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What did you find was your hardest run / set to complete?
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69 posts in this topic

My high grade run of Doc Strange 169-183, all in 9.2 or better was a bear to do.  177 is a nightmare to find in high grade.  Of course, now that my interests have shifted more toward the Golden Age, I'm sure this will be a breeze compared to whatever I set my sights on next.

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22 hours ago, marvelmaniac said:

Sad Sack Armed Forces Complimentary

Issue #12 seems to be non-existent, no pics, no nothing anywhere on the web or in our known universe.

I have not found hide nor hair of it in the 3 years I have been exclusively looking for this issue and nobody can seem to tell me if it was ever published, so at this point #12 is "Schrodinger's Cat", it both exists and does not exist.

I'm always intrigued by these scenarios. It took many years to effectively prove that ASM 42 & 43 don't exist as pence copies, so I get the frustration. Out of curiosity, I Googleated Sad Sack 12 Comp and, you're right, it does not seem to be proven to exist. I'll add it to my one to look out for list @marvelmaniac. You never know....

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14 hours ago, 90sChild said:

Its nothing compared to what you're talking about, but the hardest thing I go after is silver age or bronze picture frames and finding them without miswraps can take me years to finally find a nice copy.  

If I had to make up numbers, I would say around 30%+ of silvers and 60%+ of picture frames/early bronze were miswrapped.  Does that match anyone else's experience?

I had a look at my old ASM scans and I cant see too many miswraps I have to say. Here's four copies of one issue (cents, pence, NDS Insert, Printing Error). The pence is the least effectively wrapped, which is awkward:

108.thumb.jpg.812634149b0800318584ec25598c3233.jpg108ndssticker.thumb.jpg.f503ee08252483961fe4b46ef0f2651b.jpg108p.thumb.jpg.886c63ea62b954cfe7c6a9ff7e93249d.jpg108pe1.thumb.jpg.b1cb934a8f22b93745f317fd500ead93.jpg

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13 hours ago, Icculus308win said:

 

My Ben Bowie set still is the hardest set for for me to complete.

 

 

 

Ben Bowie? Who is him?

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3 hours ago, entalmighty1 said:

My high grade run of Doc Strange 169-183, all in 9.2 or better was a bear to do.  177 is a nightmare to find in high grade.  Of course, now that my interests have shifted more toward the Golden Age, I'm sure this will be a breeze compared to whatever I set my sights on next.

I take it that's because 177 has a black cover @entalmighty1?

That's always puzzled me, when people say it's tough to get high grade black covers because they show defects more clearly. Does that mean white covers are potentially over graded, because the stresses don't show? Defects are there regardless of the cover colour aren't they? What am I missing? hm

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10 minutes ago, Marwood & I said:

I take it that's because 177 has a black cover @entalmighty1?

That's always puzzled me, when people say it's tough to get high grade black covers because they show defects more clearly. Does that mean white covers are potentially over graded, because the stresses don't show? Defects are there regardless of the cover colour aren't they? What am I missing? hm

I've never been in that camp, actually.  A book's condition doesn't have anything to do with the color.  I guess it might show more than a white cover, but condition shouldn't be (:eyeroll:) subjective when it comes to CGC.  I think it has more to do with Strange getting a new costume in that issue, so maybe it was handled more than others in that run?  Also, it's not like it's a huge key, so maybe there just isn't a lot of motivation for people to get their high grade raws slabbed.  35 copies on the census in 9.2 or better.  Doesn't leave you with a lot to choose from!

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2 minutes ago, entalmighty1 said:

I've never been in that camp, actually.  A book's condition doesn't have anything to do with the color.  I guess it might show more than a white cover, but condition shouldn't be (:eyeroll:) subjective when it comes to CGC.  I think it has more to do with Strange getting a new costume in that issue, so maybe it was handled more than others in that run?  Also, it's not like it's a huge key, so maybe there just isn't a lot of motivation for people to get their high grade raws slabbed.  35 copies on the census in 9.2 or better.  Doesn't leave you with a lot to choose from!

Ahh, I see!

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I think it also depends on when you were trying to put together a set. When I was putting together my set of Showcase, I couldn't find a Showcase #4 for years, this was before the internet. It was only after ads started to appear in The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom [precursor to The Comics Buyer's Guide] offering to buy #4 at about 10 times what it was listed for in Overstreet, that copies started to appear for sale at shows and in ads. The first 20 or so issues of Showcase and Brave And Bold were hard to find pre- internet. 

Even now, try putting together a set of pre-code Ditko books.

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13 minutes ago, Tony D said:

I think it also depends on when you were trying to put together a set. When I was putting together my set of Showcase, I couldn't find a Showcase #4 for years, this was before the internet. It was only after ads started to appear in The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom [precursor to The Comics Buyer's Guide] offering to buy #4 at about 10 times what it was listed for in Overstreet, that copies started to appear for sale at shows and in ads. The first 20 or so issues of Showcase and Brave And Bold were hard to find pre- internet. 

Even now, try putting together a set of pre-code Ditko books.

Good points @Tony D. Sometimes it's easy to forget the pre-internet days. I think I mentioned in another thread that I couldn't get an ASM 179 for the longest time in the days of mail order catalogues (I'm in Englandville). Sounds silly now doesn't it. I ended up with about 10 copies in the end. Now, type it in to ebay and I could buy 100 copies in an hour.

That said, try typing Gunsmoke Western into ebay UK and see what you get. Some of the old titles, like the pre-code Ditkos as you said, are super scarce indeed. 

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14 hours ago, entalmighty1 said:

My high grade run of Doc Strange 169-183, all in 9.2 or better was a bear to do.  177 is a nightmare to find in high grade.  Of course, now that my interests have shifted more toward the Golden Age, I'm sure this will be a breeze compared to whatever I set my sights on next.

Would love to see you post that up.. I am working on the same thing currently.  I only have one miswrap which is where I started to actually care about that.  Im taking my sweet time on finding the 169 and 173.

LSGpNy5.jpg

 

 

 

 

Edited by 90sChild
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Wonder Woman (1987) 63-100 all in 9.8 has been a pain, still missing 73, 74 and 85 then I'm done. 84 took me years to find. I can't imagine someone else out there trying to complete this set, they must be ripping their hair out.  

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20 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

I'm always intrigued by these scenarios. It took many years to effectively prove that ASM 42 & 43 don't exist as pence copies, so I get the frustration. Out of curiosity, I Googleated Sad Sack 12 Comp and, you're right, it does not seem to be proven to exist. I'll add it to my one to look out for list @marvelmaniac. You never know....

Thanks for keeping an eye out.

I just wish there was somebody to contact that may have the info or know who may have the info.

I have two threads opened on this forum related to this issue, they were opened one year apart and other than checking Pinterest (which I did) nobody had any answers.

I even found this and if you notice #12 is missing.

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/sad-sack-comics/4050-33904/

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For me the toughest run was Welcome Back Kotter 1-10 in CGC 9.6 or better with white pages.  If you look at the census there are very few of the issues graded aside from # 1.  Add to that the fact that Doc Joe has 9 of the 10 in 9.6/9.8 with the majority in 9.8 and I could see I would have to find them raw and sub them.    I was able to purchase a #1 CGC 9.8 from Ebay (the only candidate I had I had signed by Ron Palillo at an old Big Apple Con a few years back and the other isssues I had were 9.2 at best).  I bought a # 7 from a boardie who had it graded on site in Chicago a few years back.  I purchased a run from BronzeBruce? I believe...I subbed 5 of them and got back # 5 in 9.8 a #2 in 9.4 and  3 others in 9.6 (including a 2, I had sent 2 copies in)...all had white pages.  This was huge as I knocked off a big chunk right there.  (On a side note, that submission was one of my best as I had also subbed a Hulk 110 that came back at 9.6 White pages, which at the time was the highest graded, as well as a Hulk 5 that I thought would come back at a 2.5, it came back 3.5...Also subbed 2 NM 98's...but they only came back at 9.6 and 9.4 so I dumped them for $75 and $45 lmfao).  All I needed was a 9, 10, and a 6.  I don't recall where I finally got the 9 and 10...maybe wwcomics or ebay?  Funny that I'm drawing a blank on those...  The 9 was very tough as well...have a good number of raw "NM's still lying around lol.   The last issue I needed was the # 6... I had purchased well over a dozen "NM" issue number 6's from ebay to try to find one...never found one in the wild (comic shops or shows)...I finally  narrowed it down to 3 candidates and headed off to wintercon last year,  got some opinions from a few dealers at wintercon and subbed the one that people thought had the best chance.   A few months later and now I have the only complete Welcome Back Kotter registry set!  Came back at a 9.6 with white pages!  Out of the 10 issues only 2 are graded 9.8 (the 1 and the 5).  The rest are 9.6.  Over 10 years in the making and finally complete!  Not sure what the next "goal" will be...that was a "cheap" one, but difficult as there were really not a lot of copies available graded when I started and I had to sub a bunch myself...One of my earlier goals, before it got too expensive, was to put a run of TTA's from issue 59-101 and Hulk 102-118  CGC graded 9.4 or better, off white pages or better...and pedigrees only!  I was halfway there, but it got too expensive and I sold a bunch off...still have a few...maybe I'll make another run of it as it appears prices have come down on the non-keys...

 

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Getting a complete set of Whitman Canadian price variants from 1984. Took me years to complete the set of 75 cent cover price issues. Most are low to mid grade, but it was a fun and thought set to complete. Still buying them whenever I see them (which is not that often) in case they're upgrades to my existing copies. 

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I'm not the most diligent collector, pretty much just buy on ebay, the boards, a couple dealers who send out emails, and the 3 main auction venues, but I've been trying to complete a run of the Atlas series Private Eye 1-8 for at least a couple years, in VG/F or better. While I'm not willing to pay a premium for high grade, I'll pay market rate for solid midgrade copies, and still can't find a 3 or 6 in decent shape. Low grade seem constantly available, but I'm seeing why Atlas collectors will sometimes pay ridiculous multiples for a 6.0 copy of a desirable book, as anything better than VG is tough for a lot of books. Part of the problem may be that the title isn't really in demand, $7-$10 a point, so there is little temptation to part with them.

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I've only completed one run and it's no where as impressive as the ones mentioned here. I put together the entire run of DC Comics Presents...(mostly team-ups with Superman) in 9.2 or higher (not graded). 

I was determined and they are easy to find so it only took a few months.  I was all proud of myself that I completed something. Then I decided to sell part of my collection and I accidentally put my DCCP box in the For Sale stack.  I didn't realize I sold it until a few days later when I was looking for it. I was so bummed. 

:tonofbricks:

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