COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Avengers 4 Universal
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Grade:
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9.6
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Page Quality:
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OFF-WHITE
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Certification #:
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1076358004
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Owner:
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Mississippi Mudcats
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
This issue is, of course, famous for first Silver Age appearance of, Captain America (Steve Rogers), although an imposter garbed as Captain America was drawn earlier in Strange Tales #114. We have a long history with this book, as we owned a 9.6 for many years before trading it for a JLA #3 9.4. I realize that sounds idiotic and it probably was, but from a rarity standpoint I have seen many 9.6 and 9.8 copies of this issue, I have never seen another JLA #3 9.4 on the market and that was what the collector owner wanted, not cash. I did and still do have a double signed Avengers #4 9.4 (Lee and Simon), so it did not break our complete set, but it did lower the minimum grade of our set to 9.4.
Nevertheless, from a value standpoint it was undoubtedly a bad trade. At least, however, that JLA #3 9.4, which is much rarer than a JLA #2, still stands atop the census, as there have been no more 9.4s or higher grades of that issue surface. So we traded a book that was one of thirty for one that was older, has a tough black cover, and is one of three. It just shows how much more the market values Avengers over JLA that is was a bad economic deal.
We initially went after a 9.8 to replace the book we traded, but always seemed to come in second. So finally we lowered the bar and picked up this 9.6 in the 2/27/2024 CL auction. I would not say it was cheap, but it was the least money I have seen this book make in years, perhaps because of the OW pages. It is also not ideal from a centering standpoint as a fraction of an inch of the cover rolls over to the back, although CGC does not consider that to be a fault. But otherwise, it is a very nice book. It was graded by CGC in 2012 and there are no negative grader comments.
We will probably retain this book and not chase a 9.8, as there are too many glaring holes elsewhere in our collections and money is far from unlimited. It does raise the minimum grade of this set to 9.6, although there is still the matter of our #1 being restored. Maybe someday…..
May 2024 Update: Just a quick note, some of the discussion above became irrelevant again with our acquisition of an unrestored #1 9.4 in May 2024.
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