Bronty

Thoughts on mantle prices?   They’ve shot way up right?

So did you basically roll the proceeds from one hobby to another?    I basically did the same thing around 02/03 selling comics to buy games.    And since 08 having sold games at times to buy art.    I haven’t spent any net money in forever. 

5 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

It was actually the last book that I owned before I fully got back into vintage baseball cards. I sold it back in 2003 but I think it's come up for sale in an auction at least once since then because at the time it was the only purple label CGC 6.0 (Extensive) copy in the pop report. I think there was another purple label 6.0 later on, but it was in the slight/moderate category.

That’s cool, I still buy golden age but only the wartime Canadian superhero titles weren’t sold in the US.

whats your best or favorite card these days then ?

I just think that first auction was excitement over the first offering to market of the title people want.   However, someone paid an 8.5 box price for 5.5 box as a result 

8 minutes ago, jonebone said:

Marrying parts has been around forever and video game pressing has been publicly advertised on social media for at least 6-9 months now.  Not to say those tricks have been applying to all CIBs graded, but it's already been happening significantly.  

Sealed, people still clean them and remove stickers.  I don't want any sealed graded with a sticker and always remove them.  Wata seems to not dock for stickers unless its a huge security sticker that would cause damage (think R-Zone).  VGA docked for stickers (as they should IMO).  You can't clean scuffs off but you can definitely remove dust / debris / sticker goo / etc.  So yeah, sealed games can be modified a bit to appear nicer too. 

Agree with all that.   But it’s early days yet. As for people removing stickers on sealed etc.  - you’re quite right that the appearance of the wrap can be manipulated somewhat and that’s been happening forever.   But that’s it.   The insides can’t be touched.

11 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I got out of comics right about the time CGC started, but I remember professionally cleaned/pressed comics being sold and it wasn't always disclosed. I didn't have a problem with buying a cleaned and pressed comic at a discount. I tried to avoid restored books although I bought my More Fun #52 from the original owner and I had it restored by Matt Nelson because the spine was completely split and the edges of the pages were becoming brittle. It was one of those cases where it was mostly intact otherwise other than a small piece out of the lower right corner of the cover. It ended up with a CGC 6.0 (R/Extensive) grade in the end, but it went from being tattered to a respectable mid grade looking copy.

Well, you missed all the shenanigans  Restoration when it makes sense is great. Micro trimming a 9.4 into a 9.8; not so much.     And it’s all still going on, all the time.   The blue labels have been messed with just as much as the purple labels.   Assumed they are all manipulated, I guess.  

More Fun 52 is a great book.   Still have it? 

Well, 1.57 is really precise but not any more accurate than a round number since it starts with a 90% guess presumed to be fact.    I like your conclusion and agree with that type of range.   But as I’m sure you know it’s all guesswork at the end of the day.   

Ok .    So no doubt this recent One is a lot rougher.    1/2 to 2/3 of the value of the other one maybe?    That back wear and missing flaps are pretty savage.   Thoughts?

5 minutes ago, Sign Collector Guy said:

A buddy I were talking about if as the listings were closing last night. Does this speak more to the audience population? Would this have ever slipped through on Ebay?

Nah.   I think it just slipped through, it happens.  There’s plenty of people that collect cib watching those auctions as well

One thing is for sure, if there’s money to be made  we are going to see big time grade creep on cibs as people start to marry parts and max out the potential grades with other means including pressing and cleaning and whatever other tricks they come up with.    

One thing you can’t take away from sealed is that no one has touched it.    With all the manipulation that goes on to maximize grade in other hobbies it’s to know that if you have a sealed game no one has trimmed or pressed or cleaned or given it a solvent bath or whatever.    It’s been left alone since the day it was made.  You don’t get those guarantees in things like comics, in fact you assume the opposite 

Just now, Bearcat-Doug said:

I started in comics, then vintage toys, then vintage baseball cards so even I have trouble applying the grading standards from one hobby to the other. I was honestly confused on how they came up with a 6.0 grade when the box itself was graded a 3.0 and had the notation that it was missing both inner flaps, but the cart and manual had 8.0 grades.

There you go.   Yeah they have some kind of formula where the box is 50% of the grade and the interiors 50% of the grade

2 hours ago, Sign Collector Guy said:

That CIB Panic was for sure a fair deal for someone. 

Yeah that might have been the best bargain in the sale

27 minutes ago, Sign Collector Guy said:

Side by side visual of the 2 copies. 

I’m not seeing a lot of difference from that.    Sub grades?

33 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I have no doubt the $22k sale was crazy, but if I couId have gotten one in the same grade with a box that was a little rougher for 20% of that I'm wondering if I should have pulled the trigger at the last second. 

Having a comic background myself (but also a games background) I think it was hard for the guys newly over from comics to understand the giant gap that a 6.0 cib and a 9.4 sealed are on an early title. 

They don’t have the sealed and cib concepts; all comics come ‘cib’ unless missing pages.    As a result I think it was initially difficult for them to understand how special a sealed is on certain titles and how available a cib is sometimes on the same title.    

They are learning really really fast though; I don’t expect to see a widespread mistake like that again any time soon.

There’s not much to say.    If you want 95syou need truly flawless with crystal clear unblemished wrap and razor sharp corners.  Case fresh or better. Good luck. 

20 hours ago, Romiked2689 said:

That was only to get shown so he could get paid don’t be blind to him acting like he was doing that for the community. I’ve heard thru the grapevine there are more of these and that terry Debold asked them not show it until he’s done with the limelight... 

If that were true the silence would be mutually beneficial if terry sets precedent with a good sized sale

Lots of interesting results.   

Duck tales 2 at 5600 caught my eye among others.   

I wonder what happened with the 22k matte 6.0 in the last auction (22k) versus this auction (3.9k) lol.   

If that’s the same copy they took an 80% bath.    Market came down to reality on that fast.    

Cibs on those titles have always been plentiful 

Punch outs are hot for sure.   There’s been five or so sales at five figure amounts in the last couple weeks alone

When’s the last time you bought a graded game?    

5 minutes ago, Rman said:

A brilliant marketing (Insert word here)!! 

scheme, ploy, stunt, angle, campaign, maneuver, strategy, advertisement, trick, tactic, scam....  

pick one.   They all work depending on what side of the fence you are on.   

 

Scam, really?   Please tell me whom is defrauded.   Tell me precisely who has written a check they didn’t get value for.   These kinds of careless comments are why these conversations bog down and get frustrating .   

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I thought Ben Heck repaired the disc drive and had it play audio given there are no prototype game CDs floating around to test it.  There is a set of videos on youtube from a few years ago that show the entire tear down, discovery and repair steps taken.

I'm curious maybe bronty is right about 4x the highest yet could be reasonable.  It's just a tough one to call.  What was the current most expensive proto hardware sold and for how much?  I mean stepping back objectively this system as far as prototypes go probably has the most fascinating and impactful story behind it.  You have a moment in time here where Sony who has been at the time a SNES partner in gaming and with the system audio core that was trusted to make the CD add-on system for the device.  As history ended up showing a few key things came from that deal. One was Sony setting up their deal where Nintendo would have to manufacture the game media yet Sony gets 100% of the royalty fees on each game which is just unreasonable to put a nice word to it.  Nintendo catches wind and tosses them to the curb for the Philips choice which ended up not working for games well and that goes off in its tangent Nintendo being paranoid about optical until the Gamecube.

One system gets slightly retooled and has the needed components the SNES would have offered added to make the PS1, the other ends up trying to pitch VCD as a format through the CDi.  I think we know the history of the Playstation brand (and CDi too.)   This greats a unique point of interest of 2 great hardware game makers, a story of deceit and multi-layered backstabbing of Sony on Nintendo, Nintendo on Sony to Philips, then Nintendo tossing Philips under the bus and them stuck doing their CDi failure.  It captures multiple audiences, and when you get overlap that increases value and valued interest.  I'm not saying $3M is fair or perhaps even reasonable, but you do have to wonder what some business or grouping of individuals would pay to grab this.

Maybe, but 

a) just because a buyer can buy something doesn’t mean they will

b) that kind of buyer paying seven figures would have to believe there’s a buyer at mid seven figures one day in the not too distant future  to take the risk and hassle and boy  now we are really getting further and further from reality

1 minute ago, captmorgandrinker said:

Even if it was, what would it play besides maybe music CDs?

There’s probably a DJ E Z Rock CD stuck in there

2 minutes ago, Br81zad said:

The disc drive isn't even functional from what I remember. The owner said the cartridge slot was the only thing that worked.

2.99m tops then!

54 minutes ago, OptOut said:

How so? Is it really possible to judge a price on this kind of item, when there are no directly comparable sales we can relate it to? Genuinely curious how such an item can be priced, when no other know examples exist. Is a million really out of the question?

I have no idea, I just wanna hear your logic, seeing as you actually have experience with one of a kind items!

Well, what’s the most a piece of prototype hardware has ever sold for?     What’s the most a piece of prototype software has ever sold for?   

Yes a million is completely out of the question at this point in time IMO. 

I mean what’s the next most valuable prototype hardware worth?   25k?    So this is supposed to be 40- 120 times more valuable than the previous record?    There’s just no way IMO.   Waaaaay too big a step up.      4 times a previous record?   Conceivable.   40?  No. 

And more to the point, as the dollars get larger the pool gets smaller.     There is really no buyer in the hobby atm with the interest in items like that who is willing and able to write the check so far as I know.

theres also comparisons to other hobbies.   The most a comic has sold for is 3m.    The most a sports card has sold for is in that range also.     

Valuations in those other hobbies are ahead of where we are.    3m is possible in the sense that I suppose anything is possible, but it’s just highly unlikely.   It’s a big leap from lower six figures which is where our hobby is currently at on the top end to this kind of price. 

Even one of a kinds have comparables.  No potential buyers come to mind and no sales of any video game related ANYTHING in that price neighbourhood. It’s like having one at-bat and hoping to hit a 650 foot home run.     Ok perhaps in theory it’s possibke...   but it’s not happening