CashMoney

I'm not quite sure what rule I violated, but great book! Enjoy!

What did you guys think about that copy?

I nearly pissed myself when I read the above-quoted story. I am sorry for everyone's loss; and given all the wonderful stories about him, I wish more dealers/collectors brought his positive energy to the hobby. It's great to watch the books we own appreciate in value, but at the end of the day...collecting is supposed to be fun. I wish I had known him. RIP John.

Since DDB quoted my clairvoyant words from back in October to make this SA forum the most popular of 2018, allow me to add some fuel to the fire here. Besides the historical significance of FF1 (which I already summarized in depth, in DDB's quote, so no need to belabor), based on the census numbers, there are 1,778 blue label AF15's, but only 1,290 blue-labeled FF1's -- and about 1/3 less FF1's in total (i.e., 2,015 FF1's vs. 2,900 AF15's). Numbers don't lie. Probably most of the appreciation in FF1 right now is being driven by the speculators - but once the masses jump on the bandwagon, the shortage of existing FF1's will make it skyrocket to the moon! And let me leave you with this parting thought - there is no better proof of how popular FF1 was back in the 60's and 70's than the fact that Marvel was forced to include the team in Spidey #1, just to sell copies (yes, like it or not, Spidey was a sideshow to the Fantastic Four back then). Happy hunting for even a decent copy before the train leaves the station!

Much appreciated! My bid was actually a lot higher, because I saw the comic last sold this year for $16K, so I knew I had to bid at least that amount (and that's probably what the runner-up thought as well), and: (1) as you highlighted, there are only 16 copies graded higher; and (2) given the limited number of copies and the infrequency of such sales, I just had to man up. It's a good thing that the bidding didn't heat up until the last 2 minutes of the auction -- because had the people who wanted it started bidding a few days or hours earlier, I probably would've ended paying a few thousand more for the book. I love the cover of this comic, and the unrefined original Green Lantern....

I definitely agree that buying it sooner rather than later is always a good idea when dealing with GA keys - especially given that GL1 is still affordable. That's why I grabbed it. Wish I had bought Wonder Woman #1 a few years back. Good luck with the CGC 5.5 auction, should you decide to bid!

Thanks for making me feel great about my purchase! I followed your advice and waited for another one to hit eBay, after seeing a GL1 CGC 7.0 copy on eBay back in April 2017. Then in November 2017, that same copy came up for auction again on eBay, so I thought the auction might be fake and didn't bid (and my suspicions were confirmed when the auction history promptly disappeared after the auction). Thereafter, I saw this copy, and made it mine. The only problem with waiting for an eBay auction, is that the wait may take a year or two, and in the meantime, the book pulls a Wonder Woman #1-like move and takes off into the stratosphere. You might have better luck finding one on one of the other auction sites...which protect buyers from the pitfalls of fake eBay auctions. Indeed, if you scroll up, you'll see a link to a CGC 3.5 that was recently auctioned for a steal! Good luck with your search!

Silver Centaur, 1,000 apologies for not recognizing that I was being congratulated by someone who owned these: That AA16 that you once owned is a BEAUTIFUL book. How long did you own that, and what happened to it?

That is one milestone that probably should've come and gone quietly. So much fanfare, but when you peel away the layers of the onion, at the end of the day, all it highlights is that there are as many copies of Hulk #181 as there are grains of sand on a beach. Though it is undeniably a common book, admittedly, it would be fun to own the 10,000th graded copy!

Thanks, Silver Centaur! This was one of my more triumphant eBay experiences! I have lost way too many eBay auctions at the last minute, for failure to press my bid just a little higher, because I thought I would be overpaying (but clearly, the market for each of those books was stronger than I anticipated). This time, I pushed my bid during the last 10 seconds, because, frankly, I REALLY wanted this book. There was another eBay auction for a GL1 CGC 7.0 just a month earlier, but I didn't bid on that particular copy (despite the cheap $12,000 final price), because I suspected it was a fraudulent listing (which I believe was confirmed, since promptly after that November auction ended - the history of such sale disappeared from eBay, as if it never existed - "poof"). The only other time I've seen the history of an ended auction similarly disappear in such fashion is when I won an auction for an Amazing Fantasy 15, only to find out after I had already tendered payment, that the character who sold it to me was a frequent fraudster on eBay. Of course in that instance, I eventually got my money back - but only after I spent countless hours, over several consecutive days, on the phone with eBay's complaint line. I will never again make the mistake of bidding on a high-priced book when the seller has insignificant positive feedback. In any case, many thanks for making me feel great about my purchase. Cheers!

Thanks for the compliments on my GL1! Not sure whether there are 100,000 or 30,000 (as G-Kid estimates) Hulk 181's out in the wild, but the magnitude of the number already graded by CGC is staggering. I'm with you...I would struggle to justify buying such a common book (even in a 9.2) over several lower graded GA Captain America books; but at the end of the day, the GA Captain Americas would prevail!

By the way, has anyone seen CGC's recent Facebook post that they've now graded 10,000 copies of Hulk 181, and counting? There are at least 10,000 CGC-graded copies, and probably at least another 90,000 copies in the wild. In contrast, there are approximately 100 CGC-graded copies of GL1, and probably not more than a few hundred existing in the aggregate. Given what a decent Hulk 181 fetches these days, $5,200 is undeniably a steal for that copy, especially since Green Lantern is neither a defunct nor esoteric character like... the Red Raven.

Thanks for the link, G-Kid! That 3.5 copy was steal for only $5,200. All the infirmities are located in the back of the book, along the spine, which for many folks, is only an afterthought!

$5,200 Thanks for the info, Atomised! Do you happen to have a link to or picture of that 3.5? Many thanks!

Thanks, everyone! Gotham Kid, you would happen to know how much that 3.5 on ComicConnect fetched? I am curious. Much appreciated!