Harbinger #1 CGC 9.8s on eBay (past and current auctions)

[StarBrand]

Auction style, ending Tuesday night.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111267535906?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ended at 330.00.

[iggy101us]

2 more copies added to census since Dec. 1st post updated with recent sales and completed auctions.

[StarBrand]

Only three copies of this book on eBay at the moment in CGC 9.8, not including a signed one. Two are 429.00 each. The other copy is the one where the seller tries to make a big deal out of it being (allegedly) unpressed and has been asking 1,499.00 OBO for it forever. I'm unimpressed with unpressed.
I can't remember the last time there were so few copies of this book in CGC 9.8 on eBay.

[BloodShot]

Only three copies of this book on eBay at the moment in CGC 9.8, not including a signed one. Two are 429.00 each. The other copy is the one where the seller tries to make a big deal out of it being (allegedly) unpressed and has been asking 1,499.00 OBO for it forever. I'm unimpressed with unpressed.

ckb might actually sack punch me for sayin' this, but I'm in complete agreement with you on that. Do you honestly care one way or the other if that (or any other) book's been pressed? I don't.

Granted, we can get into that whole discussion about Purple Label slabs, and whether a book's been "retouched"; blah, blah, blah, words, blah . Does ANYone here truly believe that "pressing" is the same thing (or even similar) to trimming a book; cover coloring/filling; glueing, etc.? If CGC doesn't, AND they even have their own pressing service which does NOT affect the label of the book at all, then honestly, who gives a *SQUEE* ? In case I wasn't clear before, I don't.

To wit, if you do (not you, in particular, StarBrand; again, I mean ANYone) care about said book being pressed (or not), are you seriously willing to pay over four times the going rate of a 9.8 copy to get one that's UNpressed?

Uhm ...pass.

[StarBrand]

Whether a book is pressed or not is virtually moot as far as the market is concerned.

[BloodShot]

Whether a book is pressed or not is virtually moot as far as the market is concerned.

Once again (not surprisingly), you and I are in complete agreement.

However, we might have a bit of a hard time convincing some of the "elitist" snobs on the Collectors Society forums of that (of which, like a handful of boardies here, I am a member of, BTW). I've read more than a couple of discussions there regarding pressing (and pricing), and there are some seriously die-hard proponents against pressing books, as well as not buying a book, simply because it was pressed.

To each their own; it is what it is.

But, to reiterate: if it's not a big deal to CGC, it sure as hell isn't a big deal to me.

[Aram]

Whether a book is pressed or not is virtually moot as far as the market is concerned.

Once again (not surprisingly), you and I are in complete agreement.

However, we might have a bit of a hard time convincing some of the "elitist" snobs on the Collectors Society forums of that (of which, like a handful of boardies here, I am a member of, BTW). I've read more than a couple of discussions there regarding pressing (and pricing), and there are some seriously die-hard proponents against pressing books, as well as not buying a book, simply because it was pressed.

To each their own; it is what it is.

But, to reiterate: if it's not a big deal to CGC, it sure as hell isn't a big deal to me.

It is my understanding that the pressing service cgc now owns is a careful and generally completely non destructive (unless something goes wrong) pressing of individual pages and covers, not like it is shoving an entire book between two sheets of metal and stamping it down or anything medieval like that.

Theoretically I would think that doing so might compact the fibers in the paper into a denser state that might potentially make deterioration a slower process and again theoretically.. make the book last longer!

[DirtbagSailor]

I'm pressing every raw book I own at the moment.

They are all in bags, in a heavy stack, with a large book on top.

Better toss me behind bars and throw away they keys, because I'm guilty as charged! Lol!

Honestly, I want my (and all other really) books to last for generations to come. It saddens me to see some of the golden and silver age books in the poor condition we often find them, and if pressing helps to improve the lifespan and presentation of the book without changing/altering/restoring it in anyway, the press on brothers!

[ckb]

Only three copies of this book on eBay at the moment in CGC 9.8, not including a signed one. Two are 429.00 each. The other copy is the one where the seller tries to make a big deal out of it being (allegedly) unpressed and has been asking 1,499.00 OBO for it forever. I'm unimpressed with unpressed.

ckb might actually sack punch me for sayin' this, but I'm in complete agreement with you on that. Do you honestly care one way or the other if that (or any other) book's been pressed? I don't.

Granted, we can get into that whole discussion about Purple Label slabs, and whether a book's been "retouched"; blah, blah, blah, words, blah . Does ANYone here truly believe that "pressing" is the same thing (or even similar) to trimming a book; cover coloring/filling; glueing, etc.? If CGC doesn't, AND they even have their own pressing service which does NOT affect the label of the book at all, then honestly, who gives a *SQUEE* ? In case I wasn't clear before, I don't.

To wit, if you do (not you, in particular, StarBrand; again, I mean ANYone) care about said book being pressed (or not), are you seriously willing to pay over four times the going rate of a 9.8 copy to get one that's UNpressed?

Uhm ...pass.

The marketing on that "unpressed" H1 copy is insinuation that it could be pressed to a higher grade. He can ask for any price he wants, but I think you have better odds on hitting the Superball jackpot with the bonus ball.

Generally, proper pressing on modern books does not bother me greatly. Defects removable by pressing moderns are normally very, very minor. And a proper press means the defects are permanently gone - improperly pressed books can exhibit their original defects over time. Combining this with slabbing does grieve me a bit since if these defects do return they will likely be invisible in the slab. I haven't played this game with VH1 and I'm not about to get involved in it with VEI even for my own collection.

Pressing a H1 can bother me a bit since there is a better than normal chance it will be damaged in the process. And we all know every H1, Rai 3 and Solar 10 is sacred. A good presser will know there are problems with H1 and use spot-pressing, as mentioned, instead of the full book dry press waffle maker.

But the reality is the supply of most moderns is ample enough that it is rarely a concern. You need Books like NM 98, WD1, and H1, of course, to bring this part of the hobby into play. Put all that together, including the risks, and I'm sure that just about anyone would pick unpressed over pressed when given the choice. I do think it is proper for any seller to proactively disclose positive knowledge that a book he was selling was pressed. I certainly understand the "see no evil" attitude with these...we're usually talking about removing some breaks in the gloss or a very light non-color breaking bend.

On older books it bothers me a bit more, especially with all the disassembling and refolding going on these days, but I still don't put it on the same plane as other forms of restoration...So you can uncover those nads...

[StarBrand]

Mycomicshop ended one on Feb 4th at 491.00 because it's no longer available. That usually means they sold it on their website. Not an official sale we can document, but perhaps one less copy out there that's for sale.

[StarBrand]

There's a copy listed auction style ending Sunday. The seller is in Canada.

[lorddunlow]

There's a copy listed auction style ending Sunday. The seller is in Canada.

It's a trap!!!!!!

[StarBrand]

There's a copy listed auction style ending Sunday. The seller is in Canada.

It's a trap!!!!!!

[StarBrand]

A certain percentage of potential buyers will have reservations about bidding on a slab being shipped from Canada. I wonder if that will affect the price of that auction.

[StarBrand]

Mycomicshop has two copies listed on the Bay right now. One at 429.00, one at 407.00.

[GGSAE]

A certain percentage of potential buyers will have reservations about bidding on a slab being shipped from Canada. I wonder if that will affect the price of that auction.

How do you figure, sports fan?

[jeremycoe]

A certain percentage of potential buyers will have reservations about bidding on a slab being shipped from Canada. I wonder if that will affect the price of that auction.

How do you figure, sports fan?

It's true. I have reservations bidding on ebay for anything international. That doesn't mean I won't do it, just that there are more things to consider.

[StarBrand]

A certain percentage of potential buyers will have reservations about bidding on a slab being shipped from Canada. I wonder if that will affect the price of that auction.

How do you figure, sports fan?

It's true. I have reservations bidding on ebay for anything international. That doesn't mean I won't do it, just that there are more things to consider.

I'm not saying the percentage is high, though maybe it is. I am among those leery of international shipping. I've probably shipped 7,000 plus packages in my life, with maybe 5-10% going international. Back when I shipped internationally, which is no longer the case, of the few problems I had with packages being lost or destroyed, (mostly destroyed) over half were international shipments despite them being a small percentage of shipments. I haven't bought or sold internationally in years.

[greg]

I don't avoid Canadian sellers, but the cost of shipping is usually $20+ per slab.

As a result, I bid about $10 less on the auction.

Not a big difference if it's a $300 book, but if it's $40 vs. $50... that's a big difference.

Sales records (such as GPA) usually ignore shipping cost, but on a lower priced item, shipping can easily be 20%-50% of the cost to obtain the book.

A book that sold for $60 shipped is recorded as a $40 sale.

It isn't.

[GGSAE]

Well now you know how shipping applies for Canadian buyers, although it seems to be one-sided. There's been many 'deal' prices on BIN auctions on ebay.com, but the shipping difference was three times the price and didn't make it worthwhile. I guess it means I buy less, haha...I should point out that I find sometimes cheap deals from other Canadian sellers because I'm sure many Americans ignore Canadian auctions. It's affected my sales as well....

[StarBrand]

Here's the one closing tonight. It's already over 300.00, including shipping. On the one hand, I thought perhaps there would be a few less individuals that might refrain from bidding for the reason I mentioned above. On the other hand, if memory serves it's been three weeks since a copy was listed auction style, and no other copies are available for under 400.00 on BIN. When that last one ended auction style, another copy had just sold on a best offer for around 330.00 also. So, the closing price on this should be interesting.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harbinger-1-CGC ... 3a8b911894" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[StarBrand]

Here's the one closing tonight. It's already over 300.00, including shipping. On the one hand, I thought perhaps there would be a few less individuals that might refrain from bidding for the reason I mentioned above. On the other hand, if memory serves it's been three weeks since a copy was listed auction style, and no other copies are available for under 400.00 on BIN. When that last one ended auction style, another copy had just sold on a best offer for around 330.00 also. So, the closing price on this should be interesting.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harbinger-1-CGC ... 3a8b911894" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is now at 300.00 before shipping with 2 hours to go. If my theory about potential bidders avoiding bidding on outside the U.S. is true, it's not holding any water on this auction. I think the fact there hasn't been one listed auction style in awhile, coupled with the lowest BIN being over 400.00 is helping this auction. When this ends there won't be a copy of this book in this grade listed auction style, and only 4 copies (if memory serves) listed on BINs with the 400.00+ low being the cheapest.

[StarBrand]

The current listed copy is now at 352.95, including shipping. It seems Harbinger 1 in CGC 9.8 is strengthening in price, after potentially bottoming at 300.00 or so. That's great to see, as I still very much believe in this book.

[greg]

The current listed copy is now at 352.95, including shipping. It seems Harbinger 1 in CGC 9.8 is strengthening in price, after potentially bottoming at 300.00 or so. That's great to see, as I still very much believe in this book.

There was a pretty steady stream of them as regular auctions (starting below the average) for a while.
The market bottomed as a result of too many sellers and not enough competition among buyers.
Even in a string of sales, none were below $300 and the 90-day average is $330 before tonight.

Prices could drop again, but it would probably require another steady stream of regular auctions (starting well below the average).

I believe that a few key Valiant books from the 1990s will be strongly pursued in the next few years.
Once they reach 25 years old... they will be "long established" in the market and should be pretty solid going forward.
Harbinger #1 is definitely near the top (or at the top) of that list. It turns 25 years old in less than 3 years.

[greg]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251449645204" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Finished at $345, or $362.95 including shipping.