lou_fine

This first part of the chart would certainly line up with the old school of thinking for a rising market that you should buy in October and sell in March, then take 6 months off in a hot and sunny place to enjoy your gains before coming back to rinse and repeat again.

Will you guys at Heritage be hiring the same programmers to redesign your website once they finish massacuring "knocking it out of the ball park" for CC, so that your loyal and faithful customers can also get to enjoy "the best experience possible"?

Well, of course there's also the contrarian point of view that most of the other consignors will be thinking the exact same way and also end up pulling their books until the next CC Event Auction. This then means that you would be pulling your books from a much less competitive auction and placing them into one that is overloaded and very competitive with your books. On the other side of the equation, you will find the astute buyer jumping into this next CC Event Auction thinking they will be able to get a steal because there will be fewer bidders because they will all be trying to figure out the new redesigned website. Of course, we then know what's going to happen if everybody also thinks the same way and jumps in on the bidding action in the end.

I think you are spot on for setting condition targets I think each of you are spot on in your assessment. And I think you are SPOT ON in your response here!!!

Nope. 10% of the bid price. I thought the standard SP at Heritage was 15% of the hammer price? But as many board members have stated here, it is really very much dependent on the quality of your consignment and how well you are able to negotiate both your SP and BP fees back down. Definitely a task that I would not enjoy partaking in as it reminds me of the old days when you have to go into a automobile lot and negotiate for the price of your car.

For all of the consignors who are now probably on pins and needles, this is probably a good move to hopefully remove some of their concerns with what's happening. If it's non-consignor books, does this mean the Fish will finally be putting up some of his copies of Fantastic 3 up for auction and we can all pick them up for $100 when their new software system comes crashing down because it can't handle 3-figure dollar amounts. Not sure why they told you January and February. If you look back at all of their previous Event Auctions in recent years, the books usally get all loaded up by the end of January, bidding begins in February, and the auction closes in the week towards the middle of March. If I was me, I would probably just ask them to hold the books over until their next Event Auction to ensure all of the bugs are worked out. Hopefully by then, all of the potential bidders will have had adequate time to figure out their new website and be brave enough to venture back in. Especially since it also costs money to ship books back and forth. As for their regularly scheduled March time frame for their first Event Auction of the year, I don't see how they are going to be able to meet this deadline since it's already approaching the end of January. On the other hand, maybe all of the board members here will finally get their wish and the CC Auction will be limited to only 1 or 2 weeks, instead of their usual long and sleep inducing 4 to 5 weeks.

When I first started collecting GA books back in the late 80's, I was advised to go after the earliest or key books within a run and then work my way back out to the lesser books after that. The theory was that the earliest and the keys or classic covers would tend to go up the fastest and if you spent all of your money on the cheaper run books, you might not have any left when the really nice ones came along. Being a collector with a very limited budget, this was definitely a very sound strategic theory for me to follow in terms of my collecting priorities. The only problem is that you should never ever forget about the second part of your statement which is what I did very early on and resulted in probably the biggest non-buying mistake of my vintage comic book collecting life. One night while I was talking with this comic book broker with whom I was dealing with back in the late 80's, he mentioned to me that he had just acquired a high grade run of Spidey 2 through 10 and that I could have it for the grand sum of only $1,000. The first thing that popped into my mind was where was the Spidey 1, as I knew in my mind that if I had the Spidey 2 through 10, the only thing I would think about would be the missing Spidey 1 and would probably end up paying silly money like well over a grand for a HG copy of Spidey 1. Of course, this was at a time when SA Marvel books were going through an almost decades long slump or plateauing of prices and just about a year or so before the SA market took off like a rocket on fire without me and the Spideys on board. After giving it some thought and telling the broker that I would pass on the books, he told me that he would hold the books for me for a couple of weeks since he thought it was a great deal for me and that I might change my mind if I thought about it some more. Especially since this run had been compiled by a very noted collector who had meticulously upgraded some of the books in the set over the previous 20+ years. He felt it would also make up for the fact that I had came onto the GA scene too late to take advantage of some of the Church books which he would have sold to me had he known me earlier. Received a call from him a week later to see if I had changed my mind as he had another eager buyer that was very interested in acquiring the set. Being the absolute dummy that I was at the time and not seeing a basket of golden eggs when it's placed right in front of me, I thought about those much HTF GA books which was my absolute craze at the time and the missing Spidey 1 and hence took a pass on the run. Needless to say, most definitely not one of my smarter decisions and a true missed opportunity, especially considering all of those classic villians first appearances within that run. It was rather ironic then that the Spidey 1 eventually did come to market some almost 15 years later and sold for over $20K in 2002, while the Spidey #2 through #10 set has yet to make its appearance in the marketplace. Apparently after I had passed on the set, the books went immediately to the eager buyer who was Geppi, then eventually flipped to Steve Hunt at a nice healthy profit, before apparently settling into the private collection of the Dentist next to his Church copy of Action 1 and Allentown copy of 'Tec 27. Not sure if this is where the set actually ended up at by the time it was all said and done, but really should confirm this with Dave the next time I talk to him one of these years, especially since I have always forgotten to ask him before in my past conversations with him.

Well, if this is true then we should all jump on the decades long and now decrepit Adventure 61 bandwagon with the first appearance of Starman. Especially since I was watching TV last night and noticed a big promo ad for the new Stargirl show which is set to debut this coming Spring. It just might put some life back into this virtually comatose book since the ad clearly highlights her receiving her powers from her father, Starman. Seriously though, there are just so many comic book sourced TV shows and moview, I am not sure how much of an impact they have on prices anymore, especially with respect to some of these long forgotten secondary characters.

Well, any word from the gang at Metro and CC, or are they also not bothering to answer their incoming telephone calls because they are too busy wining and dining their programmers for "hitting it out of the ballpark" with their new website?

Welcome to the Boards and it certainly looks like you have a eagle sharp eye for selecting top notch and nicely presenting books for your personal collection.

The best person to check on this would be Danny Dupchak of Fantazia who came out with his rather infamous Eastern Color File Copies "pedigree" collection of books.

Cerebus #1 was printed in 1977 TMNT in 1984 and Albedo in 1985.By then collectors were thinking more about condition than previously and that contributed to the higher number of TMNT and Albedo than Cerebus.This was about the time I started bagging and boarding all my books and realizing that higher grade ment more money. Yes, Cerebus #1 was indeed printed in 1977 and not in 1937 or even 1957. By then in 1977, the comic book collecting hobby was already pretty well established for well more than a decade by then. Probably not to the levels of hoarding that would take place a few short years later, but collectors were already well aware of collectible comic books having value as evident by the strong demand for books by Neal Adams, Barry Windsor-Smith, Steranko, Kirby, Jim Starlin, Bryne X-Men, etc. If you are saying 1977 is too early for collectors to think about condition when selecting books to put away for their collections, then how about 15 years earlier in 1962. If you take a look at all of the early key Marvel SA books, there are way more then 20 graded copies in CGC 9.0 of books such as AF 15, FF 1, Hulk 1, etc. The only exception to this would appear to be Tales to Astonish 27 with a total of 18 copies in CGC 9.0 or above, as compared to only 20 for Cerebus 1.

Well, let's not forget both CC and CL with total auction fees of 10% each since it looks like the usage of a credit card would not be possible here. As for Heritage, unless the fees are negotiated away, the buyer's premium is actually also paid by you as the consignor since HA gets to keep the BP.

As a GA collector at the time, I can tell you for certain that this roller coaster of a ride in terms of the astronomical run up in the mid-90's followed by several years of not so hot prices was not limited to just PCH books. It was definitely much more widespread than that and pretty much encompass the entire range of GA books (and possibly all of the other ages) since dealers offering multiples of guide prices for in-demand key and classic cover books were just not sustainable over an extended period of time. The comic book marketplace definitely did have a multi-year cooling off period until CGC came onto the scence with their third party independent grading system. Once again, we saw a big run up in prices in the beginning, which was then followed by either a plateauing of prices or even a noticeable drop in prices in many of the GA books that had set record prices when grading first came along, as the marketplace was still trying to figure out the additional value to give to graded books.

What store? (So we can run him out of the business.). Total creep looking to take advantage. Did he claim it was a steal of a deal for you since it was 50% more than what he had to pay for the entire 20,000 Mile High collection some 40+ years ago?

Seriously ? Just your Captain America Comics 3 5.5 alone is probably worth 50K+ (if it is an unrestored copy) https://reececomics.com/product/captain-america-comics-3-cgc-5-0-cr-ow-pages/ Heck, even if it's in RESTORED CGC 5.5 graded condition, a book like Cap 3 would still bring $24K in an open auction: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/captain-america-comics-3-timely-1941-cgc-apparent-fn-55-slight-b-1-cream-to-off-white-pages/a/7212-92066.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Looks like he was trying to offer you even less than half of condition guide of $6,500 for this one book alone with his $3K offer.

I agree in principle. For strictly investment purposes buying one key book is smarter. The problem is the higher the grade and price severely limits the possibility for maybe much future growth in your investment. You are gambling that the “market” is going to keep steadily growing at current rates. You have a lot smaller a pool of buyers at the top. For every top end buyer, there are 10 buyers that are priced out and have to settle for a lower grade copy. Often, lower grade copies do better at auction. The profit margin can be better. Just my observations in 50 years in the hobby... I would tend to say that your observations about the hobby has been correct, as clearly evident by recent auction results of GA books over the past few years. When I started collecting GA books, I definitely followed Mitch's strategy above since I was advised to go after the keys or classic covers and to get the highest grade possible that my wallet could afford. The theory was that the marketplace would eventually realized how truly rare these books were to find, especially in high grade, and that the marketplace would one day place a substantially higher premium on these copies as opposed to the then 1:3:6 valuation spreads (i.e. Good Fine Mint) which the guide had in place at the time. Definitely no regrets about going after the higher grades as they just look so much nicer , but from a strict financial percentage point of view, I believe that paying lower amounts for realtively lower graded copies would have put me ahead in the end. A perfect example being the recent auction of the tied for highest graded 9.2 copy of Action 13 which managed to fetched only $166K when current top of guide on this historically much in demand book is $190K. Especially surprising considering that the Atlantic City CGC 9.2 graded copy managed to fetch an astounding $185K on CC back in the summer of 2011 when the 9.2 top of guide price on Action 13 was set at only $30K back then. Contrast that with the lower CGC graded 5.0 Billy Wright copy of Action 13 which sold at HA in February of 2012 for $35,850 or at a price point of over 8X the condition guide valuation of only $4,412. If we now fast forward to May of 2018, we then see a slightly lower condition copy of Action 13 in CGC 4.0 grade selling at HA for $77,675 (i.e. still at almost 3X condition guide price of $28K) or still a nice healthy percentage increase over the Billy Wright sale of $35,850 back in 2012. As further proof in terms of the strength of more affordable copies, just take a look at the raw Poor condition 0.5 copy that Heritage was able to auction off for $14,340 back in the summer of 2016 when the Overstreet valuation in Good condition was set at only $9K. If I remember correctly, much like Cap 3, this was a book that tended to even be able to fetch premiums to condition guide prices even when in Restored condition. You can actually see a slew of examples where mid-grade copies or even entry level copies of high dollar value key books or classic cover books have done exceedingly well during the past few years due simply to the fact that collectors want them, and are willing to pay top dollar just to acquire an affordable copy for themselves. Perfect example being the multiple times that a CGC 1.0 graded copy of 'Tec 31 have sold for in the mid $40K price range on CC or even at $22K in CGC 0.5 grade, or the nuymber of classic cover books which have no problems fetching 5-figures in mid-grade such as Seven Seas 4 or more recently, Mask 1. Just take a look at the recent sales of of Cap 3 in restored mid-grade condition the past 2 years for well over $20K's or shockingly at multiples to condition guide price on them at well under $10K. Definitely a case of far fewer players in the deep end of the pool when prices for books reach astronomical levels, as compared to lower price points which are much more affordable so that collectors who are just looking at acquiring a copy can afford to join in the bidding action.

If you are talking about collecting athlete's shoes, you are probably already too late for this collecting craze: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/nike-moon-shoe-sold-auction-trnd/index.html As clearly evident by the $437,500 paid for this rare pair of Nike's Moon Shoe. It's always best to be ahead of the curve instead of chasing the hot items after they've already gone up in price. In that light, maybe you thinking about game worn jock straps or jill straps.

There is an "Advanced Search" button, at least for the listings on the Metropolis site. Not sure how robust the search engine is though. Are you talking about the same website here which Vinnie is referring to in Friday's Scoop article: https://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home All /4/1/73/1014?ArticleID=238930 After all, Vinnie was quoted as saying the following: “The websites have been completely redesigned, so our clients get the best experience possible. The programmers really knocked it out of the park!” All I can say is that Vinnie must be feeling pretty woozy here and totally out of it if he cannot tell the difference between being beanballed by the programmers, as opposed to the programmers hitting it out of the ballpark for them. To top it off, I then received an email from CC on Saturday to announce their 2 new completely redesigned websites (i.e. Metro & CC) and to give it a try. Why in the world would a business ask their customers to go onto a website to give it a try when half of the functions are still not working. If that is called giving us the best experience possible, then I certainly feel sorry for any consignors that have books already on consignment with them. How many more times are potential customers going to keep giving the site a try only to have it bomb out on them before they don't even bother trying anymore. They really should have completed the entire site with all functions fully tested and working before releasing it to the public.

+1 Very well said and you definitely can' tlose when you buy something you like, unless you are paying 5 or 6-figures for it.

I would 100% empathically disagree with your statement here. Not sure what your definition of many is, especially considering the fact that there are alrready 121 graded copies of the supposedly rare Albedo 2 in CGC 9.0 and above, along with a whopping 355 graded copies of the much in-demand TMNT 1 in CGC 9.0 and above, while only a mere 20 graded copies of Cerebus 1 in CGC 9.0 and above.

@delekkerste Now the two of you are really asking for it by taunting him like this. Maybe we should bring Boston Corbett in on this since he just might have come close to making good on his copy of NM 98 by now after a whole decade plus. It'll be fun to watch a good old fashion between the Wall Street financial whiz kid and the old university economics professor to see who can say the following: Thus Endeth the Lesson!!!

Now you've done it with just those 5 simple words which I've highlighted above so that you shall never repeat them in the same post ever again. You are just asking for a smackdown from Gene who's probably already got his Gordon Gekko Wall Street financial analytical brain all in a dither from your nonsensical post here and just foaming at the mouth to formulate a long winded response to put you back in your place here.

You mean that you still haven't returned it back to the library after all this time, and it's no wonder my hold on the book hasn't come through yet. I can just imagine the overdue fines by now or did you just claimed that the book was lost and paid the token few dollars to keep the book.