HULK 181 CGC 9.4 OFF WHITE PAGES
ALL OFFERS AND TRADES CONSIDERED.
CGC REGISTRATION NUMBER IS POSTED ABOVE.
SLABBED PRE 2002
CGC HOLDER IS PERFECT AND STILL IN THE CLEAR CGC BAG.
BOOK HAS BEEN STORED IN DRY, COOL, AND DARKNESS FOR LAST 14 YEARS.
I EVEN HAVE A PRINTOUT OF THE 2002 EBAY AUCTION WHEN I BOUGHT IT ALREADY SLABBED.
BOOK WILL BE SHIPPED INSURED AND SIGNATURE REQUIRED.
SHIPPING FEES ARE FOR USA ADDRESSES ONLY. IF YOUR AN INTERNATIONAL BUYER, PLEASE USE EBAY GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM TO ARRANGE DELIVERY.
HULK 181 IS ONE OF THE MOST RE SUBMITTED BOOKS FOR THIRD PARTY ENCAPSULATION ACROSS THE INDUSTRY.
Submitter's attempt to turn their 9.2 books into 9.4's, 9.4's into 9.6's, etc. This has been occurring in greater and greater numbers. For Hulk 181, re-submissions have outnumbered actual new book submissions for some time now. The drive behind this is clear since the higher the grade, the more valuable the book. But its not just that......
There have been well documented grading standard disagreements across the genre' dating all the way back to the first third party grading services opening their doors. Some of these disagreements have led to the creation of competing third party grading companies, as well as top graders jumping ship to move to other grading houses.
Another caveat and reminder is that third party grading service's (CCBS, CGC, PGX, ETC) census numbers reflect only gross submission numbers. It does not reflect the actual net existing population of the books at grade since re submitter's rarely self identify the prior registration and grade of the book. You can see this very disclaimer posted on the CGC website as a warning not to rely on census numbers for assumptions of rarity,
Therefore, and possibly in even greater numbers, the re-submission process is also occurring across the different third party grading houses due to the very same reasons stated above.
So how many Hulk 181 books 9.4 and above are there actually in existence?
While Hulk 181 in 9.2 to 9.8 grade may not be a scarce book, the actual numbers of existing books in those grades may be fractional to the totals the census' depict. Do you really think there are hundreds and hundreds of 9.2 to 9.9 Hulk 181's in existence? Not a chance.... and here is the very simple reasoning why.....
First, 1974 was one of the worst years for selling any comic book, regardless of title. You can see these reports anywhere on the internet. The early 70's nearly put some publishers out of business. That and, the rising prices of these books chased children from buying them (.12 cents to 25 cents in just a few years).
THE INCREDIBLE HULK SERIES was never Marvel's most popular book. So the truth is Hulk 181's could not have been high grade cherry picked off the news stands (yes people...this is back when these books were on wire racks in candy stores). Much less cherry picked in large numbers. Then put away safely in larger numbers? And all this when the Hulk book was not super popular to begin with, and before anyone knew or cared who Wolverine was? This is why its not possible.
Also, if you look at the CGC submission numbers for the Hulk 180 book, you see the numbers are fractional to the 181 census number.... Why would this be? The 180 book is valuable in high grade as well and is certainly being re-submitted as well...... As for the news stand numbers in 1974, why would anyone have bought more 181's vs 180's? In fact, as the seasons get closer to winter, fewer books tended to be sold. So if anything, there should be more 180's vs 181's in existence. There is no clear reason why CGC census numbers for the 1980 are so much less than the 181, other than the value of the book, and the greater amount of re-submissions for the 181 vs the 180..... Everybody wants that next 9.9 181....
What is also possible is that many collectors whom thought they themselves were pretty good graders, are arguably surprised and disappointed in what their book grades when it comes back from a third party grader. And with someone having paid $150k for a 9.9 Hulk 181, if you owned a 9.8, would you try and re-submit it?
What if on average, every new owner of a 9.2 or higher grade Hulk 181 re- submitted it to any of the 3rd Party Graders? What would the census look like then?
Many industry professionals could easily argue a 9.9 from a 9.8. The only aspects in consideration at those grades are centering, 1 bindery defect, and subjective color/gloss anyways. How many times would you re-submit a 9.8 if you thought you could possibly land another $150k 9.9? And how many different Third Party grading companies would you try before you gave up trying for that 9.9 grade? You see my point.
The census on this book is completely and majorly over inflated. I believe the real CGC census number for the 181 are actually at or below the census numbers for the 180 and the 182 because those numbers also contain re-submissions within them.
Now consider the fact that over inflated or not, the book continues to rise in price? That's because the reality is while you can find a 9.2-9.8 for sale most of the time, there are still more shoppers than there are sellers regardless of the census # being crazy.
LONG STORY SHORT, HULK 181 IS THE SHOWCASE 4 OF THE BRONZE AGE. WHILE GOLDEN AGE BOOKS AND SILVER AGE BOOKS WILL ALWAYS BE RARER ON AVERAGE, THE TRUTH IS THAT THE BRONZE AGE CHILDREN NOW ADULTS ARE DRIVING THIS MARKET. WHY ELSE WOULD A BOOK SO EASILY FOUND IN ANY GRADE BE WORTH MORE THAN MOST GOLDEN AGE BOOKS WHOSE OVERALL RARITY IS FRACTIONAL IN COMPARISON?
SO IF YOUR LOOKING TO OWN ONE, AND MAKE MONEY ON YOUR INVESTMENT, THIS IS THE BOOK TO OWN FOR THE BRONZE AGE, PERIOD.