Comics
July 13, 2004 4:40 AM Subscribe
Incredible comic book auction. I knew I shouldn't have gotten rid of my comics..
"The winning bidder later informed me it was her son who placed the bid by mistake, and she would not be honoring the bid."
Can you imagine the blow up and melt-down after that little buy-it-now click?
"But Mom, it's only $250,000."
posted by crunchland at 5:08 AM on July 13, 2004
Can you imagine the blow up and melt-down after that little buy-it-now click?
"But Mom, it's only $250,000."
posted by crunchland at 5:08 AM on July 13, 2004
now you know how i feel after chewing up a mantle rookie card in my bicycle spokes...
posted by aiq at 5:19 AM on July 13, 2004
posted by aiq at 5:19 AM on July 13, 2004
Wow.
I was a late comer to comics as the country I was born in they were pretty much a non event. Hard to find and the selections usually were limited to really uninteresting choices, and seeing I didn't find donald duck that interesting, it wasn't until I moved to the US and I was in high school that I bought my first real 'comic book' (Aliens series two, issue #4. Yeah nothing too fantastic from a collector's point of view.)
I pretty much abandoned that collection, and even got rid of about 70% of it, but a recent trip to a great local comic shop ended that streak, and I am now fighting the urge to take weekly trips there. My wallet weeps.
posted by oneiros at 5:29 AM on July 13, 2004
I was a late comer to comics as the country I was born in they were pretty much a non event. Hard to find and the selections usually were limited to really uninteresting choices, and seeing I didn't find donald duck that interesting, it wasn't until I moved to the US and I was in high school that I bought my first real 'comic book' (Aliens series two, issue #4. Yeah nothing too fantastic from a collector's point of view.)
I pretty much abandoned that collection, and even got rid of about 70% of it, but a recent trip to a great local comic shop ended that streak, and I am now fighting the urge to take weekly trips there. My wallet weeps.
posted by oneiros at 5:29 AM on July 13, 2004
i so need to find out what my comics are worth, and then sell the lot of them. i've got stuff going back to the mid 60's, x-men, fantastic 4, silver surfer, classic comics with the aesop's fables on the back page... all kinds of crap. i used to cherish them, but now i'd rather pay off one or more of my credit card balances. i guess there's a book or magazine that lists these things...
posted by t r a c y at 5:48 AM on July 13, 2004
posted by t r a c y at 5:48 AM on July 13, 2004
Wow, that's actually a really good price to own a large chunk of the high water mark of US pop culture. Looking at all those multiple copies of Kirby FF and Ditko Spideys is causing me real pain here.
posted by Scoo at 6:55 AM on July 13, 2004
posted by Scoo at 6:55 AM on July 13, 2004
The industry standard for pricing old comics is Overstreet, as much as there is a standard at all. You can also check ComicsPriceGuide.com to get started.
posted by patgas at 7:03 AM on July 13, 2004
posted by patgas at 7:03 AM on July 13, 2004
200 000 comics! What he doesn't tell you is that aside from the 200 or so comics that were pictured are 199800 Betty and Veronica Double Digests.
posted by Quartermass at 7:18 AM on July 13, 2004
posted by Quartermass at 7:18 AM on July 13, 2004
quartermass, at the bottom he lists what comics he has complete runs of. and each betty and veronica double digest should count as 2 comics.
posted by outsider at 7:30 AM on July 13, 2004
posted by outsider at 7:30 AM on July 13, 2004
Huh? no Action comics #1?
Every self respecting comic nerd knows that Action#1 is the 'The Big Bang, the Alpha, the A-#1, the single most valuable, desired, and important book in the entire history of the medium.'
Nice collection though.
I consider comic book collecting as my first apparent addiction.
Luckily(maybe not?) there was a kid named Judd who was a bigger comic junky than me on my bus and bought the whole shitload just when I was becoming a boozer.
posted by kremb at 8:53 AM on July 13, 2004
Every self respecting comic nerd knows that Action#1 is the 'The Big Bang, the Alpha, the A-#1, the single most valuable, desired, and important book in the entire history of the medium.'
Nice collection though.
I consider comic book collecting as my first apparent addiction.
Luckily(maybe not?) there was a kid named Judd who was a bigger comic junky than me on my bus and bought the whole shitload just when I was becoming a boozer.
posted by kremb at 8:53 AM on July 13, 2004
This guy is a regular poster at the the CGC Comic Message Board. He's selling these comics to buy a house.
I think he does have an Action #1...but he's holding on to the high grade keys of his collection.
Still, if you bought this collection and then spent a few months selling parts of it on Ebay, you'd make your money back in no time.
posted by Stynxno at 10:31 AM on July 13, 2004
I think he does have an Action #1...but he's holding on to the high grade keys of his collection.
Still, if you bought this collection and then spent a few months selling parts of it on Ebay, you'd make your money back in no time.
posted by Stynxno at 10:31 AM on July 13, 2004
I was about to FP this link, but in the spirit of keeping daily
golden-age comic book discussions in one place, here you are:
Collector Amasses Complete DC Comics Collection
YIP!
posted by Peter H at 10:48 AM on July 13, 2004
golden-age comic book discussions in one place, here you are:
Collector Amasses Complete DC Comics Collection
YIP!
posted by Peter H at 10:48 AM on July 13, 2004
Does anyone know the investment return on comic collecting? Is it a good investment? Or a labour of love which you hopefully make some money, or not.
Also.. what exactly would 200,000 comics look like.. seems like one would need a large climate controlled space.. plus keeping track of it all and moving it would be tons of material.
(cool link Peter)
posted by stbalbach at 11:04 AM on July 13, 2004
Also.. what exactly would 200,000 comics look like.. seems like one would need a large climate controlled space.. plus keeping track of it all and moving it would be tons of material.
(cool link Peter)
posted by stbalbach at 11:04 AM on July 13, 2004
Does anyone know the investment return on comic collecting? Is it a good investment? Or a labour of love which you hopefully make some money, or not.
One thing people don't factor into account when collecting anything is that in order to make large sums of money on any collection, it needs to age. In the long run though, in order to store something for that long, you would be better off putting the money into a savings account or investing it.
With comics specifically, the market bottomed out several years ago, though some think it's recovering.
posted by drezdn at 11:17 AM on July 13, 2004
One thing people don't factor into account when collecting anything is that in order to make large sums of money on any collection, it needs to age. In the long run though, in order to store something for that long, you would be better off putting the money into a savings account or investing it.
With comics specifically, the market bottomed out several years ago, though some think it's recovering.
posted by drezdn at 11:17 AM on July 13, 2004
Does anyone know the investment return on comic collecting? Is it a good investment? Or a labour of love which you hopefully make some money, or not.
One thing people don't factor into account when collecting anything is that in order to make large sums of money on any collection, it needs to age. In the long run though, in order to store something for that long, you would be better off putting the money into a savings account or investing it.
Eh, it depends. You can make money at collecting comic books. Some people, during the last 15 years or so, spent vast sums of money and time finding the highest graded comics they could. Then, when CGC came around and the comic industry had a respected third party grading service, these people are now getting their comics professionaly graded and selling them on the open market. These folks are making a KILLING off of their investments (several books have no entered the famous 6 figure club - Amazing Spider-Man #1, Fantastic Four #1, Amazing Fantasy #15, etc). There are also large comic book dealers (metropolis comics is one) who are trying to convince folks that investing in comics is a good thing and better than the stock market (but their evidence is dubious at best). The best shot at these would be in collecting High Grade Golden Age Super-Hero comics or High Grade Silver Age Superhero comics. You can make money but....you'll need to spend a lot of money to gain a nice collection, wait five or ten years and hope that the market doesn't crash or that your comics are still "hot". During the early 90's, a group of investors went and bought a ton of silver age comics that dealers said were "high grade" or "near mint". They waited ten years and then sent these comics to be graded by CGC, beliving that they would be graded in the 9+ (out of 10) range and these investors could retire early. CGC graded them in the mid-grade range, thus killing these investors initial investement. Most "comic investors" are going to end up in this situation. You can get lucky though.
Also, in the mid 90's, the comic market died due to a large number of investors buying a large number of comics that, in reality, were worth nothing (99.9% of all comics between 1980 and now aren't worth anything). People who didn't even collect comic books were buying cases of The Death of Super-Man issue. It's taken about 6 years but the market is rebounding (although some claim that the premium paid on CGC comics now is bring around a new "crash").
Basically, if you want to "invest" in comic books, do your homework, pay attention to the market, surf ebay, contact dealers, and be prepared to lose your investment. However, if you really like comics, then just collect what you like. The money value of your collection might not increase much but you won't feel, 10 years from now, that you "lost" your initial investment. The joy one can get from comics usually doesn't carry a pricetag.
posted by Stynxno at 11:54 AM on July 13, 2004
One thing people don't factor into account when collecting anything is that in order to make large sums of money on any collection, it needs to age. In the long run though, in order to store something for that long, you would be better off putting the money into a savings account or investing it.
Eh, it depends. You can make money at collecting comic books. Some people, during the last 15 years or so, spent vast sums of money and time finding the highest graded comics they could. Then, when CGC came around and the comic industry had a respected third party grading service, these people are now getting their comics professionaly graded and selling them on the open market. These folks are making a KILLING off of their investments (several books have no entered the famous 6 figure club - Amazing Spider-Man #1, Fantastic Four #1, Amazing Fantasy #15, etc). There are also large comic book dealers (metropolis comics is one) who are trying to convince folks that investing in comics is a good thing and better than the stock market (but their evidence is dubious at best). The best shot at these would be in collecting High Grade Golden Age Super-Hero comics or High Grade Silver Age Superhero comics. You can make money but....you'll need to spend a lot of money to gain a nice collection, wait five or ten years and hope that the market doesn't crash or that your comics are still "hot". During the early 90's, a group of investors went and bought a ton of silver age comics that dealers said were "high grade" or "near mint". They waited ten years and then sent these comics to be graded by CGC, beliving that they would be graded in the 9+ (out of 10) range and these investors could retire early. CGC graded them in the mid-grade range, thus killing these investors initial investement. Most "comic investors" are going to end up in this situation. You can get lucky though.
Also, in the mid 90's, the comic market died due to a large number of investors buying a large number of comics that, in reality, were worth nothing (99.9% of all comics between 1980 and now aren't worth anything). People who didn't even collect comic books were buying cases of The Death of Super-Man issue. It's taken about 6 years but the market is rebounding (although some claim that the premium paid on CGC comics now is bring around a new "crash").
Basically, if you want to "invest" in comic books, do your homework, pay attention to the market, surf ebay, contact dealers, and be prepared to lose your investment. However, if you really like comics, then just collect what you like. The money value of your collection might not increase much but you won't feel, 10 years from now, that you "lost" your initial investment. The joy one can get from comics usually doesn't carry a pricetag.
posted by Stynxno at 11:54 AM on July 13, 2004
I have a few thousand books, and my feeling is I buy them to read them, with no thought whatsoever to investment. That said, I'd be stupid not to keep them bagged, boarded, and boxed in nice shape once the reading is done. You never know.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 11:59 AM on July 13, 2004
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 11:59 AM on July 13, 2004
There used to be an exhibit in Toronto, either at a bank or at a the Hockey Hall of Fame, that pointed out Hockey trading cards were a better investiment than the TSE stocks over a certain period of time...
I can't recall all the details ... all I remember is thinking "Damn! Where did I put those cards I had?" I had a whole childhood of recess playground time full of Got'em, Need'em, Doubles and Scrambles.
What the exhibit didn't tell you is that in order for the investment to be worthwhile you couldn't use the cards - card shooting, spoke noisemakers, etc..
posted by srboisvert at 12:37 PM on July 13, 2004
I can't recall all the details ... all I remember is thinking "Damn! Where did I put those cards I had?" I had a whole childhood of recess playground time full of Got'em, Need'em, Doubles and Scrambles.
What the exhibit didn't tell you is that in order for the investment to be worthwhile you couldn't use the cards - card shooting, spoke noisemakers, etc..
posted by srboisvert at 12:37 PM on July 13, 2004
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posted by Jairus at 4:53 AM on July 13, 2004