While we await the hardcopy data to trickle over to GoCollect from the Collectors Comics PSA Select Auction results, I'd like to take the time to dissect quite a few of the key moments and takeaways directly. You'll have access to all of these numbers, including hundreds of others results in our Comic Book Price Guide under the PSA tab on every single comic item.

You can also tap on the Compare Tab to see directly how these numbers stack up against CGC and CBCS.

This is a long one. So sit back, enjoy, and please provide your feedback in the comments section!

We’re gonna start right where the auction leads you, pick random and not-so-random books, and compare the results.

The very first book in alphabetical order is 1st Issue Special #5 in a PSA 9.4. The first appearance of Manhunter sold for $91, which is higher than the FMV we have listed, but falls short of a very recent CGC sale of $129 in the same grade. Obviously there are people shopping for, and submitting this book for grading, so any ingested data helps us. This sale is higher than the 9.2 by a large margin so I will simply say that this buyer got a deal here.

Action Comics #242 is a sale that deserves attention. This 3.5 sold for just $1053, which is the lowest sale in that grade since the first months of the pandemic. This sale has all the trademarks of being accused of selling low, which is not incorrect - however, as we will potentially come to see, this sale represents a solid ‘jumping off point’ for determining how PSA grades could be valued by buyers in the comic book marketplace. Take note of this as we move forward: this value is 1-full grade point lower than CGC values. Which means, this number is equal to a CGC 2.5.

Amazing Spider-Man #17 selling for $430 in the 7.0 grade matches the 1-year average for the CGC Universal 6.0 exactly. Which also supports the simple formula we introduced in the sale above. Looking closer at this early ASM comic overall, while this book is definitely experiencing some growth in value across a few grades, these midgrades are slipping, and this sale may actually be closer in value to the 6.5.

Skipping down to Amazing Spider- Man #46 in a 9.0. This book sold for $720, which is a little hard to pin down since the value of this book is plummeting of late. We have the FMV listed at $1,250, which I will be the first to admit is a little exaggerated compared to the sales results this year. While this may fit in better with the 8.5 grade valuation, it isn’t a stretch to say that this buyer simply found a pretty safe way to catch a falling knife, and added a great key issue to their collection.

We’re on our way over to the first Punisher, but we should probably stop at one more random ASM sale and check some data along the way. My finger landed on the 1st appearance of the Kangaroo. That’s issue #81, and it sold for $115 in a PSA 8.5. We have the FMV currently at $130 in the 8.5 grade, and also some supporting sales that indicate this result was right in line with the grade point average this year.

I’m going to throw out a theory, very likely premature: It seems common sense that people would be paying the most attention to valuing higher status key issues, and inspecting the images with heavier scrutiny, while lower prominence items are avoidant of this fastidious judgment and landing closer to FMV.

Time for one of the big boys. This copy of Amazing Spider-Man #129 in a 7.0 finished at an admirable $1,250. If we compare it to the FMV of $1,450, and to the most recent sales in grade, this is a disappointing finish to a book that is experiencing a period of growth. We have to look back at sales in May of this year to find a copy that sold for less than this PSA 7.0. However, during that exact timeframe, when a CGC 7.0 was selling for around $1,250, we had the last recorded CBCS sale of a 7.0 for $1,650. Admittedly, this sort of price volatility softens my analysis, but not by much. All you have to do is look 1 full grade point down, to the 6.0, and you’ll see a handful of CGC Universal labels achieving the same values as this PSA 7.0 realized just over the weekend.

Three copies of Amazing Spider-Man #194 were offered in this auction. The highest graded, a PSA 9.2 Newsstand Edition sold for $330. Lo and behold, this is a higher sale than the previous 2 CGC sales, and is by all accounts a very strong sale. The next highest graded, a 9.0 Newsstand, went for slightly less and hit a final price of $310. Both are strong sales. However, the third copy was an 8.0 Direct Edition (the more valued copy of the two), and it sold for roughly 25% less than what a CGC copy is currently commanding. A CBCS 8.0 sold for $200 at the beginning of October, so we can safely say that this sale fell short of the mark. So where exactly did it land? About 1 full grade point lower, comparable to the CGC and CBCS 7.0.

Before we depart from the ASM sales and look at some other results, let’s stop along the way and pull out a random 9.8 and run a quick comparison. How about Amazing Spider-Man #270 selling for $71, while the last fixed price sale of a CGC 9.8 sold for $80 in mid-October. Once again, the back issues seem to be finding their way to a more comparable value.

Taking a look at Avengers #1 in the 4.0 grade - a grail that reached a final bid of $3000 - we almost anticipated to see a drop in value similar to the other very high profile books. So you will be quite surprised to know that this PSA graded key hit a higher value than 4 of the last 5 CGC sales in the 4.0 grade. And fell just below the FMV of $3100. This is an indication of a very strong sale. In fact, this sale is riding the heels of the value of a half-grade point higher, nearly reaching the value of a CGC 4.5. But this was not the case for the 1.0 graded Avengers #1, as that fell well short of the FMV of $1300 by over 400 dollars. The 1.0 had a final bid of $880.

We won’t move far down the page, and take a necessary look at another early Avengers key issue. This one is the first Silver Age appearance of Captain America. The book is Avengers #4, the grade is a 5.0, and the final sold price barely climbed above the thousand-dollar mark, landing at $1,025. The FMV is a healthy 200-dollars higher than this sale, and we have to go back to 2024 to find a sale lower in grade. Mind you, this book is currently experiencing a horrible crash in value, and many similar grades paint a volatile picture of value, leaving me scratching my head about just what exactly this book’s value should be. At the end of the day though, this was a steal of a deal. Especially when you consider that a PSA 3.5 sold in the same auction for $989!

Let’s look at a rare sale for a Golden Age key - Batman #59, the first appearance of Deadshot. This book sold for a solid $1,783, just shy of the $1,800 FMV. This is also the first sale in the 5.0 grade in over 2 years, so if I was to dissect this sale I would be drawing on mostly speculation and not concrete data. However, there was a CGC 4.0 that sold at Heritage a couple of weeks ago for $1200, showing a drop of $600 in that grade over a period of 3 years.

Batman Adventures #12. The first appearance of Harley Quinn in a PSA 9.8. This is a modern grail, mind you with a heavy population of over 1,000 9.8s graded by CGC. The FMV is listed at $1,550, and almost all CGC 9.8s hover around that number. So this sale, for a meager $1,205 is miles away from a strong sale. In fact, when looking at CBCS sales for this book in a 9.8, we have to look all the way back to 2014 to find a lower sale than this. This sale is going to warrant some further inspection, likely involving looking closely at the condition of the book inside the slab to see if collectors saw something they didn’t like.

Stopping at our next key issue, we have The Brave and the Bold #28 in a PSA 1.0. You know what they say, a low-grade grail is better than no grail - and this one didn’t disappoint. It sold for $850 against a current FMV of $875, perfectly in line with every sale we’ve seen so far this year. In fact, this result even topped a CGC 1.0 sale from Heritage Auctions back in May.

That’s noteworthy, because it goes against my suspicions that grail books tend to come up short. Still, this being a very low-grade copy opens an interesting question:

If PSA-graded grails appear to sell slightly below FMV, and that trend stems from grading differences, could it be that lower-grade examples like this one leave less room for deviation? In other words, since a 1.0 is about as low as it gets, there’s very little uncertainty compared to higher grades, where collectors might hesitate to pay a premium until they fully trust how the PSA scale aligns with CGC or CBCS.

We’re moving slowly here, and I hope you are still with us. We have to in order to obtain some deeper information. We’ll look at another from this series, this one is the Brave and the Bold #42, but this time, in a very high grade of 9.4. This book hasn’t sold in grade in a year and a half. And we all know that books have tumbled around and corrected over this period. This sale is a staggering $1,000 less than the last CGC 9.4 sale, but luckily we do have a 9.2 sale from Heritage in August that sold for $372, which makes this $1250 sale appear to be actually very solid. We’ll have to see another sale in NM+ in order to say for sure.

A 9.8 copy of Captain America #323 sold for $204, which is one of the highest recorded sales for this book in its entire history. Any input on what made this happen? It's the frame cover, isn't it? I will say that is a sharp looking slab.

A copy of Conan the Barbarian #1 in a 9.0 hit a final price of $600. This is another weak sale in grade. The FMV is sitting at $775 while the 8.5 has an FMV of $425. This sale looks like it would fit nicely into that lower grade a couple of months ago. In fact, early in October there was a CGC 8.5 that went for the exact same price, but since then values have been freefalling. This number falls somewhere in between grades that don’t currently exist.

This sale for a Daredevil #1 in a 3.0 hit a value of just under $1,938, which not only exceeds current FMV in grade, it also supports the theory that mid to lower graded keys are being valued greater than high grade keys.

Detective Comics #276 in an 8.0 sold for $533, a few bucks above the last CGC sale way back in April. This book does not come up often in any venue, so it is very likely that rarity and age played a big part in reaching this agreeable number.

A 5.0 graded copy of Doctor Strange #169 fell short of recent comps when it only reached $110. This book is rising in value in grade, so this sale is obviously lower, but by how much? Well, recent sales in the 4.5 suggest that this book was valued a half grade point (or more) lower by whoever placed the second highest bid.

Our first Modern Age key we’ll look at is Edge of Spider-Verse #2, the first appearance of Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman. The grade here is a 9.2. Seems ok, no? Did you know that a CGC 7.5 sold for $220 exactly one day after this PSA copy finished at $205? I am having trouble digesting why that took place, but take a look for yourself and you’ll see that every grade from 7.5 - 9.2 has no idea what to actually value this book at.

Fantastic Four #5. The first Doom. Once elusive on the market, this book sells almost 100 times a year now. This book is graded a 3.0 and sold for $3900, which tracks nicely with recent auction results over the past few months in this same grade with CGC. Low grades once again proving to be a little more stable.

Fantastic Four #12. Another big book in that mid-low range, this one is a 3.5, and we reached $575. Definitely in the range of the average this year.

We have to do Fantastic Four #48. This is a PSA 4.5 for $562. I know this book is struggling of late, but that sale comes nowhere close to the values we have been seeing for a 4.5. This places the valuation a full grade point lower around the 3.5. This is an interesting result and I wonder what the future holds for this key issue.

Flash #131. In a very high grade 9.4. This book doesn’t sell often. Only 5 historic sales in a 9.4 going back to 2006. This book had a CGC FMV of $1,150, which makes me think the highest bidder was paying attention to our FMV for support in making up their mind. This book went above FMV for a very nice $1,183.

Here’s a rare non-superhero key: Four Color #596, the first Turok. This auction saw a 3.5 go for $267. I would have expected higher for this not-so-common Golden Age book. In fact, just a few months ago, a purple-label Restored CGC 3.5 sold for $350. This book was treated like a 2.0, or worse.

Ghost Rider #1, PSA 7.5, sold for $365. If we look in grade, we see 4 Fixed Price sales that went for a higher value, with one nearly selling for double at $700! However, the last auction result was from August at Heritage Auctions, and this PSA 7.5 went for $5 more. On a book that is currently in a period of growth: this was a great purchase for whoever picked this up.

We’re gonna look at a PSA 9.2 and a PSA 5.0 of Giant-Size X-Men #1. The higher grade sold for $3050, and the lower $1200. That’s not a great realization for the 9.2. It tracks closer to the FMV of an 8.5. However, the 5.0 may show a sign that the 9.2 doesn’t - a CGC 5.0 sold after this one did for $100 lower, reaching only $1100. We also had a 9.8 take a slight haircut in an eBay sale since these sales finished up over at Collectors Comics. Maybe the 9.2 had it coming?

We’ll stop one letter up and look in on the Incredible Hulk #2 in a PSA 2.5. Only because I feel this should match closely with FMV based on some interlacing theories I am developing about these PSA sales. This book finished up at $1100. The FMV sits at $1450. This book is doing better now than it was a year ago, so this result seems surprising to me. This is lower than expected. Same goes for the Hulk #6 in a 2.0 selling for only $216.

We are not going to look at the 181s in this lot. The higher grade copy has some writing on the cover, and the lower grade has probably already been covered in a hundred YouTube videos. Instead I want to focus on 2 very high graded copies of slightly lesser keys - starting with Incredible Hulk #182 (Double Cover) in a PSA 9.6 selling for $795. Regardless of the indeterminate amount a double cover adds, this is the highest sale in this grade in over a year.

Hulk #271 paints a similar picture. A 9.8 sold for $605. A soft, but agreeable final price when compared to an FMV of $650. The previous auction result was a Heritage finish of $660.

Stopping to check out the 25th Anniversary border on Hulk #325. These are collectible to quite a few people because of the cover, so I am curious to see how it is treated. A 9.8 for $93 is a good deal compared to an FMV of $110. Value is in-line with the lower end. Nice to see this was actually treated the way it should be, and wasn’t neglected. This low-key tells me that actual comic collectors are bidding in this auction. As was evident by the record sale on the Captain 323 earlier.

Two copies of Hulk #340 to look at before we skip ahead again to a new series. We have one 9.8 and one 9.6. The 9.8 went for $892 and the 9.6 for $327. It appears some bidders may have fallen asleep on each of these because the respective FMVs (which are currently rising as this book is hot) are $1150 and $450. The 9.4 has an FMV of $325, so even if PSA is assumed to have over-graded, whoever bought these books still got a deal!

Taking Stock of the Equation So Far

Before diving further into the remaining results, it’s worth pausing to take stock of what we’re actually seeing here. From an equationary standpoint, the numbers are beginning to paint a pattern that - while still in its early stages - appears to hold water. Across the dozens of samples reviewed so far, a rough conversion formula seems to be emerging: PSA-graded comics are, on average, realizing values approximately one full grade point lower than their CGC counterparts.

That said, this is not a universal constant. There are notable exceptions, especially among low-grade keys and certain Golden and Silver Age books where PSA results have either matched or exceeded CGC equivalents. This variance suggests that the marketplace may currently be assigning confidence premiums to factors beyond just the grade: familiarity, history, presentation, and even the collector base that each company traditionally serves.

If this preliminary data holds true across broader sample sizes, we may be looking at a definable adjustment curve - a kind of grading delta that investors and collectors alike could eventually use to predict FMV parity between companies. But the operative word here is if. We’re still early in the data cycle, and anomalies remain plentiful. The goal now is to continue collecting results, chart those variances, and determine whether this one-grade differential remains consistent or begins to tighten as PSA comics gain more traction and trust.

In short, the numbers are aligning closer than expected, but we’re not ready to call this theory proven. For now, the math is moving in the right direction.

There were 3 9.8s in this auction from the super popular modern series Invincible. Issue #6, and both the regular release of issue #60, as well as issue #60 2nd print. Invincible #6 went for $340, which isn’t too bad for the averages of the year, until you factor in a CGC 9.8 on November 11th for $645. This PSA sale is nearly half the value.

How about Invincible #60? Selling for $205 is low compared to an FMV of $325. Did the 2nd print do any better? Unfortunately not. $1220 is a steal compared to a recent auction finish on eBay of $1775. I am looking at high res scans of all 3 of these and nothing is jumping out at me to suggest that a 9.8 should be questioned. Whoever bought these ‘books’ got a great deal. Whoever was shopping the ‘labels’ may have missed out.

Marvel Spotlight #5 features the first appearance of Johnny Blaze as Ghost Rider. This 8.0 finished up at $1707, and if compared to the FMV of $2200 it may feel short, however, that market value is being propped up by much larger Fixed Prices on eBay. Looking at recent auction results from the same platform, as well as powerhouse Heritage Auctions, this sale actually fits in the middle.

Which raises another interesting point here, Collectors Comics is a relatively new and obscure venue when compared to every single marketplace where we are drawing our comparisons from. Not only that, but this is entirely auction based, so in theory, we should only have been looking at auction results from the beginning if we were to take these numbers 100% seriously.

So from here on out, we will try to avoid FMV when comparing these results, and merely look at comparative auction results to see what kind of picture is being painted.

New Mutants #87. Lots of fresh data on the first Cable. Gotta be some fresh auction results for the 9.8. $271 for the PSA graded 9.8 isn’t bad compared to a finish on November 6th for $305. There’s auctions from October for $300, $315, $321, $357, and finally, back in September, we see auctions finishing at $255, $227, and $310. This is on the low side, but it does somehow fit in amongst the over 2500 CGC graded 9.8s out there. All of the other forms of sales, be it Fixed or Best Offer, are higher.

The Saga of Swamp Thing #37 should also yield some substantial auction comparatives in a 9.8. This comic ups the ante finishing at $913. Recent auction finishes on CGC 9.8s however are older, and perhaps not accurate in this example. Back in August a 9.8 auctioned off for $1260, whereas recently 9.8s were accepted at Fixed Prices of just $1000, $1080, and $1076. This book is tumbling, and maybe the buyer was wise to know when to stop at a good deal?

I want to pick out the Silver Surfer #4 from this auction simply because I know this book has incredible staying power, and a lot of Surfer keys right now may be more volatile than this one. This was a PSA 5.5 and had a final bid of $479. We’re gonna ignore the 2 Fixed Price sales on October 13th that were $200 apart from one another even though that proves even CGC grades have wild price swings, and focus on the last auction result in this grade back in August at Goldin Auctions for $458. This is a PSA win in my books, to be occurring at a much smaller venue, with a product that is just breaking in. Nice result.

Star Wars #1 in a 9.4. $317 here vs. a very recent $408 at Heritage. Elsewhere $420, $375, $335, $408. Dang. This one fits in better with the 9.2 results.

Superman #3 likely doesn’t have much in grade to compare to, but it is a major book to be showing up at this venue in a PSA 3.5, unrestored. This one went for $4,860, and that is $500 better than the last 3.5 sold for at Heritage in 2019, but almost a thousand less than a Fixed Price sale went for in June. Before we call this soft, draw some attention to the 0.5 grade that has the most recent sale of this book at $1080. That is down swiftly from an August sale of $1800 in the same grade. And the 1.0 had a September sale that only teetered above values in that grade from almost 3 years ago when pandemic prices were soaring. This buyer should neither be scared of the price they paid, nor the slab it is coming in! I bet this one is heavy.

Another random. Thor #157. High grade - 9.6. $315. That is substantially less than the FMV of $800. The last auction result was $600. Is it the bad wrap on this book that is throwing off the resting price? If it is, this is an expensively treated 9.4. But it doesn’t really fit in anywhere in terms of value. How many people are shopping for this book, anyway?

Thor #337 was offered in a relatively unattractive grade of 9.4. This was bid up to $92 at the auction. Was it worth it? Yeah. Last sale in this grade was Fixed at $95. Recent auction average would be $112. Since when is saving a few dollars a bad thing?

We’re getting close to wrapping up here, and that’s a good thing because my head is starting to spin again. What better time to get into one of the most contested books of the past few years - Ultimate Fallout #4. This is a 9.8 Direct Edition selling for $775. And ladies and gentlemen, I am reeling in pleasure that this blog took me over a week to finish - because we have eBay auction sales of this book in CGC blue label 9.8s on November 9th for $762 and $777. I thought when I saw those Invincible results earlier that the Modern Age confidence was a little shaken. This is a great sale on a book that many likely refused to bid on because of its contentious past.

X-Men #266 in a PSA 10.0… can be viewed in a number of places out there! What am I supposed to compare it to, anyway!

The 9.6, on the other hand. That went for $177… it’s low compared to the FMV of $210, but not so low compared to an eBay auction finish on the 4th for $186. And better than an auction last month that only reached $163.

Werewolf by Night #32 in a PSA 6.5. Final bid - $632. That’s better than the last 2 auction results in this grade from CGC 6.5s. Fixed Prices in grade bring this book up another hundred or more. No surprise.

Wolverine Limited Series #1 in a PSA 9.6 sold for $190. That’s a great number. Especially when compared against only recent auction results in this grade - $240, $183, $159.

We’re gonna finish it off with X-Men #94. A PSA 7.0 was offered and reached a final bid of $535. Again, we are seeing some very consistent results when we strip away the Fixed listings and focus solely on auction results: $520, $432, $569. There were 7 other sales in the timeframe when those auctions took place, all graded 7.0 by CGC, and every single one of them was listed and sold by the seller at a decently higher price, which brings up the FMV.

Reading Between the Grades

After running through all of these results, a few themes become clear. First, PSA-graded comics are holding their own far better than some collectors might have expected - especially considering this is still a new frontier for the hobby. In certain cases, the results fell short of FMV, but when you line them up against comparable auction data rather than fixed or inflated listings, most of these numbers fit neatly within the market’s current rhythm.

That alone tells us something important: collectors are still feeling out the PSA label in the comic space, but the skepticism isn’t as rooted in performance as it is rooted in perception.

As these data points accumulate, the picture will sharpen. For now, the market appears less divided than it is curious. Buyers who are willing to look beyond labels and focus instead on condition, presentation, and long-term demand could already be finding opportunities.

The takeaway? I don't see this as the start of a divide between grading companies. It could be the start of a new calibration period for what collectors are truly willing to pay for the grade, not just the holder.