A pic of many of the books from that find. The Star Wars toys were another good story!
I actually collect Star Wars/old toys to a greater degree than comics, but love it all.
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One of my latest CGC pick-ups. Star Wars is always popular and a pretty big bronze age keys. This issue has been a slow burn, constantly but slowly crawling up in price. I finally decided to upgrade my VF- copy I bought decades ago for a high grade #1. Prices in 9.6 are still fair but are starting to creep up to the “really?” range. Give it a few more years and we’ll all be saying how much are 9.6’s and 9.8’s going for now?!? There are a ton of these out there, but 9.8’s and 9.6’s might start to dry up a little bit in the coming decades …Anyway, I’m thinking about putting a high grade set together. Always wanted to go after the original series. Should be fun since (outside of the price variants) most issues aren’t hard to come by in high grade and few in 9.4 and 9.6 won’t hurt the pocketbook all that much.
I’ve had 2-3 similar scenarios myself, @Devildog, in the last 5-6 years. And you are spot on, my friend. Being able to recall all the spec and knowledge that can be picked up is invaluable when you are able to go off of instinct and memory while digging through a collection. This hobby is so vast and diverse, you are 
right that it is impossible to know everything about the hobby. But knowledge is power, and we more or less learn something new about the hobby, Everytime you visit.
A few years back I came across a Spider-Man collection that had just arrived at one of my LCS’. The owner, at the time, was using Overstreet to price the books. The collection consisted of literally every single comic that ever featured Spider-Man. ASM 1-800+, Spec Spidey whole run, Web of full run, every non Spidey title that had Spidey on the cover, ultimate Spidey full run, everything. Literally everything. The shop pulled the obvious big keys, but I got first dibs on the rest of the collection, priced from Overstreet.
I got so many books for dirt cheap. Full run of the 600ish JSC covers. 1st Anti-Venom, Maximum Carnage Acclaim book, Planet of the Symbiote books, all sorts of Marvel Tales feat. Spidey, 1st Scarlet Spider…they were like $4-$5 CND each. It was glorious.
Last March I came into a mid/late '70s- late 80s collection. It had full runs of Incredible Hulk, including 180/181, full Iron Man run, full Dr. Strange, GI Joe…this shop was using CBR to price the books, and it was annoying because nothing was priced. You would have to pick through it and then they would price it out at the counter. It sucked, but I took advantage of their pricing, where I could. Oh, the books were kept in flawless condition. It looked like they were bought, bagged, put in a box and never opened again. Bagged, but no boards. Bags were god awful old too. The shop very slowly rebagged and boarded the collection, eventually. So, I grabbed a bunch of great books, all in NM+, for some decent prices. The ones that stick out are a GIJoe 21 and Iron Fist 14. Both 9.8 contenders. GiJoe21 is currently at CGC. 
.
The real kicker for me with that particular collection was…it had an Albedo2 in it. A whole run of the Albedo Anthro run. The shop obviously did not know what they had, and neither did I, at the moment. The cover looked familiar, and I held it my hand and even looked it up on eBay. I couldn’t find any sold or listed Albedo Anthropomorphic 2s on eBay (later discovered this was because the book is so f*cking rare), so I kinda put it back as I scratched my head asking myself why I knew that cover. I went home and was later that night talking to a friend who is an experienced collector. I described the book to him and he knew exactly what it was. He sent me a pic, asking ‘this book?!?’. Long story short, he identified it as the rare Grail that it is. I went back a week later, and it was gone. Issues 7-9 were still there, or something like that. The real kicker is that the book, from what I recall, was flawless. Like 9.6, at least. A few months later a freshly graded 9.6 or 9.8 Albedo 2 CGC sold for, like, $30,000, or something stupid like that. CBR, the site used by the store to price that collection had Albedo Anthropomorphic 2 listed at $1000 in NM. Doh.
But, can’t have any regrets. Live and learn.
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Would you have even bought it for $1000 if they said that’s the price?
@Devildog is that land speeder the remote control one? My brother and I both got one for x-mad one year…probably 1979.
Looking at an original box doesn’t appear to be it.
I have zero interest in the character. But, yes. Absolutely. That book is a real bronze Grail, by any definition. Like I said, that book in that condition is worth thousands, if not 10s of thousands of dollars.
@D-Rog The one in the pic is just the regular version. The Sonic controlled one is a beauty, much more valuable and rate. I have very large collection of Star Wars, but don’t own that one unfortunately.
I sold all my Star Wars original toys so that I could by drek comics in the early 90s…
Been eying this book for a while…and with the Disney+ series coming it’s not going to go down in price likely.
Bought this off EBay for $30. It looked really nice so I took a chance. Arrived packaged well and not a blemish! Especially along the back cover near the staples (the dreaded marvel rub). Definitely a 9.8 candidate.
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@D-Rog Very nice pick up. I’ve been talking that book up for awhile. Aphra is a very, very popular character and I 100% see her roll increasing. I’ve tried to grab that book as much as possible.
On the same note, I really want a copy of Clone Wars #1 due to the first appearance of Ahsoka. Unfortunately, that book keeps skyrocketing, but I still believe I will find it in the wild someday as it really isn’t all that well known. I honestly have been looking and will likely just bite the bullet and overpay/pay going rate for a graded copy. I have a few Ahsoka prints, a beautiful carded vintage collector figure of her (that has become very pricey/sought after), and a signed autograph by Ashley Eckstein (sp) who voices her character. A graded book displayed with those items would be cool.
@Devildog, @D-Rog…don’t forget the 1:25 of Vader3, 1st Aphra, BT & 000. That is Aphra on the cover of the 1:25 variant too. There is also a FCBD version w/ same cover art and several later printings with same cover art as the 1st print.
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Yeah, the 1:25 isn’t as sexy as the A cover. And out of my price range.
This is somewhat for the PC until I have a burning need to profit from it.
Buy what you like, basically. Me no like the 1:25 . I find it boring. 
It’s got Vader on it, how can Vader be boring? … Cover A is a nice cover though, with a solid 1st appearance.
The 1:25 might not be all too exciting but it does have her on it…That and it being a fairly limited 1:25 could very well put it near or at the price range of Ultimate Fallout #4 1:25… “if” Aphra gets her own show. That’s just my opinion but if she gets a series and it is good that will lift her to insane heights. Even if it isn’t your favorite cover if you come across one that’s priced right you still may want to pick it up. Good chance it will become one of those coveted variants down the road.
I’m somewhat surprised these issues haven’t taken off/caught more heat. While your digging for #9, I think it’s wise to grab them.
Mandalorians!
The cover looks like the majority of the other Vader covers. Also, the A cover has the droids on it…double bonus.
The A cover should be more desirable…but people are persuaded by the 1:25 scarcity factor more than what cover better represents the significance of the book and it’s first appearances within.
AND…not to mention you can’t see Aphra face all that well…
AND…how the hell is she able to hold herself up on that platform with just the one arm…something aint physically right with that posture…must be Vader lifting her up with the force pull…
I’m a Huge fan of Jonathan Hickman & I’m happy to add this to the PC for $11.25 including Priority Shipping.
Some years back, I had a long time customer Will me his collection upon his death … it was quite large, much of it bought from me … the guy had absolutely no one, Family wise …
I felt bad about it … so, the first $20K in sales went toward a Scholarship Fund in his name … I still have books from that collection …
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My first Moon Knight Vol. 1 book, and probably my favorite cover. Love how WWBN and MK are heading for a collision course…it’s like WWF Raw!!!
Werewolf!!! Moon Knight!!! To the death!!! One night only!!! Don’t miss it!!!
(BTW, this would be a 9.4 if graded by cbcs…still a sweet book).
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