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HankronI wish to point out that the essential rules of safetly and smartly buying something expensive, whether it is a baseball card, celebrity autograph or movie prop are the same. I had once written an article on how to safetly buy expensive original prints by famous artists (Dali, Chagal, Rembrandt). While there was a litter of details, it essentially boiled down to three things:
1) Become knowledgeable in your area of collection, and do your homework before buying. Knowedge includes about the collectables, authenticity, forgeries int he market, artist, etc. It also includes about who are the top experts, who are good sellers, who are smart collectors, what are good reference books.
2) Deal with quality sellers (knowedgeable, trustworthy, etc). Under most circumstances, if you are dealing with a high quality seller, everything else falls into place. Sellers you know and trust and have a strong reputation are the people you buy items that are out of your expertise.
3) Get second opinions when you need them. This can range from getting a world famous expert's LOA, to having a knowedgeable collecting buddy give his opinion on the price.
Though those tips were written specically about fine art, they apply just as easily to expensive comic books, game used bats and fine china.