Daredevil 132 Hits New Record (Filter 81 sale)

The Daredevil 132 Marvel 30 Cent Price Variant has always been a tough, sought-after book for several reasons. First, this has always been one of the toughest super-hero 30 cent price variants, particularly in high grade.

Second, Daredevil has remained popular and the story arc that started in the previous book #131 where creator Marv Wolfman introduced Bullseye is one of the best of the Bronze Age of comics.  The book was inked by Klaus Janson who would late team up with Frank Miller to do the phenomenal Daredevil-Kingpin-Punisher-Bullseye-Elektra story that kept readers thirsting for the next issue to hit the newsstands. I still can't believe that the movie stunk as a bad as it did. Issue 132 is the second appearance of Bullseye.

Third, the book is crazy tough in high grade. The black areas and contrasting yellow areas of the cover show defects like crazy.  The book also contains a Series "B" Marvel Value Stamp #63: Stan Lee. Many otherwise nice books were cut up for that Stan Lee value stamp.

The condition census for the book is a single highest 9.8 followed by two 9.6s and five 9.4s.  A total of 22 books have been graded. The only other time that a CGC certified 9.6 came up for sale was exactly ten years before the sale of this book, back in 2004, where it fetched $500. A high-grade 9.4 sold in 2012 for $508.

When Filter81 listed this book, I was very excited to see what kind of interest the auction would generate. The answer was a lot. $2259.  That is a new record and a new entrant into the four figure club.

 

 

Here is a nice bonus for the post, a scan of the single highest graded 9.8.





Simply incredible Filter81 30 cent Price Variant sale.

Every once in a while a truly incredible run of books comes up for sales.  In the next few posts I will highlight some of the individual gems, but this past summer ebay seller Filter 81 put up a truly remarkable run of price variants on ebay.  The interest in Filter81s books became infectious and chased out some other high grade books from other sellers.  Here is the GPA price variant report for the time period that covered those sales, you will probably never see another with the sheer number and quality of these Marvel price variants.

For perspective, I can usually easily capture the GPA Price-Variant report in one screenshot.  This month, it took three.  Eleven different 30 cent price variants joined the four figure club (over $1000 selling price, for those new to the blog).

  

As I have written before, I highly recommend Gpanalysis.com to any serious certified comic collectors.  I find it indispensable.

Weird Wonder Tales 17 correctly listed (for comparison with the last post)

To give you an idea of the money that the seller (previous blog post) of the WWT 15 left on the table, compare this listing.  All of the Weird Wonder Tales books are pretty tough, but correctly listing the book and not relying on the Overstreet price Guide brought this seller $178.50 at auction for this WWT 17.  The previous seller sold the three WWT books (15, 16, and 17) for $50.  I am guessing the seller left at least $500 on the table, probably more.  That is a lot of "meat on the bone."

Pedigree Comics Grand Auction April 2010

This highest graded Invaders 6 30 cent variant just brought a hammer price of $300 at the recent Pedigree Grand Auction.

Kid Colt 208 sale shatters record for western price variant

It seems like it has been forever, but it has only been five years since the last Kid Colt 208 price variant came up for sale on ebay.  As part of a group of very hard-to-find 30 cent price variants that ebay seller msjackhammer listed on ebay, the Kid Colt 208 was bound to catch the attention of price variant collectors everywhere.  The book is a very solid mid-grade.  I think that the bottom right corner creasing will keep the book in the 7 range, but it would be very attractive for the grade. The auction brought $1628 for the book.  The highest graded 208 resides in a CGC 9.2 holder with another in a CGC 9.0 holder.  There are currently only five copies in any grade on the CGC census.

Here is a picture of the CGC 9.2 copy of the book.

Interestingly, at the same time, another copy of Kid Colt 208 was being auctioned on ebay.  This Kid Colt was in what variant collector's call a "hidden" auction.  A "hidden" auction is one where the seller lists the issue, but doesn't know and doesn't note anywhere in the listing that the book is a price variant.  Ebay seller, ethrift_superstore, must have been shocked when their listing for two Kid Colt Marvel Comics fetched $250 in an auction.  Hopefully, they are not going to go out and buy a bunch of similarly beaten up bronze age comics or they will take a bath on them.  However that pretty white 30 cent starburst makes all the difference in this case.  If they had correctly listed the book as a marvel price variant, I think that would have made several hundred dollars more.  Interest in this book is that high.  It is usually the last book needed to complete the 30 cent marvel price variant set.

GPA Price Variant Report for December 2012

Here is the GPA Price Variant Report for December 2012.  Highlights include the always popular Star Wars 1 price variant and a nice mid-grade X-Men 100 for $250.

GPAnalysis Price Variant Report for november 2012

I always recommend GPAnalysis.com to serious collectors of price variant books, particularly high grade.  There is no better source, with the possible exception of this humble blog, for pricing information on these books.  High-grade examples of most of the books trade so infrequently that it is very hard to price them.  Forget using the Overstreet guide for high-grade price variants - it is simply not useful.  Actually, Overstreet is great if you are a buyer.  I would buy books at Overstreet prices all day every day and twice on Sunday.

Anyway, here is the price variant sales report for certified books for November 2012.

X-Men 100

I have always felt that issue 100 is the toughest of the three X-Men 30 cent price variants.  Because it has a white cover and issues 98 and 99 have black covers, I think that X-Men 100 is generally found in higher grade than the other two issues.  Anyway, this is a very nice copy of the book for $455 and they don't come around very often so it is not surprising that this is a record price for this book in this grade.  The last time that this issue in this grade sold was five years ago in 2007 - so these are pretty rare.

Ghost Rider 24

A very nice copy of Ghost Rider 24 found by the best variant hunter of them all was recently auctioned on ebay for $282. 

Conan 75 in CGC 9.4 brings strong coin

A very nice Conan 75 brought $315 in a recent ebay auction.  It is one of only two books certified at the 9.4 level with only one book certified higher at 9.6.  This is a record price for the issue and for comparison, a 9.8 of the issue would normally fetch $50.

A very nice "raw" Captain America 214 on the "bay"

A very nice example of the 35 cent variant edition of Captain America 214 brought $585 in a spirited ebay auction.  It is always difficult to tell from the scan but the book appears to be the nicest that I have seen particularly since the highest certified by CGC is 8.5.  This book is almost certainly nicer.

Important Iron Fist 14 sale sets record

CGC boardie Keldog sent me a message about an important sale of an exceptionally high-grade Iron Fist 14 35 cent variant.  High-grade dealer Greg Reese's Rare Comics sold this CGC 9.2 copy of this key bronze-age issue.  The sales site shows the comic as sold with the price shown as $6000.  GPAnalysis reports the final sale as $5600.  Since the last reported sale of a CGC 9.2 Iron Fist 14 was $4100, this is a new record for the book.  This sale amount is also higher than the last reported sale of one of the two 9.4 copies in existence in 2006 for $5100.  Your guess is as good as mine, but this sales implies a five figure value for a 9.4 copy in today's market.

Kid Colt 219 ebay sale

A couple blogs ago, I mentioned that a great variant hunter had found a lot with at least two Kid Colt 35 cent variants.  Well the second Kid Colt auction ended and again produced expected results.  $413.28 for what could only be described as a Poor to Fair copy.  I don't think there are any other bronze age comics which would sell for this kind of money in this condition except for 35 cent price variants.  In fact, I am not sure that there are many silver age comics that would sell for this kind of money in this condition.  A poor Amazing Fantasy 15 which is the key silver age comic and the first appearance of Spider-Man would sell for between $1000 and $1500. 

Avengers 147 30 cent price variant latest addition to the 4 Figure Club

A sensational example of Avengers 147 30 cent price variant was recently auctioned by Heritage.  It is the latest price variant issue to crack the $1000 dollar barrier.  It is not surprising because of the popularity of the Avengers movie, the popularity of the Avengers comic book title, and the popularity of the marvel price variants.  The single highest graded example of this issue by two grades (followed by 2 9.4s) this auction was sure to bring the excitement and it did not disappoint.

Some other notable Price Variant Sales.

On ComicLink,

On ebay

one of the best if not the best 30 cent variant collection ever sold,

another good ebay seller,

From Heritage

Marvel 35 Cent Price Variants Checklist, Rarity Index, and Price Information

Many of you have asked when the updated Marvel 35 Cent Price Variant MasterList would be updated.  Well, at long last, here it is.  Just clip on the link and the Master List should pop up.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0An2Fkbt07yWJdFBPZmRydkRPUlVKYmZ3TDAxSTFrTVE&output=html

Ultra-Rare Spiderman 184 All Detergent Sets New Record

Ebay stalwart seller zillaf4 auctioned off the extremely rare Amazing Spider-Man 184 All Detergent Promotional Giveaway Variant copy with the sticker attached.  With 3 or 4 known copies, this is an extremely rare book.  Given the huge number of Spider-Man completionist collectors, this auction was bound to bring a trainwreck.  Twenty-seven bids later, a hammer price of $1525 won the book.  This result has to be a record for a VG to Finish bronze-age Spider-Man comic book.  Here are the details on the listing and the book.  You may not ever see another.

Two things make the book special (and by special, I mean compared to a regular issue 184 in the same condition which would be lucky to sell in a quarter bin).  The first is that the All Detergent sticker is still attached to the front.  You can see it in the bottom left of the cover.  The second is that this is a price variant book.  Note that there is a blank white box next to the issue number in the upper left corner.  The regular issue is printed with the usual 35 cent price.

April GPA Variant Analysis Highlights

Here are the highlights from the April 2011 GPA report.

Highest Graded X-Men 99 30 Cent Price Variant brings Record Price

This exceptional copy of X-Men 99 brought an issue-record price of $2211 in the July 2011 ComicLink auction.  The 30 cent price variant issue is of X-Men 99 is rare enough but ultra-high-grade copies of X-Men 99 are impossible because of the total black cover.  This issue is as nice as they come and is currently tied with two others as highest certified, although it is hard to imagine that this variant issue comes any nicer than this one. 

As a comparison, in the same ComicLink auction, a CGC 9.4 regular edition sold for $180 with is right at the GPA average.  A 9.8 regular edition sold for $1600 which will give you an idea of the interest in this issue.

Here is the ComicLink auction description.


X-MEN #99 - The Auction Has Ended

Item description:
1976, 1st Black Tom. Sentinels cover
Publisher: Marvel
Condition: CGC 9.4 NM
Page Quality: White Pages
Type of Holder: Universal
Degree Of Restoration: Unrestored
Census Rank: Highest CGC Graded!
Pedigree or Highlight: PRICE VARIANT
Current Bid: $2,211
Number Of Bids: 32
Final Bid: $2,211
End Date: 7/28/2011 11:04:40 PM

ComicLink Comments:
This CGC solid Near Mint CGC 9.4 PRICE VARIANT is the highest graded, and is 1 of only 3 that CGC has ever certified at this top tier. Additionally, CGC has assigned its perfect page quality designation of White Pages, making this Price Variant the very finest example obtainable for this issue.  

For the three X-Men 30 cent price variants, the highest grades are
    Issue 98 9.6  (two copies)
    Issue 99 9.4  (three copies)
    Issue 100 9.6  (two copies).

I figure that the cost today if you could purchase the highest copy of each issue is around $10,000 for the set.  It is only speculation, as the auction that contained all three of those books is gonna be a long time coming.

Notable sales for CGC graded books in June 2011

GPA reports the sale of several significant Marvel Price Variants in 2010.  Price variant collector 4gemworks listed several of his graded undercopies on ebay which released a large number of nice copies on the market for the first time in years.

Among the highlights
X-Men, The (1963-1981) No.99 (9.0) $511
Defenders, The (1972-1986) No.38 (9.2) $150
Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963) No.157 (9.0) $101
Weird Wonder Tales (1973-1977) No.17 (7.0) $80
X-Men, The (1963-1981) No.107 (6.5) $180