Stolen AF 15 CGC 5.0 Wizard Chicago 4 4

[HENRYSPENCER]

You should also create eBay searches using the titles of all the missing books, bookmark those pages and put in the Chicago, Illinois zipcode 60007 and carefully note any book listed on eBay in that area for the next year.

[justafan]

40 minutes ago, grunter said:

This comment makes me particularly nervous.  I don't have the best eye-sight.  I tend to linger at the front of booths squinting at the wall books just so I can make out what's back there in the usually pretty awful light of the convention hall.  I feel massively self-conscious about doing so, but it's the only way I can get a sense of what the dealer has to offer.  Plus, unlike most on these boards, I don't have long-time personal relationships with the national dealers such that I can feel comfortable asking to just enter the booth and view the wall books up-close.  I'm not a thief.  I just have poor eye-sight.

I'm right there with you on the eye squinting with wall books. it gets even worse for me at the end of the day after digging through long boxes. 

you should never be shy about asking to enter a booth or get a closer look. what better way to get to know a dealer than to get on in there and mix it up with them. they are there to facilitate selling or introducing you to a possible sale and if nothing else then at least letting them know what you're looking for that they can connect you with in the future. as long as you're polite, introduce yourself  and be patient if they are busy with another customer, feel free to ask.

[namisgr]

4 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

Please. I can pick that right edge out from a group of 15s from 100 yards! Why do you persist to presume that I can't? And that the right edge isn't unusual. I issued a challenge. I said, "go and find some CGCed blue label 15s of any universal grade that has the spine line on the fold and the same right edge symmetry and end cut + page ends.

Should be simple to absolutely prove your point if this right edge is so common, right? Let's see them. All of the blue label 15s with the spine line where it is and the right edge art where it ends on this one. Post! Show us.

Approximately one sixteenth of an inch different along the bottom half of the right edge.  And that's just picked out of the two copies of the comic I've owned in my time collecting.  I'm with Roy in thinking the cut on the right edge of the missing comic isn't a 'stigma' that conclusively identifies it.  The wear along the edges and the reader's creases parallel to the spine all taken together with the cut of the cover should be pretty definitive.

  

Edited August 30, 2018 by namisgr

[James J Johnson]

27 minutes ago, namisgr said:

Approximately one sixteenth of an inch different along the right edge.  And that's just picked out of the two copies of the comic I've owned in my time collecting.  I'm with Roy in thinking the cut on the right edge of the missing comic isn't a 'stigma' that conclusively identifies it.  The wear along the edges and the reader's creases parallel to the spine all taken together with the cut of the cover should be pretty definitive.

  

Different enough. 1/16th of an inch isn't much of a difference to some. To others, it's a mile.

And BTW, the one you picked, although near the top it appears to be a good size match, once you get towards the bottom, it's a full 1/8th of an inch off, the 5.0 is cut/folded with a 1.5 to 2 degree tilt to it out of parallel, it's a trapezoid, like most comics are, and not rectangular. Just look at the difference in how much of the last windows show on the 6.5 compared to the 5.0!

I stand by my statement that the right edge here is the definitive marker. Scratches, stresses, pieces; they can all be reworked digitally. The spine alignment and the right edge are extremely uncommon for the 5.0 and if I saw this out of the slab or reslabbed, I'd know it immediately.

Hopefully others will recognize it too if offered elsewhere.

There's an AF 15 CGC 5.0 on Amazon for $65,000. The picture is blurry as hell, like the seller is purposefully trying to obscure details. But it isn't this book and what makes that readily apparent is the spine alignment and the right edge artwork. He can blur details, but not the way the book is folded and cut too easily.

Edited August 30, 2018 by James J Johnson

[SteppinRazor]

On 8/28/2018 at 9:12 PM, MCMiles said:

Word! Same responses on a couple of FB groups where I shared the information. More people belittling the victim and explaining how they'd do it better and different. Finally said the same thing "be on the lookout and/or share the info, otherwise move on."

I didn't see anyone 'coulda, woulda, shoulda' lhcomics or belittle him.  It would be nice if, when he gets his book back, he and other dealers could have some measure of increased protection from the scumbags who take their books so they don't have to disappear from shows.  It seems natural to try to find improvements when a high profile book gets taken, ideally to come up with a way to make it impossible to steal a book and get away with it.

[blazingbob]

The way to minimize the theft of wall books is to not let customers behind the booth.  That schmoozing and customer service can all be handled across the table.

Now for the blind guys who can't see I'm sorry but maybe you need to buy some glasses.  It is not an inconvenience for me to get the books off the wall and show them to you.  Besides I am not a fan of the person who goes behind my booth and starts pulling books off the wall.  You drop em,  you buy em.

I have never been a fan of open booth configurations.  That need to maximize how much stuff you can get into that configuration opens you up to theft.  2-3 people cannot watch and serve customers,  especially on busy days.  Hiring security costs money.  More help costs money.  Camera's cost money,  setting them up takes time and money.  Did I mention all of this costs $$$$$.   

As I've said it is hard for me to watch and also chat.  It is also exhausting to have to watch 20 feet of inventory for 12 hours straight. 

 

[1Cool]

When we are dealing with 1 - 100k type of books maybe it's time to start adopting the jewelry approach and putting everything behind glass with cameras.  I hate to see the innocence of the comic market get taken away but the money up for grabs for a thief at a high end booth is pretty staggering.

[The Lions Den]

12 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

I stand by my statement that the right edge here is the definitive marker.

I'll keep my eyes open...   

[G.A.tor]

2 hours ago, 1Cool said:

When we are dealing with 1 - 100k type of books maybe it's time to start adopting the jewelry approach and putting everything behind glass with cameras.  I hate to see the innocence of the comic market get taken away but the money up for grabs for a thief at a high end booth is pretty staggering.

I had to go this route

problem is not all cons offer the cases (Baltimore and Tampa do not )

luckily heroes, Chicago , sdcc, nycc etc do

 

[walclark]

3 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

I had to go this route

problem is not all cons offer the cases (Baltimore and Tampa do not )

luckily heroes, Chicago , sdcc, nycc etc do

 

Where do you put the good stuff?  

[HENRYSPENCER]

22 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

I had to go this route

problem is not all cons offer the cases (Baltimore and Tampa do not )

luckily heroes, Chicago , sdcc, nycc etc do

 

Very nice.  So did you buy that display cabinet to take with you or do you rent it locally?  That's a very nice booth setup btw.

[G.A.tor]

9 minutes ago, HENRYSPENCER said:

Very nice.  So did you buy that display cabinet to take with you or do you rent it locally?  That's a very nice booth setup btw.

I rent locally at conventions that offer. If they don’t offer then we don’t have 

at Tampa this past month was first con I set up that I closed off our “wall” books and didn’t allow anyone in the booth (like bob mentioned. Known/trusted folks I did but general public I did not, I did what bob mentioned and grabbed books for customers to see )

[blazingbob]

5 hours ago, 1Cool said:

When we are dealing with 1 - 100k type of books maybe it's time to start adopting the jewelry approach and putting everything behind glass with cameras.  I hate to see the innocence of the comic market get taken away but the money up for grabs for a thief at a high end booth is pretty staggering.

What is your cc number?  I'll be happy to rent out some glass cases if you are buying.

[Kevin76]

On 8/27/2018 at 9:34 PM, lhcomics said:

Thanks for all the kind words of encouragement and well wishes. I'll even take the advice on how others would handle their expensive comics if they were selling at shows. I was thinking on taking off next year from selling at Cons and trying to boost my eBay store and auctions.

Well this theft helped me make my mind up so Baltimore will be my last show this year and maybe forever. I'll reevaluate after 2019 and see if I want to jump back into conventions in 2020. 

I have a lot of great customers that I enjoy seeing every year and I'll miss them as well as the dealers I call friends. Don't take for granted the dealers that do this convention grind will do so forever. It is most certainly a grind and expensive to do the major shows. Tell your favorite dealer you appreciate that they continue to setup at shows and spend money with them even if it's over GPA.

Hopefully the word gets out as I feel it has and when the thief tries to sell he'll get busted. If anything good happens I'll be sure to post it here.

Leroy

Bump in the road and you just give up?  It's part of the risk of doing a convention. 

[1Cool]

1 hour ago, blazingbob said:

What is your cc number?  I'll be happy to rent out some glass cases if you are buying.

Oh - I get it.  I stopped doing Cons because of expenses and time compared to just selling books on E-Bay/Amazon.  I can imagine this extra wrinkle has quite a few dealers reconsidering if it’s all worthwhile.  But with the relative ease books can be grabbed and the increase in high ticket thefts I’m sure something will be done to prevent future theft

Edited August 30, 2018 by 1Cool

[SteppinRazor]

1 hour ago, Kevin76 said:

Bump in the road and you just give up?  It's part of the risk of doing a convention. 

How one reacts to the risk is up to them.  If you lose that much money, you get to decide how it affects you

[justafan]

8 hours ago, blazingbob said:

The way to minimize the theft of wall books is to not let customers behind the booth.  That schmoozing and customer service can all be handled across the table.

Now for the blind guys who can't see I'm sorry but maybe you need to buy some glasses.  It is not an inconvenience for me to get the books off the wall and show them to you.  Besides I am not a fan of the person who goes behind my booth and starts pulling books off the wall.  You drop em,  you buy em.

I have never been a fan of open booth configurations.  That need to maximize how much stuff you can get into that configuration opens you up to theft.  2-3 people cannot watch and serve customers,  especially on busy days.  Hiring security costs money.  More help costs money.  Camera's cost money,  setting them up takes time and money.  Did I mention all of this costs $$$$$.   

As I've said it is hard for me to watch and also chat.  It is also exhausting to have to watch 20 feet of inventory for 12 hours straight. 

 

I totally respect that point of view as well.  perhaps you could provide theater box binoculars for those of us whose eye's tire from lack of blinking while scanning book after book all day looking for copies in grade. and maybe some visene and tissues.

the more I think of it the more I like the idea of flipping through an indexed binder of high resolution front and back cover scans and then filling out a sushi card type form specifying which I'd like to view in hand. so much wasted time scanning the wall books.

[NewWorldOrder]

14 hours ago, justafan said:

I totally respect that point of view as well.  perhaps you could provide theater box binoculars for those of us whose eye's tire from lack of blinking while scanning book after book all day looking for copies in grade. and maybe some visene and tissues.

the more I think of it the more I like the idea of flipping through an indexed binder of high resolution front and back cover scans and then filling out a sushi card type form specifying which I'd like to view in hand. so much wasted time scanning the wall books.

Not sure what you are saying there.  So you agree or disagree that people should be able to go behind a dealer's booth?

[Dan82]

I hope they catch the thief and chop of its hands!

[JollyComics]

On 8/29/2018 at 8:58 PM, HENRYSPENCER said:

You should also create eBay searches using the titles of all the missing books, bookmark those pages and put in the Chicago, Illinois zipcode 60007 and carefully note any book listed on eBay in that area for the next year.

That Zip Code is Elk Grove Village next to O'Hare airport. Chicago has 94 different zip codes.  It's tough to find it.