Robot Man Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 15 minutes ago, Inaflash said: I bought this Gaines copy back in 1995. I had just signed up for eBay and had zero feedback when I saw a Gaines book for sale from a seller who specialized in meteroites. I bought the book and sent the seller a message asking if he had any others and it turned out that he had a complete set of Gaines WF and WSF. He wanted 2.6x guide at the time and I could only afford three books. This WS 9 was one of the three I chose. This was before PayPal so I needed to send a check. It was only two days later and before I had even put a check in the mail that a package showed up with all three Gaines books including certificates. Talk about a level of trust that is unheard of today! Still to this day one of the favorite books in my collection. Ken Wow! Great story and one of my favorite ECs. Even better, it’s a raw copy! Larryw7, Inaflash and The Lions Den 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 2 hours ago, Inaflash said: I bought this Gaines copy back in 1995. I had just signed up for eBay and had zero feedback when I saw a Gaines book for sale from a seller who specialized in meteroites. I bought the book and sent the seller a message asking if he had any others and it turned out that he had a complete set of Gaines WF and WSF. He wanted 2.6x guide at the time and I could only afford three books. This WS 9 was one of the three I chose. This was before PayPal so I needed to send a check. It was only two days later and before I had even put a check in the mail that a package showed up with all three Gaines books including certificates. Talk about a level of trust that is unheard of today! Still to this day one of the favorite books in my collection. Ken Amazing, particularly since you had zero fb at the time. I remember selling on eBay when PayPal first arrived. Definitely a big step forward. Iirc, if you put their link in your listing and somebody clicked on it and signed up with them, they credited you $2 (or was it $5?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 A shameless plug for Bunky Brian... If you EC folks haven't already seen it he is running a sales thread for a bunch of Gary Arlington's ECs. Gary was a pioneer in the comic store business. He opened one of the first comic stores in the country in San Francisco. He actually subscribed to EC and had a full set back in the days when they were real hard to get. Every EC collector should have at least one of Gary's books in their collection. retrocomics and Larryw7 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmitchgro Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 9 hours ago, Robot Man said: A shameless plug for Bunky Brian... If you EC folks haven't already seen it he is running a sales thread for a bunch of Gary Arlington's ECs. Gary was a pioneer in the comic store business. He opened one of the first comic stores in the country in San Francisco. He actually subscribed to EC and had a full set back in the days when they were real hard to get. Every EC collector should have at least one of Gary's books in their collection. Agreed! Here's one of mine with the original envelope: vaultkeeper, Larryw7 and originalisbest 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 Too bad that CGC does not recognize Gary's collection on the label. Larryw7 and originalisbest 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
originalisbest Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 On 6/23/2018 at 5:37 PM, Inaflash said: I bought this Gaines copy back in 1995. I had just signed up for eBay and had zero feedback when I saw a Gaines book for sale from a seller who specialized in meteroites. I bought the book and sent the seller a message asking if he had any others and it turned out that he had a complete set of Gaines WF and WSF. He wanted 2.6x guide at the time and I could only afford three books. This WS 9 was one of the three I chose. This was before PayPal so I needed to send a check. It was only two days later and before I had even put a check in the mail that a package showed up with all three Gaines books including certificates. Talk about a level of trust that is unheard of today! Still to this day one of the favorite books in my collection. Ken Super gem of a book. Nice keeper! Inaflash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grube09 Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 On 6/2/2018 at 1:47 PM, Cat-Man_America said: If it isn't a grading mistake, then it's a policy mistake, because the GFC status on a label can double or even triple the value of a high grade EC. IMO, the reason for the perceived value discrepancy is that ECs are already HG top heavy due to the GFC numbers. Anything HG not affirmed by third party grading on the label as being from the Gaines' vault will likely realize only a portion of it's estimated value when sold. While the signed COA is important, many were lost by owners ...or disposed of... by CGC graders in the early days even though the file copy status was recorded on the label back then. Getting a GFC labeled book reslabbed without the information being included on the new label means the owner automatically takes a loss of value. The problem with having the COA set aside from the slabbed book is that there is no grader's guarantee that it ever went with the book. Of course the owner's word is valid (absolutely) and the COA can be included when a book is auctioned, but in competitive bidding it leaves too much room for speculation. If you go back through auction results for high grade EC's I'm sure you'll see a substantial premium reflected in realized sales for GFC labeled books over similarly slabbed (non-GFC) HG copies. Sorry 'bout the length of this, but I wanted to be absolutely clear on why this matters or should matter to folks, ...and I've had a lot of caffeine today. I would disagree that the GFC will double or triple the value of a high grade EC. It is much LESS common to find a high grade EC out there that isn't a GFC. There are quite a few Gaines copies out there as well, so yes, they are gorgeous copies, but I don't see a value bump in it being one. I'm not aware of any premium a Gaines copy brings, other than the high numeric grade they usually come with. In fact, I would argue it is one of the few pedigrees that does not carry a small bump in value. Just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
originalisbest Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 3 minutes ago, grube09 said: I would disagree that the GFC will double or triple the value of a high grade EC. It is much LESS common to find a high grade EC out there that isn't a GFC. There are quite a few Gaines copies out there as well, so yes, they are gorgeous copies, but I don't see a value bump in it being one. I'm not aware of any premium a Gaines copy brings, other than the high numeric grade they usually come with. In fact, I would argue it is one of the few pedigrees that does not carry a small bump in value. Just my 2 cents. Respectfully, you couldn't be more incorrect. Take two given EC issues, each a genuine 9.6 or 9.8 -- those from Gaines' closet have more cachet and will fetch a stronger price, all else being equal, vs. the "anonymous" version of the same issue in the same grade. EC collectors love the connection. IngelsFan and The Lions Den 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grube09 Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 4 minutes ago, originalisbest said: Respectfully, you couldn't be more incorrect. Take two given EC issues, each a genuine 9.6 or 9.8 -- those from Gaines' closet have more cachet and will fetch a stronger price, all else being equal, vs. the "anonymous" version of the same issue in the same grade. EC collectors love the connection. Agree to disagree on this topic. All things being equal, I personally, would not pay more for a Gaines copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
originalisbest Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 4 minutes ago, grube09 said: Agree to disagree on this topic. All things being equal, I personally, would not pay more for a Gaines copy. All good (though generally a moot point) since, for most nosebleed EC copies (defining nosebleed as 9.6 or better) most such copies will be a Gaines copy anyway, if you're in the market for uber-grade EC's. I'd like to be, but I settle for attractive copies that cost relatively a lot less! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grube09 Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 7 minutes ago, originalisbest said: All good (though generally a moot point) since, for most nosebleed EC copies (defining nosebleed as 9.6 or better) most such copies will be a Gaines copy anyway, if you're in the market for uber-grade EC's. I'd like to be, but I settle for attractive copies that cost relatively a lot less! Yes, I completely agree with you. And I don't want it to sound like I am bashing GFC...I, being an EC collector, would LOVE to have one. Stunning books. Outside of a major splurge puchase, though, they are way outside my budget originalisbest 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
originalisbest Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 31 minutes ago, grube09 said: Yes, I completely agree with you. And I don't want it to sound like I am bashing GFC...I, being an EC collector, would LOVE to have one. Stunning books. Outside of a major splurge puchase, though, they are way outside my budget Very much same as me, I'd like to get an example GFC of either a scifi or a horror title sometime, but given the cost I'd really rather work on the gaps in my EC runs at a way lower price point. Jayman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmitchgro Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 1 hour ago, originalisbest said: Respectfully, you couldn't be more incorrect. Take two given EC issues, each a genuine 9.6 or 9.8 -- those from Gaines' closet have more cachet and will fetch a stronger price, all else being equal, vs. the "anonymous" version of the same issue in the same grade. EC collectors love the connection. As someone that has both high grade Gaines and non-Gaines ECs, I can confirm that the File Copies will bring consistently higher prices than non-ped copies. Double is probably too high though; I’d say the premium runs closer to 50%. Cat-Man_America, originalisbest and sacentaur 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grube09 Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 41 minutes ago, mrmitchgro said: As someone that has both high grade Gaines and non-Gaines ECs, I can confirm that the File Copies will bring consistently higher prices than non-ped copies. Double is probably too high though; I’d say the premium runs closer to 50%. Wow, good to know. Thank you for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 15 hours ago, mrmitchgro said: As someone that has both high grade Gaines and non-Gaines ECs, I can confirm that the File Copies will bring consistently higher prices than non-ped copies. Double is probably too high though; I’d say the premium runs closer to 50%. True, it depends on the book and some titles/numbers will bring less of a premium, but overall I was being conservative. Special issues and/or great cover art will usually bring more. I rarely post label scans, but in this instance it's necessary to make a point about grades, GFC and the current market (apologies for the scanner glare). To understand the variations in value, check the current OPG and last major auction sale of a 9.6 copy of this book: Note: My copy of WS #19 isn't the 9.6 GFC sold at auction. That was another high grade GFC. grube09 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted July 2, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 2, 2018 Got a nice little group of ECs this week. These are from Gary Arlington’s collection. So happy to have a few books from such a fabled collector’s collection. Of the ones I got, here are my favorite two. originalisbest, Jayman, Larryw7 and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 11 hours ago, Robot Man said: Got a nice little group of ECs this week. These are from Gary Arlington’s collection. So happy to have a few books from such a fabled collector’s collection. Of the ones I got, here are my favorite two. Very cool RM, great choices! I got a couple myself that I will be posting when I get a chance. I told Brian I love the accompanying certs too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 Post’em! There were a couple I missed because I got there late. Like that gorgeous Crime Suspense #20 That Ed snagged! If it wasn’t me, I’m glad he got it. One of the most passionate EC collectors I know. Here are a few more of my grabs... originalisbest, Raze, retrocomics and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BitterOldMan Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 I believe that Jeff Cain, who was the purchaser of the EC Comics from Gary Arlington, is the publisher of ToMB Tales and Grave Yarns, a homage to EC Comics. Many of the original EC artists did covers for ToMB Tales. https://www.tombtales.com/ Jayman, originalisbest and Larryw7 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirbyJack Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 Great stuff, RM! 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
