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TMNT #1 Club
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3,735 posts in this topic

This is incredible!  Wonder if this will get to six figures. 
I suppose it's not that surprising though.  This price jump is the same thing that happened to Turtlemania GOLD and SILVER as of late.  GOLD has been about a $10-15K book for a few years and now it's suddenly nearly $60K.  SILVER was $1-2K and now $8-9K.  Turtles are hot now and my opinion is that these rare low-print quantity books have caught the eyes of collectors in general...not just Turtles collectors.  And, these collectors have some deep pockets...much deeper than mine! 

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16 minutes ago, rich_TMNT said:

This is incredible!  Wonder if this will get to six figures. 
I suppose it's not that surprising though.  This price jump is the same thing that happened to Turtlemania GOLD and SILVER as of late.  GOLD has been about a $10-15K book for a few years and now it's suddenly nearly $60K.  SILVER was $1-2K and now $8-9K.  Turtles are hot now and my opinion is that these rare low-print quantity books have caught the eyes of collectors in general...not just Turtles collectors.  And, these collectors have some deep pockets...much deeper than mine! 

I wonder if this will pull up other grades?  

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Wow... I've always been struck by the relative low prices for the rare Turtles books and OA in relation to other properties. So while I'm not particularly surprised overall there's finally been an upward trend (in both the books and original art) , I am surprised by the speed this jump is happening. I mean, the Gold I can understand there's only 10. But theres plenty of #1, even in 9.8, that surely can be had for less than then these last few bids. Fun to watch though! 

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1 hour ago, Gotham Kid said:

di-ck measuring contest between 2 yahoos

reminds me of the time when a Tec 44 8.5 went for 19K (!!!) on Heritage (internet bidding ended at around 4K) when even the Highest Graded Central Valley 9.4 is at 11.7K

If it makes you feel any better, there's a Magic the Gathering card up in the same auction that some other yahoos have bid up more than this Turtles book.

29 minutes ago, rich_TMNT said:

This is incredible!  Wonder if this will get to six figures. 
I suppose it's not that surprising though.  This price jump is the same thing that happened to Turtlemania GOLD and SILVER as of late.  GOLD has been about a $10-15K book for a few years and now it's suddenly nearly $60K.  SILVER was $1-2K and now $8-9K.  Turtles are hot now and my opinion is that these rare low-print quantity books have caught the eyes of collectors in general...not just Turtles collectors.  And, these collectors have some deep pockets...much deeper than mine! 

That's what made me think this one could sail way higher, that Gold sale was another level. The amazing thing to me is that this is organic. There's no movie out or any other major news really.

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10 minutes ago, GM8 said:

The amazing thing to me is that this is organic. There's no movie out or any other major news really.

I'd say the introduction of Jennika the 5th Turtle is pretty major news...the last 4 weeks have been Turtles-mania and I'm betting that could have something to do with it. 

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16 minutes ago, GM8 said:
48 minutes ago, rich_TMNT said:

This is incredible!  Wonder if this will get to six figures. 
I suppose it's not that surprising though.  This price jump is the same thing that happened to Turtlemania GOLD and SILVER as of late.  GOLD has been about a $10-15K book for a few years and now it's suddenly nearly $60K.  SILVER was $1-2K and now $8-9K.  Turtles are hot now and my opinion is that these rare low-print quantity books have caught the eyes of collectors in general...not just Turtles collectors.  And, these collectors have some deep pockets...much deeper than mine! 

That's what made me think this one could sail way higher, that Gold sale was another level. The amazing thing to me is that this is organic. There's no movie out or any other major news really.

I don't dislike the Turtlemania books as much as some of the more recent books with "rarity" as their only redeeming quality, but it's really hard for me to "rank" even a Turtlemania Gold (or Gobbledygook #1) above a mint copy of TMNT #1. 

For the Turtlemania Gold books, "there are only 10 copies" is an exciting statement, but it's combined with "Is this the Turtles first appearance?  No, it's from two years later, and the Turtles were already pretty popular, and the book isn't an official Turtles book, and the rarity was done on purpose."

TMNT #1 succeeds on a bunch of levels where books like Turtlemania Gold don't.

Edited by valiantman
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4 minutes ago, valiantman said:

I don't dislike the Turtlemania books as much as some of the more recent books with "rarity" as their only redeeming quality, but it's really hard for me to "rank" even a Turtlemania Gold (or Gobbledygook #1) above a mint copy of TMNT #1. 

For the Turtlemania Gold books, "there are only 10 copies" is an exciting statement, but it's combined with "Is this the Turtles first appearance?  No, it's from two years later, and the Turtles were already pretty popular, and the book isn't an official Turtles book, and the rarity was done on purpose."

TMNT #1 succeeds on a bunch of levels where books like Turtlemania Gold don't.

Totally with you on this.  The content of the two books (TMNT #1 vs. Turtlemania) is totally different with Turtlemania being literally nothing of substance quite honestly.  TMNT #1 is the key book that started the entire franchise...and Turtlemania (and the "Con" where it debuted) wasn't even something Kevin liked (and still doesn't today). It's a gimmick book but the GOLD being limited to 10 copies IS what makes it valuable...not the content.  Whereas, the content of TMNT #1 is everything and its historical significance is undeniable. And, although not limited to only 10 copies, just over 3,000 copies is still a very limited quantity. You know there had to have been a fairly high destruction / loss rate for that 1st printing so the availability has to be much less than 3,275 print quantity I would think (my opinion of course - no real fact behind that).   

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23 minutes ago, rich_TMNT said:

I'd say the introduction of Jennika the 5th Turtle is pretty major news...the last 4 weeks have been Turtles-mania and I'm betting that could have something to do with it. 

True, there's that. I meant outside comic book world. Turtlmania Gold's sale recently happened before the whole Jennika thing. But maybe that's all that it takes.

Edited by GM8
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49 minutes ago, valiantman said:

I don't dislike the Turtlemania books as much as some of the more recent books with "rarity" as their only redeeming quality, but it's really hard for me to "rank" even a Turtlemania Gold (or Gobbledygook #1) above a mint copy of TMNT #1. 

For the Turtlemania Gold books, "there are only 10 copies" is an exciting statement, but it's combined with "Is this the Turtles first appearance?  No, it's from two years later, and the Turtles were already pretty popular, and the book isn't an official Turtles book, and the rarity was done on purpose."

TMNT #1 succeeds on a bunch of levels where books like Turtlemania Gold don't.

Exactamundo

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26 minutes ago, GM8 said:

True, there's that. I meant outside comic book world. Turtlmania Gold's sale recently happened before the whole Jennika thing. But maybe that's all that it takes.

I feel like a lot of the market is driven by "comparable sales" (which is actually the basis for appraisals in real estate), and there has always been a "ratio watch" between things like gold and silver (the real thing, metal, price-per-ounce).  In the case of Turtlemania, it's not generally considered the best Turtles book, even if it's one of the 10 Gold issues, so there was a surge in the price for Turtlemania which is, let's say, 2nd best.  If the price of silver-per-ounce surges, it's likely that everyone will wonder what's going to happen with gold-per-ounce.  We're finding out today.

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2 hours ago, rich_TMNT said:

Totally with you on this.  The content of the two books (TMNT #1 vs. Turtlemania) is totally different with Turtlemania being literally nothing of substance quite honestly.  TMNT #1 is the key book that started the entire franchise...and Turtlemania (and the "Con" where it debuted) wasn't even something Kevin liked (and still doesn't today). It's a gimmick book but the GOLD being limited to 10 copies IS what makes it valuable...not the content.  Whereas, the content of TMNT #1 is everything and its historical significance is undeniable. And, although not limited to only 10 copies, just over 3,000 copies is still a very limited quantity. You know there had to have been a fairly high destruction / loss rate for that 1st printing so the availability has to be much less than 3,275 print quantity I would think (my opinion of course - no real fact behind that).   

As a collector that's bought and sold TMNT 1 first print for the last 10 years, the Turtlemania craze has zero effect on me

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8 minutes ago, GM8 said:

double wow. wait, I thought it said it was live through August 3rd? How does that work?

There are five sessions in the Heritage Auctions event (Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction) August 1st-3rd, 2019.  The TMNT #1 was part of Session 1 (ending today).

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18 minutes ago, szav said:
26 minutes ago, rsouxlja7 said:

A 9.4 is about to go into live bidding. It will be interesting to see where it ends up. 

Two 9.4s sitting on eBay for 18k right now so shouldn’t be higher than that.

Shouldn't, but might.

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some board members over the Golden age section were mentioning some funny business with the 9.8?  Market manipulation?  maybe get a couple friends to drive up the price?  A bit costly if you ask me.  Especially if heritage charges all those fees(buyer, seller premiums).  

Edited by Spiderturtle
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