Westy Steve

My God, this! I will get an adrenaline rush from a new Acquisition. And I’ll enjoy it for a bit and then I’ll put it into storage and just about forget about it. I have found collectibles in my collection that I completely forgot that I owned. I revel in the moment so briefly upon the purchase that it didn’t reinforce itself into my brain strongly enough for me to remember long-term that I own it. I have learned though, that the better these items are, and the more painful they are to acquire the more I cherish owning them. Hence my new style of collecting us to sell off all my junk and buy nothing but amazing quality things at the top of my budget. Regarding that feeling of euphoria, while I don’t tickle my fancy from registry points, I do get that feeling from financial gain that comes from a collectible. Like a garage sale find or something. If I get a great deal on a great collectible it can literally keep me happy the entire week. I feed on the energy of that to get through the drudgery of my day job. Edit: Please understand that it’s not the monetary gain itself that’s satisfying. Sometimes we’re only talking about a gain of 20 or $30 which doesn’t take very long for me to earn. It’s how I made that gain that pleases me.

This is what I’m getting at. Truth is I am collectoraholic. I collect all kinds of different things, and in high grade. I would have an amazing comic collection if that’s all I did. Right now I am rotating through genres. It sometimes consumes me but its a source of comfort too. I have tried to create a Facebook page for people like me but there are no takers. I’m very interested in discussing why we do what we do and perhaps trading ideas and concepts on how to do it better. With respect to the origins of my collecting. When I was a kid my brother and I would collect coins out of the cash register at the gas station that my father used to run. We became competitive enough that my parents told me that since he started collecting first I was not allowed to collect coins. If you ever wanted to make somebody into a ridiculously driven collector tell them they’re not allowed to collect something when they’re about 11 years old. My brother doesn’t collect coins anymore. I still collect to this day. What drove me to comic books was when I was in my early teen years I somehow got a copy of Lois Lane. It was an early issue and it was immaculate. It blew me away regarding how it could be in such great condition even though it was so old. It made me conceptualize the entire distribution chain of comics and made me wonder what was out there. From there I got into Marvel comics and I was amazed by how stories would reference previous stories. Like when the narrator would say stuff like “all the way back in issue number two of the avengers“. I realize they were complete parts of these characters lives that needed to be tracked down. Or stories referencing re-emerging Ultron, or brushes with the cosmic cube. The continuity of those comics was amazing to me. I found comics to be more immersive than coins, but I still loved coins for what they were.

Coincidently right now I’m collecting currency. You should dig a little deeper into the hobby. Some people collect based on the numerical sequences on the dollar bills. They look for things like radar notes, ladders, etc. lots of cool stuff in change.

So I'm really interested in the science of collecting itself. Like what motivates us to collect? And what techniques can we use to do it better? I find the economics associated with selecting a collectible fascinating though I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. Anyone else interested in that kind of thing? Is there a forum somewhere that people get down to the nitty gritty on this stuff?

Never ceases to amaze me how people can steal something and be OK with it. Not even live in guilt. Like they justify it in their mind so strongly that it appears they feel no remorse about it. Like something is missing from them.

I just opened a thread for the Netflix series over in the Comics General/movies section because I didn't see one here. This has been a long time coming...finally the licenses are consolidated!

Someone just bumped an old thread on this topic to the top...like 15 minutes after I posted this drivel. No need to read this thread now. Don't read it. I said stop it. You're not a good listener. Whatever...just do what you want... I can't believe I'm the first person to post about this. Did I miss the thread somewhere else? Conan is being optioned by Netflix. They're looking for a show runner. OK, I don't pretend to know what the steps are for developing a show about extremely cool Cimmerian Barbarians, but I'm thrilled to see some progress. Tonight, when I go to bed, I'm going to pray that they do this one right. So how good can it get? I mean, with the success of Game of Thrones, it's been proven high budget sword and sorcery will work. This is a seriously fertile field for story ideas...I mean there's magic, sword fighting, wenching, drinking, dungeon crawling, temporary alliances with cool co-characters and it has Marvel branding. I'm cautiously optimistic here. Oh, and for those blood suckers who hope to speculate on this and cash-in...good luck with that! Conan fans are hard-core and hold onto our BWS issues dearly.

Hey guys, For fun I looked up one of my favorite books to find out what an upgrade would cost me. Campus Tramp, by Shaw. I was kind of surprised to find none on ebay and only one on Abebooks. And it wasn't exactly inexpensive. So then I looked up a few of my heavy hitters...not as many on the market and the ones I saw were markedly more expensive. Do you think this is due to Covid? I didn't expect that kind of movement, but perhaps this is anecdotal data. Steve

These two came in recently. I haven’t been following books as closely as I usually do but my search parameters still occasionally send up a flare. Not the highest grades but I just really wanted these books.

Interesting. I went further with this and looked him up on CAF. Something I noticed is that the ratio of dealer items to the for sale by owner classifieds is a ratio of 20:1. That seemed awfully high to me...so many dealers selling relative to private sales, so I looked at other artists and figured out that a typical average ratio range might be 2:1 to 8:1.

Since I'm asking all these questions, what can you tell me about a "glut" of art that hits the market. Yes, I know the size of the glut and the demand of the art can make the time vary widely on how fast a glut of art gets absorbed. But what's the fastest, slowest, or most interesting glut or horde you're seen that rattled the market?

I have the mass produced game art for that sitting on the kitchen shelf. Didn’t realize until recently it was Boris. I just liked the art and got it in a collection of video games

That’s beautiful. I love the attention to detail in the skin on the reptile. It’s a lot like an iguana where they have a lot of extra skin in the dewlap area. When Boris is “on” he’s hard to beat.

An early Vallejo book cover prelim I just picked up.

Hmmm...an "error in bankroll". And all this time I just thought I was poor! Interesting perspectives...especially regarding outlasting the previous sales data. Personally, I'm in the camp that if it's cool and the price is right, I'm OK if it was just purchased a few weeks ago. Steve

This is an issue with NYX #4. Spine on the back cover has some roughness so I will put this in a VF. First I’ll take it gets it. PayPal only. US sales only. Free shipping. $45.

I think this is a straight up “good”. Golden age EC goodness. Haunt of Fear #27. If I recall correctly this one has a marijuana reference in it, but I could be wrong. $100 shipped

Hey guys the terms of this sale is that shipping is included. US sales only. PayPal goods and services payment preferred. Chronological first offer received with an I’ll take it, an agreement in a PM or by carrier pigeon gets the book. Also if someone indicates they wish to purchase the book but does not follow through with payment within 24 hours by PayPal then the book will go back up for sale. First book: Betty & Veronica 320. First Cheryl Blossom. I think this is a VG...would be a fine but missing a couple small pieces top of front cover. $110

Another Noob Question: So, I was corresponding with somebody who mentioned the concept of Art being “fresh to market“. I follow what that means, but generally what qualifies as fresh to market? How long does Art need to stay out of circulation to qualify?

Thanks. And you're right. I figured out a way to move some money around to fix it.

Hey guys, I have a 15 second question and I figured I could get an answer here. I paid down my Paypal credit account in anticipation of a large purchase. Now I find that the seller doesn't take paypal. I seem to recall it was possible to send a check from paypal, but I'm not seeing that option. I see they have a thing called Xoom that will allow me to send cash to Walmart, however I checked and they don't give an option of funding from my credit account. How can I use my line of credit to send someone funds for a purchase? Thanks for any help, Steve

Thanks for this well-thought-out post. I see the merits of it and I’ll try to follow it. One of my complications is that I have so many other collecting interests that would starve if I solely feed my art habit. The good news is that I’m pretty good at collecting things in general, meaning I tend to do a lot of research and stay patient so I don’t overspend on junk that I’ll regret. I know what you mean about how sometimes spending an extra $50 Can mean the difference between a good collectible and a great collectible, though an extra $50 doesn’t go as far in art. It’s good advice to bone up on newer and emerging artists. My interest is not just solely Comic art, I like illustration art, which thankfully is cheaper, but your concepts still apply. For what it’s worth, I do have at least a dozen convention sketches that would be considered “great” by today’s standards simply because I collected them more than 20 years ago. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll ever sell those. I’ve started posting those on CAF. Thanks for the info. Gives me a lot to think about and refine my strategy. Steve

No, but I feel like I’m trying to swim in the deep end of the collectibles pool. Everything is so expensive

Gorgeous!

Ha, I just bought a vintage western and was sorely disappointed with it. Advertised as a VG minus, but it can’t be any better than good. There was writing on the back of it that was covered with a sticky note the same color as the book! I bought it because the art was done by Boris Vallejo. And because I’m waiting for Delivery on this prelim.