James J Johnson

That pic reveals the probable reason. There is an outline on the page that mirrors the missing piece from the cover. This is purely pressure related. It's not any kind of chew and not cutting mechanics related, the piece was pulled off. Either it occurred in production, much like the small, lower edge production cover tears that are usually seen on GSX 1 and AS 129, or later, something pressed down on the comic and when movement occurred, pulled away the piece, thus the jagged edge.

Great idea. Take full advantage of the "never mind" and "so what's the use?" philosophy. Type away, and bear my soul. Let it all hang out and throw my hands in the air like I really don't care, then when each literary jewel is finished, instead of submitting the reply or posting, think "oh, never mind" and backspace to the previous page! I have to start trying that, thank you for that.

What sense would that make?

It does. A lot. To originalists, who only collect blue labels.

+1 There's been a gradual and steady decline of transparency over the past decade. Info that was once available to buyers no longer exists.

I don't recognize what Berk is doing with ebay as a failure of anything. There's a system in place with specific advantages that Berk has availed himself of. The laws make this possible, much like the laws of crack, press, and resubmit resulting in a book of higher grade and increased value. It's part of modern grading system/company DNA now and acceptable. Some hate it, some are indifferent, some love it, but there's no failure and perfectly legal since the rules and ethics of the hobby allow it. W really don't know if he's violating any foundation laws. Under-reporting, the charity status suspended, etc., etc.. We don't know thus we don't really have the intel necessary to determine if ebay, and or the entire charity mechanism has failed. If that info comes to light, only then will we know if that's the case.

As far as early Silver age Pedigrees and Collections go, IMO, the PCs are consistently at the top of the list. Northlands are real nice too, but I think the PCs are unmatched.

The more appropriate term to describe what you're referring to is cover transparency. The cause of being able to see art elements of the inside cover appearing on the front or back cover can be varied. it can be caused in different degrees by a strong interior cover strike of darker inks corresponding to the same location of white or light cover color areas. The lighter the area of the outside and the deeper the strike and ink color of the inside strike will determine how much of a distraction the effect of the transparency will be. The effect can also be made more severe by cover toning by off-gassing from the inside pages, the type that gives light color covers an almost "oily" look of greater transparency. Many comics have this effect, ranging from very little to severe enough to not simply be able to discern shapes through the cover, but actually read the inside cover (or a mirror image of it) through the front. Now although transparency can affect the eye appeal of a light cover with a strong inside cover strike, here's an X-Men #1 CGC graded 9.8 that displays mild transparency over the entire area of the front cover. Note the white pages, and being the Pacific Coast copy, the printing mechanics and materials, as are on most, are the culprits behind the mild transparency and not elements of off-gassing due to deteriorating acidic pulp paper.

Yep. We established that shortly into page 1. My question, and it's a question that nobody has the answer to, is what was the ebay name that Berkbridge sold under prior to the name change to Berkbridge 4 years ago> They did business for 16 years using an ebay handle that is now a mystery.

The money sent by ebay to the foundation is probably being spent on more inventory minus "expenses". That's a business. Buy/sell, isn't it? Is that the way a Foundation is supposed to operate?

Does the % of the amount of charitable contributions, in this case Berk's sales, that must be used for the purpose of said charity vary from state to state? Or are there no rules governing what a foundation must apportion for provably charitable works? I have to look into it further. 10 years ago, after following Comiclink auction results and ebay results, I noticed that there was a boatload of money to be made, >>IF<< you could simply win auctions on Link, and then sell them the next month on Ebay <<WITHOUT>> having to pay final value fees, seller fees, taxes, sales taxes (if applicable). For $100 to $10,000 books, being an honest seller, no shilling, Link results usually sold at or slightly below GP. Ebay results typically finish above GP. The difference of making money, losing money, or spinning wheels and breaking even are those expenses that being a foundation eliminates!

Yes. That would be illegal, hence I wrote, "He's taking advantage of a system. Not illegal >>UNLESS<< his charity status is/was revoked/suspended".

Not to say there's anything illegal in taking advantageous pictures, puffing, and using the tax shade of a charity to bypass paying sales tax, buying or selling, or/and seller fees. The system is in place to be used and a smart businessman, Berk has set up to take full advantage of it. The sales strategy of buying off-ebay to sell on ebay is a very good one. We all know that aside from outliers, books bought off ebay tend to auction for more on ebay. The impediments are the taxes and the seller's fees. And of course, an ebay seller can use shill accounts to yield even more profits. Can't do that selling on Link or Heritage! Say you win a book on Heritage for $1000. No buyer's premium! Charity. Bring it to Ebay, get $1200, no seller's fees, no taxes later on, $200 pure profit. With this advantage, almost every book can yield a profit. Without it, you've got to resell on ebay for $1300 or more to break even!! He's taking advantage of a system Not illegal unless his charity status is/was revoked/suspended.

This appears to me to be a dealer, buying and reselling books. Let's not forget, Berkbridge was on ebay for 16 years, buying and selling books, before changing the user name to Berkbridge. I've asked before. Does anyone know who Berkbridge was prior to changing names? 16 years of selling major pieces, someone must know what the seller name was prior to the change to Berkbridge. I've started studying the books themselves and thusfar, the few I started with I've been able to find online as previous internet sales. For instance: The Silver Surfer #4 CGC 9.8 Rocky Mountain was purchansed from Comiclink. Berk removed the "Rocky Mountain Pedigree" sitcker from the right side of the slab, those things don't fall off, they must be removed. There are still past images of a lot of the books Berk offers available online from when owned by the dealer that it would seem Berk purchased it from. So in my estimation, I still have a lot to go over, but this does not seem to be the case of someone's "collection" being sold. I don't want to go into more yet, Berk is obviously refreshing this thread every waking 15 minutes and why reveal more now, right? For now, I'm leaning towards these books in general, being already slabbed, already in the hands of dealers/auctioneers, etc, and bought then resold on ebay at a profit. Let's remember, typically, even if you can buy a book from say Link and resell it on ebay for 5% or 10% more, the ebay fees kill any profits for doing that. Without having to pay 10 to 14% for each sale to ebay and paypal, and no slabbing fees (already slabbed!), you just keep recycling the BIN until it sells for a profit, even a nominal one, and it's all gravy, rinse and repeat. And you don't pay taxes either!! If this is the case, it's a good scheme! Charity, People bid more, thinking it's going towards a good cause. Psychedelic blue 1% tint curtesy of Photoshop, that makes every book look better than it is by washing out defects and jazzing up the colors, blurbs about how "this 8.5 looks like a 9.0 or 9.2", and using all those aforementioned tools, it's probably very profitable.