For those who fear the demise of the collectibles market may be near...

[bijoem]

Originally Posted by JP

None of that supports the statement that the sale is legit. I can tell you the Wagner pop report if you'd like, but it doesn't make all Wagner auction sales legit.

personally....
If rman444 believes the sale was legit / enough to post that it was legit.... I believe him.

[JP]

Originally Posted by bijoem

personally....
If rman444 believes the sale was legit / enough to post that it was legit.... I believe him.

Why? Unless he himself is the buyer of the comic, what information does he have beyond all of us? Believing something has nothing whatsoever to do with knowing something.

[slidekellyslide]

I thought I read in my local paper today (yes, the actual paper edition that gets thrown on my porch in the morning ) that the buyer was a high profile collector in New York. That probably fits a few high profile collectors, but it may just be Jerry Seinfeld.

[JP]

Does Seinfeld even have a history of collecting ANYTHING in this hobby? I know that like Leno he is a car collector, but I've never heard of him owning any sort of collectible merchandise. Is this all just speculation because he likes Superman?

[barrysloate]

Yes, it's pure speculation. We only know two relevant facts: Seinfeld loves Superman, and he's worth nearly a billion dollars. Based on that, we speculated he could easily afford the comic if he wanted it. That doesn't mean he did buy it, or even if he wanted to buy it. We simply guessed it might be him.

[JP]

We also know that Jerry is a comic and the Superman that sold for $1 million was a comic. Comic - comic. Coincidence?

I'm sticking with my guess that no transaction ever took place...I'm a cynic by heart. And all of the Mastro shenanigans have me doubting every sale...

[barrysloate]

Well I agree with you on that. I pretty much don't believe anything I hear either. But some of the things I doubt do end up being true.

[terjung]

Originally Posted by bijoem

personally....
If rman444 believes the sale was legit / enough to post that it was legit.... I believe him.

I'm with you, Joe. I would tend to believe Richard as well when he makes a statement like that. He knows quite a bit more about comics than I do.

Don't get me wrong... I can be a cynic as well. It is just that when I hear someone with credibility come out with a statement like that, it tends to lend legitimacy.

The question that I might ask related to the pop report is how many of those are regrades due to pressing?

[JP]

Richard said "the sale is legit" but didn't provide any evidence or support to back up that statement. He gave no reason for me to believe it, so why should I blindly follow along? Because he knows about comics? The person who knows most about comics in the world may not have any idea whether a particular transaction took place...

[rman444]

JP - you are right. I cannot provide any proof to you that the transaction took place.

Regarding pressing, I believe that this is a phenomenon that has really caught on over the past few years and mostly affects two types of comics:

1) Those that are already high grade and cannot get into a higher numerical holder due to slight waviness/bending of the surface. An example of a comic that would fit this category would be a 9.6 that is pressed to get into a 9.8 holder.

2) Those that are poorly miswrapped or curled under, where the bend of the book is not along the spine and staples. Comics that fit this category are typically golden age or early silver age. There will often be enough faults on these books that pressing to make them lay straight may not even increase their technical grade - they would however present much better.

I cannot even guess how many Action #1 books have been cracked out, pressed, and then resubmitted, but if any have, I would imagine that it would be a very small number.

[JP]

Originally Posted by rman444

JP - you are right. I cannot provide any proof to you that the transaction took place.

Interesting, then do you mind telling us why you said "the sale is legit" so definitively? Why do you feel that a transaction far above any previous comic sale might be real? I caught some flack for questioning your statement without support, but I think it is important that we don't support what may inevitably prove to be market manipulation on the part of auction houses....

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by JP

Interesting, then do you mind telling us why you said "the sale is legit" so definitively? Why do you feel that a transaction far above any previous comic sale might be real? I caught some flack for questioning your statement without support, but I think it is important that we don't support what may inevitably prove to be market manipulation on the part of auction houses....

I demand that Richard provide proof by posting a photograph of himself with his new Action #1 and a copy of today's newspaper.

[terjung]

Would you similarly question Brockelmann if he stated that a sale of a high end E107 was legit? I certainly wouldn't. I would tend to believe him - even if he were unwilling or unable to demonstrate proof. The fact is that very high end collectors are often intentionally secretive about their purchases and collections. This may be for fear of theft, insurance, or for any litany of reasons. Rarely do such high end collectors care to share about their purchases or advertise that they made them. I realize that this breeds the question of whether a specific sale was legit - especially when it is outside the realm of what would be expected. In this case, the sales of lesser conditioned versions of Action #1 sell for sick money. I guess I don't know why one of the two nicest conditioned and unrestored versions of this extremely sought-after comic wouldn't be expected to go for sick money as well.

[Zach Wheat]

Barry,

Jerry once said that there is a Superman reference in every sinngle episode of Seinfeld. Most of the "references" occur because he has a copy of Superman on the refrig or an image of Superman on the shelf.....there ins't an episode without a reference to Superman I am told.

[JP]

Originally Posted by rman444

JP - you are right. I cannot provide any proof to you that the transaction took place.

You might have missed this the first time... If Richard had said he "knew" the sale was legit, then that wouldve been enough for me.

[rman444]

Originally Posted by JP

You might have missed this the first time... If Richard had said he "knew" the sale was legit, then that wouldve been enough for me.

Actually, I did say that, and it wasn't good enough for you. So I said that I didn't know, hoping that you would let it pass. Yet that didn't seem to work either, so I think that I will just stop commenting on this subject now

Regarding knowing the condition of the interior of a comic when it is slabbed, CGC will make notations on the label for anything that is more than minor (tape on pages, significant tears or pieces missing, etc). They also note the condition/quality of the pages on the label. For other details that are significant, yet too much to list out on the label, CGC makes grading notes in their database which anyone can request with a phone call and a certification number.

Don't you all wish that PSA and SGC would do the same?

[JP]

Go re-read your post. You said "the sale is legit" without saying whether that was an opinion or statement with inofrmation behind it. You never supported that statement. Then you retracted it completely a few posts later. Make up your mind.

[terjung]

Originally Posted by rman444

They also note the condition/quality of the pages on the label. For other details that are significant, yet too much to list out on the label, CGC makes grading notes in their database which anyone can request with a phone call and a certification number.

Didn't know that they did that. Actually pretty cool (and I guess necessary in this case).

Originally Posted by rman444

Don't you all wish that PSA and SGC would do the same?

Resounding "Yes!"

[olsport]

Some of you are very cold-hearted!! Quoting my post, then making a mockery out of it. I don't appreciate it.

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by terjung

I'm with you, Joe. I would tend to believe Richard as well when he makes a statement like that. He knows quite a bit more about comics than I do.

Don't get me wrong... I can be a cynic as well. It is just that when I hear someone with credibility come out with a statement like that, it tends to lend legitimacy.

The question that I might ask related to the pop report is how many of those are regrades due to pressing?

Pressing is rampant in comics, but I don't think anyone has the cajones to press a copy of Action 1.

I tend to agree with you guys as well. Richard knows a lot about comics and I will take his word over someone coming out of nowhere to question the legitimacy of the sale. On the other hand, if JP has first hand knowledge or is somehow connected to Metro or Comic Connect, then he should let us know.