More Neal Adams

In the past several months I have been able to check a few Neal Adams books from my wantlist. My collecting sweetspot is in the 8.0 - 9.0 range... VF to VF/NM. Here you can obtain very presentable and collectible books for a fraction of "near mint" prices. If you don't look too hard, they are virtually indistinguishable from NM copies. ;-)

Thanks to Blazing Bob for the Batmans and Detective Comics. Bob is not the least (or most) expensive dealer out there... but his grading is dead on, if not a bit conservative. I agreed with him on all of the books, except I think he slightly undergraded the Batman 241 at 8.5. I see no reason why it shouldn't be a 9.0.

From the Diamond Run collection:

I obtained the World's Finest from a CGC Forum member.

Happy 87th, Stan "The Man" Lee

Hard to believe Stan Lee is 87 years old. Happy birthday and Excelsior!

Forgeries: Should buyers share the blame?

For great rants against forgeries on eBay and other auction sites, check out TomTresh2 on YouTube. Rant after rant of highlighting fakes and outing the sellers.

An interesting aspect of his videos is that he places 50% of the blame of the scourge of forgeries on the buyers who don't do their homework and buy obvious forgeries. He has a point.

Marvel's Greatest Comics For Only $1.00

From marvel.com

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Marvel is proud to announce the all-new MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS imprint, spotlighting Marvel's most-acclaimed series with new printings of these must-read issues priced at only one dollar each! This bold new venture, launching in March 2010, offers a perfect jumping on point for new readers as well as provides retailers with a great low cost first chapter to some of the hottest selling Marvel Collected editions. And to really get things going, the first title from this line, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1, is free!

"We're proud of the books Marvel publishes and now not only are we giving retailers a great way to promote our top collections, but also giving consumers a chance to sample some of our top comics, maybe for the first time and at an unbeatable price," said David Gabriel, Marvel Senior Vice-President of Sales & Circulation. "MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS represents one of the best values in comics today and with Free Comic Book Day only months after the initial launch, retailers will want to be well stocked."

The titles launching in March, at one per week, are:

March 3: INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1
March 10: CAPTAIN AMERICA #1
March 17: WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ #1
March 24: THOR #1
March 31: PUNISHER MAX #1

Stay tuned for more details on MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS at www.marvel.com!

Jimmy Page calls his purported autograph on guitar a forgery; attorney dries up legitimacy of John Paul Jones

Jimmy Page calls his purported autograph on guitar a forgery; attorney dries up legitimacy of John Paul Jones

Inside Edition investigates photos used to "authenticate" autographs

Here is an interesting Inside Edition expose on Photo-shopped photographs used to "prove" that a celebrity signed an item.

As always, caveat emptor!

A rich man's hobby?

Of course I was thrilled to see a rightful order restored and the Yankees atop the baseball world once again.

After the series I took some time to go through my collection and take a bit of an inventory... it's been a while since I went through my Yankee autographs, and quite frankly, in some cases couldn't remember who I had and who I didn't.

I'm sure glad that I obtained many of my autographs nearly a decade ago... when you could actually get a current player's autograph for less than $50. I recall going to autograph shows back in the 90s with a few hundred dollars and getting a dozen or more autographs from name brand players.

Today, $200 might get you a Nick Swisher (inscription extra, of course.) Jeter is well over $500 in Steiner private signings. (Thanks for being so fan friendly, Jete!)

Would it really kill today's players to "sacrifice" and charge "only" $50 or $100 a signature so fans other than C-level corporate executives could afford them?

Check out the Sports Locker

Here's a good collecting site that is regularly updated -- much more diligent than me... but that's not saying much!

The Sports Locker focuses on sports cards and autographs. It's well written, interesting and well worth a visit.