My clear choice for a lead-off this time around. Once you really soak this Golden Age cover in, you learn to appreciate a lot about this time period. The excitement of all these new publishers scrapping for a spot in the emerging comic book market. The detail and effort artists like Lou Fine put into covers such as this. But wow, $90,000.00? For a 1.8? Scarce and collectible. I would love to see the sole 9.4 copy (probably a Mile High) go up for auction. "Samson Slays the Iron Monster". That's all needs to be said, really.

Remember what got us into this jam for the comic book market? The Movie Madness? Is that still a thing? Once we got to Avengers Endgame, bringing together pretty much every significant character from the Marvel Universe, the summit was reached, and the only path forward was sliding down the other side. I didn't answer the question though - apparently it is still a thing. To a much lesser degree, but still a thing. Note this ho-hum Modern Age issue of Incredible Hulk, which I wouldn't expect anyone to give a 2nd look for more than a few bucks. But it features the first full appearance of Sabra. Who? Ses, the Sabra who will appear in the imminent Captain American: Brave New World movie, that's who. If this copy grabbed $552.00, you might as well check if you have any to cash out!

I am highlighting this sale for a very specific reason. Note how on the slab label, CGC grades the book "CVR", for "Cover". Now, note how Heritage has, for the 1st time I am aware of, given such a book their own interpretation of CGC PR 0.1. I love this! CGC grades of "CVR" or "PG" are fine, but IMO every comic book has a numeric grade, between 0.0 and 10.0, and every grading service should not only acknowledge this, but do the extra work (not always trivial!) to note this. Nostomania has historically been mapping coverless books to INC 0.3, and covers or pages to INC 0.1. We can credit CBCS for coming up with the "INC" (Incomplete) grades. It seems CGC is perhaps unwilling to concede CBCS had a good idea, and adopt this nomenclature. I'm guessing grades below 0.5 give our competitors fits, but in an era where it's possible for a PR 0.5 comic to be valued at $100,000.00 or higher, we need finer numbers.

The cat is finally out of the bag on these Nedor superhero books like Exciting Comics featuring the Black Terror. Go back and check my past market reports and you'll see I tried to alert all of you to this. Especially these wartime covers that would not fly today. How can you deny the impact of these Alex Schomburg covers with the Black Terror on a rampage, mowing the enemy down (sometimes with guns!). This 6.5 is nowhere near a Finest Known, yet went for more than 10X Overstreet, via Heritage, at $7,800.00. A few other interesting tidbits: 1) this is a Gerber 8, and 2) Noted on slab: "Very minor amount of color touch on cover". I have a few ideas what might be going on here, but I will keep my mouth shut. The value break the submitter gained on this book in terms of Blue Label vs. Purple is enormous.

Alright, why in the world would I highlight this book and sale? First of all, there is no accounting for taste! Maybe this comic was read to you as a kid. Probably not, but who am I to say? More importantly though, this is a very early E.C., in itself a super cool slice of history - thinking about their gestation, and what E.C. became. I suspect, based on the sale price of $1,560.00, this may be a very scarce book. Supporting data are 1) Nostomania Census of zero, 2) CGC Census of 8, and 3) Very few recorded sales. It is also currently the sole Finest Known copy.

I couldn't help but highlight this off the beaten track coin, not only due to it being a Finest Known, but for some crazy golden toning. As I've said many times, toning is one of those subtle, hard to quantify attributes that can have a potent effect on sale price. Netting $33,600.00, I believe this may be the most ever paid for an example of this coin.

This sale illustrates yet another nuance of coin grading which makes it so difficult to provide a solid online price guide. The Full Bands designation reflects examples with fully defined fasces bands on the coin reverse. What they don't tell you, however, is there is a range of fullness of strike within the Full Bands designation! This particular example is at the high end, and thus the very high sale price of $20,400.00. Strong strike, key date, beautiful coin.

This magazine sale is the reason those piles of old, musty magazines really are worth going through, at the very least to take a close look at each cover. Wartime covers and 1st appearances of celebrities will give them a little oomph. Even better, if you can eek out a Finest Known, even if only temporary, you may be able to print some money. Check this 1941 issue of Time Magazine. The Hitler cover and a current Finest Known at CGC VF- 7.5, it sold recently via Heritage for $1,020.00.