skybolt

On 1/18/2024 at 5:14 PM, adamstrange said:

I'm thinking you are pretty happy that you didn't sell them all when you down-sized many years ago?

Absolutely! I would say that a majority of these books stayed in my collection due to luck (e.g. potential buyers backing out of deals at the last minute, wanting to wait long enough to break even on some of my favorite covers, etc.). Luckily once the dust settled in 2016 I was able to keep around 20 or so books.  It's interesting that the only book from this picture that I didn't consider selling 10 years ago was the Jo Jo #11 copy (your Church copy is out of this world). I think my reasoning was the book was way undervalued at the time, and still is today. I would even rank it above Jo Jo #25 as the best Jungle themed good girl art cover.

On 1/10/2024 at 6:15 PM, KCOComics said:

Would it be more likely that GA collectors just don't get to the stores anymore? 

I buy a lot of GA books. But I also know any shop within 100 miles of me sells 90% moderns,  a smattering of BA and SA and very little GA. 

I don't bother looking or really even dropping in,  unless my kids want to go. My local guy and I text if he gets anything good. 

I agree with this. When I was collecting golden age good girl art books, if I knew there was an LCS that carried some of them, I would've been a consistent visitor to that store. The only thing I see at the stores I frequent these days are beat up westerns.

On 1/10/2024 at 10:27 AM, 1Cool said:

I disagree with you here.  There is quite a large amount of drop available for big keys especially since a lot have not yet given up all their 2020 - 2022 gains yet.  I don't typically talk much about big key or golden age books since they are outside my wheelhouse but unfortunately everything that commands a high price has room to drop in these type of corrections.

Not sure about golden age prices dropping, since a lot of them didn't even have any sales during the peak of the market.

On 1/9/2024 at 2:30 PM, jimjum12 said:

To say the auction market is oversaturated is an understatement. GOD BLESS ... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

I used to make a small profit pre pandemic by buying high grade minor keys from LCS's for $3 to $5 raw and then selling them for $80 to $100 in 9.8 on eBay. However, once the comic boom hit and the prices for these books got inflated to $200 to $250, everyone and their grandmother started sending their copies to CGC. Once supply started to outpace demand, prices for these type of books dropped to around $50. You are better off purchasing a random book (with low census numbers) from a decent run, and hoping that the handful of collectors that are trying to put a run together will buy it from you. Even with this approach, once other sellers see a random book sell for $150 on eBay, all of a sudden the census numbers increase dramatically and now the book is down to $40 in 9.8. 

On 1/9/2024 at 5:28 PM, mrd160 said:

Here’s another take that may not be that popular here,CGC is technically the victim. What’s happening here is not their fault they have to take responsibility, I get it, but the companies been taking advantage of by a bad actor. That’s not me being a CGC apologist it happens to be a fact

I'll buy that, but at the same time, the victim needs to go hard after the perpetrator (s). 

On 1/9/2024 at 5:26 PM, NewWorldOrder said:

Didn't you just prove my point with some?

Zero chance you can stop micro-trimming consistently with out the help of maybe AI.

I have no proof it is still happening and I hope to God it is not, but there stopping a professional seems impossible unlike this current scandal at the CGC level.

You'd hope that CGC has learned their lesson when it comes to trimming high dollar books. If today they spotted 5 out of a 20 book submission as trimmed, you'd think they'd start looking into the submitter's history for similar occurrences.

On 1/9/2024 at 4:29 PM, BrashL said:

That's a good point, so far as I know no one to this day knows exactly how Ewert got the results he did. That's rocket science compared to what this group was up to.

Not to mention that CGC actually did spot some of the trimming and gave him qualified grades. I just wish they had put 2 and 2 together quicker.

On 1/9/2024 at 12:45 PM, agamoto said:

What's really bad, to me, is that CGC is not telling us they are having feds investigate this fraud. All they want to tell us is they are self-investigating the matter.

This is a potential $1,000,000+ case of good ol' fashioned federal, felony, interstate wire fraud and those guilty of their crimes can end up serving ZERO jail time if evidence of the matter is not gathered and handled in a manner that is admissible in court.

Unfortunately, these type of scams will continue to occur with other shady characters in the future, if CGC does not get law enforcement involved. Just like Ewert, the ramifications for these type of scammers is that hey, we found out what you were doing, so now you have to leave the hobby, but can keep all the money you stole. For CGC, they would much rather incur a few million dollars in losses (via design of new cases and reimbursement of scammed customers), than have this go to court where all the dirty laundry is out on display. A court case could also bring some media coverage to this issue, which they'll avoid like the plague.

On 1/9/2024 at 11:27 AM, mrd160 said:

THE MOST INFAMOUS RUG IN HISTORY.....like a scarlet letter.......

It looks like the old rug at my house that I thankfully replaced with hardwood years ago.

On 1/9/2024 at 10:46 AM, pdags said:

I was thinking about this the other day, but in the opposite direction.    With some of these books being high profile/expensive, what if he sold some to the wrong people.   People have disappeared for less.

I don't wish ill on anyone and want justice to be done... but nothing more.

You know what they say, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

On 1/9/2024 at 8:37 AM, Mikey C said:

This 9.8 was sold on 10/3 via eBay for around $1800. Seems it was the “true” 9.8 that he originally bought in early August for $2200. Wonder why he let it go rather than using it again for another swap. Weird. 

Perhaps the scammer had a finite number of times he wanted to resubmit a certain book as to not draw any suspicion. Losing only a couple of hundred dollars on a resale is not a big deal to him.

On 12/28/2023 at 8:28 PM, trademarkcomics said:

Me too. Mine was received 12/1 and not moving for a couple of weeks, but when they did finally start moving, they moved pretty quickly. 

Interestingly enough, the grades I got on this batch were spot on with what I was expecting.

On 12/28/2023 at 11:34 AM, EastEnd1 said:

Has anyone had newly graded books shipped back to them in the last week or so?  I have a UV submission received 12/21 that doesn't seem to be moving.  Just wondering if they've put a hold on sending books back out for the time being. 

I just had a batch graded and shipped yesterday 

On 12/28/2023 at 8:57 AM, EastEnd1 said:

That strikes me as the most frightening aspect of this whole thing.  If it's that easy to open the slab and reseal it, then EVERY slab (at least of the type demonstrated on in the video), has to be viewed as POTENTIALLY suspect.  That has to be thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of graded books.  

I think CGC should implement random detailed checks on CGC re-holders moving forward, and note this on their website. If the book was found to be tampered with then additional investigation will be conducted internally to check into the submitter's past history and other books submitted at that time. At least this would act as a deterrent for someone trying to pull something similar.

CGC Mike's response was great. The only question I would have is if moving forward will CGC require a book to be regraded if someone wants to add a designation on the label?

On 12/27/2023 at 9:55 PM, VintageComics said:

I don't think so. 

As far as I know, we've covered this already a few days ago. There was an unsubstantiated rumor that the scammer was showing his books off at a show and even that wasn't confirmed. The person that stated it (  @skybolt if I'm not mistaken) it never went back to the video confirm it. Has anyone else?

If you have some proof otherwise, please share it. Post a clip of the video with a link to the time spot that it's being spoken about.

There is no proof he was selling at shows yet, and I have spoken to a very prominent national dealer who would most likely recognize the name of this person if they were setting up at shows. 

So far, ALL we know points to eBay for sure, and possibly IG, so online sales only at this point. 

The important point being all of the online stuff will leave footprints and can be tracked.

If you have anything that proves otherwise, I'm happy to be wrong.

Starting at 1:30:18 and 1:33:18 in this video, 9.9newsstand provides some very interesting insight on the scammer.

On 12/27/2023 at 9:23 PM, sledgehammer said:

just FYI. It hasn't even been 24 hours since the guy that does the videos with him, came on here, and said that that is not true.

He is not certain who the original scammer is, and he has not seen him selling at shows.

I think Dave said he hasn't taken pictures of him at shows. I originally made that statement, but was incorrect.

On 12/27/2023 at 5:32 PM, Prince Namor said:

When I used to sell raw comics... no WAY in hell was that ever a 'possible' 9.8. 

If that's a 9.8, CGC is missing a LOT of potential 9.9's and 10's they have out there graded as 9.8

The inconsistency is just grotesque.

I looked at the scans and the book looks like a 9.6/9.8 candidate for me. Please note that the white line along the spine is due to the CGC scan. I see that stupid line on all my CGC graded book scans, but it does not exist in reality. 

On 12/27/2023 at 6:51 PM, boreds said:

So this 9.8 Mark Jewellers Secret Wars 8 is at $3,349 and ends in less than two hours. I believe it was a member of the boards who posted this book, as was mentioned earlier in the thread. It looks like a legit 9.8, coming from a trustworthy source.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285600398199?hash=item427f1c3b77:g:Th8AAOSwTGRldTw6&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0Dj2Y3tWA6wo0gzpW81ETKPk7HQFcwc5pAndirD%2FbJ77Y9s3lhxgIfQ%2BlKIRAgGDYqt%2BHOc%2B4fZ7fbV4F%2BbpBKC2Q5XJj1vZLKcwEpNhc9KQI4Bkw6ZzxBwfUUL7%2FsYVWPC0QD0ZLr1%2B8YT1iSSwlfv1%2FsKtOjD6s8BnPP80iane%2FoNZFSnpMW9uMtQ%2FcQDEoUII5N4X%2FqYHZFzsHEnQztjLloXUVfhVlv4zHDMKu3AzmYvx0w%2FbgI46M9uf4FFNz%2B2qdvqeympWOFhGje9g4wQ%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9qql96VYw

Meanwhile our friend Briva's book "sold" for over 21k a few weeks ago. I doubt this was an actual sale, as he ended it early and was obviously shill bidded to the moon... Yet still I feel real bad for the trustworthy seller who is going to take a massive hit because of scumbag Briva. 

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/235352700169?mkevt=1&mkpid=2&emsid=e90001.m43.l1123&plmtId=700008&mesgId=3016&mkcid=8&ch=osgood&bu=43473349826&trkId=b9ade879-3043-4bd1-bc5d-bf16a474ebcd&cnvId=700003&recoId=235352700169&recoPos=1

 

 

 

 

Let's hope the scammer doesn't wind up winning this book and have it reholdered as the Leonardo Da Vinci Variant.

On 12/27/2023 at 3:53 PM, grendel013 said:

I don't see any Newsstands...

Not yet.

On 12/27/2023 at 2:17 PM, Kripsys99 said:

I'm trying to coax them into coming out and saying something, do you mind!?  

On 12/27/2023 at 1:55 PM, namisgr said:

I see a lot of potential 9.8s in that picture.  

That's what I thought when I sent them in during the peak of the market.