gadzukes

Made my 3rd trip to go through this collection. Came back with 7 long boxes. No high grade silver age like I was seeing in previous boxes. 3 boxes had water damage at the bottom Still, there were lots of nice runs and a few keys. It seems like the more boxes I go thru the lesser the quality is. He says he still has about 10 long boxes in storage. There's bound to be some really good stuff. Best books I got today..... 2 copies of GL 76 one 7.0 & one 3.0, JLA 1-50 (all have some water damage), Luke cage 1 7.0, Marvel Premiere 15 7.0, Lois Lane 1 coverless, silver runs of WW, JLA, GL, Superboy, Challengers, lots of Bronze marvel. No Mega keys though (I think they were cherry picked) I'm happy though.... there's a lot of money in these boxes. I'm about $11k out of pocket into this collection now... I need to find some time to sell now.

Last box I bought today has a run of 100 Supermans and bunch of assorted titles. They're all pretty low grade. Some cool stuff. The Superman 123 is a Supergirl tryout issue. I wish it was in better shape. The Strange Adventures 117 is the 1st Atomic Knights

There's a long box filled with Sgt Fury (over 100 issues), Nick Fury Shield, and Capt Savage. Again, all in great shape. Here's the Sgt Fury 13

X-men 21-88 many of which are in really nice shape

There's about 150 spideys in these boxes from 31-300 some are in really nice shape. Unfortunately the keys (50, 129, etc) were picked out, but there's still some great spideys here. Here's a small sampling... After a press 300 will be in the high 9s (I don't see any spine tics), the rest should grade in the 7.0-9.0 range. 33 is the only one with MC

I just went thru the Flash comics. Around 90 comics. Pretty much every issue between 108 - 208. Some higher grade, some lower grade, but mostly mid grades. Here's some of the good stuff... The 123 has a spine curl, but once it's pressed out should be about a 4.5 After pressing the 137 is probably 8.0, the 139 is 7.0, the 147 is 6.5, the 119 is 5.0, and the rest are 4.0 and lower. The bottom photo is all very low grade

I just got back from Round 2 of buying this collection. This time I spent about $5000 and brought back 5 long boxes of comics. He still has about 6 long boxes at his house and I told him I could probably buy all of those on my next visit (I don't think they're anything too special so they shouldn't cost too much). When I told him I'd pick those up on my next visit he said, "Do you want me to bring some more of the collection from storage for you to look at next time?". I was under the impression that this was it at his house right now. I asked him how many more boxes were in storage, and he said 17!!!!!! OMG, this is turning into a GREAT find! I thought I'd post some of the treasure I brought back today.

Cap 1 pages and wraps have been popping up like crazy on ebay lately. There's even a cover (well, most of a cover) on ebay right now. I was able to snag the 7th wrap for under $400. I think I got the page with the first appearance of Betty Ross (aka Peggy Carter). The wrap doesn't have Redskull on it (dang), but still..... it's a Cap 1 wrap for under $400. The top edge and free edge look to have rodent/bug chews (or was that a clever way to hide a trim?). Can I be part of the club with 1 wrap?

I've got 27 "value tier" comics that were checked in on March 6th. Judging by the TAT listed back then I figured I'd have them back right now, but the TAT has jumped by a couple weeks. I'll let you know when they ship.

I've saw plenty of that sort when I was answering Craigslist ads. I also once drove 4 hours to look at a "mint" (his words) collection. The comic were brittle. I've never seen so many brittle comics.

Did you look at the collection?

Treats for the dogs. Good strategy for a mail carrier.

I know I spent over $10,000 on his comics a decade ago. So he knew I was a serious buyer. I'm SO glad he found me again.

I think this is my favorite post on a "method" to use when buying a collection. Thanks for sharing.

No, not white. I wish. But the covers are very nice with surprisingly nice spines.

Here's 3 more of the 16 I got:

Yeah...... I think that would be prudent. I'm going to go back over this next Friday with as much $ as I can wrangle up. Probably about $4k. I'll post what I come back with.

Yes, I'm pretty stoked about that ASM 14, especially since my current copy is about a 1.5.

The X-men were in great shape 7.0-8.0 but I had limited time and limited funds to really look through them closely. He told me he knew for sure there was another box that was almost all X-men that he hadn't brought Of everything I saw the early Spideys looked to be the most valuable so I decided to concentrate on those on this trip. I think he's going to be patient with me coming over multiple times, but another part of me thinks I should try to get everything as quickly as possible.

Is this really the formula you use? That's awesome! I suppose you grade the big keys, but then give more of a generic grade to everything else? (I mean, you can't sit there forever and take every single comic out of the mylar)

I'm back. I had to go right to work after I looked at the collection so I couldn't post until now. I had a great time. He lives only an hour away from me so it wasn't too far to drive. Super nice guy. He told me he remembered selling comics to me a decade ago and when he found these boxes of comics he wanted to find me again but didn't have my cel#. Then he remembered I gave his daughter one of my children's books (I've written 2 children's books) and he remembered my website was in the book. That's how he found me again. He only had 8 of the 13 longboxes at the house (which was actually ok with me since I only had limited cash with me). We chatted for about 45 minutes, talked about his dad and how much his dad loved comics. And then talked baseball for a while (this guy is a HUGE Braves fan). I finally started going thru the boxes. 1st 2 boxes had Silver Richie Rich & Archie. I love old GA Archie but silver Archie.... not so much. When I go back I'll double check to see if there's some Key Sabrinas in there. 3rd box I hit the jackpot. Spiderman & Xmen and in great shape. They looked a little cherrypicked (maybe by me a decade ago or were these new long boxes?). I gave a quick once-over for all the other boxes and could see that the Spidey/Xmen box was where I wanted to look today. No MEGA Keys in any of the boxes but it was good to find ASM 13, 14, & 15 Here's what I came back with today. He was more than happy to go with the prices I gave him with no negotiation (I priced a little low expecting him to negotiate but he didn't). He was happy and I'm happy. (The grades I'm giving these are what I think they will be with a press. They're all pretty nice though) Spiderman 13 6.5 range Spiderman 14 7.0 range Spiderman 15 6.5 range Spiderman 17 7.5 range Spiderman 19 8.0 range Spiderman 22 8.0 range Spiderman 25 8.0 range Spiderman 26 8.0 range Spiderman 27 8.5 range Spiderman 28 7.5 range Spiderman 29 7.0 range Spiderman 31 7.5 range Spiderman 39 9.0 range I also grabbed these 3 because they're popular right now... Marvel Special edition 15 7.5 range Marvel Super Heroes 12 6.5 range Marvel Super Heroes 13 3.5 range (had a dang rodent chew on it, otherwise nice) So I came to look at 13 long boxes and only left with 16 comics However, what I come back with is really nice I told him, if he'd let me, I'd like to buy the entire collection. He told me he works out of the house so he's home all the time, just give a call and come over anytime I want to buy comics. Sweet! I explained to him that while he had a lot of nice stuff like the ASMs & Xmen that he'll make $$$ on, he also had a lot of comics that were not worth much. I told him I would probably only offer him $100 for the entire box of Archies and he seemed fine with that. All in all a great find for me. Here's a few photos:

I may have to start a quick sales thread here on the boards to build up some quick capital. I'm only bringing $2k cash with me today.

Good advice, thanks

YES! The wife is the Alpha.... however, the last time I bought from him years ago he said that they were getting divorced. I'm not going to wish that on them, but there might be a chance that I will only be dealing with him so maybe the negotiating will be easier. ($100-$150/box?) ..... I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. I meet with him in an hour so I'll be interested to see what he has.

I tried that "What kind of price are you looking for?" method with him years ago and his wife wouldn't have it. They always wanted me to give the first figure.... sometimes they took it and sometimes they negotiated it up. I still did pretty good when I bought from him years ago, but I never got "the deal of the century" on anything.