Westy Steve

You’re right…rants don’t solve anything but this one made me feel better. But I also alerted my fellow collectors to the fact that “con” prices may be so high that they are better off staying home, or at least leave the sellers with fantasy prices high and dry until they price at market.

You should try collecting Currency. I went to a currency show and I feel like 80% of the dealers didn’t care whether you purchased or not and seemed bothered to show their wares ONLY IF you found them at their booth instead of kibitzing with other dealer buddies elsewhere. It was very odd.

Thanks, friend

I just returned from Tampa Con. I feel like most of the dealers there.(but not all) have broken away from reality with their pricing. I saw so many prices on wall books that didn’t seem to correlate to eBay or Gocollect at all! I'm not talking the usual 10% higher...I'm talking fantasy pricing. At one point I was offered a raw book for $375 that was listed at $180 on go collect in the slab. This wasn’t an old listing in Gocollect either. It was fair market value. Note that both the dealer and I agreed on the grade. The dealer tried to hang his hat on a completed sale of a slabbed eBay auction that sold for best offer below than $299 and that book was a double cover book. Ok, yes...his book, his prerogative to price it how he wants. I can say that buyers need to be VERY CAREFUL at shows...don't assume the price for a book is close to comps. I didn't see any books I was interested in (keys or semi keys) that were below Ebay. Bear in mind that the average Ebay seller is saddled with about 14% in fees too. I did find good deals on the cheaper stuff. The few times I did challenge dealers on their prices, my answer back was they needed to price that way because the table fees were high. Being charitable, perhaps the problem is that... with the recent price correction in the market..., dealers cannot buy items at the price as they need to compete with online auction sites. Therefore, I’m beginning to wonder if it would make sense to only attend shows where the table fees are low so that the dealers have the flexibility to sell their books at prices that actually approach market prices…or at least can’t use that excuse. Yes, this is a rant. For what it’s worth, I sometimes play dealer myself, so this is not a buyer versus dealer rant. At least at this show, for the books I was looking for, it simply was not worth the cost of attendance for the privilege of buying “sight seen” books. Save for the experience itself, I definitely would have been better off shopping in my pajamas from home.

Inside is nice with nothing noteworthy. Small tape lift and chipping near top of cover. (Good Grief!) There is a drop sized water stain barely visible next to center of spine. No restoration.

Oh boy, do I know this one! If I collected only Comics, I'd have an amazing collection. Same with coins. Same with Currency. Same with Toys. Same with Cars, Telescopes, Video Games. I used to collect one type of "thing" until I burned out on it, and then move onto another...often because my interest would get "sparked" by a deal I found, or a show I attended, etc. But with respect to comics, I've found I tend to view mid-grade or semi-key books as sort of a store of value that doesn't tug at my heart strings hard enough. So I've diverged in my collecting habits and I either collect comics that are fairly difficult to find (and nearly impossible in the wild), or I collect Bronze age stuff in nicer grade that's nostalgic to me or a really good read. No in-between. It's either got to be "Rare", or "pretty, fun and somewhat cheap". Recently I did a thought exercise where I compiled a "bucket list" of the items I want to have before I die, or in other words....my end-goal. It was surprisingly illuminating. I figured out that I'd really like to have a Hulk 1 through 6, but I don't necessarily feel I need that JIM83. In fact, there weren't that many comics, or coins, or currency on the list, but the ones that were there totally kicked azz. But then, I'd also like a short box of pretty, glossy bronze age books that smell nice that I can pick up and read without worrying that I'd mess up the condition...VF is acceptable..

Theoretically, there is a buyer for every seller they always match. Obviously I am talking about heavy volume that occurs when prices are crashing. That’s also the best time to buy real estate.

Comics are more of a long term investment like Real Estate. Buy and hold…try not to sell unless the market is going bananas..ignore the month to month changes. Oh, and buy when everyone is selling.

So I started collecting Lego Minifigures. I decided I wanted to stick to the nicer/rarer stuff because that’s how I like to collect. After looking for a Facebook group devoted to “better”minifigures, I realized there wasn’t one. So I started my own. We discuss figures costing more than $30, which is about the top 10 percent on eBay. We need people. https://www.facebook.com/groups/333580153178762/ And here’s a photo of a sweet minifigure I just picked up.

10% off everything listed so far. More comfortable by soon.

Put that $2.50 in a quality Mylar with a thick backboard and it will challenge your perspective on how a book presents best. Books look great in slabs but the slab is a little too thick for the color to pop. Even $30 buys a great book that looks awesome in Mylar.

That’s it for now…maybe more tomorrow night.

Yours Thanks.

X-men 28 Nice! $250

Black Hood 19. Bug chew lower left. Nice paper though. $225

Western Love Trails 7 (#1). Staple rust. Slight mildew smell. $35

Space Ace 5. Notice that someone used pen on the monster’s fangs. $110

X-men 105. 9.0 or better after a press. Sold

ASM 131. $60. VF/NM?

Josie 13, Really Nice. $55

Marvel Team up lot. Staple on #3 is loose at top of centerfold only. $30

X-men 95. $75.

Night Nurse #4. Light stain on back cover. Light staple rust $40

Doctor Strange lot. Average grade is VG. $55 for the lot.

Black Hood #16. $275