• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Thread
23 23

8,267 posts in this topic

19 minutes ago, rich_TMNT said:

Took six months but finally got this back from CGC.  TMNT #1 Full Counterfeit.  A masterfully done reproduction that could easily fool unsuspecting or uneducated buyers.  A cool piece of TMNT history.  

TMNT-01-Counterfeit_CGC-9.0_front-top.jpg

Congratulations! I've only seen an altered copy of a 3rd printing, not an actual counterfeit copy. So in your post "Great thread for TMNT #1 buyers! (thumbs u Here is some of the info:" which rules does this counterfeit break or is it a perfectly done one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, GM8 said:

Congratulations! I've only seen an altered copy of a 3rd printing, not an actual counterfeit copy. So in your post "Great thread for TMNT #1 buyers! (thumbs u Here is some of the info:" which rules does this counterfeit break or is it a perfectly done one?

@GM8 Thanks man.   And, good questions.  The cover is really the giveaway for the full counterfeits.  The color and the cross-hatching specifically aren't correct and there's a smudge / scratching on the back cover of them all.  But, the binding and trimming is meticulous...and the interior contents don't fully match any one of the first three printings.  If you saw my article about these counterfeits in relation to The TMNT #1 Production Negatives, there are things that surely point to the interior pages having been "copied" from a 1st printing and then re-printed by a print shop.  But, there's a possibility that the original TMNT #1 negatives were used as well.  Nothing definitive.  And, even when I thought I had all the facts, it seems that some printing anomalies exist in only certain copies of any given printing which makes it that much harder to do comparison.  But, I think there's enough information about all the different printings now to be able to spot these from the cover and the internal pages when looked at as a whole and not just one or two indicators alone.  People really wanted to fool unsuspecting buyers and they surely did that with these counterfeits.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, rabidwolf said:

Turtlmania gold now at 42k

That's higher than the first appearance of the Turtles in 9.8. Two people REALLY want this book. I wonder if there is any TMNT item, outside of OA, which has ever sold this high.

I mean even OA like the original cover of Gobbledygook #2 is also being auctioned, and seems to be flying under the radar at $475.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/24/2019 at 4:00 PM, spracknetch23 said:

That's higher than the first appearance of the Turtles in 9.8. Two people REALLY want this book. I wonder if there is any TMNT item, outside of OA, which has ever sold this high.

I mean even OA like the original cover of Gobbledygook #2 is also being auctioned, and seems to be flying under the radar at $475.

Now at $47K.  Seriously, someone really wants this book.  These books are rare but they used to just be something only a hard-core Turtles collector would want.  Now it seems these have caught on outside of the Turtles collecting realm and being sought by rarity collectors (with deep pockets).  Given the #10 copy recently sold for mid-$30K, I wonder if there's a single wealthy collector out there that is trying to buy up all the Golds.  Although, given the bidding war, seems there are a couple of them out there.  

Edited by rich_TMNT
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, nriccijr said:

@nriccijr These are being done by the same person that did the original Turtlemania books...Robert Wilson.  He's doing a set of Gold, Silver, Regular, and then (supposedly) a brand new Black edition with new content.  So far, only the Gold and Silver editions have been put up for sale.  The Gold is limited to 50 copies (with only 10 hand-numbered copies), the Silver limited to 100 copies with all of them hand-numbered, the Regular is to be limited to 300 copies but I'm not sure if any of them will be numbered.  All of the copies are signed by Robert (and stamped with the Anniversary Edition rubber stamp) regardless of whether they are also numbered.

However, the roll-out and execution of these anniversary editions has been a complete mess.  Robert seems like a nice guy (I've never met him but have communicated with him quite a bit).  He doesn't seem to be very organized and his communication isn't the best.  Plus, his auction listings leave much to be desired - they are poorly written and confusing (edited frequently with new or revised text) and almost all of his pictures are terrible...most are blurry with terrible color.  You can't even tell that the Gold copies actually are yellow-ish paper in any of his listings.  These really could have been cool collectibles but they've just been so mismanaged that they've kind of turned off a lot of collectors.  Here are some examples of how things have gone to date:

GOLD Anniversary Editions

  • The first listing that went up on eBay was for a "Preview" copy of the Gold Anniversary Edition.  It sold for $610 and the listing claimed 50 copies were to be sold soon.
  • Next, he sold a batch of 20 signed Gold Anniversary Edition copies (all un-numbered) for $25 each.
  • Then, he sold another batch of 20 signed Gold Anniversary Edition copies (again, all un-numbered) for $45 each.
  • Then, he sold eight signed & numbered Gold Anniversary Edition copies (#2-6 and #8-10) for $99 each.  Apparently #7 was given to a friend or colleague of his because someone else on eBay sold the #7 of 10 copy for $355 (that's the copy that you provided the link to above).
  • The #1 of 10 copy he sold in an auction just for that copy; it was listed as $999 or best offer and best offer was accepted.
  • Although it's claimed that only 50 copies of the Gold Anniversary edition exist, nearly all of the initial batch of the first 20 copies arrived with shipping damage due to poor packing and so replacement copies were sent out to most of those buyers.  None of the buyers were asked to return their damaged copies so there have to be more than 50 copies out there...we just don't know how many more.  People are flipping those damaged copies though...they appear on eBay and sell for about $100 when they get listed.

SILVER Anniversary Editions

  • The Silver edition sales started with just a single "Preview" copy as well which sold for $199.
  • Now, 100 copies of the Silver Anniversary Edition are being sold in the auction link you provided.  Each one of them is supposed to be signed and hand-numbered by him.
    • These were initially being sold for $59.99 when the listing started but due to poor sales, he cut the price in half to $29.99.  He's giving those that purchased copies at $59.99 each a 2 for 1 deal. 
    • Sales are still pretty slow on these so I'm betting he'll lower the price again. 

Many collectors have pretty much written these off as cash-grabs since the content is literally the same as the original Turtlemania books (they look identical) and the listing look so unprofessional.  No one is sure of the legality of what he's doing since the books should be included under Nickelodeon's / Viacom's intellectual property given these are Turtles books.  To me, that's actually the allure...the possibility that these are really illegally produced reprints.  But, who knows.  Maybe Robert somehow retains the ability to reproduce these.  

It's unclear to me when the Regular or the planned Black editions will go up for sale.  When I ask him about that he never provides an answer.  They just appear on eBay.  Like I said, he seems like a cool guy and I'm guessing he has good intentions but his execution of these is really not great.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Wolverinex said:

Where did this come from? How did u get it 

Its origin (who created it) is actually not known.  However, I acquired it from eBay from another collector.

Edited by rich_TMNT
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, TMNT said:

50K for the Gold now and $7200 for the silver with 3 days to go...

Got my 2nd mortgage approved and sold my truck!  I'm all ready for the final bidding battle...  :nyah:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, nriccijr said:

How does something like this happen?  

4 hours ago, Callaway29 said:

Gold at $58K with 1 day. Silver still at $7200...

 

I sure would like to know who it is that's battling it out for this book.  I hope it's eventually known who wins it but I doubt we ever find that out.  

Edited by rich_TMNT
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, rich_TMNT said:

How does something like this happen?   

The only thing I can think of is in 14 when PL was at Shellback he had a book of head sketches. Maybe they didn't sell and he didnt bring them out again until his last appearance??....just caught my eye and seemed strange. I pray this is the case and there is no tomfoolery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
23 23