My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

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My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by jmatt »

Well, my X-O slabs are back from CGC and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I purchased 75 copies on Ebay back in June, in what appeared to me to be a small hoarder's collection being liquidated; simultaneously, there were multiple lots of Valiant titles all from the same seller (100 Rai #0, 8 Harbinger #1, 75 X-O #1, etc).

Some people called me crazy for bidding and winning the X-O lot at $2550. And on its surface, perhaps it was. I was paying around $35 a copy for a raw book that goes for between $25 and $30 on Ebay. But I had a pretty good idea of what I was looking at, took a chance, and it paid off.

The numbers:

X-O Manowar #1 CGC Blue 9.8: 31 copies
X-O Manowar #1 CGC Blue 9.6: 27 copies

Rejected at 9.6 Pre-Screen: 17 copies

Book purchase: $2550
Slabbing w/shipping: $1400
Total: $3950

Recent Ebay sales of the 9.8 range from $140 to $160, let's call it $150 or so. The 9.6 appear to be fetching $60. And good raws have ranged from $20 to an outlier of $65, so let's call them $25.

31 x $150 = $4650
27 x $60 = $1620
17 x $25 = $425
Total $6695

So all in all, not too shabby. And I think a decent movie release will push those numbers up 25%.

Oh, and some decent results on my Divinity 1:20 and 1:40.

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by geocarr »

Congratulations! It was one hell of a gamble! I'm never playing poker with you... :lol:
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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by bobby97801 »

Congratulations :clap:

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by Juki »

Nicely done! :clap:

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by nycjadie »

Congratulations on the results!

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by Ricomortis »

Awesome results!

Congrats! Man... Hell of a haul!

:thumb:

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by mkb28 »

Congrats, Brother! :clap:

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by ckb »

Yeah, once you got the books in hand it started looking like a really good deal. Great result.

If you weren't a comic book dealer before, you are now! :D

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

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:headbang:
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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by nycjadie »

ckb wrote:Yeah, once you got the books in hand it started looking like a really good deal. Great result.

If you weren't a comic book dealer before, you are now! :D
Indeed. Careful, and you might end up like me, using finds like this to expand your collection!

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by geocarr »

jmatt wrote:The numbers:

X-O Manowar #1 CGC Blue 9.8: 31 copies
X-O Manowar #1 CGC Blue 9.6: 27 copies

Rejected at 9.6 Pre-Screen: 17 copies

Book purchase: $2550
Slabbing w/shipping: $1400
Total: $3950

Recent Ebay sales of the 9.8 range from $140 to $160, let's call it $150 or so. The 9.6 appear to be fetching $60. And good raws have ranged from $20 to an outlier of $65, so let's call them $25.

31 x $150 = $4650
27 x $60 = $1620
17 x $25 = $425
Total $6695

So all in all, not too shabby. And I think a decent movie release will push those numbers up 25%.
Do you have any concern that the CGC census increase will drive down the market price though? I know I check the census before buying almost any slab to determine my top price I'm willing to pay.
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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by nycjadie »

That occurred with the EW gold in 9.8 last year. That book was sold on HA.com every week with auctions closing at $227 in the beginning, falling down to $66 in just a few months. I also saw that with EW 4s and Rai 0s.

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by tevans333 »

I remember from the original post that many of these had cut corners on the spine that seemed to be a manufacturing issues. Did CGC take the fact that it was a manufacturing issue into account and not ding the grade for it? Or did you weed those out? Just trying to learn for my own submissions some day:)

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by ckb »

"Valiant corners" as they are called, will not normally keep a book from 9.8. I'm sure a really bad example will though.

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by betterthanezra »

nycjadie wrote:
ckb wrote:Yeah, once you got the books in hand it started looking like a really good deal. Great result.

If you weren't a comic book dealer before, you are now! :D
Indeed. Careful, and you might end up like me, using finds like this to expand your collection!
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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by jmatt »

Thanks, everyone, for the words of support.
nycjadie wrote:Indeed. Careful, and you might end up like me, using finds like this to expand your collection!
Yes, I find myself already fighting that temptation... I was looking at your sale thread last week and saw some Newsstands and a Deathmate Red that I still need...
ckb wrote:"Valiant corners" as they are called, will not normally keep a book from 9.8. I'm sure a really bad example will though.
I can't find any grader's notes in my CGC Submission. TBH, I only examined perhaps a dozen of the books before submitting, afraid to even breathe on them. And the bindery tears were the only flaw I could see; some obvious, others had almost none. I felt it was a decent sample that justified the submission without examining them further.

I was really nervous when the first invoice / shipment was posted. Only four copies out of 25 were marked as 9.8. I wonder, does a single person grade an entire invoice and perhaps I was assigned a grader that was 'tougher' than the other invoices? Does it work like that?

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by jmatt »

geocarr wrote:Do you have any concern that the CGC census increase will drive down the market price though? I know I check the census before buying almost any slab to determine my top price I'm willing to pay.
Not having ever done that, I can't really say I took that into consideration. But what's the alternative? Not grading them to keep the pool of slabbed issues smaller?

How do you use it to determine the price you're willing to pay?

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by geocarr »

jmatt wrote:
geocarr wrote:Do you have any concern that the CGC census increase will drive down the market price though? I know I check the census before buying almost any slab to determine my top price I'm willing to pay.
Not having ever done that, I can't really say I took that into consideration. But what's the alternative? Not grading them to keep the pool of slabbed issues smaller?

How do you use it to determine the price you're willing to pay?
I'm not suggesting you shouldn't have had them graded and slabbed. I would have done the same thing you did. I don't know that the increase in census numbers will have any effect on market price. I was just raising the idea to see what others thought. My funds are pretty limited, or so my wife keeps telling me, so if I am looking at two $100 slabs and can only afford one, and all other things being equal, I will buy the more rare one in that grade or overall census. Or if I feel that there is more supply than demand for a particular slabbed book based on census numbers, I might forego pulling the trigger and hope for a better deal later and put my money into a rare slab at that time.
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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by kjjohanson »

I think a decent movie – or even just a movie announcement – will push those books up percentage-wise a lot more.
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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by jmatt »

kjjohanson wrote:I think a decent movie – or even just a movie announcement – will push those books up percentage-wise a lot more.
That was my thought going into this. I mentioned in the original thread that I probably would not have done this without the DMG cash infusion and movie prospects.

On the one hand it's nice to be poised to take advantage of that if and when it happens. On the other hand, this book had a big print run and I'm sure CGC will be slabbing them aplenty if the price kicks up with movie news, potentially driving the price down.

But thanks again for the well-wishes. Over on the CGC Forum, a few people are posting that this doesn't make any sense financially or that I really should have diversified my comic 'investment' etc etc. There's no pleasing some people.

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by Ricomortis »

jmatt wrote:
kjjohanson wrote:I think a decent movie – or even just a movie announcement – will push those books up percentage-wise a lot more.
That was my thought going into this. I mentioned in the original thread that I probably would not have done this without the DMG cash infusion and movie prospects.

On the one hand it's nice to be poised to take advantage of that if and when it happens. On the other hand, this book had a big print run and I'm sure CGC will be slabbing them aplenty if the price kicks up with movie news, potentially driving the price down.

But thanks again for the well-wishes. Over on the CGC Forum, a few people are posting that this doesn't make any sense financially or that I really should have diversified my comic 'investment' etc etc. There's no pleasing some people.
If I listened to people who think like that... I'd have a small Marvel and DC collection. Lol. If I want to buy 200 xo 1's 9.8's, it's really nobody's business. Who says it would be an investment? Maybe that's my passion... To own em and never sell them... To be a TRUE collector and not a speculator. Some people's kids. :roll: Can people just not be happy for someone else in this world anymore? Everyone is the expert on absolutely everything. :roll:

Sorry for the rant... Hate it when people diss good people.

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by corey »

Ricomortis wrote:
jmatt wrote:
kjjohanson wrote:I think a decent movie – or even just a movie announcement – will push those books up percentage-wise a lot more.
That was my thought going into this. I mentioned in the original thread that I probably would not have done this without the DMG cash infusion and movie prospects.

On the one hand it's nice to be poised to take advantage of that if and when it happens. On the other hand, this book had a big print run and I'm sure CGC will be slabbing them aplenty if the price kicks up with movie news, potentially driving the price down.

But thanks again for the well-wishes. Over on the CGC Forum, a few people are posting that this doesn't make any sense financially or that I really should have diversified my comic 'investment' etc etc. There's no pleasing some people.
If I listened to people who think like that... I'd have a small Marvel and DC collection. Lol. If I want to buy 200 xo 1's 9.8's, it's really nobody's business. Who says it would be an investment? Maybe that's my passion... To own em and never sell them... To be a TRUE collector and not a speculator. Some people's kids. :roll: Can people just not be happy for someone else in this world anymore? Everyone is the expert on absolutely everything. :roll:

Sorry for the rant... Hate it when people diss good people.

Rico

lol that is me to a T too.. f everybody else

if you want it buy it. thats my motto

and congrats on those grades did well imo

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by ckb »

Ricomortis wrote:
jmatt wrote:
kjjohanson wrote:I think a decent movie – or even just a movie announcement – will push those books up percentage-wise a lot more.
That was my thought going into this. I mentioned in the original thread that I probably would not have done this without the DMG cash infusion and movie prospects.

On the one hand it's nice to be poised to take advantage of that if and when it happens. On the other hand, this book had a big print run and I'm sure CGC will be slabbing them aplenty if the price kicks up with movie news, potentially driving the price down.

But thanks again for the well-wishes. Over on the CGC Forum, a few people are posting that this doesn't make any sense financially or that I really should have diversified my comic 'investment' etc etc. There's no pleasing some people.
If I listened to people who think like that... I'd have a small Marvel and DC collection. Lol. If I want to buy 200 xo 1's 9.8's, it's really nobody's business. Who says it would be an investment? Maybe that's my passion... To own em and never sell them... To be a TRUE collector and not a speculator. Some people's kids. :roll: Can people just not be happy for someone else in this world anymore? Everyone is the expert on absolutely everything. :roll:

Sorry for the rant... Hate it when people diss good people.

Rico
I agree with Rico, it was the right move. Can you link to the thread on the CGC boards, I missed it somehow?

As for increasing the population and decreasing the price... I believe I commented before that it concerns me only in the 9.6 grade. It does not bother me at all for the 9.8s, and it's one of the reasons that I thought a screen at 9.8, to start, was wise. Not that 9.6s are worthless, but they are harder to sell, so maybe sending the 9.8 rejects in slower would have been a different approach.

Really having a big stack of 9.8s is not what decreases the price. Putting them all on the market and lowering the price to get them to sell is the real culprit. My approach has always been to say "knowing what I know, what do I think they are 'worth'..., selling for that price and sticking to it. Reassess the price only if the market moves around you, not because they aren't selling.

This can make some people a little miffed. When I had about a couple dozen 9.8 Harby 0 pinks at one time, I would list one at what I thought they were worth, which was about $50 less then the going rate at the time. I think I was listing them at like $200. When one sold, I would ship it and wait to confirm it was received, then I would list another at the same price. I got a few interesting emails, I'll tell you that. Anyone who asked how many I had I would just answer "I am setting the price for the foreseeable future." Which was about a year, I didn't move up or down.

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by corey »

ckb wrote:
Ricomortis wrote:
jmatt wrote:
kjjohanson wrote:I think a decent movie – or even just a movie announcement – will push those books up percentage-wise a lot more.
That was my thought going into this. I mentioned in the original thread that I probably would not have done this without the DMG cash infusion and movie prospects.

On the one hand it's nice to be poised to take advantage of that if and when it happens. On the other hand, this book had a big print run and I'm sure CGC will be slabbing them aplenty if the price kicks up with movie news, potentially driving the price down.

But thanks again for the well-wishes. Over on the CGC Forum, a few people are posting that this doesn't make any sense financially or that I really should have diversified my comic 'investment' etc etc. There's no pleasing some people.
If I listened to people who think like that... I'd have a small Marvel and DC collection. Lol. If I want to buy 200 xo 1's 9.8's, it's really nobody's business. Who says it would be an investment? Maybe that's my passion... To own em and never sell them... To be a TRUE collector and not a speculator. Some people's kids. :roll: Can people just not be happy for someone else in this world anymore? Everyone is the expert on absolutely everything. :roll:

Sorry for the rant... Hate it when people diss good people.

Rico
I agree with Rico, it was the right move. Can you link to the thread on the CGC boards, I missed it somehow?

As for increasing the population and decreasing the price... I believe I commented before that it concerns me only in the 9.6 grade. It does not bother me at all for the 9.8s, and it's one of the reasons that I thought a screen at 9.8, to start, was wise. Not that 9.6s are worthless, but they are harder to sell, so maybe sending the 9.8 rejects in slower would have been a different approach.

Really having a big stack of 9.8s is not what decreases the price. Putting them all on the market and lowering the price to get them to sell is the real culprit. My approach has always been to say "knowing what I know, what do I think they are 'worth'..., selling for that price and sticking to it. Reassess the price only if the market moves around you, not because they aren't selling.

This can make some people a little miffed. When I had about a couple dozen 9.8 Harby 0 pinks at one time, I would list one at what I thought they were worth, which was about $50 less then the going rate at the time. I think I was listing them at like $200. When one sold, I would ship it and wait to confirm it was received, then I would list another at the same price. I got a few interesting emails, I'll tell you that. Anyone who asked how many I had I would just answer "I am setting the price for the foreseeable future." Which was about a year, I didn't move up or down.

Lol people got mad because yout sold them? That's funny

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Re: My X-O #1 lot is back from CGC

Post by jmatt »

ckb wrote:Not that 9.6s are worthless, but they are harder to sell, so maybe sending the 9.8 rejects in slower would have been a different approach.
In retrospect, perhaps that might have been a good idea. Live and learn.


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