They're Still Out There! 22 22

[lou_fine]

On 5/14/2021 at 5:46 AM, cheetah said:

I’m just pointing out that there are enough ‘real collectors’ out there with deep pockets that a book like AW 2 is going to receive plenty of attention.  No way it slips through on a weak sale, regardless of the marketing.

Exactly what book are you referring to in your post here, because as like you said, I might not want it going past my radar screen undetected?  

[LearnedHand]

2 hours ago, RareHighGrade said:

And that fact is that the virgin unpressed 9.4 likely had a plump rounded spine, which has now been pressed flat in the 9.6 version.  Many collectors (at least those who have been around long enough to see those unicorns) would prefer the former to the latter.  I don't have a problem with all types of pressing (e.g., pressing out creases that are not near the spine), but once the spine of a pedigree book has been pancaked, it can never be returned to its original form.

True, so true.  Another reason I cherish all my raw pre-pressing mania era books.

  

[LearnedHand]

2 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

I always found dealers going guide or above in the early 70's in the conventions, probably because of the cost of the tables etc. I disagree with you measuring stick of GA comic book prices at " Guide Multiples" "Guide" is not no longer a guide, it a book which is within the  shadows with some ancient pricing thing Bob Overstreet used to create out GA/SA comic book world. He always underpriced each year such that the "next" guide prices would go up no matter what...then many years later he proudly showed how GA/SA prices were slowly always in a upward direction. The Price guide is dead in my opinion when it comes to pricing any GA/SA comic book in today's market. You can be 10X what that books says in a once a year snapshot of prices according to its structure and that does not mean anything. The Price guide today is a shadow of what it was and what it was meant to do in the 1970's. It a for advertisers and revenue, catch-up pricing for those unaware of the Auction Archives and GPA, histories of comic book collecting published 40x, and pictures of some GA/SA books which you can access on the internet with a simple search.It is published now simply until people figure out it is 95% the same material every year with a different cover.

 I am unsurprised that it is not 20x times what this guide price is today . One of my major beef's was the ignoring of "Pedigree" collections such as the Church and SF in that guide .He sat by silently with the all powerful guide and did not take into account, historical finds which elevate the GA comic book itself.

 Remember the name itself ..Guide...that is all it is. When I purchased Action #1 for over $1800..Guide price In Mint was around $600....I had a collector come up to be and say...But Overstreet guide price is a lot lower and my response to him and the other people was this exactly "Buy it from  Bob Oversteet".

I appreciate you raising the issue of price valuation, especially now with this unique GA collection coming on to our radar in the next 18 months.

 My opinion as to what a current market price is......The Ga/SA comic book market is worldwide, instant like oatmeal in package, and is subject to the two "highest bidders" controlling the market price. Even if the third bidder is 30% below #1 and #2...it will never be recorded on one of the big 3 auction sites to the public.

 So anything goes, if you stick by my advice...you buy the book, make a independent judgement as to condition in your mind, and adjust your price paid if there is added historical significance to the book. When looking at past prices, and that is what they are..past prices with past competition which cannot account for new  buyers in the bidding pool understand you only have the information as to the two top bidders on the final price result if the GA book has been sold recently in a auction site.

 Paying current market price does not always work out, I say buy with you "GUT" instinct. If it feels right, if really want the book, then don't let the past  history,  Price Guide or whatever hold you back....go for it and good luck.

 

 

 

 

 

You're arguing over validity of Guide values and whether it's a measuring stick?  Uh, ok ... but that has zero to do with my post.  

I mentioned that my experience back in the day was dealers would generally use the Guide as the basis for pricing and negotiating.  Mentioned this for the purpose of pointing out where pricing was and that an elementary school kid at that time could buy GA with allowance money.  That comment was part of the larger point about why people can be old school or "true collectors" (again, whatever that's supposed to mean) and still concerned with price.  Finally, your "go with your gut" comment is exactly what I was talking about - if someone can "go with their gut" on $10k+ books, awesome ... it's just not reality for most people, for the reasons stated in my prior post.  

    

[lou_fine]

On 5/14/2021 at 8:23 AM, linmoth said:

Thanks to the original poster for the link. I don’t know Brian but he sure is enthusiastic about this collection. Sorta seems like you guys on here would feel the same.

Yes, Brian was really rather enthusiastic when he kept talking about the L.B. Cole books and especially some of the ones with the black covers.  

Although he did expressed regret at not having any of the Blue Bolt Weird Tales (which he seem to be rather passionate about) since they were after the drop dead date sometime in 1950 when the collection came to a complete dead stop, he did seem quite excited and hinted at what must be a real killer copy of Blue Bolt 105 when talking about some of Cole's classic si-fi covers.  

Not sure if he's aware of this uber HG copy that sold through CL a few years ago, but if they are, just maybe they'll just magically find some way to squeeze the Promise Collection copy into a CGC 9.9 graded slab:  

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?id=1269937#detail

 

BTW:  To answer some boardie's previous question here, sounds as though they do have Punch's in the collection, but both Brain and Matt were not sure if there was a Punch 12 in there or not, but did assumed there should probably be one simply because it was a book from 1945.  

 

[sagii]

11 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

 

 

 

BTW:  To answer some boardie's previous question here, sounds as though they do have Punch's in the collection, but both Brain and Matt were not sure if there was a Punch 12 in there or not, but did assumed there should probably be one simply because it was a book from 1945.  

 

All good showmen know how to tease their audience....They didn't flat out say 'no', so my bet is that there probably is 

[szav]

6 hours ago, RareHighGrade said:

And that fact is that the virgin unpressed 9.4 likely had a plump rounded spine, which has now been pressed flat in the 9.6 version.  Many collectors (at least those who have been around long enough to see those unicorns) would prefer the former to the latter.  I don't have a problem with all types of pressing (e.g., pressing out creases that are not near the spine), but once the spine of a pedigree book has been pancaked, it can never be returned to its original form.

When I inquired with Patrick about the Chinatown collection he volunteered that only about 5% of the books were pressed, so I'm guessing if/when those come to market those will be some nice ones to crack out for those that enjoy that sort of thing...

[sagii]

8 minutes ago, szav said:

When I inquired with Patrick about the Chinatown collection he volunteered that only about 5% of the books were pressed, so I'm guessing if/when those come to market those will be some nice ones to crack out for those that enjoy that sort of thing...

Wow,  that's something,  because those books look absolutely out of this world 

[tth2]

8 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Perfect examples being when Brian was talking about not even being able to afford a corner of these first group of books posted here and Matt going on about the perfect square corners, it would have been a nice touch if they could have flashed pictures of the covers and zoomed in on the corners of the 2 Subby's and the Sun Girl at that point.

I guess it's easy to tell who here has never worked in the private sector.

[october]

1 hour ago, tth2 said:

I guess it's easy to tell who here has never worked in the private sector.

You've never been out of college, you don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector. They expect results. 

[adamstrange]

10 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Perfect examples being when Brian was talking about not even being able to afford a corner of these first group of books posted here

He could probably afford this corner.

[lou_fine]

38 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

10 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Perfect examples being when Brian was talking about not even being able to afford a corner of these first group of books posted here

He could probably afford this corner.

No charge as he bit that one off and got it for free while it was going through the CCS process after it had already gotten graded.    

[Flex Mentallo]

2 hours ago, october said:

You've never been out of college, you don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector. They expect results. 

Bah, that's nothing. In the voluntary sector, they expect results without so much as a cup of tea!

[Zonker]

On 5/14/2021 at 8:31 AM, Sarg said:

 

Can someone clarify something? In the discussion, Brian said that when he finds collections, the DCs are usually intact but the Timelys are long gone. But he didn't give an explanation for this strange phenomenon. Why would that be so? 

Isn't it simply the case that Timelys are usually cherry-picked for sale?  So normally the big dealers are the 2nd or later set of hands to sort through a collection.  The fact that the Timelys were still there suggested that Heritage was indeed the first to see this collection.

[Straw-Man]

if i come across a g.a. collection, i'll be all over the comic cavalcades and leadings; they can keep those lame-azzzz timelys.

[Flex Mentallo]

2 hours ago, Straw-Man said:

if i come across a g.a. collection, i'll be all over the comic cavalcades and leadings; they can keep those lame-azzzz timelys.

[Funnybooks]

On 5/15/2021 at 9:54 AM, Sarg said:

Regarding artist attribution (again), in my opinion:

#17 is definitely not by Baker. It's not his style at all. It strongly resembles Al Feldstein -- but the latter had no recollection of drawing a PL cover. I think it is probably Feldstein. 

Despite Al having said he never penciled a PL cover? How is this probably Feldstein when he has publicly acknowledged the contrary?

[path4play]

On 5/12/2021 at 8:26 PM, path4play said:

My 'ole man accumulated about a 1,000 books in about a 7 year period from late 40's to early 50's ('47-'53) = ~3 comics a week.  Spilling out of a pile from a closet in his bedroom my grandma basically left untouched, some with covers some not, lot's of funny books and westerns, Tarzan....  Only child, relatively well off.  Hours of reading entertainment for me on an afternoon weekend visit.  My mom who grew up on a farm stated they could have never afforded the $0.10 cents books, it was quite a luxury.  In fact, a birthday or x-mas card came with a single dime taped inside. I'd say collectors of size in the day were extremely dedicated, and at least of above average means.

My dad recently passed, memorialized in a short poem here: https://www.goodgirlcomics.com/the-ole-mans-collection/

 

[Larryw7]

4 hours ago, Straw-Man said:

if i come across a g.a. collection, i'll be all over the comic cavalcades and leadings; they can keep those lame-azzzz timelys.

I agree, those Schomburg covers get tiresome after awhile. 

[Straw-Man]

larry, isn’t that hat cover still in your all-time top-10?

[jimjum12]

5 minutes ago, Larryw7 said:

I agree, those Schomburg covers get tiresome after awhile. 

I agree... that's why, after about a half hour, I put it back in the box and get out another  GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

... I know I would love to have that MM 66 recreation that Cat has