They're Still Out There! 22 22

[MrBedrock]

1 hour ago, Spyder! said:

Man, this thread is bumming me out. It’s such a cool collection, with such incredible books, and all I hear is a bunch of whining over a few books getting grades you all think are too high based on a cover scan.  You can find examples of books where the scan doesn’t seem to align with the grade on non-pedigree books too.

I, for one, will just enjoy watching this amazing collection come to market, without dwelling so much on a few grades. This kind of collection might never come around again. It could be the last major GA pedigree find.  I’m just in awe.

Amen. And I, for two.

[lou_fine]

13 hours ago, Rip said:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superman-35-dc-1945-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/7204-91079.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

 

Interesting to note that when I clicked onto this link for the Eldon copy of Superman 35, one of the things i noticed right away was the CGC 9.6 graded copy of TMNT 1 just 2 books to the right that sold for what at the time (i.e. February of 2019) was probably a rather astounding price of $14,400.  

Fast forward a short 2+ years later and a TMNT 1 in CGC 9.6 sells for $66K at Heritage and then another copy sells for $88K an even shorter 2 weeks right after that.  Kind of sad to see how much the HTF GA market has fallen behind the much more readily available keys books form the FOMO driven BA and CA marketplace, although I strongly feel that this Promise Collection will go a long way to facilitate a catch way for the GA marketplace and will definitely be fun and interesting to watch what plays out.    

[adamstrange]

42 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Although I don't believe CGC downgrades for the small distributor codes and/or small recognized names on pedigrees such as the Church and Larson books, do you have any idea how they handle some of the other pedigrees?  They seem to have been inconsistent with some of them like the Dell File Copies where they were dinged for the writing on the covers at one time, then not, and now seemingly are once again depending upon the book.  How about the Camp copies of Okajima with all of that writing or the Recil Macon as I have one of these books and it looks like he wrote his name in there at least a dozen times, including filling out the coupon.  Apparently, it is common and one of the trademarks of the Recil Macon pedigree books, but how does CGC handle all of this writing from a condition grading point of view?  

Excessive writing on the cover does get some level of downgrade beyond the usual.  The Marvel 1 Lloyd Jacquet "Pay Copy" is an example of a near mint copy receiving a 9.0 due to the writing.

[adamstrange]

1 hour ago, Spyder! said:

Man, this thread is bumming me out.

Our plan is working. 

[batman_fan]

4 hours ago, batman_fan said:

Way back in my early collecting years, I hated writing on covers but now they don't bother me at all and some I actually like.

As an example, here is a book I bought about 20 years ago at the Las Vegas comic con (very poorly attended show but tons of great stuff).  It was a gift to a kid and the Aunt wrote the birthday greeting on the cover.

Edited May 1, 2021 by batman_fan

[szav]

1 hour ago, Spyder! said:

a few books getting grades you all think are too high based on a cover scan

With 4900+ books to be revealed still it may be a little early to declare the whole collection overgraded....but man that Sub-Mariner 11 was not a good one to have happen early on, first impressions and all.  For that book to get 8.0 it would have to be perfect in every other possible way, and it's not.

With the exception of a few with dust shadows (which I personally don't want on a book above a 4.0) the 9.8s do look mostly deserving of the grades, its hard to find any flaws or more than a single miniscule spine tick on any of them.

Anyway, buy the book not the grade etc etc etc, been said before, and will be said again.  I'm excited to see how they do, and definitely plan to try to snag at least 1 or two depending on what sort of premium they seem to go for.  Hope we don't see a mile high type double the price premium even in lower grades, but with the hyperinflated market and timing of this it almost seems a certainty to happen.  This collection going up could certainly be  catalyst for another GA price boom.

[Cobbledclam]

[Sarg]

9 hours ago, adamstrange said:

Technically speaking, the Church comics have writing on the cover that was not present when they left the printing plant.  The distributor code was add prior to the comic being placed on sale; a step sometimes, but not always, taken by the retailer.

To provide a counter example, very few people would consider it a defect if a novel was signed by the author.

Grading is subjective.  People are free to consider distributor codes a defect or not.  Those that do not, most likely consider it part of the original process that produced the book for sale. 

That's an apples to oranges comparison, though. Writing on the cover of a comic by some anonymous distributor is unrelated to a writer of a book signing the copy, usually at a fan's request. 

A distributor scribbling on a cover is no different than a random stranger scribbling on the cover. It was not part of the manufacturing process. If a tiny chip on the edge reduces the grade by a point, writing should also, by any measure -- if not more.  

[lou_fine]

On 4/30/2021 at 8:28 AM, buttock said:

On 4/30/2021 at 8:11 AM, vheflin said:

What if the parents (or a sibling) promised to keep the comics while the collector served in Korea but he didn't return.

Getting warm 

Yes, this would definitely be a rather warm and sentimental back story to the collection, a bit akin to the Tom Reilly San Francisco books then.  

 

[adamstrange]

4 minutes ago, Sarg said:

A distributor scribbling on a cover is no different than a random stranger scribbling on the cover. It was not part of the manufacturing process.

Alternatively, that code is integral part of the distribution and retail process so should not count off at all.  

CGC takes a position between these two and,to my knowledge, doesn't give a 9.9 or 10.0 to a comic with a distributor code.

Should you start a grading company, you can use whatever system you devise for factoring in the different aspects of a comic to produce a single grade summarizing it's condition.  You'll probably find it hard to get everyone to agree to it.  As it says on the back of the CGC label, grading is subjective.

 

[adamstrange]

55 minutes ago, batman_fan said:

 It was a gift to a kid and the Aunt wrote the birthday greeting on the cover.

Auntie should have a sprung a dime for a card and left the comic alone!

[linmoth]

It’s a great collection that will put a lot of emphasis on golden age books. I believe many of the high rollers buying modern books for exuberant prices won’t be able to resist the hype that Heritage is going to spin and right fully so.

I hope it rises the tide on all of the wonderful books not only the Promise Collection but all of the Golden Age!

We shall see! Going to be interesting to watch.

[batman_fan]

29 minutes ago, linmoth said:

It’s a great collection that will put a lot of emphasis on golden age books. I believe many of the high rollers buying modern books for exuberant prices won’t be able to resist the hype that Heritage is going to spin and right fully so.

I hope it rises the tide on all of the wonderful books not only the Promise Collection but all of the Golden Age!

We shall see! Going to be interesting to watch.

I will definitely be a bidder but sadly most likely not a winner.

But maybe there is hope in the "after auction sells thread to try and cover what people spent"

[linmoth]

I have some GA books that I consigned to the auction and at first I was pissed that Ed didn’t tell me about this collection. Then after I saw the time line I feel pretty good about my books! We shall see.

[Qalyar]

1 hour ago, lou_fine said:

Yes, this would definitely be a rather warm and sentimental back story to the collection, a bit akin to the Tom Reilly San Francisco books then.  

 

Given the 40s timeframe here, my guess is earlier. Young man shipped off to WW II. Family promised they'd keep getting books for him to read when he came home... but he never came home. That's why these seem unread; they weren't. And why the earlier books are lower grades more in line with having been read normally.

[vheflin]

41 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

Given the 40s timeframe here, my guess is earlier. Young man shipped off to WW II. Family promised they'd keep getting books for him to read when he came home... but he never came home. That's why these seem unread; they weren't. And why the earlier books are lower grades more in line with having been read normally.

Why keep buying them until 1950 then?

[Chief1332]

Korean War.. we didn't officially enter until June of 1950.. WWII scenario seems likely.

 

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

30 minutes ago, vheflin said:

Why keep buying them until 1950 then?

Good question. MIA maybe

[Qalyar]

4 minutes ago, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

Good question. MIA maybe

Or just because they promised to have comics for him until he got home, and he wasn't home yet. People have done stranger things when they lose family to war.

[vheflin]

1 minute ago, Qalyar said:

Or just because they promised to have comics for him until he got home, and he wasn't home yet. People have done stranger things when they lose family to war.

Possible but quite tragic and so tragic that I don't think I'd want to own one of them, at any price.