Colin The Librarian

On 5/26/2022 at 3:17 PM, fishbone said:

John Peel !!! I'd love to sit back with some headphones and pass the hours listening to legends !!

Then you will enjoy the John Peel Wiki. 

Let's say you're looking for available shows and track listings for 1982. Then you take a fancy to checking the 4th May Show. Then you see the full show is available. Click on the relevant Mooo link - 2 hours 5 minutes long (3) and enter: User Name: peel Password: group

And as if by magic, you will have access to that show plus many others available on the Mooo server. There are other file archives available via the Wiki, I only mention that one because it's particularly good. 

Many of my own show recordings are available through the Wiki. Have a look around!

On 5/25/2022 at 11:53 PM, PopKulture said:

Weird? Maybe a tad… but do you have any competition?  

Not really. That was part of the attraction. Sometimes it's fun to collect things nobody else wants. *smiles* 

If CGC ever wants to grade them, most of my copies are gem mint. I'm ready. 

My hunch is that comics will retain a greater intrinsic worth as pop culture artefacts than stamps held as artistic and social artefacts.

Note that the generation churn on pop culture content is continuous. Also note the geeky 15 year olds of today will be the high salary earners in the information economy of the future. So, the teen consumers of Disney+ Marvel properties will be the future 30+ year old lawyers and doctors ready to spend on nostalgia Not only that but the next wave of IP innovation will be in play.

Then there is the global nature of pop culture IP these days. This stuff is reaching billions of people.

Of course, there will be nuance and bumps along the way, but overall I think the comparison with stamps is not that helpful.

Having said that, as someone who once hoped and planned to own every single Bronze era Marvel and DC issue published, a major price drop would be VERY helpful.

With hindsight it's now clear that inflation in collectibles was the canary in the coalmine for generalised inflation.

As life's essentials now experience similar inflationary pressure I would expect the collectables market to slow down/go into reverse measured by disposal income. You can't eat comics.

At some point it will become a buyer's market once again. These things are cyclical.

Let's live by Warren Buffet's credo - when people are greedy, get cautious. And when people are cautious, get greedy.

Looking at the old Mile High comic ads and prices who would have thought we would be where we are today? Of course, that isn't evidence either way. The past is not a predictor of the future.

So all I can go with is my own sentiment. And that is, as a future buyer I want prices to drop. But with 10,000+ comics stored away and available to read any time I want, high prices aren't a chore either.

I do, however, feel sad for younger and newer collectors with the increased cost of owning and reading the original funny books. 

On 11/17/2021 at 7:09 PM, gadzukes said:

This "Stan Signed" raw pence copy just sold at auction today.

The auction house graded it as (GD+/VG-) so (3.0ish)

26% commission

I believe in US dollars (with commission) this went for $51,000

Pretty big price for a raw 3.0 pence.

This issue was part of the Ian Penman sale held across two days in Newcastle this week. The wonderful original owner collection included 19,000 comics with near complete and good/high grade silver and bronze Marvel/DC runs. And every key/mega key except IH #181.

Ian Penman was a British music journalist and his Stan signatures were almost certainly picked up when The Man visited the UK in 1976 to promote the expansion of Marvel UK. A visit which was as much a rock tour as it was PR.

It was a great sale of a great collection with almost all comics - judging by the pence copies - plucked straight from the racks. And not a slab in sight.