Shrevvy

33 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Supply and demand completely ignored in terms of value, and this is due in my opinion to the amount of collectors out there who want this as the mantelpiece in their collection.

Let's ignore Supply and demand and remember what the great economist Adam Smith said in his Magnum Opus Wealth of Nations

Supply and demand is not ignored. It is the exact opposite. Demand exceeds supply and prices rise. Just because there is more supply for a book like ASM #300 does not mean market forces are ignored or excepted. If there was little or no demand, prices would be a fraction of current values. See any ASM issue around 300. Supply is likely similar, but prices are much lower because the demand is not there. 

Pricey gamble? I want to play poker with you guys . Downside in value for grade is $0. Upside is what? I don't know the market for SS books and GPA doesn't show any recent transactions. Is the upside $500? Standard is $65 (assume shipped with other books). You need the grade to go up 1 in 7 tries to break even. That's pretty good odds. If the value bump is higher, odds are more compelling. If lower (or cost is higher), then less compelling. 

Looks like a 1.0 to me. Those notes are pretty poor though. Does whole book tears mean the entire book is nearly ripped in half? That is very different than the entire book (every page) has tears. 

ASM 162 and Cap 241 per PM

3 hours ago, BigLeagueCHEW said:

Your paying 1K for that Venom custom label?

The auctions end 7 days apart. They should NOT be the same price. Anyone want to bet that the second does not close a $1000 lower than the first? Every single duplicate book in the CL auction will show the same thing if the close is 7 days apart.

4 hours ago, IronMan_Cave said:

beggar can't be chooser, I'll take what I can get, so if a graded key is priced low due to cream pages, I'll take it

EDIT: my biggest pet peeve is more on off-centering, if I see that white line along spine, I'll avoid it like a plague, especially if it's not straight

Centering is much more important to me than page quality. I would rather have a perfectly centered ow or ow/w than a poorly centered white pages. I think this gets worse in the bronze and copper ages. I cringe when I see a high grade book with a 1/8" strip of white down the spine. I was always trained to downgrade for that. I have almost zero interest in books like that. My only interest is if it was cheap enough that I could make a few bucks on it, because it wouldn't stay in my collection. 

4 hours ago, Jasonmorris1000000 said:

I once saw a golden age Phantom Lady comic for sale and the CGC label said “Blue Pages”.  The cover looked completely normal though.   Does anyone know what environmental conditions makes this happen?  

It is the paper that Fox used. They can come back back blue or pink. Blue and pink are the Fox equivalent of white pages.

55 minutes ago, the blob said:

An awful lot of killer venom covers for $53: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marvel-Venom-2011-1-6-8-And-9-Comic-Book-Lot-Rick-Remender-/393161785456?hash=item5b8a44c070%3Ag%3ASBUAAOSwCl5gOn-c&nma=true&si=BZbpsjZvXBDBh7scMVfgI%2BAabNw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

There's a ton of stuff out there for folks who don't focus on what is hot. After Valiantman's tutorial on Elfquest books I went out and bought some. cheap. That's a long term play, plus a little childhood nostalgia.

 

 

 

Personal preference, I know, but that is an ugly cover.

Is there any copper age book that has had more homages than Spider-man #1? Is there any copper artist that has had more than Todd?

4 minutes ago, Falcon760 said:

My Star Wars Dark Empire Lot ... 20 dollars

18 hours ago, Eggman said:

Astonishing Tales #25 - CGC 7.5 - Off-White/White - $100

12 hours ago, jcjames said:

Not comics related, but still collectibles...

Was given a matchbook collection of well over 1000 matchbooks mostly from the 60s/70s through the 80s/90s.

Sets of local (Arizona), Vegas, USA and international. Evenly split into those four sets. 

Started picking  through them last night, interesting stuff. A lot of these places don't exist anymore, and I chuckled to find a few Disneyland matches. The space shuttle one was cool too. 

I know nothing about collecting matchbooks but these were fun to pick through.

 

 

I love the old Vegas match books. Don't know what I would do with them if I had them, but they are cool. From a different era. 

36 minutes ago, kav said:

All it would take is one guy with deep pockets to send the price of ASM 300 tumbling.  Lists 30 copies at a time at 1/2 market and repeat.  People see the price falling they would unload fast and it would snowball.

Why would you need deep pockets to sell cheaply? Unless you mean he first has to buy those 30 copies and then repeat. Makes no sense. All it would take is one guy with 1/2 as deep pokets to buy up those 30 copies he is selling at 1/2 market and the market will not blink. 

I dare anyone to offer 30 copies of ASM #300 at 50% of the going value and see what happens. If anyone wants to do so, I will buy all 30 copies of a CGC ASM #300 at half GPA right now. You pick the grade. Deliver me 30 copies and I will deliver the cash.

12 minutes ago, thunsicker said:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/350003-giant-size-x-men-1-cgc-98-white-pages/

Thank you! I was hoping someone might find the thread for me (half the reason I posted about it). Looks like my memory was faulty and the sale did occur to a board member. I was really hoping the pics would still be there as I cannot find the scans on my computer.

4 minutes ago, MatterEaterLad said:

We could create a whole thread of "selling too soon" regrets.

Mine would be selling three 9.9 Miller DDs about a year ago. 

You are right. In this market, every sale is a bad sale. 

1 minute ago, 1Cool said:

There has been a couple small Cons over the last few months in my area and people were buying like crazy.  Most of the sellers there were not selling high grade keys so I'm not sure what will happen when guys like Gator shows up with a mountain of keys but I expect a truck load of cash to be going his way.  People are flush with cash right now but we will see what later in the year brings when things settle down a bit.  I expect the first few Cons out of the gate to be mad houses.

We had to wait 45 minutes to get into the Westlake show a couple weeks ago. It is sort of funny. They were trying to keep the sales floor less crowded for social distancing, yet 150 of us were standing six inches apart in the hotel lobby waiting to get in...

But you are right, lots of buying going on. I can only guess at what we had missed getting into the con late. I still came home with a stack of books. Already tried following up to purchase books post con and they are gone. Some nice books at the show. Two DD #1s, one of which is probably a deal today.

I am ready to hit another show as soon as I can. 

1 hour ago, Wally's Comics said:

The thing is this mind set made me have the same drive for any comic first app and it had me less patient that I have learned in a painful way.
I bought a Hulk 181 right after the CGC bronze bubble burst around 2005. Regardless of all the x-men/wolverine movies that book just wouldn't go up for SIX YEARS! I got tired of that and in 2011 I flipped it and a GSX1 for the same price I bought them for (just dumb for not being patient) and FINALLY only a few months after my flip- the Millennials "POOF" had $$$ and the IH 181 was their baby. LOL!

 

I don't usually regret sales, but I sold my GSX1 several years ago. I looked for months to find the whitest CGC 9.8 I could find. I bought it from Metro for peak or above GPA at the time ($4k or $6k, I can't remember and I don't want to look it up - I've been having a good day so far ). It was the best 9.8 copy I had seen. I ultimately sold it for around what I paid for. I tried selling it on the boards. Lots of interest, but no real takers. I ended up selling it off boards. I tried finding my sales thread for the book, but I am terrible with the search function here. A 9.8 closed on CL last night for $67,900. I should not have just looked...

1 hour ago, Number 6 said:

Not trying to be unfriendly, just being a bit tongue-in-cheeky. 
 

Let me try to explain my view from a different angle:

Last night there was a Detective #408 9.4 with white pages and perfect centering. Not only does it have a good Neal Adams cover but also interior art. It sold for $405. 
 

So is the difference between a Neal Adams cover issues and a cover/interior art issue really only $80.00?

Yeah, I think #403 is a cool cover but that’s a subjective thing.  The spread between a cover only book and interior/cover issue really seems like it should be bigger. 
 

If this is a byproduct of the slab culture than it really concerns me. 

I agree. Interior art has been de-empasized with slabs. It has been for a long time now and will probably get worse. I always liked X-men #108 and that was a key book in the new X-men run in years past. First Byrne art on the X-men series. It no longer holds the prominence it once did despite the Byrne/Claremont run still being held in high regard. I do own a 9.8, but also have a copy to read.

The Detective #403 cover is better than #408, but that is subjective. My opinion, of course.

In gold, Baker covers are big money. Interiors, not so much. I have been a Baker collector well before those books took off. A Bker cover with no "desirable" interior art brings far more than a book without a Baker cover, but multiple Baker interior stories. Look at Teen-Age Diary Secrets (except for the Marilyn Monroe cover, which has also started moving), all of which have multiple Baker stories but no Baker covers. They bring 1/5 to 1/10 of what any Cinderella Love with a Baker cover brings. The Cinderella Love are all reprints with no Baker interior art. 

Slabs are the reason I think we will get more "key" covers in the silver, bronze and copper ages. It has already happened in gold. 

12 minutes ago, Randall Ries said:

I always think in terms of the Enron employees who were given matched donations into their 401k plan. Working guys who saw it as their retirement. Or anyone at that time where they had a good amount in their 401k. Wake up one day and during the course of that day watched their future go poof. Their future insofar as eating and paying for their medical stuff as they aged. I'm not naive enough to assume the world is fair. Just that when that happened to millions of people, there were people running around gleefully snickering "Now I'll just buy low! CACKLE!"


Nah. There are still plenty of us who may be able to invest to a degree but the first big hit would wipe us out. We can't afford to diversify for one reason or another. A lot of people have to put their money on black and cross their fingers. I would be one of them. It's easy enough when my accountant is a financial advisor as well to say "This is safe!" Everyone thought 401k was safe. They lost everything.

We are getting far away from comics here, but I don't want a couple of these statements to pass without comment. If Enron matched 401K contributions, those were not lost when Enron went under. Those assets are held outside the firm. It is when Enron matched contributions in Enron stock, which did/does occur. Holding stock in a public company you work for, is a very poor form of diversification. You do not want your investments tied to your paycheck becuase if one goes bad, they both go bad. Does not mean it is right or wrong, but it is a risk judgement. 

Yes, you can afford to diversify. A $100 invested in a mutual fund will get you ownership in 100 or more stocks. You are diversified with $100. You do not need mass amounts of capital to be diversified.  

3 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

I agree that when it comes to this market, that Detective #403 is certainly one of the less egregious examples. 
 

However, we’re going to have differing views of the analysis of that sale since your definition of “key” seems to be far more expansive. 
 

But as to your wish that you could have back the opportunity to bid more than what that $325 copy went for...

Whether you believe me or not, look at what is available on eBay. Look at the book instead of the grade. The 9.4 on CL with White pages and near perfect centering is a better looking copy than the 9.6s on eBay. My comment was as much tongue in cheek as anything, but if the winner wants to sell me the book send me a PM. Let's just have a friendly conversation here.

Yes, I think Batman #227 is a key book. Last 9.2 in Jan sold for $2400. Not sure many would debate that it is not a key book. Detective 403 or the covers around it are not key books now. But I don't doubt that one of the covers could be seen as a key in the future and be priced accordingly. There are hundreds of examples of this happening in golden age. No reason that collectible cover mentality does not trickle into silver, bronze and copper. It already has, just not to the extent as the golden age.

19 minutes ago, IronMan_Cave said:

That’s pretty sharp copy, could easily be a 9.8. Congrats

Thanks. Strong colors and good centering. That's what I was looking for. 

Bumping this thread. I will close this later tonight and send out invoices. Always open to offers, especially on multiple books.

9 hours ago, Number 6 said:

Well, just a quick update:

I did go ahead and place a bid on Clink. Not aggressive, just bid what I paid for a comparable issue last month (which I thought was high). Got out bid on the last seconds, so I was the second highest bidder. 
 

I’m both relived and frankly, kind of glad. What does that say?

 

 

Just for some perspective:  

About 5 years ago I sold a 9.4 Detective Comics #403 on Clink for $137. 
 

A couple months ago I paid $200 for a 9.4 which again, I felt was kinda high, but it has been 5 years and it was a really sharp copy and I really wanted it. 
 

Tonight a 9.4 sold on Clink for $325. 
 

Not key. Not a Pedigree. Not highest graded. Just nuts. 

I had a tracking bid on that book. It's been a $200 book in GPA for a few years. I always thought Batman #227 was nuts, but it has been a strong book. Neal Adams Batman covers from this period are great. Several of them will ultimately become minor keys in a slabbed comic world. I don't think Batman #227 is the best Neal Adams cover of the era. Whether it is Detective 403 or 412 or some other Neal Adams Batman cover, some of them will break out. A Batman #227 would be near 10x the close of that Detective #403 in 9.4. Of all the craziness in recent auction prices, I don't see this Detective Comic #403 being one of them. Plenty of books from the Golden Age to Copper Age are valuable because of their cover. Since I was a kid, that Detective #403 cover has stood out to me. I am sure it has to others as well...now, I wish I didn't go to bed early and bid on the book!

People keep mentioned the "bored rich people." Who is that? Is it the "I made $4k on Slack" guy from the article or Elon Musk? I think people's definition of "rich" vary widely.