics raw or graded from 3rd parties I cannot verify or have verified. Throughout the years I have passed up on what were solid deals wherein for example a Seller was offering me a Hulk #1 CGC 2.0 or AF15 raw, early Actions etc. - because my intuition was something is not right here and that was often after exchanging phone #s, talking on the phone and seeking references etc. - I even looked up one Seller and saw he had been arrested and there was an article on him online. I believe many a victimized buyer is too eager to make a deal because he is concerned that the book(s) will be gone in the morning and those alarm bells in his head are muted. I didn't read most of the posts here but all I can say is this - know your prospective sellers on expensive books, feel comfortable without undue pressure when making deals and don't mute your intuition.

Is your intention to resell or just keep for your P.C.? Personally I would leave that beautiful interior alone. I wouldn't even grade it but store it properly and if the staples are in tight - I might find myself reading it once every 6 months. I personally believe adding a cover to it - even if an original cover (and esp. not a faux-reprint cover) detracts from the fact that it would then be married. So my verdict is leave it alone and enjoy this historical interior 'as is.'

Thund'a #1 - take per PM - thanks

Exactly why I try and always have at least one raw copy of some of my SA keys. It is nice being able to thumb through a lower grade FF48, AC252, TOS52, ASM50 etc - I guess if I was a dealer or an on-line seller I might need to entomb them all but I am much more of a collector.

Well said. Right now someone in Dubai paid 30 million for a yacht and a guy in France is paying 15 million for an abandoned castle and no one is commenting on that esp. considering an average boat or home costs a lot less. Action 1 is not a comic any longer - it simply is an iconic historical treasure - the true holy grail in comicdom (next to TEC27) There is no wow factor here for me - it simply is the Mona Lisa, the Honus Wagner, the Magna Carta, the Crown Jewels etc - thus it should command millions and will only grow over time. as the uber rich can afford to own it over and over while the masses remain jaw slackened & wide-eyed .

1.5 lean down... I am not sure anything you can do to this book is truly worth the labor as the value shouldn't fluctuate much if at all if you simply leave it "as is." I find these low grade but still attractive keys, which aren't worth as much as the iconic ones - have more intrinsic value to collectors left raw and "as is." They make great readers and also IMO are not worth entombing. Regardless enjoy and have fun with it.

Dale - Received my book super-fast and I love it. thank you!

Fantastic Four 52 VG+ (great seller btw) - per PM

Romantic Marriage #24 per pm 🥰