2/13/2017
Topic:
Missing $3.99 Variant: Amazing Spider-Man #606,607
bnobel
|
Title: Amazing Spider-Man
Missing Issues: #606 [$3.99 Cover Price Variant], #607 [$3.99 Cover Price Variant]
Country: USA
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publication Year: 2009
Cover Price: $3.99 instead of the expected $2.99; broken out by CGC on their census as "$3.99 Newsstand Edition"
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Amazing Spider-Man #606 has a CGC-recognized cover price variant at $3.99 versus the regular $2.99 cover price found on Direct Editions. CGC denotes these higher cover price variants as "$3.99 Newsstand Edition" on census (they were exclusively found on newsstands). These variants were distributed under the "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" UPC code for issue #606 and as late as 2015 CGC was instead denoting them "Newsstand Variant" for this reason (but CGC changed in 2016 to use the "$3.99 Newsstand Edition" notation for this and similar issues -- more info on that treatment can be found here: https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/newsstand-variants-3-99-newsstand-editions-and-the-doc-collection/ ).
Because the "expected" Amazing Spider-Man UPC code was not used for issue #606, it is believed the distribution was lower than the surrounding issues with the "correct" code, because the distribution followed the ordering by title (i.e. a newsstand outlet would have had to order Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and not just Amazing Spider-Man, to get the $3.99 cover priced copies of issue #606).
Recent market price: an 8.5 copy of the ASM #606 variant has just sold at auction for $91.00 [ http://www.ebay.com/itm/132082521885 ]
Amazing Spider-Man #607 has a similar phenomenon, but for that one the $3.99 cover priced copies were distributed on newsstands under the "Sensational Spider-Man" UPC code (instead of "Amazing Spider-Man") which is believed to have had even lower distribution than the #606 example (far fewer variant copies appear on the CGC census of the "$3.99 Newsstand Edition" variant for #607, as compared to #606, which likely reflects this lower distribution for Sensational).
Recent market price: sorry, I've yet to see a single CGC graded copy for sale.
Other $3.99 / $4.99 copies that are confirmed to exist on the CGC census can be found here (do a find-in-page in your browser on "$3.99"): https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/list-of-cgc-recognized-newsstand-variants/
edited by bnobel on 2/14/2017 |
4/18/2017
Topic:
Missing $3.99 Variant: Amazing Spider-Man #606,607
bnobel
|
Hello, I'm following up on my previous missing-issues-request to suggest you include $3.99 cover price variants for ASM #606 and #607 into your guide. I realize these are going to be extremely hard to value on account of their rarity, with very few sales to actually observe in the marketplace, but I watch these issues closely and I have a couple of recent sales to let you know about.
Since the time of my original missing-issues-request, I can report that there has been one sale of a #607 variant (it is the only sale that I'm aware of over these past two+ months since my original request was posted here), a copy of the variant described as "Fine" condition, which auctioned on eBay for $152.50, with 40 bids: http://www.ebay.com/itm/172611362568
These higher cover price variants -- which were distributed exclusively on newsstands -- are CGC-recognized, with their own distinct Census entries, and are denoted "$3.99 Newsstand Edition" by CGC. The values you presently include in your guide are really only applicable to the prevalent $2.99 cover price copies; therefore I encourage you to add separate entries for $3.99 cover price copies.
There is a precedent in the guide already for a similar situation, for issue #36 (v2) of Amazing Spider-Man, where a second separate entry is presented with a higher guide price for newsstand copies, warranted by their higher market prices. The same justification applies here (and here, the variants are actually CGC-recognized; with ASM #36 they do not actually break it out as a variant... so arguably there is even more reason in this case to make a distinct entry in the guide for $3.99 copies).
p.s. Other keys including issue #569 of Amazing Spider-Man also have a $3.99 variant recognized by CGC, where the market value stands out from the regular copies. There has been a recent auction of that issue on eBay as well, a CGC 8.5 copy of ASM #569 which auctioned on eBay for $124.35, with 15 bids: http://www.ebay.com/itm/132131663644 |
5/24/2017
Topic:
No completed"Database & Missing issues" in 3 weeks
bnobel
|
I alerted CPG to some missing issues back in February (http://comicspriceguide.com/forum/topic6840-missing--variant-amazing-spiderman-.aspx) and haven't received any response; this thread makes me wonder if CPG has enough volunteer administrators to actually read and process the reports we've given them?
Apparently one can volunteer at CPG by filling out a form here: http://comicspriceguide.com/about#_volunteer
Must be a ton of work to review this stuff and make entries, especially in this day and age with so many variants... I noticed recently on the Amazing Spider-Man title at CPG, that issue #666 starts on page 18 and continues to page 21... all packed in between with different variations. I can only imagine the poor administrators that had to churn through all that data entry. |
5/24/2017
Topic:
Missing $3.99 Variant: Amazing Spider-Man #606,607
bnobel
|
If you need more recent sales / asking prices to help in valuing these $3.99 cover price variants, I have two new listings to bring to your attention.
(1) An active listing for a $3.99 cover price variant ASM #606 asking $399.99 in CGC 9.6: http://www.ebay.com/itm/282487004757
(2) A recent auction for a raw $3.99 cover price variant ASM #569 described as VF, sold for $42 with 15 bids: http://www.ebay.com/itm/182583643738
I hope this helps... It would be great if an administrator can make a quick reply just to let me know if anyone at CPG has actually read this missing issue report (originally posted in February). |
5/24/2017
Topic:
Missing Variant: Spawn #1 UPC edition
bnobel
|
I hope someone @ CPG addresses your missing issue report, Magic dan... I just logged in here today to check my own report from February (http://comicspriceguide.com/forum/topic6840-missing--variant-amazing-spiderman-.aspx) and nobody has responded yet. Perhaps they don't have enough volunteer administrators.
Your own missing issue report caught my eye and I wanted to reply in support of your post, with some further points for CPG to consider about breaking out Spawn #1 newsstand edition in the guide:
- Two of the three big grading companies now recognize Spawn #1 copies with UPC codes as distinct variants (denoted "Newsstand Edition" on labels now at CBCS, and PGX).
- These UPC coded copies are dramatically harder to find than Direct Edition copies (because the vast majority of Image's sales were Direct sales lacking UPC codes... the UPC coded copies were exclusively found on newsstands).
- And perhaps most importantly for CPG to consider: the newsstand market value has pulled apart to such a degree from the prevalent direct edition, that a distinct guide entry for the newsstand edition is absolutely merited.
Also, CPG should consider breaking out newsstand copies of Spawn #9: All three of the three big grading companies recognize copies of Spawn #9 with UPC codes as distinct variants (denoted "Newsstand Edition"). There are manufacturing differences between the newsstand edition and the direct edition that go well beyond the UPC code itself -- in the case of Spawn #9 there is an actual paper difference where direct edition copies were manufactured with expensive glossy paper, while newsstand edition copies were manufactured with cheap newsprint. Physically different paper causes CGC to "break out" these copies on census as a distinct variant.
Arguably, if CGC or CBCS is breaking out a variant, and if the market value is much higher, then CPG should absolutely have an entry for it. And, there is precedent at CPG already to make the distinction in both cases (i.e. for both Spawn #1 and Spawn #9, comparable situations exist where CPG elected to break out the newsstand copies as variants):
- ASM v2 #36 provides a precedent for Spawn #1, because CPG has a distinct entry for the more highly valued newsstand edition, and, much like with Spawn #1, the visual difference between the direct edition and the newsstand edition is the presence of a UPC code on the front cover of the newsstand edition (but the absence of the code on the front cover of the direct edition)
- Spawn Batman has a difference in the paper used between the direct edition and the newsstand edition, and CPG has a distinct entry for the newsstand edition (one that should probably be updated by the way, the value is arguably too low given the extreme rarity difference with the direct edition a dime a dozen and the newsstand edition impossibly hard to find). This provides a precedent for Spawn #9, which similarly has a difference regarding the paper used to manufacture the newsstand edition version of the book.
|
7/3/2017
Topic:
Missing $3.99 Variant: Amazing Spider-Man #606,607
bnobel
|
Many thanks for adding the missing Amazing Spider-Man #607 variant with $3.99 cover price into the guide. I hope that the #606 variant with $3.99 cover price will be added soon as well? If more market price information is helpful, I can report that since the time of my last reply in this thread, the following two sales of the #606 variant have occurred on eBay:
- This copy described as VF sold as a best-offer listing (asking price was $89.99): http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMAZING-SPIDER-MAN-606-3-99-J-SCOTT-CAMPBELL-Newsstand-Price-Variant-1-100-/152578564157
- This copy described as VF+ came on the market over this past weekend and sold as a buy-it-now for $100): http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMAZING-SPIDER-MAN-606-J-Scott-Campbell-Rare-Newsstand-Variant-2009-VF-/152608353855
I hope the #569 variant with $3.99 cover price will also be added to the guide soon as well? As an Anti-venom key I think it is a very important book to have full variant coverage for in the guide. Since the time of my last reply in this thread, I've seen one sale of the #569 variant, a CGC 9.0 copy which sold at auction for $108.50 with 42 bids: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amazing-Spider-Man-569-3-99-PRICE-VARIANT-Just-17-on-CGC-census-Newsstand-9-0-/132206611997 |
8/15/2017
Topic:
Missing $3.99 Variant: Amazing Spider-Man #606,607
bnobel
|
Applause to the CPG team for adding the missing $3.99 cover price variants for ASM #569, #606, and #607 into the guide! For anyone who has followed this thread from its February inception, I would like to share that in the interim I was contacted privately by an admin over email, and from that experience corresponding with the admin, I want to publicly state how impressed I was with the genuine interest in, and investigation of these variants by CPG ahead of adding them into the guide. It could not have been easy for CPG to come to a determination of a guide value given the extreme rarity in high grade, with most of the sales not just few and far between but also lower than NM grade on account of being newsstand exclusives. So my thanks and applause for the effort on CPG's part, to make these important additions! |
