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Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Tyrannus, The Mighty

I bought Hulk 5 from mail order dealer Robert Crestohl in 1991 or 1992. I forgot what the advertised grade was, but I do recall it being overgraded, thus overpriced. While the color is nice, the grease pencil date bothers me. I typically don't mind date stamps -- I even like neat, unobtrusive date stamps -- but this is a bit much. I'd say this is a decent VG, maybe a VG+.

I love the image of the Hulk bursting through the wall with Rick Jones and Betty Ross in peril. This book is a candidate for an upgrade... I'd eventually like to have a solid Fine.

9 comments:

B2 said...

Wow.. you upgrade your collection? You are a serious collector, man!

Steve said...

Nah... SERIOUS collectors would laugh at my lowgrade books. :-)

I'm not a serial upgrader, but sometimes certain books have a flaw that just bugs me and I have to replace it. Other times, a book will leave a slightly sour taste in my mouth due to the feeling that I got taken for a ride when I bought it. In the case of this book, it's a bit of both reasons.

Anonymous said...

Robert Crestohl is a crook and a nasty, nasty man. Zero integrity despite his big name.

I bought a bunch of early Avengers comics from him around the same time you bought that Hulk. Maybe you saw the same ad in Overstreet that I did?

To say that the comics were obviously overgraded is to put it charitably. One of them looked like somebody had eaten off of it. Another had a coupon cut out of it, which cut into the story.

I xeroxed the comics grading definitions from the front of the Overstreet and mailed it to him, along with the comics, for which I expected a refund.

Incidentally, at the time, Crestohl was listed as one of the dealers advising the catalogue editors, though he's no longer listed. Maybe his reputation finally caught up with him? If my experience with him is typical, I don't know how he stays in business. By conning a steady stream of one-time-only customers?

To make a long story short, I heard nothing back from Crestohl. Finally, I had to call him in Montreal during business hours, at my expense. He claimed never to have gotten the books that I had returned. Got really nasty with me, verbally abusive. I threatened legal action; but since it was a cross-border case, there wasn't much that I could do.

This crook took me for $150 (US).

This incident pretty much soured me on collecting.

Anonymous said...

Robert Crestohl is a crook and a nasty, nasty man. Zero integrity despite his big name.

I bought a bunch of early Avengers comics from him around the same time you bought that Hulk. Maybe you saw the same ad in Overstreet that I did?

To say that the comics were obviously overgraded is to put it charitably. One of them looked like somebody had eaten off of it. Another had a coupon cut out of it, which cut into the story.

I xeroxed the comics grading definitions from the front of the Overstreet and mailed it to him, along with the comics, for which I expected a refund.

Incidentally, at the time, Crestohl was listed as one of the dealers advising the catalogue editors, though he's no longer listed. Maybe his reputation finally caught up with him? If my experience with him is typical, I don't know how he stays in business. By conning a steady stream of one-time-only customers?

To make a long story short, I heard nothing back from Crestohl. Finally, I had to call him in Montreal during business hours, at my expense. He claimed never to have gotten the books that I had returned. Got really nasty with me, verbally abusive. I threatened legal action; but since it was a cross-border case, there wasn't much that I could do.

This crook took me for $150 (US).

This incident pretty much soured me on collecting.

Unknown said...

Isn't it interesting how people who post slanderous comments about others do so anonymously.

If you don't have the fortitude to back up what you say by revealing who you are....how could you ever expect anybody to take you seriously?

I was in the business of buying and selling old comic books for many years and I dealt with thousands upon thousands of collectors. It's a fact of life that it is impossible to please everybody. From the tone of what you wrote about me (anonymously, of course), I would surmise that your attitude offended me when you phoned me and that you were dealt with accordingly.

Andrew Hoffman said...

Hello
This is Andrew Hoffman, I was an avid collector of marvel comics, ASM and Fantastic Four when I was about 11 or 12 years old, back in the late 1970's I ordered ASM number 8 from Crestohl in NM, and the back page at a big tear in it. I sent it back and Crestohl agreed. In my view besides loose grading, Crestohl just didn't pay any attention back then. I also got ASM 5, some old FF's and other ASM's, suppose to be NM, all at best Fine condition by todays standards.
I'm sure things would have been better if dealing with him at the store? I was too young and dumb

Unknown said...

I am no longer in the comic book biz (Thank God)....sold my entire inventory to AMAZON in Feb 2000....and they are most welcome to deal with collectors of the 21st century.

Late 1970s was 30 years ago and prices were just a tiny fraction of what they are today...and late grading at the time was totally different than it is today. Interesting to note that in the late 1970s...my NM price was double my GOOD price. Standards have changed a lot since then.

ROBERT CRESTOHL

Tyson said...

To say that the comics were obviously overgraded is to put it charitably. One of them looked like somebody had eaten off of it. Another had a coupon cut out of it, which cut into the story

the Dude said...

I have dealt with Mr Crestohl back in the late 70's....I used to buy from his home in the snowden area. Yes...the prices were higher and the grading was not accurate....but I still bought from him. He never forced anyone to buy his stuff....if you don't like the price, then don't buy it. I always had good dealings with him (unlike another guy with the initials of J.R.)