Delfloria

On 5/23/2024 at 3:16 PM, bc said:

Didn't have the chance to buy those off the rack, must have been an incredible experience! And to save them for all these years is very cool.

As others have mentioned, getting the keys slabbed (and you have a bunch) will maximize the resale value. Almost all of the auction houses will take care of that for you for a percentage of the hammer price (plus they have the insurance covered already). 

Just from what you posted so far, this could be a nice little six figure addition to a retirement plan.

Congrats 

-bc 

 

Sounds like an auction house might be the way to go. Any recommendations guys? In the past I have dealt with Profiles in History on other kinds of items. Do they do comics?

On 5/23/2024 at 12:47 PM, KCOComics said:

 

It will be harder to sell as a package and you likely won't maximize the value. 

These books are worth a good amount. So finding someone with the capital and desire to buy them all will be hard. 

Realistically you'll end up selling to dealers (who would love to buy them).  And while I can recommend trustworthy dealers who will give a fair offer, they will need to make money too!  Which means you'll be looking at $.50 on the dollar. Maybe a little better. 

If you leave them unslabbed (which I would also love), unfortunately they'll be harder to sell as well. The average collector wants the assurance that they aren't restored or trimmed or missing pages.  That is the value of CGC.  

There are other options though. If you want to sell them, you could consign them to Mycomicshop. They can take care of grading and then sell them for you at auction. I believe you would pay a 10% auction fee + the cost of grading.

If that is route your interested in, they are pretty active on these boards and could answer questions.  

In my opinion, it's the easiest way to get a fair return with minimal work. 

 

 

Thanks for your feedback. This has been very, very helpful as I start this journey.

What do you guys think about the idea of selling it all as a package deal or several package deals compared to single issue offerings? Just curious because some of the Batman, Superman, Brave and the Bold, Blackhawk, Doom Patrol, Sea Devils, Justice League, Challengers of the Unknown, Flash, Green Lantern, S.H.I.E.L.D, Dr. Strange, Tales of Astonish and of this era don't seem to be too much in demand.

On 5/23/2024 at 10:04 AM, KCOComics said:

https://collectinsure.com/

 

Alot of us use these guys. I have a contact over there I could try to dig up. It's pretty painless.  

Full disclosure - I've used them for a few years, but I've never had to file a claim. So I can't speak to how painful the claim process might be. I really only use them for the shipping insurance. If I have to ship a big book, or I send an order to be graded, it's piece of mind. 

 

Thanks for the recommendation. Much appreciated.

On 5/23/2024 at 10:32 AM, Cman429 said:

What is the “important message about the new amazing” from the editor the cover mentions? I’ve seen this over a billion times in my 30+ years as a fan and always wondered what the message was! You’re the first person I’ve met with a raw copy not sealed in a horrible slab so can you please solve my lifelong mystery? 

Beautiful books, btw! I hope you enjoy the yacht or summer home in Cabo selling them is going to net you!

Yacht and Cabo, I wish. I find it sad to think these things end up in a slab and inaccessible............ I put the Spidey back in the box but the next time I take it out we can discover what that message is all about.

On 5/23/2024 at 9:18 AM, KCOComics said:

 

The mail risk is and risk of something happening to them during grading is real.. it's a small risk, but we've seen horror stories! 

My approach has been to privately insure the comics with Collectible Insurance. 

They will insure the comics through the mail (damage or loss), BUT not when the comics are at CGC. Once CGC has them, their insurance we'll take over so presumably the comics will be covered the entire time. 

The annual policy with Collectible Insurance will likely cost less than insuring the books through USPS or FedEx even for just one trip. Just make sure you get signature confirmations and know follow the policy guidelines... those books are too expensive to make a mistake with. 

Did a quick dive into the Collectible Insurance info. WOW............. there are a lot of companies....any recommendations?

On 5/23/2024 at 9:18 AM, dbcn said:

amazing @Delfloria  - those are spectacular books to have picked up off the rack!

As a kid, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Beyond these #1s I have dozens of early random numbers from this same time period. Had to get my weekly fix.

On 5/22/2024 at 6:43 AM, dbcn said:

That is an amazing set @Delfloria - Is that first open book an X-Men 1?

Thanks. Good guess on the X-Men pages. See my latest post.

Yep, that is from X-Men #1.

On 5/22/2024 at 5:43 AM, KCOComics said:

I'm afraid those date stamps make them worthless.  

I'll PM you my address and you can ship them to me for proper disposal! 

 

Kidding aside - these are pretty special books and nerds like me love the date stamps.  

All 3 of these books are worth the investment to get graded. The date stamps won't hurt the grade in this condition.   

As @thehumantorch suggested, you can get grade estimates in the spare a grade section to give you a sense for condition and value. 

These books are highly desirable. They have tanning, spine tics and other wear - so they aren't "high grade", but they are certainly very valuable in their current condition. If you want to sell, get them graded. 

I'll PM ASAP. Your so kind to do this for me. I've considered getting them graded but I've not overcome the fear of loosing them in the mail. Yeah, they are not in the best of condition but I figured they still had some life in them.

On 5/22/2024 at 1:19 AM, thehumantorch said:

Congrats, you have some wonderful books.  It doesn't get much better than books like these.

So you describe them as read once and stored but I can see some pretty big spine tics and wear.  And yes, the FF1 shows quite a bit of wear.  I wouldn't worry about the date stamps, they're discreet  and I doubt they'll have a significant effect on the grade.

I would like to encourage you to post these into the grading forum.  The guys there are very experienced with CGC grading standards and will give you a good idea how these would grade out by CGC.  They'd also love to see them.  If you do post them there please post one book per thread and provide lots of pictures of the front and back cover and interior staples etc

https://boards.cgccomics.com/forum/42-hey-buddy-can-you-spare-a-grade/

Do you mind telling us how you acquired these books and what else you have?  We love hearing about books and collections like this.

Thanks for the feedback. I bought these from my local market newsstand the day they came out. I've kept them ever since.

On 3/10/2024 at 8:33 PM, KCOComics said:

 

There are alot of us (myself included) who love date stamps. 

For the FF1, does it have an August 8th date stamp? 8/8 is largely considered the first day it hit the sales rack, so a nerdy minority of us keep an eye out for those date stamps. 

I don't think it actually adds any value, but just a cool little piece of the books history. 

As you can see it does have that date.

On 3/14/2024 at 1:17 AM, CHASEnBLUE said:

Can you post pics?

Sorry it took so long. Here is a sample of their quality. Fantastic 4 is the roughest of the bunch. What do you guys think??????

On 3/14/2024 at 1:17 AM, CHASEnBLUE said:

Can you post pics?

See above comments. Will do when I can.

On 3/13/2024 at 10:45 PM, DougC said:

It is but also you have to understand how many times this type of question is asked. When someone states that the date stamp isn't going to be the hindrance on grade after being read it is usually do to what someone who isn't familiar with grading comics views as "really good condition" opposed to those who do grade comics. When someone new to grading makes the previous statement often the comic eventually posted looks like this:

If the comics you have mentioned are original they are worth grading to maximize value; I would recommend taking pictures of them and posting to the "Please grade my comic" subforum which will give you a better understanding of what you might be dealing with.

I can understand how this can happen regarding how people describe the condition of their comics. The comics in question are actually in better shape than the one you posted. They don't have any wear and tear except for the date stamps, which why I thought I would ask about it. I really appreciate the feedback and when I get a chance to get to my safe bank deposit box I will post photos.

On 3/10/2024 at 2:29 PM, Axe Elf said:

If they've been read, they probably wouldn't grade high enough to be affected by a date stamp.

OK, thanks. Finding copies that have not been read at least once must be really rare.

On 3/10/2024 at 8:33 PM, KCOComics said:

 

There are alot of us (myself included) who love date stamps. 

For the FF1, does it have an August 8th date stamp? 8/8 is largely considered the first day it hit the sales rack, so a nerdy minority of us keep an eye out for those date stamps. 

I don't think it actually adds any value, but just a cool little piece of the books history. 

Sorry but I don't remember the exact dates other than they are very early 60's dates.

I have a handful of silver age marvel comics including stuff like Spidey's first appearance and The Fantastic Four #1 in really good condition (read once and stored) but  they have a date received by the news stand on the cover. Any idea how that affects the value because I'm think of selling some of these guys.