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Positives and negatives of buying a very low grade GA key like BM 1 1.5 (Heritage auction)
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20 posts in this topic

Hi all,

 

I wanted to get some feedback on the positives and negatives of buying an ultra low grade GA key like the BM #1 1.5 auctioning off at Heritage.

The issue has a lot of tape, holding the spine together (completely split) as well as the centerfold in place

Does the tape and glue on the tape have a potential to “degrade” the comic over time (ie, like any solvent could do to paper stock, over long periods of time)?

There’s a lot of tape on this one.....

thanks in advance 

Edited by dm3
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10 hours ago, dm3 said:

I wanted to get some feedback on the positives and negatives of buying an ultra low grade GA key like the BM #1 1.5 auctioning off at Heritage.

I think it really depends on how deep your wallet is as I believe it's going to go at a much higher price point than where it's currently sitting at.  :gossip:

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12 hours ago, dm3 said:

Does the tape and glue on the tape have a potential to “degrade” the comic over time (ie, like any solvent could do to paper stock, over long periods of time)?

Not in the slab and even less if kept in proper storage conditions.

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18 hours ago, dm3 said:

Hi all,

 

I wanted to get some feedback on the positives and negatives of buying an ultra low grade GA key like the BM #1 1.5 auctioning off at Heritage.

The issue has a lot of tape, holding the spine together (completely split) as well as the centerfold in place

Does the tape and glue on the tape have a potential to “degrade” the comic over time (ie, like any solvent could do to paper stock, over long periods of time)?

There’s a lot of tape on this one.....

thanks in advance 

I agree with @Junkdrawer , but what are your thoughts on this...

The only thing I am unsure of is if there was ever any rust on the staples.  I was told early on that once something starts to rust, the staple decomposes exponentially faster and then migrates to the paper causing those stains.  So... it might take a long time to rust but once it starts it decomposes quicker than it took to get rusty in the first place if that makes sense. 

Edited by Buzzetta
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5 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

I agree with @Junkdrawer , but what are your thoughts on this...

The only thing I am unsure of is if there was ever any rust on the staples.  I was told early on that once something starts to rust, the staple decomposes exponentially faster and then migrates to the paper causing those stains.  So... it might take a long time to rust but once it starts it decomposes quicker than it took to get rusty in the first place if that makes sense. 

Thanks @Buzzetta

i have seen this rusting aspect in raw books but never had a CGC with rust to determine if it occurs in the slab

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12 hours ago, lou_fine said:

I think it really depends on how deep your wallet is as I believe it's going to go at a much higher price point than where it's currently sitting at.  :gossip:

Thanks @lou_fine

i agree.  Unfortunately it’s most likely going much higher.  I’m guessing at 50-70k based on the price history.

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4 hours ago, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

I’ve looked at that book a bunch. Like @lou_fine, I think there’s still a price pop coming. I think you’ll be lucky to get it at $50k. I did not know, per @Gotham Kid, that the slab mitigates the deterioration of the paper due to tape. I’d been told in the past by cgc that the slab will halt the progress of foxing, but this is the first I’d heard that the slab will also halt the progress of tape damage. This is surprising and welcome news.

nobody knows the future in this coronavirus world, but there’s 2 things about collecting low end keys: 1) you’ll pay a little more, relatively speaking, on a low end key because there’s more bidders for whom a less expensive key is attainable. And as you know, more bidders often results in a higher price, relatively speaking, than on a book that’s only got maybe 1 or 2 bidders. There will be more bidders on a Bat 1 1.5 than on a Bat 1 6.0, simply because more guys can afford to sit at that table.   2) not all low end keys are alike. Some have higher eye appeal than others. The number of defects at the low end are various and sundry. I don’t mind detached covers or centerfolds(even though I try to avoid books with label notes), and I don’t mind cover splits. If the result of these defects are such that I can more afford to sit at the table, and the book looks good in the slab, that hits all my buttons

oh, I almost forgot: I think it’s good strategy to buy low end keys. First of all, they are extremely satisfying to own, and secondly, I think they will always go up in value. I see the flavor-of-the-month books wax and wane(In prices people are willing to pay), but not as much the keys

Thanks for the wise advice @GreatCaesarsGhost

What you say above is consistent with my experience regarding the bidding 

I have looked at the other non restored low grades and you are right.  There’s a huge variance in eye appeal.

i was glad this one had a complete original back cover.

 

regarding the rust, I don’t see it in the grader notes.  Just a lot about the obvious tape.  I’m glad to hear about the tape as well.  There’s a lot of it......I was mostly concerned about the glue as a solvent 

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On 4/25/2020 at 5:23 AM, Buzzetta said:

I agree with @Junkdrawer , but what are your thoughts on this...

The only thing I am unsure of is if there was ever any rust on the staples.  I was told early on that once something starts to rust, the staple decomposes exponentially faster and then migrates to the paper causing those stains.  So... it might take a long time to rust but once it starts it decomposes quicker than it took to get rusty in the first place if that makes sense. 

FWIW I own a book with rusty staples that has been slabbed for 17 years without reholdering (slabbed early enough that the label itself mentions the rust). The rust currently present is minimal. 

It’s only a 17-year experiment so far. But I’m probably only around for two more 17-year experiments, so there’s that...

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14 hours ago, lighthouse said:

FWIW I own a book with rusty staples that has been slabbed for 17 years without reholdering (slabbed early enough that the label itself mentions the rust). The rust currently present is minimal. 

It’s only a 17-year experiment so far. But I’m probably only around for two more 17-year experiments, so there’s that...

@lighthouse

 

thanks.   This is great information for future purchases of CGC GAs that are rusted.

is there a way to find out the date when the CGC comic was slabbed?  Is it done through the UPC code lookup ?

i don’t know much about CGC but have been collecting for a few decades.

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18 hours ago, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

$78k. Considering the eye appeal, that’s an amazing price. Maybe we are back to $50k PPP

4B22EFCC-BF6A-4C5A-97D4-0847CBFC64CB.jpeg

53C3156C-38CA-4DE8-BEA6-35CEFC650FD5.jpeg

@GreatCaesarsGhost

 

I agree. the comic sold for 65k, but with buyers premium it’s 78k.

Buyer's Premium will be added to each successful bid. For this sale: 20% of the successful bid ”!!!

I wasn’t going above 50k

i had guessed 50k-70k on this one, but the 20% premium ruined the purchase valuation on this one

 

there are some nice ones at mycomicshop.com (4.0) and another 3.5 at comicconnect.

the mycomicshop 4.0 has a nice presentation and is signed on the back.

The consignments at mycomicshop are only 3% buyers premium and the 4.0 #1 is not consigned (no premium)

 

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On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2020 at 2:54 AM, Gotham Kid said:

Not in the slab and even less if kept in proper storage conditions.

It will always say "1.5" on the slab even if the insides are dust! (ok, I guess the label may turn to dust eventually... the slab will be there when dinosaurs roam the earth again)

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4 hours ago, mycomicshop said:

To clarify--all auction items at MyComicShop have a 3% buyer's premium whether consigned or not. But the buyer's premium is waived if the buyer chooses to pay by check, Zelle, or bank wire (anything other than credit card or Paypal). Which effectively means that for large purchases there's generally never a buyer's premium because they're not usually paid by credit card or Paypal.

Thanks for clarifying this.

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On 4/30/2020 at 7:24 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

$78k. Considering the eye appeal, that’s an amazing price. Maybe we are back to $50k PPP

4B22EFCC-BF6A-4C5A-97D4-0847CBFC64CB.jpeg

53C3156C-38CA-4DE8-BEA6-35CEFC650FD5.jpeg

Look at the crazy advice the publishers are suggesting on the back page...probably had no idea the Frankenstein they were creating... you could probably buy DC for the price it sold today, back then.

CGC/CCS can remove restoration, they need to figure out a way to remove tape...

Beautiful book!

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Crazy high grade GA Batman at comiconnect.

#4 on, many in NM.

 

here are some examples

 

some pedigree Central Valley and Billy Wright 

 

they most certainly don’t belong in this thread. No ultra low grades here....

 

DD16A990-89DF-4AC8-887A-458170A63253.thumb.jpeg.dcdda6ffde3d4164cbd4c0a0bbefa14a.jpeg1755C4A9-7EA8-4CE0-A4E3-3B96BD95E9C6.thumb.jpeg.1c9d809f8033dd0d7aedb0597fa838bf.jpegACF10315-AE72-42FA-81C0-68FDB5DBF765.thumb.jpeg.43bfbae394670825a2b98c8f370e0e20.jpeg

 

 

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