THE ASM #129 SOCIETY 14 14

[MGsimba77]

1 hour ago, KCOComics said:

On 3/16/2021 at 9:28 AM, Sayntin said:

Thinking about selling my ASM 129 as prices are nuts right now.  Not sure how much it is worth, 8.5 with slight resto.

Some people say you subtract 50% for restoration, but then I have heard that it depends on the issue.  Seems like this issue is a top grail, so what would the deduction be on something like this?

Was thinking of putting on EBay for 3K and best offer and see what offers I get since I think 3K is unattainable.

Expand  

Check recent sales for restored books on eBay to get a sense for pricing. 

The type of resto is important, so see if you can find one with similar restoration. Even if not in grade, you can see the type of price reduction they got from a blue label.

Purple labels don't sell too often. There were two restored early last year, one 9.2 grey conserved label on HA and an 8.5 purple slight restored somewhere else. Both went for ~half FMV at the time. I don't think there's been a sale this year? Maybe wait for 8.5s to establish some more value in this hot market before putting it up. It's so crazy right now with the market still sorting itself out. There's a lot of fomo going on causing some chaos at the moment. 

[LDarkseid1]

Wow, 3.5 just killed it for $1,275 at no reserve auction! And the cheapest copy you can even find anymore buy-it-now is $700 for a raw copy that appears to be in the 1.0-1.5 range. Hold onto your butts boys and girls, not sure what the ceiling on this will be! If it keeps going this direction though, I suspect you'll have to start dropping over $2,500 to get a 5.0. Keep in mind we aren't there yet, not even close (7.5 just sold for $2500), but it's on the up and up like the other bronze mega keys. Crazy times!

[sledgehammer]

On 3/18/2021 at 10:11 PM, MGsimba77 said:

Purple labels don't sell too often. There were two restored early last year, one 9.2 grey conserved label on HA and an 8.5 purple slight restored somewhere else. Both went for ~half FMV at the time. I don't think there's been a sale this year? Maybe wait for 8.5s to establish some more value in this hot market before putting it up. It's so crazy right now with the market still sorting itself out. There's a lot of fomo going on causing some chaos at the moment. 

It's a bit harder to gauge anything from Heritage.

About a week before the White 9.2 conserved (cover cleaned) went for $1,260, a White Blue 9.2 went for $1,660.

3 weeks before that, an OW-W almost hit $2,000.

 

[jjonahjameson11]

2 hours ago, sledgehammer said:

It's a bit harder to gauge anything from Heritage.

About a week before the White 9.2 conserved (cover cleaned) went for $1,260, a White Blue 9.2 went for $1,660.

3 weeks before that, an OW-W almost hit $2,000.

 

Sometimes it depends on how well the books presents or whether two buyers are online the same auction vying for a restored 9.2 or whether they think the resto is removable & worth a certain maximum bid to realize a profit thereafter...

[MGsimba77]

2 hours ago, sledgehammer said:

It's a bit harder to gauge anything from Heritage.

About a week before the White 9.2 conserved (cover cleaned) went for $1,260, a White Blue 9.2 went for $1,660.

3 weeks before that, an OW-W almost hit $2,000.

 

Right but I think generally speaking purple labels tend to hover around 50% whatever FMV is determined to be. Maybe that 50% gap shrinks a little for big ticket books? I think right now the market is in too much of a flux to know how to price an 8.5 purple. He should probably wait it out a little for it's blue counterpart to gain more steam. 

I mean "flux" in the sense that its moving up so damn fast. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by MGsimba77

[sledgehammer]

Personally, I wouldn't consider amateur color touch, but professional I don't mind.

I've seen both versions of 129 sell for close to the same amount at the same time.

Funny data on GPA from 2019 and 2020.

The same 9.2 Green ( page missing) sold for, in order, $975, $550, $1,700 and $1,677.

I can't glean much of anything from that.

A few months ago, when 9.0s were starting to hit around $2,400, I bought my conserved (staples replaced) for $1,800 (no sales tax).

I based that probably being fair, because someone had paid $430 for the same qualified 9.0 in 2009.

It wouldn't surprise me at all that an 8.5 color touch could hit $1,500 right now.

 

[LDarkseid1]

I had an Avengers 57 CGC 8.5 with slight amateur color touch or C-1. Got it removed and it dropped to an 8.0. So definitely worth it to get that removed and not sell graded. However, the potential resale if kept restored I don’t think will be as low as 50% fmv, obviously dependent on what Sayntin means by slight resto. He didn’t detail what it was so if we’re talking just ct then better resale value, but if there’s tear seals or anything else than yeah obviously closer to 50% give or take.

[Randall Ries]

50 minutes ago, LDarkseid1 said:

I had an Avengers 57 CGC 8.5 with slight amateur color touch or C-1. Got it removed and it dropped to an 8.0. So definitely worth it to get that removed and not sell graded. However, the potential resale if kept restored I don’t think will be as low as 50% fmv, obviously dependent on what Sayntin means by slight resto. He didn’t detail what it was so if we’re talking just ct then better resale value, but if there’s tear seals or anything else than yeah obviously closer to 50% give or take.

Plus, can't "slight color touch" mean someone just took a black sharpie and filled in the little black line going up the side of a book? I mean, I could live with a less than quarter inch fill in at the top of a cover. To me, that seems a little tedious and shouldn't affect the value by 50%. What about that Bat 1 9.0 that only had its cover chemically cleaned? I could REALLY live with that. Grime and dirt removed? Cover is clean? Presents canary yellow? I'd be saying "Thanks" instead of "Boooo."

[LDarkseid1]

7 minutes ago, Randall Ries said:

Plus, can't "slight color touch" mean someone just took a black sharpie and filled in the little black line going up the side of a book? I mean, I could live with a less than quarter inch fill in at the top of a cover. To me, that seems a little tedious and shouldn't affect the value by 50%. What about that Bat 1 9.0 that only had its cover chemically cleaned? I could REALLY live with that. Grime and dirt removed? Cover is clean? Presents canary yellow? I'd be saying "Thanks" instead of "Boooo."

It actually amazes me how much a chemical cleaning is basically a death sentence with resale value. I mean I get it, you’ve added chemicals to the book and altered it, but yeah. I’ve seen chemically cleaned books sell for a small fraction of their unrestored counterparts.

[Randall Ries]

15 minutes ago, LDarkseid1 said:

It actually amazes me how much a chemical cleaning is basically a death sentence with resale value. I mean I get it, you’ve added chemicals to the book and altered it, but yeah. I’ve seen chemically cleaned books sell for a small fraction of their unrestored counterparts.

Well, Heck. Every time I handle a book I have added something to it. Oil, debris. My breath. I get it signed I added something to it. "Cover Cleaned" is a restoration I could definitely live with. Especially that Bat 1. If I were to sell it, no way I would accept 50% FMV. No way. I might ding 5-10%. Just out of respect to the restored thingy. But that's a Bat One with a clean cover. A 9.0. Yessir. I could live with that. Easily.

So, I guess good for me if I can buy a say a common key like IH 181 or Spiderman 129 in high grade with just "Cover Cleaned". And get it for 50% less. At that point, I remove it from its holder and keep those as raw books. Sheesh. I clean anything else it adds to the value. Not comic books, evidently.

[LDarkseid1]

9 minutes ago, Randall Ries said:

Well, Heck. Every time I handle a book I have added something to it. Oil, debris. My breath. I get it signed I added something to it. "Cover Cleaned" is a restoration I could definitely live with. Especially that Bat 1. If I were to sell it, no way I would accept 50% FMV. No way. I might ding 5-10%. Just out of respect to the restored thingy. But that's a Bat One with a clean cover. A 9.0. Yessir. I could live with that. Easily.

So, I guess good for me if I can buy a say a common key like IH 181 or Spiderman 129 in high grade with just "Cover Cleaned". And get it for 50% less. At that point, I remove it from its holder and keep those as raw books. Sheesh. I clean anything else it adds to the value. Not comic books, evidently.

Hey if someone would be willing to pay it on the Bats 1 more power to ya 👌. Just from what I’ve seen on big keys upwards of a 50% drop or more when chemically cleaned. It’s not to take anything away from your book, just seemingly the consistent pattern. Very possible you might find a buyer who would pay much more though.

[MGsimba77]

4 hours ago, sledgehammer said:

It wouldn't surprise me at all that an 8.5 color touch could hit $1,500 right now.

 

Not only that but that's very doable at this point especially if it's decently centered. Unless its restored to death of course. The current 8.5 on Clink is already at 3k with over 2 days left. Last GPA shows 3200. He indicated he was hoping for well over 1.5 so I figured better to be patient. I think another shoe to drop could be inflation. I suspect the first hint of real inflation could turbocharge this market even more than present believe it or not! So it seems like nothing but good things can come from a hold. A good presenting slight pro color touch purple could get him over 2k under the right circumstances. 

[MGsimba77]

46 minutes ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Hey if someone would be willing to pay it on the Bats 1 more power to ya 👌. Just from what I’ve seen on big keys upwards of a 50% drop or more when chemically cleaned. It’s not to take anything away from your book, just seemingly the consistent pattern. Very possible you might find a buyer who would pay much more though.

Does that pattern include GA keys? I don't even know if there's enough data on such an old book to really know? It would make perfect sense for GA keys to be somewhat immune to the restored/conserved discount. Now if its like 3 edges trimmed or some other death nail then yeah but otherwise I'd think GA is different. 

[MGsimba77]

19 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Wow, 3.5 just killed it for $1,275 at no reserve auction! And the cheapest copy you can even find anymore buy-it-now is $700 for a raw copy that appears to be in the 1.0-1.5 range. Hold onto your butts boys and girls, not sure what the ceiling on this will be! If it keeps going this direction though, I suspect you'll have to start dropping over $2,500 to get a 5.0. Keep in mind we aren't there yet, not even close (7.5 just sold for $2500), but it's on the up and up like the other bronze mega keys. Crazy times!

Somebody must have determined that to be an upgrade candidate. You're right though....this thing is en fuego!

[LDarkseid1]

1 hour ago, MGsimba77 said:

Does that pattern include GA keys? I don't even know if there's enough data on such an old book to really know? It would make perfect sense for GA keys to be somewhat immune to the restored/conserved discount. Now if its like 3 edges trimmed or some other death nail then yeah but otherwise I'd think GA is different. 

The two books I’ve experienced it with are a high grade golden age Green Lantern #1 and a high grade Human Torch #2 (#1). The Green lantern sat on eBay/metropolis site years ago for $30K (they told me they would take $20K) and was an estimated 8.5. Graded unrestored copy of that even at the time I believe would be worth upwards of $40K-$50K. And the Human Torch was sitting around $25K or so. I believe it was a 9.0. Pretty sure a unrestored 9.0 would go for a lot more than $25K. Those were two pretty big golden age mega grails, but that’s all I can recall. Ultimately don’t know what happened to either book, if they sold or stayed in owner’s collection.

[LDarkseid1]

1 hour ago, MGsimba77 said:

Somebody must have determined that to be an upgrade candidate. You're right though....this thing is en fuego!

Yeah 7.0 just sold for a super impressive $2550.

[Off Panel]

Any of you fellas feelin' lucky?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amazing-Spider-Man-129-PGX-9-8-like-GCG-1st-Punisher-Bronze-Age-Key-Mega-Key/184655261705?hash=item2afe4fb009:g:4TsAAOSw4a9gIRYJ

I suppose there is a very tiny chance this could be an actual (non-color-touch) 9.8...

[porcupine48]

On 3/21/2021 at 7:49 PM, MGsimba77 said:

Somebody must have determined that to be an upgrade candidate. You're right though....this thing is en fuego!

It's starting to make me uncomfortable even looking at mine  That and flaming skullheads first are blowing my mind.

[Sayntin]

On 3/21/2021 at 5:04 PM, Randall Ries said:

Plus, can't "slight color touch" mean someone just took a black sharpie and filled in the little black line going up the side of a book? I mean, I could live with a less than quarter inch fill in at the top of a cover. To me, that seems a little tedious and shouldn't affect the value by 50%. What about that Bat 1 9.0 that only had its cover chemically cleaned? I could REALLY live with that. Grime and dirt removed? Cover is clean? Presents canary yellow? I'd be saying "Thanks" instead of "Boooo."

That's exactly what it is, black along the edge. But it does bleed through, so can't be removed.  Comic looks great, but is a defintie C-1.

[Randall Ries]

14 hours ago, Off Panel said:

Any of you fellas feelin' lucky?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amazing-Spider-Man-129-PGX-9-8-like-GCG-1st-Punisher-Bronze-Age-Key-Mega-Key/184655261705?hash=item2afe4fb009:g:4TsAAOSw4a9gIRYJ

I suppose there is a very tiny chance this could be an actual (non-color-touch) 9.8...

I think there is a very good chance it's untouched other than it looks like it's been pressed.

It also seems like people are throwing wacky prices on these things along with Make An Offer. Knowing the book probably isn't worth that to the fan/collector but might be to someone who is just a speculator.