Getoutandstayout

Yep, you're correct - my bad. At least I had the date right. I understand if he doesn't want to display the most famous Action #1. But what's the deal with no photographs? At all? Have any of these top graders ever asked him why he's refused a single photograph?

I thought "The Dentist" had the best copy, but I wanted to make sure. I've heard of him over the years, and I have heard all the talk about him supposedly having the nicest copy of Action #1 of all of them. However, a red flag has popped up in my mind over this and has been nagging me. If he does have the nicest copy of the most valuable book in Comicdom, why hasn't it been inspected, graded, and slabbed by CGC? Why has he not allowed so much as a photo taken of it? If *I* had the holy grail of comics, you'd better believe I'd be showcasing it occasionally at, say, the major ComicCons for everyone to drool over while I stood in the background and watched the adulation like a proud papa. So why all the secrecy? People display super-valuable things all the time, so security shouldn't be an issue. The only logical reason I can possibly think of is that maybe it's "merely" a tie for that 9.0 copy that sold for $3 million - or that it's, say, an 8.5 (what a travesty) and would NOT make it the top Action #1 copy out there. So he keeps it under wraps to keep the legend alive. I dunno - most people with other mega-collectibles, like a Monet painting or an 1804 Morgan dollar, display them. There are at least photos of them for people to view and critique. For this Action #1 - nothing. For all we know, his dog accidentally chewed it to pieces years ago, and everyone thinks he still has it. Maybe what I'm saying is blasphemy against the Holy Grail (have mercy), but someone else must surely be thinking the same thing.

I know that ComicConnect paid over $3 million not long back for a 9.0 Action #1. Is there another copy considered to be in better condition? And if so, who currently owns it? 9.0 Action #1

I bought a 3.0 ASM #4 about three years ago, and I'm kind of disappointed that it's only gone up in value just a tad. I thought with the renewed popularity of Spider-Man with him appearing in the movies, along with #4 being the first Sandman that it would have gone up more.

That looks like a 9.0 to me. Maybe you could crack it, then resubmit it to, say, CBCS, for an 8.5 or even 9.0.

Compare the sales of TTA and TOS #1 with the number of JIM #1s an ST #1s - I see them on eBay (or anywhere else) very seldom in any condition. Kind of odd, since they're weren't part of the WWII paper drives. Incidentally, I had a chance to buy a mid-grade JIM #1 way back in '97 for $700, which I thought was a king's ransom. I decided against it, thinking it was out of my price range. Why, oh, why?

Between TOS #1 and TTA #1, which should cost me less in, say, a 3.0-4.0 grade? Even at that low grade, it's going to push my budget to the edge. I wanted to try and get one of these before the ceiling went even higher. I can forget a JIM #1 or ST #1 - they're out of my league now.

I've seen some 9.6 and even 9.8 GS X-Men #1s posted here. Has there ever been a copy graded at a 10.0? If so, I wonder what one would sell for at that grade.

Wow! (Do I want that boat - or that 9.6 GS X-Men #1?) :>))

Nice! That's the next to-buy comic on my bucket list. Golly, I was only looking at a 3.0, and here you have a 7.0. Maybe I should up the ante and buy a 9.0.....

I don't guess you're going to mention how much these cost you? If the OO was a collector, too - don't. LOL

Just curious what are the hardest Tales To Astonish issues to find, or the ones that come up for sale the least often?

Right, and conversely, I think that a bomb of a Marvel movie on the character portrayed can kill the momentum of the comic cold. I mean, look at the early 2000s movies on the FF. They didn't exactly drive up FF prices above anything else. Today I think the movies have a lot to do with a comic's potential value. It wasn't that way 25 years ago. If Feige screws with the original Galactus/SS storyline like he's done with so many other Marvel characters, and he gets a critical reception from it, the price of 48-50 will definitely fall and the bubble will bust. The opposite is true, of course.

I'm speechless. Btw, what's an "OO" collection?

LOL - I was saying that a year or two ago about Hulk 181 when I could get a mid-grade copy for $1,200. I couldn't get the same grade now for under $2k. There's no good reason that GS X-Men #1 should "burst." If anything, the expectation that Disney will eventually produce a new X-Men movie will keep this comic red hot until then, at least. And when the film does come out, it's just going to create that many more fans of the characters who wouldn't have know about them otherwise, which will create more demand for their first appearance.